Metro Pizzeria

On Monday, July 15, 2013, I had lunch at the Metro Restaurant Pizzeria in Creekside Station at 3103 Valley Avenue, Suite 106. Creekside Station is a business park on the west side of Valley Avenue with a grid of streets similar to a residential subdivision. Some of the streets are parallel to Valley Avenue, and others are at right angles to it. These streets have no names, and all of the businesses have a four-digit Valley Avenue address with a suite number.

This made it difficult to find the restaurant, but after driving around through Creekside twice, I found it in a row of businesses fronting on Valley Avenue. I went inside, seated myself at a table, and began to look at the menu. Its headings were Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Low Carb Wraps, Create Your Own Pizza, Fresh Hand Tossed Pizza, Calzone & Stromboli, Pasta Specials, Signature Café Sandwich, Focaccia Panina Sandwich, Subs, Kid's Menu, Burgers, Desserts, and Beverages.

From the above, you can see that Metro is more than a pizza parlor, and is a real Italian restaurant. The hours are Monday-Thursday, 10:30 AM-10:00 PM; Friday and Saturday, 10:30 AM-11:00 PM; and closed on Sunday. It offers dine-in, carry-out and delivery service and the phone number is (540) 678-3800.

Meanwhile, a man who came in a couple of minutes after I did was greeted by the server, who had ignored me. He took the man's order to the kitchen and then finally recognized my presence. I made my choice from the Low Carb Wraps section of the menu. I chose the first item, a Chicken Ranch wrap, with grilled chicken, smoked bacon, ranch dressing, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato, with chips. I also ordered a Mr. Pibb from the beverage menu.

The dining area is a single room. As you enter, to your right are two large refrigerated displays; one has desserts and the other, canned beverages. Also in this front area are two tables for four in the front window, along with two tables for two nearby. Further along the right wall is a counter with cashier's stations at the front end and four high-rise chairs in the back for patrons.

Other seating is afforded by four tables for four along the left wall, with two tables for two in the front center and two tables for four further back. Outdoor seating is available at three metal tables with chairs on a patio out front. These have no umbrellas, and are in full sunshine. I would think that the black metal chairs would have been rather hot to sit on until evening. Pictures of Italian scenes decorated the walls. The back wall had a medium-sized flat-screen TV. A small flat-screen TV on the wall behind the counter was square, and had a frame similar to that of an antique painting.

It took twenty minutes after I gave my order before it arrived, which I thought was too long. The wrap was cut in half, which made eating it easier than nibbling on one end. I had to ask my server for a napkin; sandwiches with dressing can be messy. However, it was good. The chips were in a one-ounce plastic bag. It took me quite a while to eat the sandwich, and all of the other patrons had left by the time I was finished.

The lone server was also the busboy, and did the cleaning up, and was the cashier too. I saw only one other staff member, a cook who came out of the kitchen for a minute, and wondered if he was the only one back there. The food I was served was good, but I down-rated the place for what I considered as poor service. I'd like to try the place for dinner for some of the pasta specials. I use eggplant parmigiana as a benchmark to evaluate an Italian restaurant's menu.