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Zio's, Family-Owned Italian in Gaithersburg - Owners Anthony and Vito Pappano on Gaither Road - Closed Jul 30, 2014


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Another good option for the Montgomery County crowd that I take the girls to is up off of Shady Grove Road just behind the Home Depot shopping center.

Zio's - On Gaither Road.

They have very good tasting pizza. It is not New York style and for me to endorse pizza that is not NY style says a lot. The flavor of the dough is very tasty.

I was there the other night and enjoyed some pasta with red sauces. The crostini was also good.

Seems to be a nice family owned place that you can always get a table at. We went there a few weeks ago after we could not get a table at a steak chain down the street. We got a table immediately.

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Another good option for the Montgomery County crowd that I take the girls to is up off of Shady Grove Road just behind the Home Depot shopping center.

Zio's - On Gaither Road.

They have very good tasting pizza. It is not New York style and for me to endorse pizza that is not NY style says a lot. The flavor of the dough is very tasty.

I was there the other night and enjoyed some pasta with red sauces. The crostini was also good.

Seems to be a nice family owned place that you can always get a table at. We went there a few weeks ago after we could not get a table at a steak chain down the street. We got a table immediately.

Blushing bride and I went there once, a year or so go, just for the pizza, based on an Eve Ziebart recommendation. Overall our experience wasn't bad, but neither was it good enough to merit a return visit. IMO still a long way from the holy grail of pizza in the DC area that we are all searching for, in vain.

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My dad used to take me there when I was growing up and the crust was buttery and the cheese ample. I stopped in about a year ago and the sauce was thin with clumps of tomato and not enough cheese to balance the pizza. The crust did not have the same flavor I had remembered as a kid.

Maybe my taste buds have changed, but I was pretty disappointed when I had returned. Many of my friends from the area have also remarked that the restaurant is a shadow of its former self.

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I played into Zio's strength today by ordering a Sausage & Peppers Sub ($8.25). An old-school sub made the right way, it has everything you could ask for: Start with a big industrial sub roll, and stuff it with a thick link of home made sausage (home made, but in a heavy, industrial style, and not in a bad way) with plenty of fennel and even a few specks of black pepper in it. Then come the soft green peppers, which are grilled and have the grill marks to prove it, mixed in with chunky, canned tomato sauce. Add a blanket of provolone and parmigiana cheese, and bake it enough to form a seal, the whole sandwich coming out piping hot, with the juices from the peppers, sausage, and tomato sauce being absorbed into the sub roll. Doesn't that sound good? It is!

It isn't often that I'm truly hungry for lunch, but today I was, and a genuine, gnawing hunger is just what you need to fully appreciate this simple, down-home sub. Zio's, by the way, makes the list of Oldest Restaurants in the Area, having opened in 1978.

Cheers,

Rocks.

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We wanted Italian.  We didn't want Maggianios/Macaroni Grill/Olive Garden or that place with the trees growing out of the roof.   We were also dressed from an afternoon with horses - so we didn't want a fancy place either.

Zio's did us right.

The toughest thing is the decor.  Think wallpaper borders and really poor lighting (note to restaurateurs - please don't combine "can" lights that are built into the ceiling and ceiling fans below them.   The result is a strobe effect that had be wishing I'd begin to seize...).

The food was pretty decent.  The pizza is bready and the crust is relatively thick - not oily like the Pizza Hut it visually resembles.  The pizza is fresh tasting without having to wipe your hands with each bite.  I enjoyed the Fettucini Zio Giovanni; a really nice 'blush' sauce (cream and red sauce) with bits of sausage and tomato.  The calamari appetizer was cooked lightly and was an ample portion, as large as we've ever had.  Service was excellent.

This is no Dino's.  I just wish we had more New Jersey-ish red sauce places in MoCo - simple, nieghborhood places that serve a decent pasta and aren't too fancy.  Zio's isn't that either.  But it'll do in a pinch. 

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We wanted Italian. ....

This is no Dino's.  I just wish we had more New Jersey-ish red sauce places in MoCo - simple, nieghborhood places that serve a decent pasta and aren't too fancy.  Zio's is that either.  But it'll do in a pinch. 

Here here...and ditto for the rest of the area!!!!!!

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(note to restaurateurs - please don't combine "can" lights that are built into the ceiling and ceiling fans below them.   The result is a strobe effect that had me wishing I'd begin to seize...).

24 Hours after I posted this, the show "Bar Rescue" pointed out this exact thing as a problem in the bar they were rescuing, and the host made the same semi-joke I made here.  Glad I'm not alone on this :)

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Zio's, by the way, makes the list of Oldest Restaurants in the Area, having opened in 1978.

If you have nostalgia for Zio's, there are only a few more days to pay your last respects. Their last day of service is Wednesday, 30 July.

I randomly dropped in for some of the same reasons mentioned up thread and got the news. They had > 50% of the tables filled and, although service was slow, are staying an 80's time capsule to the end. Seems the space will be filled by "some chicken place" fairly quickly.

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