Imagine picking up the phone and calling your local chain pizzeria for delivery. No, not Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, or Dominos: you call up Sbarro, even if you don’t live inside a food court. Sbarro? Out in the real world? Next month, the eatery opens a new restaurant in the town where its headquarters is: Columbus, Ohio.

Sbarro would really like to be known as something other than the place where you eat at the mall when you don’t like burgers, then immediately wonder exactly how you just spent $7 on a single slice of pizza and a soft drink. Customers have complained to our sibling publication Consumer Reports that the chain’s food doesn’t seem fresh and is a poor value for the money.

Sbarro has also filed for bankruptcy protection twice in the last four years, and would rather people didn’t see them as the restaurant where people go when they have no other choice. The first standalone restaurant will have about twenty seats, but intends to mostly serve carryout and delivery customers.

What about those mall stores? The chain is only in about 1/3 of malls nationwide, so it could theoretically expand into even more.

One thing won’t change: it will always be the best place to get a real New York Slice.

Sbarro’s New Chapter [QSR Magazine]

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