Now open in the heart of the Proctor Business District, Fondi Pizzeria offers a welcoming getaway, relaxing for body and soul. Walking in, the spacious and inviting interior is just the first step to an experience where the menu poses a challenge to figure out what to order from all the delicious options.
Best of all, Fondi features a 98% scratch-made kitchen where the dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella and salads are all made in-house. They’ve even named their own sourdough “Sophia,” reflecting the personal quality that Fondi owners, chefs and wait staff have in operating a business that they want the community to care about as much as they do.
“We feature our sour (dough) that we love so much,” said managing partner Chris Olsen. “Sophia has been passed from one Fondi Pizzeria to another. Our sour is 21 years old and that’s a history that should be boasted about. It key to what we do.”
The menu choices start with first-course, or “primi” in Italian, selections: breadsticks with marinara; spinach artichoke dip served with freshly baked flatbread; oven-fried bruschetta with cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, homemade fresh mozzarella, garlic and balsamic syrup; a meatball marinara; fire-roasted broccolini; and pepperoni rolls.
From the oven, “Pasta al Forno” lists a meat lasagna with Cascioppo Brothers Italian sausage; chicken cannelloni with Fondi tomato sauce; and mushroom cannelloni with chevre and ricotta.
The salad selections are meals within themselves. Olsen says the Bella Chopped Salad is a guest favorite served with herb-roasted chicken and salami, a four-cheese blend, nutty and savory Grana Padano, all dressed in a balsamic basil vinaigrette. Then there’s the classic Caesar salad with Fondi’s own special touches; Insalata di Mele with candied walnuts and pomegranate vinaigrette; and more.
There are six kinds of classic pizzas to choose from, some with vegetarians in mind, and eight varieties of Fondi specialty pizzas – all fired in the restaurant’s brick oven. They’re rustic, filling but not heavy on the stomach, and perfectly flavored.
And don’t forget your “dolci” (dessert) like a slice of four-layer lemon raspberry cheesecake or the Fondi Gelati and Sorbetti produced exclusively by Olympic Mountain Creamery.
Fondi Pizzeria takes lunch as seriously as dinner. Served daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., lunchtime has its own menu similar to the dinner fare but with some additional extras like panini and smaller “picolla pizze.”
“It’s a personal 10-inch pizza versus our standard 12-inch pizza and it comes with a beverage,” Olsen explained, noting that the lunch menu is balanced for folks going back to work in mind.
For those with gluten intolerance, gluten free crust options are available.
“We tend to focus on all high-quality product with as little allergen problems as we can do,” Olsen said. “We feature gluten free, hand formed risen dough which is incredibly popular. I find that there are a lot of people who are gluten free in America that can still eat our food just as they were traveling through Europe eating croissants and bagels.”
Everything is priced affordably, and this is intentional to keep customers coming back.
“Our food is great to-go but it’s always best in the restaurant, and we do specials throughout the week,” Olsen said. “We have a pizza for two special that’s like a family-friendly, early happy hour, 2-5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. It’s an absolute value. We want people to enjoy being here and come here on a regular basis.”
Fondi’s reviews on Google and Yelp show that it is worth checking out.
“Honestly best pizza, and spinach and artichoke that I can recall. Everything tastes authentic to this restaurant and very delicious.”
“The food itself is good, amazing pizza. The service is top tier as well.”
“Fondi is an amazing restaurant. The food there is absolutely amazing. The service is great, everyone is very friendly, and they always serve customers well.”
“I knew this would be a five-star review when they brought me my iced tea as I waited, and I saw that it was nice and dark and not watered down, and contained a good-sized wedge of lemon.”
Engaged in the hospitality and food service industry since he was 15 years old, Olsen later earned a degree in business management. He and two of his friends own Fondi Pizzeria including its Gig Harbor location which opened in 2008. Fondi Pizzeria Proctor just opened on April 1. The brand has been around ever since the original founders Restaurants Unlimited, a corporation based out of Seattle, opened the first Fondi Pizzeria in 2005 at Kent Station in Kent, WA.
Its name is significant in that Fondi is a village in Italy, about 100 kilometers southeast of Naples and Rome.
“As the story goes, the founders were traveling through Italy, eating pizza and having a great time and they were deciding where they were having the best pizza,” Olsen said. “Fondi, Italy, was where they thought of the most and turned it into Fondi Pizzeria and here we are.”
At the height of Fondi Pizzeria going into the recession of 2010, there were five Fondi Pizzerias, and the recession took that part out, according to Olsen. Gig Harbor was the last location for Restaurants Unlimited to own a Fondi Pizzeria before the corporation was sold in 2019. When the opportunity came, Olsen and two of his friends got together to save Fondi in Gig Harbor, and the jobs of its 50 employees.
Fondi Pizzeria in Gig Harbor is at 4621 Point Fosdick Dr. Fondi Pizzeria Proctor is located at 2515 N. Proctor St., open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It is café style, first come first served and they do not take reservations.
Visit Fondi.com or call (253) 301-2994.
“We have a welcoming atmosphere, and we specialize in larger parties of eight, 12 and 15. That doesn’t scare us. We facilitate parties like that all the time,” Olsen said.
“As you come in, we’ll invite you to take your time and not feel rushed. It’s a casual environment. Welcome to our house and be our guest.”