My sister is moving to Texas and I wanted to spend some extra time with her before she leaves. Her spring break (she teaches 6th grade- poor soul 😉 ) was a couple weeks ago and I suggested we do lunch. I don’t know the Provo/Orem area very well. I wasn’t sure where we should eat so I told her to think about somewhere unique and tasty to eat at. She couldn’t really think of anything. Lo and behold, a blogger solved our problem. Lindsey of Cafe Johnsonia posted about Pizzeria 712 just in the nick of time. I looked over their website and it sounded right up my alley. I sent my sister a message and she agreed to eat there.
The restaurant is tucked in the back of a condo/shopping development (the name escapes me) off of State Street. The dining area is very small so if you’re taking a large party, I would suggest calling and making reservations (you can find their reservation policy here).
From their website and what I gathered from Lindsey’s post, I was concerned they wouldn’t be too kid friendly and I was taking my son along with me. My concerns were immediately put to rest. We were offered a high chair and no one threw looks of disgust our way when they saw we had a toddler in tow (that has happened to me a few times). Their menu changes seasonly and they use local, sustainable ingredients whenever possible. I’m not sure if their menu has changed since we’ve been there, but what they have listed on their website is what we had to choose from. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the prices. I expected the food to be more expensive considering local and sustainable foods aren’t always cheap.
We were given pita and hummus to munch on while we looked over the menu. The hummus was different than what I’ve had at other restaurants, but equally good. After much debate and inquiring “what are you going to have?”, I decided on the housemade pastrami panini with sauerkraut, fontina and russian dressing. Oh so good. The panini come with the salad of the day which was an apricot almond cous cous. I was in taste bud heaven.
My sister decided on the tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza which was ginormous! It could easily feed 2 or 3 people or 1 person with a huge appetite. She let me try a bite and it was pretty good. The crust was a bit thinner than I like, but it wasn’t cooked to cracker crisp like some thin crust pizzas are.
I wanted to get dessert, but I was stuffed and we were going to get cupcakes after lunch anyway. I’ll have to save dessert for another time.
I am obsessed with finding good cupcakes and I had looked at a few of the choices we had in the area. My son was having an allergic reaction and was tired by the time we were done with lunch so I didn’t want to drive all the way down to The Sweet Tooth Fairy. The only other choice we really had was to head to one of the coffee shops that sells Cupcake Chic’s cupcakes. Off to the Coffee Pod we went. I called to make sure they had cupcakes left. They did indeed have cupcakes and the girl on the phone proclaimed them to be “absolutely delicious!” When we got to the display case, I was a bit disappointed. There wasn’t a huge assortment, but what should I have expected? It was a coffee shop, not a cupcake shop. My sister chose the lemon cupcake and I got the red velvet. I’m not sure if it was because the cupcakes were sitting in a refrigerated case, but they seemed a little on the dense side. They tasted good, but I wasn’t too crazy about the lack of fluffiness. There was also too much frosting for me. I scraped about half of mine off. My sister on the other hand ate every bit of hers.
Despite my bit of disappointment in the cupcakes, I’d say lunch was a success. I highly recommend giving P712 a try. The food is delicious and the philosophy behind their food and business is great (they even packaged our leftovers in containers that looked like they’d been made from recycled materials).
Pizzeria 712
320 S State St, Suite 147
Orem, UT
(801)623-6712
Cupcake Chic
no store front
(801)368-9469
Simple Food 