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Campus eats: Pete's Arena
Pete's premium brews beat out its plain beers
By Joe Nguyen
nguyejos@mscd.edu

Walking into the Tivoli is a lot like walking into a tornado of grease, and Pete’s Arena is the center of the vortex.

The mugginess of fats and oils fills one’s pores upon entering the pizza parlor tucked away in one of the Tivoli’s many corridors. The gaudy decor, with its vibrant shades of red and green, looks like an Italian flag exploded. Televisions hang from the ceiling playing satellite music videos disregarded by almost everyone.

The best thing about Pete’s is that it’s the only place on campus to get a beer ($3.25 per draft and $2.75 per bottle). The parlor would satisfy most connoisseurs with its large variety of ales and lagers. Pete’s pièce de résistance is its happy hour, which begins at 5 p.m., when all bottles and cans drop to $1.75 – an inexpensive option compared to most places downtown.

As for the pizza itself, well, it looks like a pizza and it has elements of what constitutes a pizza. They have the cheese and tomato sauce and dough and toppings, and can put it in a circle and layer it properly. Unfortunately, Pete’s fails in the most important aspect of creating pizza: making it taste like a pizza. The crust is dry and the toppings are nothing more than bland objects that lend texture to the pie. It’s like eating oatmeal spread on dry French bread.

The barbecue chicken pizza ($2.69 per slice or $19.99 per pie) is a flat combination of ingredients. The chicken is flavorless, while the barbecue sauce contains a subdued sweet taste.

Pete’s menu isn’t entirely worthless. The roasted vegetable pizza ($2.19 per slice or $16.99 for the pie) features an assortment of delectable veggie delights. Though insipid compared to other pizza parlors’ pies, it’s a burst of sweet and salty flavors in comparison to Pete’s other pizzas.

For those not craving Pete’s pizza staples, the restaurant also offers a variety of calzones ($4.59 to $5.39) and salads ($4.29 to $5.99).

Pete’s Arena is not a great, or even a decent, place to fill one’s appetite when the tummy starts a grumblin’. What it is, however, is a nice hangout to knock back a few brews with some friends after a long day of classes or down a quick pint in between.