This is pretty much an eastside restaurant mini-review feature that I’ll be running periodically. You can view my “lunch bite” critera at this first post.

Cibelli’s Pizza (also cibellis.com, see below) is a mini-franchise of New York style pizza with some five locations in Central Oregon (three in Bend, one in Tumalo, and one in Redmond) and one apparently in Florida as well. They specialize in giant thin crust pizzas (they offer a 24-inch pizza) and like many pizza places, offer a lunch special—and with their eastside location on Highway 20, I had to check it out.

Of course, I’ve eaten at Cibelli’s before, so there’s nothing new or surprising here. Their east location is in the mini-strip-mall across the street from the used car strip, sharing building space with at least a bed store and a video game store; not the most glamorous, and parking can get tight on busy days. The interior is utilitarian, and they have a big kitchen space where you can watch them make the pizzas.

They make a tasty pizza, and they offer up a really decent lunch deal: for $4.50 you get a slice with any three toppings plus a medium soda. These are foot-long, large slices from one of their 24-inch pizzas, so you’re getting your money’s worth.

When I was in last week I kept it simple: a slice of the pepperoni with onions and olives as my additional toppings. In this case they simply added fresh onions and olives to an already-prepped slice of pepperoni, which on the one hand seems a little like cheating but on the other hand they weren’t soggy or nasty, and ultimately didn’t detract from the slice. The pizza itself was warm with a bit of the greasiness you associate with New York-styled pizzas—though not pooled on top—and the crust was crisp and crunchy to the bite. I enjoyed it. And I didn’t have to wait long for it, either.

In the past I’ve also had their BLT slice special, with, yes, bacon, lettuce and tomato and that was really good; if you stop in you should definitely check to see what/if there are any specials for the day.

And at less than $5 for a giant slice and a drink, it’s a tough-to-beat lunch when you find yourself on that part of town.

Update: As both a Facebook commenter and a commenter below points out, the Tumalo location has in fact been closed for a couple of years.