Hot City Pizza, a small pizza joint close to Sacramento State’s campus and next to the Greek restaurant Opa! Opa!, is easy to miss when driving by, but hard to forget once you experience a slice of its creative pizza.

Richard Anderson, who works at Hot City Pizza, shared which pizza is its most popular.

“The Angry Pig pizza is really spicy and personally my favorite,” Anderson said. “A lot of people like it.”

Heaps of sizzling toppings, such as pepperoni, spicy sausage, roasted peppers, olives and hot jalapenos, cover The Angry Pig pizza’s flavorful slices.

“Another pizza people really like is the Big Green Veggie pizza,” Anderson said. “It’s a vegetable pizza that comes together well – very balanced. Even though I’m not a veggie guy, it’s one of my absolute favorites.”

I tried the Big Green Veggie pizza without mozzarella and found myself stuffed from the generous helpings of vegetables on crunchy multigrain crust. The vegetables weren’t soggy and each slice’s toppings were toasted perfectly. Not a single veggie was burnt or raw.

Although I do not eat pizza a lot, I enjoy eating at Hot City Pizza. It’s accommodating for friends who love meat, as well as someone who prefers lighter pizzas, like me.

In comparison to the Round Table Pizza on Sac State’s campus, a large Big Green Veggie pizza is cheaper than Round Table’s similar pizza, the Gourmet Veggie. A large Gourmet Veggie on campus from Round Table would cost you around $22.75, but at Hot City Pizza, a large Big Green Veggie will cost you $19.99.

Aside from cheaper prices, Anderson said the restaurant is also a popular place for beer.

“We get a lot of Sac State students who appreciate our daily beer special,” Anderson said.

The restaurant’s website frequently posts coupons for discounts on its pizzas, and it has a good pick-up deal for a medium, one topping pizza for $7.99. Compared to Hot City Pizza, a medium one topping pizza at Round Table costs more; it’s about $15.23 with tax.

“It’s good enough for two people to eat and a pretty cheap deal,” Anderson said.

Hot CIty Pizza is located at 5642 J St. Its hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday to Sunday. For more information, visit www.hotcity-pizza.com.

Hope Roberts can be reached at [email protected]