If you’re anything like most of the urban world, you’ve probably eaten at Chipotle before and enjoyed it. Hopefully this isn’t a stretch, but I’d guess you’ve probably eaten pizza before and enjoyed that, too. The thing about pizza, though, is that the usual pizza experience is accompanied with either long waits in a restaurant or awkward encounters with pizza-delivering personnel. So, I offer you the perfect solution to rid yourself of the painful experience of watching a waiter walk by with what you believed to be your own pizza, only to learn that your pepperoni pie is last on the list: Pizzeria Locale.

 
In January of 1993, co-owners Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson launch arguably the most influential fast-casual restaurant to date: Chipotle Mexican Grill. By the end of 1993, Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson had already opened 16 other Chipotle locations outside of the original in Denver, CO. Five years later, the entrepreneurs were looking to expand Chipotle’s success and turned to Kansas City as the location for the first restaurant outside of Colorado.

 
Come 2011, Chipotle’s co-owners decide to launch Pizzeria Locale in Boulder, Co. after their success with the assembly line style. According to the KC location Pizzeria Locale manager Chris Deperalta, Kansas City’s support for Chipotle had been one of the “strongest locations in the nation.” So, when Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson decided to take Pizzeria Locale a step further, they once again looked to Kansas City to test the waters.

 
In July of 2015, Pizzeria Locale’s first location outside of Colorado opened just next door to a Chipotle Mexican Grill on 75th street. The location is perfect, conveniently close to Brookside and in a quickly growing restaurant and bar district in Waldo. For McKinnon-Patterson, Waldo “seems like a real neighborhood with the same kind of captivating feeling that we have at our locations in Colorado.”

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Once you walk in the door, you’re greeted with the familiar and enticing smell of Italian food and an open, welcoming feel. Similar to Chipotle, you’ll find an assembly line with ingredients behind the counter toward the back of the restaurant. A friendly employee might greet you with a smile and an “I can take your order when you’re ready” and you’ll be ready to start the process.

 
Step 1: Order

Pizzeria Locale offers a variety of Neapolitan Style pizzas on its “Classics” menu, or an option to “build your own” with any toppings you could possibly think of. The dough is fresh — the restaurant makes around 100 pounds of it each day — and the sauce is inspired by the ripe tomatoes found in Naples, ensuring a strong flavor.

Step 2: Observe

After you order, you’ll be able to watch your pizza be prepared by the employee behind the glass. As it moves down the assembly line, it’ll get dressed up how you like and placed in the 1000-degree oven at the end of the line. After two minutes, your pizza will come out of the oven and get placed on the counter to cool down.

Step 3: Pay

As you pay, you’ll see another menu with inexpensive sides and sweets, salads, and drinks. Your own 11-inch pizza will only cost around $7.00, so as long as you come in equipped with a few dollars, you’re bound to eat something you enjoy and maybe experiment with another Italian delicacy.

Step 4: Enjoy

After you make your way through the line and wait for your pizza coming out of athe 1000-degree oven to cool down, you’ll get to do what you actually came to the restaurant to do: eat your food. I opted for my own pepperoni pizza, but the restaurant’s “signatures” and the build-your-own option include a variety of simple ingredients, from meatballs to green olives to fresh basil. Compared to other pizza restaurants’ greasy and artificial tastes, Pizzeria Locale’s pizzas are real, light and delicious. The natural mozzarella and fresh tomato sauce on thin crust are a great representation of Neopolitan-style pizza, and as the lady sitting next to me said, the salads are “perfect for two to share.”

Just like Chipotle’s Kansas City journey was successful back in 1998, Pizzeria Locale has been well received by the community of Kansas City. Not only is Pizzeria Locale here to stay, but come 2016, Stuckey and McKinnon-Patterson hope to open two more locations in Overland Park.