Roseland Apizza

Today was the second time we made the drive to Roseland. I’m still on the fence — I really want to like it but, well, it’s just way overpriced. Lobster ravioli should not cost $ 37 in a run down, cold, no-​atmosphere-​having half house, half restaurant in DERBY. The waitstaff have zero personality. We walked in before 3 other tables but bc they had to push 2 tables together (I called ahead mind you, had a reservation for 5), we weren’t even greeted until those other tables had been — and it’s not like we had the same waitress. This place feels very family run but not in a healthy way. Our Two entrees came out 10 minutes before our pizza. When the pizza came out, half cheese, half pepperoni/​sausage — the cheese side was swimming in grease. This doesn’t usually bother me but if I can soak it up off the top with 3 napkins on one piece, that’s just not right. Bathroom is freezing cold and jammed into a closet, you have to walk through half the kitchen to get to it. I don’t know — I get the «kitsch» of this place but with how much they charge, you think they could do a deep clean or at least get matching plates. If I go here once a year, that’s often. There are better places that you’ll have a better experience at.

One of the best Pizza’s in Connecticut. Absolutely delicious !!!

Here is what it boils down to.
Roseland Pizza is not inexpensive or the most comfortable however, It is not only the best pizza in Connecticut but the best pizza in the United States. Crazy that it happens to be in Derby but there you have it. I have been to all three in New Haven as well but Roseland wins.
God rest Lina’s soul.

Love this place! Pizza is amazing, Lobster Ravioli is top notch (although a bit expensive!)… we try to stop here any time we are heading N on RT8.

Not content with the mighty 3 of New Haven and in the mood to try another of the Top 101 Pizzas from the Daily Meal, I gave Roseland a try. To say they’re off the beaten path is an understatement. On a completely residential street, in a dark and silent section of Derby, I saw out of the darkness a neon sign of life. I ordered a couple of pies to go, one sausage, pepper and onion, my go-​to pie and the other a mushroom, onion and eggplant, strictly for the rest of the family. I can only comment on the SPO pie, which was outstanding. Not as thin crust as Pepe’s, but the toppings were extremely plentiful and fresh. And delicious. At $ 25 a piece, they’re priced in the range of the big guys, which is appropriate for the quality of the pizza. I will definitely be coming back and this time, I’ll try their heralded shrimp pizza. If the stories are true, this should be a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth.

Amazing Pizza! I have to rate this pizza as the best in CT and by far one of the best in the country! I grew up in Connecticut and I currently live in California where pizza lacks the taste and quality such as establishments as Rosalands! Rosalands is legend status it’s always a pleasure to be back in town and grab a pie from Rosalands!

I take back everything I said in my previous review because wow wow wow this pizza is amazing! I came for a meal with my college roommates and it was perfect. I could care less about the wait and mismatched plates because this pizza is worth the 56 minute drive. The sauce, the garlic and the cheese made for the perfect pie!!! I am so happy I tried it again because it was the best pie I have had in a while!

First let me say I’ve had all the big names Pepes, Sally’s, Modern, Bar, etc… Roselands is by far the best pizza of all time. When you compare the pizza flavor and the quality of the toppings Roselands exceeds in all areas. All you need to do is get a clam or shrimp pie which each come with what seems to be a pound of seafood and the contest is over. The small antipasto serves 4 – 6 adults easily and comes with a large loaf of homemade bread. All seafood dishes are fresh and overflowing. You get what you pay for here. The only reason Roselands doesn’t get all the fan fare is because it’s in a hole in the wall location in Derby and if you haven’t been inside you would never stop to eat. Service depends on who you get but I could care less as the food is why we go. Family favorite!

A great little neighborhood/​mom and pop pizza place. Stopped in here with a co-​worker after a disappointing dinner in Shelton, and we had our evening saved! The tomato pie is excellent, and a bargain.

this place is a hidden gem in the cesspool of the Valley. From the outside, it might remind you of that abandoned restaurant that Sloth was chained up in from the Goonies, but once you get inside… it really does have a cozy, vintage and homey feel. For example: they have a lot of family & historic photos on the wall, much like your great aunt Margaret. Also, i don’t think they own a set of matching plates, which is unique in my book. The dinners are amazing but i highly suggest the pizza. It’s real italian food, not any of that fake italian food made by those wanna-​be greeks or albanians. There is often a wait, which proves how good they are. the wait always goes by fast and its honestly worth it. the service is also pretty amazing. I will surely be coming back again

I wish there were star categories, one for the food and one for the service.
This place came recommended to us. It was a Friday night. Big night for pizza, right?
I wasn’t able to find the menu online, so we thought we’d just go and order there and bring it home. But when we arrived we were enticed by the cute white lights, the bustling dining room and the beer selection shown on the chalkboard, so we decided to stay.
A waitress gave us plates and menus and said our server would be with us. Our server walked by our table at least four times without even an acknowledgement. (A well-​placed «hi, I’ll be right with you» would have gone a long way!) We asked the first waitress if we were going to be helped and she went over and spoke to the waitress who would eventually help us, seemingly chewed her out right in front of us. Estimated time elapsed — 15 min?
She came over — no acknowledgement that we’d been waiting quite some time. «Ready to order?» No, I was ready to chew my arm off I was so hungry! They brought over an entire loaf of bread (!!!) which was nice but we had to ask for olive oil. And they brought the whole bottle to our table, which seemed strange but it was good quality and tasty.
We ordered the arugula salad, which I thought was overpriced at $ 14, but I really love arugula. And two pizzas, a large and a small. We waited. And waited. I said «Oh, the salad will probably come out with the pizza together.» Well, no… it came out first. And, to be honest, it was delicious and huge.
But then we waited. And waited. And waited. Again, no acknowledgement from the waitress that we were falling asleep… that we were growing old… that our glasses were empty («would you like another soda? would you like another beer?»)… nothing. My hair grew whiter. My son grew tired and crawled into my lap. Seasons passed and I began to think about how I wold be sending my Christmas cards from this very booth.
Finally, my boyfriend had the brilliant idea of getting the pies to go. Actual time elapsed: an hour and a half since we’d sat down. And still no pizza. We wanted to leave and eat at home. We asked her to change the pies to a «to-​go» order, and again, no acknowledgement whatsoever that this was taking an eternity. If she could have mustered a «I’m so sorry, the kitchen is backed up» it might have been nice. Or hey, how about a «I’ll take care of your next beer and soda» to compensate for the wait?
Can you believe we over-​tipped her because we didn’t want to wait the hours it would have required to get change. We really just wanted to go home. (OK, I wanted to cry a little, but that’s because I was «hangry.») When we got home, the fresh tomato pizza was soggy. We wondered how it would have fared if it had not had a 10-​minute ride in a cardboard box. The bacon and sausage pizza was good, we thought the quality of the thick-​cut bacon was very good and not fatty.
Overall, it seemed like the wait staff were all moving in slow motion. It was surreal and unsettling. Was it because we weren’t from Derby, we’re interlopers from Shelton? We felt like we were in a reality TV show and someone would eventually come out and yell «Gotcha!»
Bizarro.

Went there for the first time tonight. Little hole in the wall but the food is unreal. Eggplant rollatini with provolone and prosciutto was to die for and the pie was outstanding. Can’t wait to go back.

This place is so weird — but the food is so good!
First, the location — this is not the kind of place you’ll find by accident. Most restaurants are in, say, a business district or on a main street, in a mall or strip mall and you can just stumble upon them.
Roseland is in a residential area, off the beaten path — so when you see they’re busy you know it’s on reputation alone, not from a busy street.
The appearance is just like the location — weird.
From the outside, it can practically look abandoned. If they’re not busy and the neon sign isn’t lit, you could drive past it 100 times, thinking, «this can’t be the place».
Inside, it looks like someone’s house. Imagine an older relative that doesn’t have a ton of money — it’s nothing to look at, it’s packed tight with tables/​seating and it’s not a big place. The plates, silverware, etc don’t match.
It sometimes seems there aren’t enough people working there to keep up with how many customers they have — they can be slow.
Now with those things said, you might think, «yeesh, that doesn’t sound good» but once the food enters your mouth, none of that really matters. Have had numerous types of pizza, numerous dinners and have loved them all.
As mentioned in another of my reviews, I’m big on shrimp. If a place put shrimp in front of me that is fresh, tasty and a good size — I’m happy. This is one of those places. Not only is the shrimp good size and quality but they give you plenty of them.
IF you base what you pay on what you see in the atmosphere, you might think they’re a little pricey. However, if you base what you pay on the quality and quantity of the food you get, you probably have an issue with the price.
I feel very comfortable recommending Roseland to people as long as I make them aware of the disconnect between the atmosphere and the food itself like I have here. I wish I was eating there right now. :)

Roseland Pizza makes one heck of a pizza. They have absolutely the best salami pizza that I have personally ever had, and their plain cheese pizza is no slouch either. The staff is always friendly and inviting, even when they get busy, and the food is always delicious. Just make sure that you time your visit correctly, because if you don’t, you’ll be waiting a while — it gets packed.

Just as good if not better pizza than the famous places in New Haven. We had a bacon, onion, and mushroom pizza that was one of the best pizzas I’ve had in my life! The closer to 8pm on the weekends nights that you go in the less of a wait and a crowd. We walked in and sat down right away. It’s not cheap but the quality is excellent.

The people who run this place are very rude! I called one day on the way home from work and asked their specials so I can order some food to go. They would rather be rude on the phone then tell me their specials. The food is good but I can’t deal with rude people.

Best pizza I’ve ever had. And I’ve tasted the best. Great sauce, top quality cheese, zesty pepperoni, and a crispy burnt crust. Yum-​o!

This is an amazing distinctive place.
It’s been owned by the same family for eighty years since 1935 and an absolute institution in the Naugatuck Valley.
Excellent arugula salad, family style salad, pizza, antipasto clams, and regular garlic bread.
The lasagna and ziti are good, the fancy garlic bread was trying too hard.
We usually just get a pitcher of root beer, arugula salad, pizza with mozzarella, pepperoni and mushroom, full stomachs and plenty of leftovers.
For eating in, it’s best to go Tuesday and Thursday, when we crave it on the weekend since we live next door to Derby in Ansonia we do take out.
We just love this place and come around once a month. It’s unlike anything else.

I initially got introduced to this place because of their homemade spinach and cheese ravioli which is excellent. They some of the best sauce in the state. I could eat it by itself it’s so good. Very flavorful.
After reading the reviews I decided that it was my duty to try the pizza as well. I have to say I was very impressed! The pizza too has a great sauce. I ordered a spinach and mushroom and if you’re familiar with spinach on pizza a lot of times it comes out soggy. Not at Roseland, they’ve got a perfect technique for making a spinach pizza… not even Pepe’s makes a better spinach pie. I also love the crust on this pizza. It’s perfectly crisp but not too crunchy.
I’d say if you prefer Sally’s or Modern over Pepe’s you’d probably like Roseland too. Not the same but in the same category. Very rich flavorful sauces. They make a great red pizza!
I would say the only complain I have is I don’t like the dressing they give you with the salad. The salad is very good though…

I’ve recently moved to CT so I haven’t had much experience with north east pizza, but this is the best pizza I’ve had in my life.