Borderline Cafe

This is one of the top pizza shops I’ve ever been to. My wife and I absolutely love the place. They have some of the most diverse pizza toppings I have ever had and they are always absolutely slammin! Also they sell beer!

Review would be 4 stars, except for the lack of heat. The food is quite good. My wife had an enormous roast beef sandwich and my linguini and clam sauce was delicious. Too bad I needed the heat of the dish to keep warm.

If you want a good old fashioned quality pizza then come here. No glitz, no gimmicks, just straight up delicious pizza. I don’t need to explain the deliciousness of this menu except for the out of towners. If you’re from outta town well then enjoy what’s comin to ya and good luck finding an amazing pizza joint because there are way too many to chose from. Just be glad you’re blessed with that «misfortune».

We stopped in here for breakfast after making it to Rieglesville way too early for some plans we had.
This place is a pizza place that seems to double as a diner/​family restaurant. The breakfast menu was small, but good and very basic. They have a series of omelets that we’d recommend if you stop in for breakfast. The restaurant isn’t very gluten friendly (nor would I expect a place like this to be), so make your selections cautiously if you’re avoiding gluten — and keep in mind scrapple is made with flour if you’re getting the meat lovers omelet.
Service was satisfactory, nothing over the top. Coffees were topped of periodically and everything was delivered to our table.
They have alcohol on site with a decent 6 pack selection and a series of macro brew (Rolling Rock, Yuengling, etc.) drafts around a small horseshoe shaped bar. There is a small TV, maybe 20 inches, in the bar area.
Overall it was a solid place for a quick breakfast, and good for what the location is. Nothing amazing, but everything we expected.

The address on the map was not correct. This place is right in the center of Riegelsville only 1 block from the traffic light. It does not look like much from the street, but go inside! They have takeout 6 packs, generic selection, not so many unusual ones. they have a lunch style counter and booth and table seating. Always fresh pizzas to choose slices at the counter. I have only tried the Pizza and liked it very much. To be honest, this is the furthest «north» of my old hometown, Philly, that I have had decent pizza. They also have a few beers on tap and have a few happy hour specials. Good for takeout, a quick lunch, or even dinner with the kids. Walking distance to the river and canal to «walk off» your meal.

We have been eating at Borderline for well over 15 years, back when they were in the old stone mill building near the canal bridge. (They were better then, aside from letting people smoke in the restaurant).
They are what other people describe – the go-​to place when you’re too busy or tired to cook. There’s not much else within ten minutes of this area… and Lord Forbid, don’t bother with the other pizza «Ristorante» in town – Michelles. Ugh. Very inconsistent.
Anyway… Borderline offere everything you need: meatball subs, Italian dinners, pizzas of several types, burgers, etc. And yes, most of the time they are good and tasty. There are times though where your pizza will be overcooked (we got a black crust a couple of times) or undercooked and raw. If you call for takeout, be specific about «light cheese» or «well done», etc. Don’t count on getting comped if you call and complain about your meal.
The burgers and large and good. The bacon can be greasy. The meatballs are often delicious, other times are like rocks and dried out. More than likely we’re dealing with fresh made today versus «get the stuff out of the freezer». They also switch off on chefs… one guy is not that great.
I ordered a chicken Marsala once that surprised me… very good (although the chef made the mistake of using sweet Marsala instead of dry). The next time I ordered it, there was a slimy brown gravy on it that didn’t have a hint of Marsala wine in it. Also, they seem to use chicken fingers rather than sauteing the chicken to-​order in the sauce.
The chicken Parm’ is pretty much chicken fingers tossed into the oven with cheese melted over it. Why don’t restaurants like this slim down their menus a bit so they can offer truly fresh made dishes? It’s not rocket science to put together trays of chicken parm’ with the sauce and cheese on it and then bake in the oven. It’s a totally different thing when something is backed with it’s sauce or sauteed in a sauce. The flavors go deeper into the meat rather than just sit on top of a bland steamy tasting chicken.
As for the staff… the owners are nice enough, although the wife can put on smiles a bit more to customers. The wait staff is fine. No problems. I do wish they had a different layout to separate the locals’ bar hangout area from the dining room… after all, it seems like it’s there to provide special reserved seating for a handful of locals. You actually recognize the same faces sitting there day after day, week after week. How about getting rid of it entirely and putting in some more booths?
BTW… I don’t mind the TV. After all, this isn’t fine dining. Just a nice local pizza joint.
So, in the end, smile a bit more for customers, comp bad food, and try a bit harder on consistency. One more thing… to put Michelle’s out of business, how about offering delivery to the area?
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update: 1÷16÷14
MY wife was out on a girls night, so I decided to take my son down to Borderline and have our own night out. What a mistake! We’ve pretty much delegated Borderline to the «lazy-​to-​cook» nights for pizza orders ONLY… although even pizza is hit and miss with lacking consistency.
So my son orders a meatball sub. It was hard and flavorless – frozen meatballs (unlike the occasional times it seems that someone actually cared enough to make a batch from scratch.)
If you read above, I once (ONCE) had a great chicken Marsala. I didn’t want the same old thing, so I figured I’d take a chance. I even warned the waitress about my flavorless UN-​Marsala meal and said to make sure he puts Marsala in the sauce.
I also asked what came with it and she said spaghetti under the chicken (huh? with Marsala sauce?) I asked for a small side of pasta on the side with red sauce.
Ok… First of all, I got the spaghetti UNDER the chicken with a small bowl of sauce on the side! Next, the «sauce» was more like a Marsala BROTH. It didn’t cling to the spaghetti OR the chicken. It just dripped off as if I was trying to get water to stay on the chicken or pasta. Drip drip drip. Yet another comp and a vow never to get anything but pizza there. Drip indeed.

This is actually my favorite local takeout place for that weekly «cheat day» binge, haha.
Prices are very good for the quality and quantity that you get.
An appetizer of chicken fingers is big enough to make you not eat your entrée.
Their pan pizza is okay, could be better. Seems like it’s mostly dough, not layers of tomatoes and cheese like you’d expect from a pan pizza. (mmmmm…Uno’s…mmmmmm). Anyway:
Steak stromboli is excellent and a must-​have for me.
For dining in, I can’t pass up the calamari appetizer with the spicy marinara. Matter of fact, on one visit, the waitress provided me with about a pint of it. I keep it frozen and still use it at home occasionally. So spicy, my entire head breaks out in a sweat.
All the appetizers and entrees are usually pretty good. They have serously improved on everything since they were located across the street.
Ambience: mostly families, gets a bit loud sometimes.
I’d have given 5 stars but my last visit was just unforgiveable. There was a large party that had come in, and the staff made them priority. We waited over an hour for our meal. We should have just walked out and gone somewhere else, but we were tired and didn’t feel like playing that «find a restaurant» game. Our waitress didn’t even bother to visit us to explain the situation. It wasn’t until we had eaten that the manager came to us and offered a discount for the poor service. Haven’t been back there since for dining in. But nothing can stop me from getting my occasional take out!

This is a place where you go when you’re too tired to cook, the kids are cranky or you just want a hearty plate of italian style food. Don’t expect gourmet fare, but at the same time, don’t lower your expectations too much.
You’ll miss this place if you aren’t looking for it, despite the prominent corner location in the sleepy boro of Reiglesville, it is easy to drive right by without realizing that there’s a fairly sizeable place right there.
Inside, you’ll get the typical pizza joint experience at first — the dining room is off to one side. They do a busy takeout service in the front. The dining room décor is somewhere between a diner and your grandmother’s basement — formica booths with plastic flowers in vases on the table.
As far as food goes, it’s the standard «a little of everything» menu, with pastas in a variety of sauces, plus the usual deep-​fried stuff they offer kids. They often have seafood specials, my wife tends to order these and she’s been happy with the mussels.
I’m a more traditional pasta guy, so I get the Tortelini or the Gnocchi fairly often. I don’t care for their pink «Vodka» sauce, which comes in somewhere between an alfredo and a mainara, but completely misses the right balance for a good vodka sauce. That said, their red sauces are often very good — and I like their meat sauce as well.
You can also get burgers and chicken nuggets and so on, if that’s what you’re into.
Like most local places out here, service is erratic. Sometimes we get servers who are adept multi-​taskers who anticipate and fulfill needs before we need to voice them, other times we get what seems to be a 14 year old girl who has no idea what «Gnocci» is. It’s hit or miss, you just have to take a chance. Service is usually quick enough, and the pricing is fair for what you get.
It’s a bit loud at times, especially if there’s a table full of locals getting worked up over the NASCAR event on the television (there’s at least one TV in the dining room, a trend I wish would end) but usually it’s not too bad. Definitely a place you can take kids, it’s not at all a white-​linen experience.
All in all, it’s a place that fills a need for OK food, at OK prices and with OK service — it’s balanced and a fair deal.

Great food and pizza with great service to boot!
They always have a wonderful «special» board that is filled with many different selections. Their menu is mainly Italian, but if you want bar food, then this is the place to go. Great starters, beer and while your food is being prepared you can watch the owner make pizza from scratch!
Yummy food at a great price!
Great service too!