The Special Pizza has all the toppings — meatball, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, onion, peppers and anchovies — except bacon.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

After Food editor Gail Ciampa wrote about takeout pizza places in her pre-Super Bowl wrap-up, she was flooded with messages from people who were disappointed that their favorite places had not been mentioned. But only one restaurant was praised by several readers — Cranston House of Pizza.

One person raved about the pizza dough, which is made on the premises. Another wrote that the ambiance was kind of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name.

That seemed the case on a midweek visit where bartender-waitress Colleen Mooney schmoozed with the regulars, both at the bar and at a nearby table. She didn’t know us, of course, but was just as friendly. I felt that after one or two more visits I’d be a “regular” too.

Mooney opened Cranston House of Pizza on Cranston’s Restaurant Row a year ago with her sister, Cathy Mooney-Azverde, and brother-in-law, Keith Azverde. It’s a cozy spot that has several tables and booths, black vinyl tablecloths, a popcorn machine by the door (“Free popcorn for our patrons,” Colleen said later by phone) and a small bar. The bar has become such a popular gathering spot, Colleen said, that she’s thinking of expanding it.

Just as readers had written, the pizzas were very good, with a fresh-tasting bread-like dough that yielded firm crispy crusts and enough body to stand up to the myriad of ingredients on top without wilting. Colleen said everything is made fresh daily, including the pizza sauce and dough, which on busy weekends can mean three batches of from 40 to 50 pounds of dough.

Besides the usual topping selections — pepperoni, meatball, sausage, mushrooms, olives, etc. — that you can mix and match there are several “gourmet pizzas,” which include a moussaka (meatball and eggplant), a Grecian (white pizza with feta, tomato, hot peppers, black olives and garlic), a spinach and feta, a barbecue chicken and a Hawaiian among them. We wondered about the several Greek items on the menu, and Colleen said it was because her sister, Cathy, who is the chef, learned her pizza-making skills from friends of Greek descent who once owned a pizza restaurant.

We chose the Special Pizza ($9.25 for a 10-inch pizza with eight slices; $14.50 for a 15-inch with eight slices; $17.50 for a 17-inch square with 16 four-by-four slices). The Special had every ingredient that was available on the pizza menu, save for the bacon: meatball, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, onion, peppers and anchovies. We also had a more traditional pepperoni-mushroom combo ($8 for two items on a 10-inch pie; $11.75 on a 15-inch; $14.50 for a square).

The Special was loaded with goodies that provided an intriguing mix of flavors, but allowed each to stand out on its own. There was at least one anchovy per slice, adding saltiness. I especially liked the meatballs (mashed down and not round), a topping I rarely order. The sausage was mild and came in thin slices, though I prefer it out of the casing and in chunks on my pizza. There were thin slices, too, of olives, green pepper, mushrooms and onion. The combo was loaded with thin-sliced pepperoni that had just the right spicy punch and mushrooms in a delicious sauce that added heartiness.

There are also calzones, spinach pies, grinders, salads, shaved steaks, wraps, club sandwiches and chicken soup. Colleen said that the “neighborhood favorite” is the Knightsville Knockout — an over-stuffed Italian cold cut and cheese calzone with pepperoni. After it’s baked they add lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and hot peppers.

Cranston House of Pizza also has a variety of appetizers. The combo basket ($8.50) came with chicken wings, fingers, onion rings and French fries. The meaty wings and drumsticks had a nice crunchy coating and were not greasy. Although the chicken fingers looked unimpressive with a thin breading coating they were tender, moist and not greasy. The onion rings and fries, all in identical standardized slices, were perfectly fine without being exceptional. For dipping there were little packaged cups of Ken’s Sweet and Sour Sauce and Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce. If you order one appetizer, make it wings, though there’s also fried ravioli, mozzarella sticks and garlic bread with cheese on the menu.

We also tried one of the special dinners that night — rabe with Italian sausage, provolone cheese and four slices of garlic bread ($9.95). It was finished with olive oil which, with the cheese, cut the bitterness of the rabe. Colleen said it was one of their most popular dinner items, and it was easy to see why.

Cranston House of Pizza, 1791 Cranston St., Cranston. (401) 942-7100. Casual Wheelchair accessible. Child seats. Reservations for four or more. MC, V, DIS. Parking lot. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mon. to Sat. Appetizers 2.95 to $8.50. Entrees $5.50 to $9.95. Pizzas $6.50 to $17.50. Wines are $4 by the glass.

mjanuson@projo.com