Good Service, Prices, Food At Izzy's Pizza

------------------------------------------------------------------ Restaurant review

Izzy's Pizza, 12301 120th Ave. N.E., Kirkland, 820-9279. Open Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Hot buffet hours: Monday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:45-8 p.m., Friday through Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Beer and wine. No smoking. Checks and major credit cards accepted. ------------------------------------------------------------------

Good food, self-serve options, nice decor, great service and low prices make Izzy's Pizza Restaurant a standout.

Izzy's sets up a nice combination of serve-yourself and be-served. You may sit tight and comfy and be served an entire meal or get up and treat yourself to the "garden fresh" salad bar. From that point, you may elect to be served other items, or you may grab another plate and indulge yourself in the "hot-from-the-oven" buffet.

Who dreamed all this up? Manager John Loucks said Isabel Covalt founded the chain with her son-in-law and company president Fred Jansen. Before that, Izzy and her husband Jim ran a pizza restaurant in Albany, Ore. Izzy's Pizza Restaurants now number more than two dozen in two states. Izzy's has been in Kirkland five years.

Having grown up on a farm, it's not surprising that Izzy creates a good salad bar. It's crisp and cold with more than 40 items. Some of the offerings are delightfully unusual. The baked potato salad, Izzy's original recipe with dressing that hints of sour cream, is a favorite.

Puddings and mousses further dress up the salad bar. One parfait, called Raspberry Cheesecake, neared cheesecake in flavor but without the shape or crust. Yummier still was the chocolate mousse, with mini-chocolate chips, nuts and coconut sprinkled throughout.

It was hard to pull myself away from the salad bar to go to the hot buffet; that is, until I sampled its contents. Pizza by the slice, both thin- and thick-crust versions, was especially fun because I could have a little of this and a little of that.

Chicken, too, is for the taking, one type with a barbecue sauce and the other spiced, floured and fried. The blue ribbon goes to the baked beans, slow-cooked in a thick brown sugar and molasses sauce with thick pieces of bacon.

Hot dishes (lasagna, calzone and herb chicken filet) appear on the menu, too, to be served at the table. For dessert there are also Izzy's original cinnamon rolls (50 cents).

Soup comes with the salad bar or with sandwiches. I tried a satisfying bowl of cream of chicken soup with rice and mushrooms. Soup and a half sandwich runs $3.95.

Prices range from low to moderate. A person could gorge on a lunch of the salad bar, including soup and breadsticks, for $4.45, going through the line any number of trips. Salad and a pan pizza is only $4.95. A dinner of the hot buffet plus salad bar runs $6.99. But a salad and small pizza plus beverage tops $12, plus tip.

Children like Izzy's. Clowns appear on Monday nights. For the salad bar and hot buffet, kids pay 45 cents per year through age 12. Those under two eat free.