The Godfather of Subs at Prima's Pizza Cafe

Hidden in the back of a Mountain Avenue strip mall, serves a lot more than what its name suggests. About a half a dozen pizza options greet you as you walk in the door, but pick up a menu, and you'll find everything from a chicken milanese entree to stromboli, all served with an Italian accent.

At lunch time, you place your order at the counter, in front of a large map of Sicily. The owners here may be Sicilian, but there's little about the menu that is specifically from the small island off the toe of Italy's boot. It covers almost every Italian American dish you can think of. Looking behind the counter, it's clear that this is a family-run operation, with more than one generation working the kitchen.

Next door is a good-sized dining room, with floor-to-ceiling columns, more than a dozen tables that look like they're made of granite, and a green, white and gray tile floor. Each table has shakers of salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder. KTU plays from the speakers during the day, and the noon-time crowd is a good mix of families and professionals on their lunch breaks.

Last year, . The margherita has a flavorful crust—much thicker than a usual margherita—topped with diced tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. The Grandma's slice was a thin, crispy, square slice, with sauce, mozzarella and a fresh basil leaf. The sausage and pepperoni slice was full of toppings, and more sweet than spicy.

This time, we tried the Godfather sub. Most standard deli sandwiches in this town follow a simple formula: about an inch of thinly sliced meat, a couple slices of cheese, lettuce, onions, tomato and either mayo or mustard. We always call the meat a generous serving, but it can be too much for the palate. After eating several of these in the last few months, the Italian sub at Prima was a refreshing change.

No single ingredient on this sandwich was overwhelming. In even proportions, this huge sandwich balanced ham, salami, prosciutto, provolone cheese, lettuce, onions, tomato and Italian dressing. I could taste every ingredient in every bite, from prosciutto, the salted pork leg from Parma, Italy, to the crunchy shredded lettuce to the zing of the Italian dressing. Even the onions were unusually subtle.

My only complaint with this sandwich: Too much Italian dressing on the bread. I loved the taste of the oil, vinegar and herb dressing, but it made parts of the bread soggy. More dressing on top of the sandwich, after it's made, and less on the base would make this a perfect sub. And even though it was large in size, we had no problems finishing it.

While we're partial to the Jersey-produced, cane sugar-sweetened Boylan sodas, Prima serves Stewarts sodas in its coolers, and also offers the usual selection of fountain sodas. A bottle of Stewarts cream soda (filled with the much-maligned high-fructose corn syrup) along with my sub brought my bill to $9.62.

Prima Pizza is in a rough location – hidden behind and in a parking lot that is often filled and difficult to navigate. It's not blessed with a Mountain Avenue storefront the way is, just down the street. But like Cioffi's, it's a family-run operation, and this is evident in the service and the quality of food. And judging by the traffic at lunchtime, Prima's location isn't deterring Springfield eaters.