Because every restaurant is more than just what’s on the plate.

Pizzeria & Sub Shop | $$ | 1624 East Saint Patrick Street, Rapid City

The Part Where We Argue About Sandwiches

Nobody agrees on what a sandwich is. I mean, really agrees. Is a hot dog a sandwich? Technically, meat in a bun, so maybe. Is a burger? Most people say no, but they can’t tell you why. A calzone is just a folded pizza, except if you call it that in front of the right person, you’re starting a fight. And a sub, a real deli sub, is absolutely a sandwich by every definition that exists, except nobody who grew up eating subs calls them that.

We’ve built all these food categories that feel permanent and obvious, but the more you pull on the thread, the looser it gets. A taco is a taco until someone wraps it in a flour tortilla and calls it a burrito. A pizza is a pizza until Pauly’s puts gyros on one and we’re just sitting there staring at the menu.

Which is exactly how we ended up on East Saint Patrick Street.

Settling In

Pauly’s Pizzeria & Sub Co. has been at this since 1984. The room is bright and open, with big screens displaying the menu up front and a counter where you place your order. Hand-held food needs room, and Pauly’s gives it to you.

The tap wall is a genuinely nice touch. Pay by the ounce, pour what you want, and there’s enough variety that most people are going to find something that works. We visited during a triple-digit heatwave, and with ovens running full blast, the room was warm. They had a sign on the door warning you of that as you walked in, but it’s hot everywhere right now. That wasn’t going to stop me.

The Reason You’re There

We ordered the A-Lota Italy and the Gyros pizza, then the American Trio and the Pastrami & Swiss on the sub side.

The pizzas are solid. Both came out well-built with good coverage and a good bake. The crust deserves its own mention. The bottom was crisp without feeling greasy or floppy, and the interior stayed light with real flavor from the salt and char. We ate the last bare piece of crust. But the subs were what we kept coming back to.

The Pastrami & Swiss came out piping hot, which does something good to the swiss cheese and makes the turkey pastrami pop. The American Trio is ham, turkey, and hard salami on your bread of choice, proportioned perfectly so you can taste all three meats clearly.

The Little Stuff

Pauly’s has been feeding this town for over forty years. Look, nobody’s knocking Subway or Jimmy John’s. Jersey Mike’s has a following for a reason, and that reason is consistency. You always know what you’re walking into. But there’s a different kind of confidence in a local shop that’s been doing this since 1984 and still has the range to put a Gyros pizza and a Pastrami & Swiss on the same menu and pull both of them off. The chains aren’t built for that. Pauly’s just is.

Victoria’s Taste

“The American Trio was my favorite thing we tried. It’s not trying to be complicated, and it doesn’t need to be. Everything was proportioned just right and you could actually taste what you were eating. Simple doesn’t have to mean forgettable, and Pauly’s doesn’t let it.”

Final Bite

Does it really matter what we call it? Sandwich, sub, hoagie, whatever the case may be, at some point the category stops being the point. You’re hungry, there’s good food in front of you, and the rest is just semantics.

When we were there, Pauly’s had a baseball game and a handball match going on the screens. It was a Thursday, so the sports pickings were slim. But one guy in the room overheard us trying to figure out what we were watching and was kind enough to walk us through the rules. Apparently handball is a high school gym class sport you can actually play. Who knew. Somehow it all fit together, a Triple Jam Cider from the tap wall, a piping hot Pastrami & Swiss, and a stranger explaining handball like it was the most normal Thursday conversation in the world.

Nobody’s debating definitions. They’re just eating.

Taste the Room pays for every meal we review. We don’t accept comped food, and restaurants aren’t notified of our visit in advance. It’s how we keep our reviews honest and independent.