By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–A new pizza restaurant that prides itself on fresh, high-quality ingredients is set to open soon in the Helena Marketplace Shopping Center.

All Original Pizzeria is taking over the former location of Hungry Howie’s Pizza at 215 Helena Marketplace and owners Christopher Waters and Suvas Berawala are ready to start serving pizza and many other items to hungry customers.

All Original Pizzeria has served the city of McCalla for more than a decade as the pizza restaurant’s original location opened in 2003. The opening of the Helena restaurant marks the second location.

In March of 2016, Waters and Berawala took over ownership of All Original Pizzeria in McCalla and after several months of success, the two decided to look at expanding to another location.

“Because of the results of good food and all that we did pretty good in the last year,” Berawala said. “Finally, at the end of December I had an idea pop up in my head that ‘why don’t we have another branch?’ So we talked about three areas including Helena, Hueytown and Woodstock. We looked at all the possibilities of places and this was a greater opportunity for us so we grabbed it and that’s how we got into Helena.”

Berawala said he spends most of his time crunching the numbers and the commercial side of the business, while Waters is more focused on managing the store, the quality of the food and the operational side of what makes the restaurant successful.

In addition to pizza, the menu at All Original Pizzeria includes salads, calzones, hoagies, pasta, lasagna, muffaletta, wings and desserts to complete its diverse Italian menu.

When asked what were some of the customer favorites, Waters said a pizza dubbed the “Everything” that includes pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, Canadian bacon, beef, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, black olives, green olives and extra cheese, as well as their wings are big hits.

“I would say the ‘Everything’ pizza is a main draw,” Waters said. “It has I don’t even know how many toppings off the top of my head but it’s a good bit of toppings. It has almost all of our meats, all of our vegetables and that’s a big thing. We sell a bunch of those. We also believe we have the best wings that you can get and I haven’t tasted any better. Whenever I’m buying anything or trying to find ingredients it really is quality first for me.”

Waters said the restaurant spends plenty of time prepping ingredients such as chopping fresh vegetables and meats to insure quality taste. A mixture of provolone and mozzarella cheese is used on each pizza.

The goal for Waters and Berawala is to open the restaurant on Saturday, Sept. 16, but this is based on a number of factors including the impact Hurricane Irma has on food distributors and point of sale operations.

“The main thing is we want to open with a full menu,” Waters said. “If someone calls in and asks for a fettuccini alfredo with banana peppers in it, we’re going to be able to do that.”

All Original Pizzeria will offer carryout, online ordering and deliver with hours of operation Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m.

For more information, visit Alloriginalpizzeria.com.