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The Daily Tar Heel

Spaghett-about it: the search for the best spaghetti in Chapel Hill

Amante Gourmet Pizza, serving up spaghetti realness

Amante Gourmet Pizza, serving up spaghetti realness

Spaghetti and meatballs has been my favorite meal since before I could actually spell spaghetti.

While my grandma’s spaghetti will always be the best, it’s always my mission to find the best spaghetti and meatballs wherever I live (in Winston-Salem it’s Di Lisio’s). 

Sunday = meatballs at the Di Lisio house.

A photo posted by Di Lisio's Italian Restaurant (@dilisios) on

Your stomach is probably still expanded from Thanksgiving, so you might as well eat some delicious carbs.

There are lots of places in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area to get spaghetti, but in my spaghetti research I tried to stick to cheaper options (if your spaghetti costs more than $12, it probably isn’t worth it).

The cheapest spaghetti and meatballs is the small size from Noodles & Company. It costs $7.19, but I personally think it’s better to size up to a regular and pay $8.59. If you prefer meat sauce to meatballs, Elmo’s Diner has a small serving of spaghetti with meat sauce for $7.95. 

My favorite thing about most of these places (Noodles & Company, Carrboro Pizza Oven and Italian Pizzeria III) is that they have a delivery service — if you have the opportunity to eat spaghetti in bed, why wouldn’t you take it? But if you want to walk to these places and have a sit-down meal, Noodles & Company is the closest place for a spaghetti fix at 0.9 miles from the Pit. 

Another thing to consider while on a spaghetti-eating extravaganza are the people you’re with. Do they like spaghetti? Do they even like Italian food? If they are one of these unfortunate souls (with bad taste), going to Elmo’s is your best bet. They have lots of options for the pasta-haters in your life.

It was very difficult to choose a personal favorite, but I eventually settled on Amante Gourmet Pizza’s spaghetti and meatballs. It’s the most expensive option and it’s pretty far away, but they make some high-quality spaghetti and serve the biggest portions. 

So go ahead and live your life and eat your weight in spaghetti. You’ll probably regret it the next day, but it is so, so worth it.

@karynhbrown

swerve@dailytarheel.com

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