Antonio’s has sold its last slice.
After 17 years of serving Aggies, Antonio’s Pizza by the Slice permanently closed its doors the weekend of Nov. 6. The owners cited issues on Northgate such as parking challenges as their reason for selling the building space. Though the owners said a new pizza place should be replacing Antonio’s shortly, many Aggies are disappointed and plan on boycotting the new joint.
After hearing that Antonio’s had closed down, university studies senior Jessica Moreno said she would miss the place.
“We would go every time after going to Northgate,” Moreno said. ”It was always a long line, but we would wait in it because we love the pizza so much.”
Though there are other food options on Northgate, Moreno said they don’t compare.
“This past weekend, I got a little sad because I wanted to go [to Antonio’s], and it’s not there anymore,” Moreno said. “There’s other food, but it’s not the same as Antonio’s.”
That was when she came up with the idea for the memorial, Moreno said, which has gone viral on Aggie Twitter and Instagram.
“For [Texas] A&M at least, we memorialize everything,” Moreno said. “I woke up Tuesday and texted [my roommate] Astrid that I wanted to do a memorial for Antonio’s,” Moreno said. “I was like ‘Do you want to help me?’ And she was down, so we bought all this stuff.”
The memorial features handwritten signs, reading, “Gone but not forgotten” and “Gig ‘em forever,” as well as candles and flowers.
Nursing senior Astrid Torres-Johnson said the popularity of the memorial and the amount of pictures taken of it were surprising.
“I don’t think a lot of people know we did it, but I have seen it on everybody’s stories, which is kind of cool,” Torres-Johnson said. “I really expected more people to add to it, but I think they’ve only added beers and koozies.”
Frequent Antonio’s patron Sarah Turner, Class of 2015, said the pizza place was part of the draw of returning to College Station after graduating from A&M.
“I make it a point to go back there every time I visit,” Turner said. “In the past six years since I’ve graduated, if I go to College Station, Antonio’s is guaranteed. I went there all the time during my undergrad. I could probably put together an entire photo album on my phone of pictures of Antonio’s.”
Though Antonio’s is not a recognized tradition, Turner said it’s become close, since many students have shared experiences there.
“I genuinely liked their pizza, but obviously, I have emotional ties to it for other reasons,” Turner said. “I lived close to that area [during] my senior year, and I stayed in College Station an extra year after I graduated, so it was close by me, and I just loved the pizza-by-the-slice concept. I’m the kind of person who can’t make up my mind as far as food, so I liked that without getting a whole pizza, you could pick a piece of buffalo chicken, a piece of Florentine.”
Because the restaurant closed without warning, Turner said she was unable to say goodbye or have a last slice of pizza.
“I’ve commented on their Instagram posts, pleading for them to come back,” Turner said. “If they had given a warning, like, ‘Hey, we’re going to close in two weeks,’ I would have driven to College Station from Fort Worth to eat there again one more time. I probably would have cried the whole time, too, but I would’ve made a six hour round trip just to get there.”
Since she is no longer local, Turner said she doesn’t plan on trying the pizza joint that will replace Antonio’s.
“I feel like a lot of why I went there was because I was familiar with it, and I had a special attachment to it,” Turner said. “I may hold a bit of a grudge and refuse to go just out of principle. There’s plenty of things to eat around there now, and I don’t have any connection to the new place.”
