Gold Dust Pizza expands to Sacramento area with new El Dorado Hills location
A family-owned pizza chain that started in Ripon is making its way to the capital region, as it opens a new restaurant in El Dorado Hills.
Gold Dust Pizza opened its El Dorado Hills location, 2201 Francisco Drive, Suite 150, on Wednesday. The Willey family opened its first pizza restaurant, Pizza Plus, in Ripon, which has since rebranded and expanded to seven locations. Beyond El Dorado Hills, the family has six other pizzerias in the Central Valley, including Modesto.
However, the family planned to relocate to Sacramento’s eastern suburbs, according to owner Moe Willey.
“We as a family would like to relocate to this area,” Willey said. “We like the Lake Tahoe area. We like all that, and we have good people in the the Valley that have worked with us for years and years. Those people are happy running those stores, and we’re gonna expand toward Sacramento.”
The restaurant is painted a muted red and green inside, with gold accents and Gold Rush-era paintings on the walls. Willey said she tries to curate the space to be like a Victorian hotel or like eating at your rich grandmother’s house.
“So if it was like the fanciest hotel from the Gold Rush-era, that would be me,” Willey said. “The guys are coming in, parking their horses outside and having a nice shot of whiskey.”
Gold Dust Pizza, which is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., offers chicken wings, pizza, calzones, beer, wine, soft drinks, salads and sandwiches. Specialty pizzas cost $20 for a small, $28 for a medium, $33 for a large and $36 for a giant. Willey’s favorite item on the menu was the “Miner Moe’s BBQ Chicken” specialty pizza, which included barbecue sauce, cheese, red onions, chicken, pineapple and bacon.
“It literally has everything,” Willey said of her favorite pizza. “The chicken is great. The pineapple’s good. Barbeque sauce is good.”
Specifically for the Sacramento area, Willey said, Gold Rush Pizza offers a fig and prosciutto pizza.
The El Dorado Hills restaurant is one of Gold Dust Pizza’s express locations, meaning it’s set up for to-go orders. Although there are several tables in store for those who want to eat in. However, the family hopes to open a larger restaurant within the next six months, particularly in Folsom. Roseville and Granite Bay are also on the family’s radar.
Willey said the family is looking for an exiting restaurant in Folsom that has a building ready for Gold Dust Pizza to take over, saying it makes for an easier transition.
“Anybody out there that wants to give us a call (about a prospective location), we’ll be happy to come look at their spot.”
In addition to Gold Dust Pizza, the family operates Ice Cream Emporium. The ice cream brand is not currently in the Sacramento area, Willey said, but the family is exploring a new location, possibly in El Dorado Hills as well.
