Bethany Reeves contributed to this story–
Since opening for business in January, a new family-operated restaurant in Citrus Heights has been serving up pizza and more at the corner of Sunrise Boulevard and Woodmore Oaks Drive.
Lil’ Blondie’s Pizzeria, located behind AutoZone and 7-Eleven at 6916 Sunrise Blvd., offers eight signature pizza recipes, all named after family members of the owner, Lori Wojdan. The menu also includes wings, salads, oven-baked sandwiches, and an option to create your own custom pizza.
So far, customers have given the new restaurant an impressive thumbs-up in online reviews, with a total of 36 reviewers on Yelp giving the restaurant an average 4.5-out-of-5-star rating. Wojdan said her best-selling pizza is Sparky’s Supreme, which features a homemade red sauce, mozzarella cheese, and a mix of veggies and three kinds of meats.
The 48-year-old business owner previously owned a food truck in the Fresno/Clovis area called Blondie’s and named her new business Lil’ Blondie’s to distinguish the two. The 1200-square-foot location, previously home to another pizzeria, Pizza Amore, seats up to 40 customers and is furnished with four different televisions in different corners of the room.
Wojdan said she moved to the area in mid-December, before escrow closed at the beginning of January, calling it a “leap of faith.”
“I was looking to relocate, and I happened to come across this pizza place in this area,” Wojdan told The Sentinel in an interview. “I ended up making an offer and purchasing the business. This has been a pizza place for 20 years.”
Although roadwork on Sunrise Boulevard has caused traffic delays and detours in front of her pizzeria, she said the local Chamber of Commerce and the City of Citrus Heights have been helpful in assisting her new business. She also said the community and customers have been very welcoming to her.
“We’ve acquired a lot of regulars. It’s been going great,” Wojdan said. “For a new business we were doing really good, and then the road construction kind of hampered a little bit. But we’re surviving at this point.”
Q&A: What’s happening with the roadwork on Sunrise Blvd?
If everything goes well down the road, Wojdan said she’d like to expand in the future.
The restaurant is currently open weekdays from 3-9 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Hours on Sundays are noon to 7 p.m., and happy hour specials are offered from 3 to 6 p.m. daily.
