Roli Roti is Out at Fremont Food Hall, Fremont Pizza Company’s Up Next

By Scott Roeben, on April 07 2025
3 min read 6 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Restaurants

Fremont casino’s excellent food court has suffered its first casualty, Roli Roti. The Bay Area brand featuring rotisserie meats just didn’t click with Fremont guests and has closed.

Set to replace it is Fremont Pizza Company, a new offering from Boyd Gaming. Fremont Pizza Company is tentatively scheduled for a May 1, 2025 opening.

Given pizza is nature’s perfect food, we approve of the new use of the space and are optimistic is will fare better than Roli Roti, despite the fact the world’s best pizza is just across the street at Pizza Rock.

Let’s hope this is a placeholder image. Sliced tomatoes on pizza is like matching with your sister on Bumble.

As we’ve shared in the past, Boyd did a great job with its food court (sorry, food hall) at Fremont.

Craft Kitchen, Huey Magoo’s (boasting some of the best chicken tenders in town), Tomo Noodles and the always-reliable Dunkin’ Donuts are all winning partnerships. The weakest concept is Steak ‘N Shake, but it still tends to have a line and serves its purpose for the drunchies crowd on Fremont Street.

While Roli Roti didn’t make the cut, the Fremont Food Hall has had zero churn since it opened in Dec. 2022, which is rare.

There aren’t many details about the Fremont Pizza Company yet, but the official site says, “Our Brooklyn ‘deck oven’ pizzas are made with 100% whole milk mozzarella and San Marzano tomato sauce.”

Yeah, a little thin. “Deck oven pizzas” use a baking oven with stone or ceramic decks (flat surfaces) where the pizza is placed directly on the surface to cook. Deck ovens are commonly used because they allow for even heat distribution, giving the pizza a crisp crust. The other types of ovens are conveyor belt or wood-fired ovens. Deck ovens are typically used for pizza where the dough is thin and the toppings are cooked quickly at a high temperature. The stone or ceramic surface of the deck absorbs moisture from the dough, which helps to create a crispy crust.

As for the cheese, 100% whole milk mozzarella offers a creamier texture, better stretch, richer flavor and more even browning when compared to part-skim or low-moisture mozzarella, which master pizzaiolos refer to as having the same flavor as “i testicoli di un mulo impotente” (roughly translated, “testicles of an impotent mule”).

According to our on-staff pizza expert, ChatGPT, San Marzano tomato sauce is considered great for pizza because these tomatoes are known for their naturally sweet, less acidic flavor, and their thick, rich texture. Grown in the volcanic soil of Italy’s San Marzano region, they have a perfect balance of sweetness and tang, which enhances the overall flavor of the pizza without overpowering it. Their low moisture content also helps prevent the pizza crust from getting soggy, while providing a smooth, flavorful base that complements the cheese and toppings. Which we knew off the top of our head, but we like to highlight the contributions of our team members occasionally.

Fremont Pizza Company will be operated by Boyd’s own food and beverage team.

We trust Boyd will be watching the reception to Fremont Pizza Company as it populates the dining options at its other casinos, including Suncoast, which is getting a food hall as well, but the specifics haven’t been announced yet.

Pizza checks a box and if it’s reasonably good, Fremont Pizza Company is likely to keep guests in the building, which is the core business strategy of Boyd Gaming. It’s why the company refuses to open outdoor bars on Fremont Street, despite such bars being incredibly lucrative for its competitors. Players might leave their slot machines.

Boyd also broke ground on another locals casino, Cadence Crossing, and they’ll need pizza in the casino’s gastropub, so Fremont is a good testing ground.

Unlike the Las Vegas Strip, downtown is bubbling over with great pizza. Beyond Pizza Rock, there’s Pop Up Pizza at Plaza, Evel Pie on Fremont East, Whiskey Licker Up at Binion’s and the outstanding BBQ chicken flatbread at Project BBQ at Circa.

You know we’ll be first in line to check out Fremont Pizza Co. when it opens in May. In the meantime, Pizza Rock is 15 seconds north. And they dumped their paper straws, so all it right with the world again.