Rally Pizza to close at end of year

Vancouver’s Rally Pizza will close at the end of the year, the restaurant announced Friday. Its last day is Dec. 31.

Rally Pizza, which is the offspring of husband-and-wife owners Alan Maniscalco and Shan Wickham, opened six years ago in September at The Mill, 8070 E. Mill Plain Blvd.

“It’s with heavy hearts but hopeful eyes to the future that we announce Rally Pizza is permanently closing at the end of this year,” the couple wrote in their closing announcement last week.

They said it was no longer feasible for the restaurant to operate at its current scale with the economic challenges facing the industry.

“Over these last six years, we’ve stayed true to our commitment to create a welcoming, inclusive and family-friendly space, making nearly everything from scratch and supporting our amazing local farmers year-round,” they wrote.

Rally Pizza was known for its quality pizza and friendly atmosphere.

“The genius of Rally Pizza is that it is a five-star restaurant pretending to be just a neighborhood pizza joint,” read a Columbian article from 2018. “It is a family-friendly neighborhood pizza place, but one that offers up oven-roasted seasonal farm-to-table vegetable plates, seasonal craft cocktails and made-to-order frozen custard with housemade topping like devil’s food cake and cherry pie.”

Shortly after opening in 2016, Willamette Week called it the first great restaurant in Vancouver.

Maniscalco was the co-owner and chef at Ken’s Artisan Pizza in Portland before opening Rally Pizza. Wickham, meanwhile, served as pastry chef at Ken’s Artisan.

The restaurant made the Oregonian’s list of “Portland’s 50 most notable restaurant openings of 2017.”

In their closing announcement, the restaurateurs went on to thank their staff and customers, before encouraging people to visit the pizza shop before it closes.

“Help us celebrate the end of 2022 and the end of an era here at Rally Pizza,” they wrote.

The makeup of The Mill, formerly Garrison Square, has changed since it opened six years ago.

Smokehouse Provisions, which opened alongside Rally Pizza in 2016, closed in 2019 to make way for Smitty’s Original Coney Island. That, however, closed the same year.

It was announced last month that Portland’s Bless Your Heart Burgers would open at the shopping center this month. Seize the Bagel opened there about three years ago, replacing Pines Coffee. Woody’s Tacos and Ben’s Bottle Shop have been there since it opened.