Pizza Royal’s trademark is their thin, cracker-crust pizza with homemade sauce and lots of toppings. It’s not like anything you’ll find at the chain pizza places. Neither is the decor.

It’s filled with collectibles and memorabilia, with everything from cowboy boots to an old traffic light, giving it a country western flavor. When owners, Lore and Rob Teschner, were putting up log cabin siding on the outside of the building (trimmed in cowboy stars), Lore remembers someone hollering, “That doesn’t look Italian.”

“I told them it was cowboy pizza,” Rob laughs.

The siding went up after a tornado struck the restaurant in April. After it happened, police told the Teschners they thought looters were inside. It turns out, yes there were people inside, but they were loyal customers who had gone inside to make sure Lore was OK. Later, they helped the couple clean up after the disaster.

The customers are like that, they say, because after 17 years running the Pizza Royal, they have a lot of regulars. Rob says it’s because Lore spoils them. She gives everyone the VIP treatment, remembering their names and what kind of pizza they like. He says even though they don’t make anchovy pizza, she’s made one for a customer who brought in a tin of them. One customer wanted burnt pizza, so she gave him what he wanted. Some even have their own table. When Lore learned about a couple’s new baby named Henry, she found an old license plate with that name and hung it on the wall by where they always sit. Customers also bring in favorite memorabilia to decorate the walls, especially things from Benton High School (the Teschners’ alma mater), so you’ll see a 1950s Benton football jacket on the wall, along with old photos, a 1935 school paper, The Bentonian, and several signed football helmets from Benton. Anybody that has played football for Benton is encouraged to come in and sign one of them.

They want to keep it a place where families feel comfortable bringing the kids, so you won’t find beer on tap. Pizza comes in small (10-inch), medium (13-inch) and large (15-inch), ranging in price from $7.95 to $16.45. They also have a lunch special, which is an 8-inch pizza and salad for $6.95. And if you don’t care for pizza, they have hot ham and cheese, meatball and chicken sandwiches. Their hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. They are closed Sunday and Monday.