Trader Joe's Panzerotti Pizza Bites

Four bucks gets you "about 4 servings" of panzerotti. There were 11 little pizza pouches, like mini calzones, in our bag. It's another Italian import, and it's another disappointment, unfortunately.

On the plus side, there's absolutely nothing offensive about these little doughy doodads. They're made of soft flour on the outside and they're filled with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. 

Straight out of the air fryer, there are wisps of cheese just starting to ooze from the seams on the little pizza pockets. The only hint I had that these wouldn't be perfectly scrumptious was the curious absence of a fresh-baked pizza smell. There wasn't much odor at all, save for the scent of slightly toasty reheated wheat bread.

And the taste? The same. Remarkably bland for Italian food. You can tell there's cheese and sauce, but it's like they forgot all the spices. I see them listed in the ingredients, but I guess I just want more—more garlic, more oregano, more basil, more pepper.

The texture is pleasant. The shell is soft and fluffy, slightly crispy on the outside, depending on how long you air fry them. The cheese and sauce are nice and gooey, although most specimens could have used a lot more of both. It's mostly just empty space on the inside of the pockets.

You could salvage these by dipping them in tomato bisque or some other kind of creamy, thick soup. Or maybe you could add your own cheese and spices. Again, they're not awful, they just didn't live up to their potential and are far too bland in our opinions.

Seven out of ten stars from Sonia. Six out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Panzerotti Pizza Bites.

Bottom line: 6.5 out of 10.