Francine Sustaita Chef-owner Poppy Hasani does his thing on a pepperoni pizza.

Brooklyn's Best Pizza & Pasta 2425 SE Green Oaks Blvd, #1, Arlington 817-784-3565; 11am-10pm Sun-Thu, 11am-11pm Fri-Sat; Credit Cards: AE, MC, V Neapolitan (thin crust) pizza by the slice: $1.50 Stromboli: $4.99 Meatball Parmigiana Italian hero sandwich: $3.99 Super Italian hero sandwich: $4.99 Spaghetti with mushrooms: $4.75

Brooklyn's Best is best by default. Although owner Billy Hasani and his brother, manager Poppy Hasani, are indeed from Brooklyn and do make a wickedly good meatball, there were no culinary "Wow!" moments during a recent visit. Brooklyn's is best when compared with the bevy of fast food available at the far southern reaches of 360. Spend a couple of bucks on a jumbo jack or a limp sub, or spend the same amount of money on a foot-long meatball parmigiana sandwich.

Brooklyn's Best is located in a strip mall and has been open for about four years. Entering the restaurant, the first thing you notice is the artwork. Two murals cover the walls on either side of the restaurant. One mural is a rendition of the Brooklyn Bridge done by an artist who tossed both scale and proportion to the wind. "The guy who painted the mural had never been to New York," Poppy Hasani recalled in a recent telephone interview. "He was painting from a textbook and put everything in the skyline," Hasani explained. "He even tried to put in the Statue of Liberty." A tiny plane tows a Brooklyn's Best banner, and although Poppy admits the plane in the mural is somewhat unsettling, there are no plans to change the painting.

The second mural is a whimsical rendition of a city street with a cast of characters from Archie Bunker and George Jefferson to Rocky Balboa and Marilyn Monroe. After twittering over the artwork, one notices two large banquettes worthy of a Godfather set except that they are right in front of large picture windows. One can probably assume that Brooklyn's Best is not troubled by gangland slayings.

Brooklyn's has no wait staff. Food is ordered at a counter and is announced when ready. It is an efficient system, but on a recent Sunday the remains of two large family dinners remained on the table long after the patrons had departed.

Brooklyn's shines when it makes Italian-style convenience food such as sandwiches. When served on French-style rolls, they have many names. In Philly and its surrounds they're called submarines or hoagies. In New Orleans they are called po' boys. Brooklyn's Best uses the sandwiches' noblest name, the Hero. We tried two hero sandwiches: a meatball parmigiana and an Italian super sub hero. The meatball hero was a triumph of meat, cheese, and bread. An abundant line of generously meaty meatball chunks rested upon a foot-long roll. The whole was topped with marinara, a sprinkle of Parmesan and melted mozzarella. The meatball parm succeeds or fails on the quality of the meatballs, obviously. Brooklyn's meatballs are made in-house. They were beefy and firm, with flecks of onion and parsley. Meatballs are not easy to make. If the cook uses too much filler, the meatballs will be firm and compact yet will taste like breadcrumbs rather than meat. Too little filler, and they'll fall apart. According to Poppy, the perfect meatballs are baked with a little bit of marinara and then allowed to rest in a warm oven where they reabsorb pan juices.

The super sub hero was also worthy of its name. A fresh, chewy roll was stuffed with thick slices of capocollo, sliced ham, salami, and provolone cheese. It was topped with shredded romaine lettuce and slices of tomato with a side of red vinaigrette. It was also a worthy sandwich.

The pasta is good, but for cheesy satisfaction, turn to a stromboli. Pizza dough is stretched thin and wrapped around sausage, pepperoni, ham, and mozzarella cheese. The seven-inch log of stuffed crust comes with a side of marinara, which also tops the meatball parm and was studded with mushrooms and served over spaghetti. It had a sturdy flavor that nonetheless hit high vinegary notes without tasting tart or appearing thin. It coated the spaghetti with vigor yet was not gloppy or artificially thick. We took home spaghetti with mushrooms. The sauce soaked into fat slices of fresh white mushrooms for a satisfying and light entrée.

Brooklyn's Best sells thin-crust Neapolitan and thick-crust Sicilian pizza. The crust on the slice of Neapolitan that we tried was appropriately chewy, toothsome, and topped with good-quality mozzarella. Although we like more sauce on our pies, the slice was good enough to intimate "bestness," as in Brooklyn's Best.