LaRosa’s Pizzeria in Cincinnati, OH

The Facts:

Pizza: LaRosa’s Pizzeria

Business Category: Regional chain (locations in 3 states, based in Cincinnati, OH)

Website: http://www.larosas.com/

Location: 11711 Princeton Pike in Springdale, OH (across Princeton Pike from Tri-County Mall)

Date of Review Visit: October 23, 2022

What I Ordered: Large pan pizza (14”) with extra sausage and extra cheese, cherry Coke to drink

Price: $23.32 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Disclaimer:

LaRosa’s Pizza is my first love among pizzas.  It is the pizza that got my entire pizza passion started.  Having grown up in Cincinnati, I still remember the special occasions that always involved my family getting a LaRosa’s Pizza.  I tried to be objective with this pizza review, but you can imagine how that went.

The Micro:

Crust: LaRosa’s offers three choices for crust: thin, super crust, and pan.  On this visit, I chose the pan crust, the thickest of the three options.  The pan crust was perfect thickness; it has the crunchy outside but chewy inside texture that makes for a good thick crust.  The pizza was well-baked, and the bottom of crust had that special LaRosa’s taste that I still have not quite figured out.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: LaRosa’s sells its pizza sauce separately, and for good reason: it is a fantastic sauce.  The sauce uses high quality ingredients and has just the right amount of seasoning with spices.  I really like it.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The pizza is well-cheesed, and LaRosa’s uses only high quality provolone cheese, the perfect pizza cheese.  Hence, there is a very small amount of grease.  Perfecto!  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The sausage is high quality, but unfortunately the pizza lacks somewhat in quantity unless you order the double sausage as I did.  This potential for skimping leads to a deduction here.  Score: 8/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The appearance is quite good save for the low amount of sausage.  LaRosa’s has a casual dining atmosphere, and I have always enjoyed the service.  Score: 9/10.

Value: The price is somewhat low given the quality of pizza and dining experience you get. LaRosa’s stacks up far better than its casual dining competitors in this category.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: As you might expect given the above, the taste is fantastic.  I almost never give perfect scores in taste (just what does a perfect tasting pizza taste like anyhow?), but for my first love in pizzas....  Score: 20/20.

The Final Judgment:

LaRosa’s is a Cincinnati favorite, and it remains my favorite pizza even though I have not lived in Ohio since 2005.  If you find yourself in Cincinnati, stop by LaRosa’s so that it can become your favorite too.  Score: 74/80.

Johnny’s New York Style Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Johnny’s New York Style Pizza

Business Category: Regional Chain (locations in 8 states, based in Atlanta, GA)

Website: http://johnnyspizza.com/index.php

Location: 1040 Gaines School Rd. in Athens, GA (east side)

Date of Review Visit: May 26, 2013

What I Ordered: Large pizza (16”) with sausage and pepperoni

Price: $17.59 (without coupon; includes tax but no drink or tip)

 

The Micro:

Crust: For a pizza restaurant with “New York Style Pizza” in its name, the crust is thicker than you would expect.  It is also thicker than I remember it being on previous visits.  Even worse, the crust is completely black underneath due to overbaking.  I have eaten some good crust here in the past, but the crust on this visit was not up to their usual standards.  Score: 6/10.

Sauce: The sauce has good consistency and a good fresh taste.  Unfortunately, it is not evenly distributed on the pizza.  Some areas have thick globs of sauce, while others are nearly sauceless.  This sauce is pretty good, but the application needs improvement.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: This pizza is slightly undercheesed, and the cheese has only average taste.  On the bright side, the cheese is of good quality, as evidenced by the lack of grease.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The toppings are very good.  The sausage is of the ground variety, not the pellet variety.  Both the sausage and pepperoni have just the right amount of spiciness.  Also, the toppings appear in fair to above average quantity.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The appearance takes a hit due to the undercheesing and uneven distribution of toppings and sauce.  The service here is very slow, and that has been the case for as long as I can remember.  Employee turnover among servers is also a problem.  The atmosphere is quite good with some nice TV screens and old pictures of New York on the walls.  Score: 6/10.

 

Value: The price here is rather steep, but the quality is only above average.  If you order carryout, the large pizza box will contain a $2-off coupon that will make the price of your next large pizza reasonable.  With the coupon, the value is decent.  Without the coupon, you can get an 18” pizza down the street at DePalma’s for about the same price.  Score: 5/10.

Taste: The taste is better than you might expect given some of the micro scores above.  This is good pizza even if it is not New York style pizza.  Also, although this is a pizza blog, I note that the calzones at Johnny’s taste better than the pizza.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

Johnny’s is not my favorite pizza in Athens, but it is pretty good.  Johnny’s is better than the national chains, and it makes a nice change of pace from the usual pizza fare.  Score: 57/80.

Your Pie

The Facts:

Pizza: Your Pie

Business Category: Regional Chain (18 locations, based in Athens, GA)

Website: http://www.yourpie.com/

Location: 1045B Gaines School Rd. in Athens, GA (east side)

Date of Review Visit: April 28, 2013

What I Ordered: Your Pie (10” pizza) with Italian sausage and pepperoni

Price: $9.58 (includes tax but no drink or tip)

The Micro:

Crust: As its name suggests, Your Pie has only one pizza-related menu item: made-to-order individual-sized pizzas.  The crust is the ultra-thin southern style, and you can choose between white and wheat.  On this visit, the pizza I ordered was rather overbaked, leaving the crust black around the edges and underneath.  In short, the crust was not the strength of this pizza, but there are still things to like here.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: Your Pie has several sauces to choose from, but I chose the standard tomato sauce.  The sauce has good consistency and taste.  The pizza seemed undersauced, but that is in tune with the paper-thin crust.  Overall, the sauce is pretty good.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: Again, there are several cheese combinations to choose from, but I chose the standard cheese, which is mozzarella.  The quality and quantity of the cheese were both average to slightly above average, but the pure mozzarella blend did not have a lot of flavor.  Surely there is a better “standard” blend than this one.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: The quantity of the toppings is passable but no more, and the sausage and pepperoni I ordered here had only an average amount of flavor (as opposed to slightly above average spiciness).  Toppings are divided into two categories: standard and premium.  Of course, the premium toppings cost $1 extra, and that leads to the main complaint I have about this pizza: EVERY meat topping is a premium topping!  Since when is run-of-the-mill pepperoni a premium topping?  This pricing may be great for making a socio-political statement, but it is horrible if you are a carnivore like me trying to order a tasty pizza.  Score: 5/10

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance passes muster except for the blackened crust.  The dining room has a functional feel with a nice outdoor seating area.  The service was quite good, and it is nice to watch them assemble your pizza as you order it.  Also, every math professor has a soft spot for a restaurant where the servers wear T-shirts advertising pie day (March 14, or 3.14).  Score: 8/10.

Value: I am afraid this pizza is rather overpriced, especially if you order more than 1 meat toppings.  (No, I will not let my issue about the topping prices go.)  If you have a large group to feed on a budget, forget about Your Pie.  On the bright side, the Tuesday special actually brings the price down from the amount posted here to something reasonable.  Score: 4/10

Taste: The taste of Your Pie pizza is an acquired one, but I got hooked rather quickly.  The crust, sauce, and cheese work together quite well.  This would be a real winner but for some better tasting toppings and the overbaking.  Score: 17/20

The Final Judgment:

Customization is the selling point here.  If you like exotic (by my standard) vegetable toppings, then this may be your pie, pun fully intended.  Most of us “regular” folks will find better value and quality elsewhere.  Score: 56/80