Sophia’s Pizzeria in Hartsville, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: Sophia’s Pizzeria

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://hartsvillesbestpizza.com/

Location: 128 East College Avenue in Hartsville, SC (near Coker College)

Date of Review Visit: December 21, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (10”) pizza with Canadian bacon and pepperoni; Mr. Pibb to drink

Price: $10.72 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Sophia’s Pizzeria makes Greek-style pizza.  The pan crust has a perfect texture: crunchy on the outside but chewy on the inside.  My pizza was baked the perfect amount.  Greek pizza is not my favorite style, but this crust is excellent.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: On the other hand, the sauce on this pizza is not the best.  The sauce does not have much taste, and the pizza is slightly undersauced.  When I did get a taste of just the sauce, it tasted somewhat overspiced.  Score: 5/10.

Cheese: The cheese tastes like good quality provolone, and it appears in good quantity.  Sprinkling on the parmesan they bring to your table (without you asking for it) only adds to the flavor.  What’s not to like? Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The Canadian bacon is excellent: it tastes like ham with a little extra sweetness, as it should.  The pepperoni is pretty average: it comes in thin slices and produces a lot of grease.  I could taste some spices in the pepperoni, but it is not good quality meat.  Both toppings appear in good quantity.  Score: 7/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is excellent, as is the service.  The dining atmosphere is that of a typical small town diner, homey but a little stale.  Score: 8/10.

Value: Sophia’s makes pretty good quality pizza, and the price is reasonable.  Thus, the value is better than average.  Score: 8/10.

Taste: This pizza produces a nice balance of crunchiness and gooeyness, spiciness and sweetness.  While not quite top-quality, everything comes together pretty well.  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

Their URL says it all: Sophia’s Pizzeria makes Hartsville’s best pizza, and it stacks up pretty well on an absolute basis too.  Score: 65/80.

Peppino's Pizza in Athens, GA

The Facts:

Pizza: Peppino’s Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: (none)

Location: 2597 S. Milledge Ave. in Athens, GA (corner of Milledge Ave. and Whitehall Rd.)

Date of Review Visit: November 28, 2015

What I Ordered: 1 slice of pizza with Italian sausage and pepperoni; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $5.50

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Peppino’s Pizza comes in the very thin New York style with only a narrow thick area around the edges.  I couldn’t taste (or hardly even find) the crust under the pizza, but the crust around the edge had a decent well-baked bready taste.  Score: 6/10.

Sauce: This is an odd situation.  The pizza is very undersauced, but what sauce there is has a nice tomatoey taste.  Unfortunately, the sauce is probably the strength of this pizza.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in average quantity, but it produces a lot of grease.  Sprinkling on some parmesan slightly improves what is a rather bland taste.  Overall, this cheese is pretty bad.  Score: 3/10.

Toppings: Both toppings appear in good quantity.  The pepperoni slices are very thin; they have a little spice but no real flavor.  The sausage is tastier than the pepperoni, and it appears to be freshly sliced.  Score: 7/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: Peppino’s Pizza looks like the cheaply made college town pizza that it is.  The dining room has a nice casual atmosphere with booths and TV’s.  The restaurant has counter service, and the service worked fine on my visit.  Score: 7/10.

Value: For only 1 slice of medium-quality pizza, the price is actually fairly high.  Thus, there is no real value to be found here at all.  Score: 3/10.

Taste: The super thin crust ensures that this pizza has little substance, and the bad cheese really hurts the overall taste.  There are worse-tasting pizzas around, but this one is far from the best.  Score: 13/20.

The Final Judgment:

For a quick single slice snack, Peppino’s Pizza is passable, but there are far better pizza options in Athens.  Score: 46/80.

Tuscany Tavern in Spartanburg, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: Tuscany Tavern

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://www.tuscanytavernsc.com/

Location: 3257 Carolina Country Club Road in Roebuck, SC (suburban Spartanburg)

Date of Review Visit: November 12, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (8”) pizza with Italian sausage and pepperoni; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.72 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Tuscany Tavern’s hand-tossed crust has a fresh bready taste.  The crust also has a stretchy texture, and it is a little too bulky on the edge but rather thin underneath.  I’ve had better crusts, but I’ve also had far worse.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce has a fresh, robust tomatoey taste.  The sauce appears in good quantity.  This pizza may even have too much sauce: I spilled some on my shirt.  The sauce’s taste really stands out from everything else, and it is the strength of this pizza.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: Contrary to the sauce, nothing really stands out about the cheese, so the cheese blend is somewhat bland.  The cheese is applied with decent quantity.  Sprinkling on some parmesan helps the bland taste, but only a little.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni has just enough zip without being overspiced, and the same is true for the sausage.  The medium-thick slices of each provide enough substance without being bulky.  Overall, I like these toppings.  Score: 10/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is fine, and the service was prompt and friendly on my visit.  The restaurant’s atmosphere is odd.  The dining room side has a nice ambiance with quiet music and low tavern-like lighting.  The bar side, on the other hand, is bright and noisy.  A wall separates the two sides.  The Baptist in me did not like the bar atmosphere, but the wall made the situation bearable.  Score: 6/10.

Value: The price is low with good quality, but this is only an 8” pizza.  Thus, the value is only a little better than average.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: The fresh sauce really dominates the taste buds.  I normally don’t like a lot of sauce on my pizza, but I savored every taste of sauce on this pizza.  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

Despite the Tavern name, Tuscany Tavern makes a surprisingly good pizza.  If you prefer quiet dining, I recommend coming here early in the day when the bar side is quieter.  Score: 66/80.

Tommy K’s Pizza and Pub in Manchester, NH

The Facts:

Pizza: Tommy K’s Pizza and Pub

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://www.tommyksmanchester.com/

Location: 2323 Brown Ave. in Manchester, NH (just south of I-293, exit 3)

Date of Review Visit: August 8, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (10”) pizza with sausage and pepperoni

Price: $9.21 (includes tax but not drink)

The Micro:

Crust: Tommy K’s makes pizza with the typical northern-style pan crust.  The crust has a good texture, which is crunchy on the outside but chewy on the inside.  The crust’s strong salty taste brings the score down somewhat, but this is still an above average crust.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: The sauce is applied with good quantity, and it has nice tomato-ey taste.  On my taste palette, this sauce is very good.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The cheese tastes and looks like 100% mozzarella, but it produces too much grease for good quality cheese.  On the bright side, the cheese appears in good quantity.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: The sausage is down right terrible: it is charred and tastes like biting into a salt keg.  The pepperoni is a little better: it has some spiciness and good thickness.  The quantity of both toppings is slightly better than average.  Score: 5/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is OK except for the charred sausage.  The dining room has a bar-like atmosphere, which may appeal to some people but is not to my liking.  As you might expect for a bar, the service was somewhat informal and disorganized.  Score: 5/10.

Value: The price is low, but the quality is not great.  Thus, the value metric only grades out slightly better than average.  Score: 6/10.

Taste: The salty taste of the crust, cheese, and sausage really dominates this pizza.  I tasted too much salt for this pizza to earn a high score on the taste metric.  Score: 14/20.

The Final Judgment:

Tommy K’s makes a passable pizza, but the taste is as salty at Pizza Hut, which is a difficult feat to accomplish.  This pizza has too much salt for me to recommend it.  Score: 54/80.

Brattleboro Village Pizza in Brattleboro, VT

The Facts:

Pizza: Brattleboro Village Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://www.villagepizzaexit3.com/

Location: 1155 Putney Rd. in Brattleboro, VT (at I-91, exit 3, 3^rd exit from the traffic circle)

Date of Review Visit: August 3, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (10”) pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and Canadian bacon

Price: $11.83 (includes tax but not drink)

The Micro:

Crust: I was looking for some traditional northern-style pan pizza on my recent trip to New England, and Brattleboro Village Pizza did not disappoint.  The crust is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside; it is about 1” thick around edge and just thick enough underneath.  My pizza was baked perfectly.  Magnifico!  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in good quantity, and it has a very sweet taste, even sweeter than Papa Johns.  I have only written that last phrase about one previous pizza. My opinion is that tomato sauce should taste like tomatoes, not a bag of sugar.  Nevertheless, this sauce is pretty good for the style it is.  Score: 9/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in good quantity, and it produces some but not lots of grease.  The taste gets lost in the sweetness of the sauce, so the cheese has no discernible flavor.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The sausage has just the right amount of spiciness.  The pepperoni comes in nice thick slices.  The Canadian bacon is very sweet; it tastes like it is glazed in brown sugar or honey.  All toppings appear in good quantity.  Overall, these toppings really hit the mark.  Score: 10/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance was excellent.  The lady serving me could enter my order faster than I could place it; that’s impressive and a first for me.  The dining atmosphere is purely functional, making for the only slight deduction on this criterion.  Score: 9/10.

Value: Brattleboro Village Pizza uses an odd pricing structure for their toppings.  For a small pizza, the 1^st topping costs $1.15, while each topping thereafter costs only $0.25.  This pricing encourages you to pile on the toppings.  There’s also Vermont’s confiscatory 10% restaurant tax.  Outsiders don’t call this place the People’s Republic of Vermont for no reason.  Overall, the high price ensures that this pizza is not great value, but it scores better than you might expect due to the excellent quality.  Score: 5/10.

Taste: As you can guess from the comments above, the sweetness of the sauce and the Canadian bacon overpowers everything else.   I prefer sweet to spicy, so this is a pretty good tasting pizza on my palette.  Score: 18/20.

The Final Judgment:

Brattleboro Village Pizza makes very good pizza if you don’t mind the sweetness.  I don’t mind the sweetness, and therefore I give it high marks.  Score: 69/80.

New York Pizza and Pasta in Anderson, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: New York Pizza and Pasta

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-Pizza-and-Pasta/106642760880

Location: 194 Civic Center Blvd. in Anderson, SC (in a small strip mall between Tractor Supply and AmStar Cinema)

Date of Review Visit: July 25, 2015

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

Price: $16.88 (includes tax but not drink)

The Micro:

Crust: True to the New York in its name, the crust offered by New York Pizza and Pasta is thick on the edge but thin underneath.  The crust has a fresh bready taste, but the crust’s texture on my pizza was problematic because my pizza was slightly overbaked.  Thus, the crust had a tough cardboard-like texture (not a cardboard taste, mind you).  This crust is not bad, but I’ve had better.  Score: 5/10.

Sauce: Again true to its New York billing, this pizza does not have much sauce.  What sauce does exist has a thick consistency with a fresh tomato-y taste.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: While the cheese appears in great quantity, it also produces above average grease.  Thus, while this cheese blend has a tasty flavor, the grease is a red flag and a mandatory deduction.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: I actually didn’t like the taste of the toppings much at first, but the more I ate the more I liked them.  The pepperoni has nice thickness and some but not overwhelming spiciness.  The sausage has just the right balance between spice and pork taste.  The toppings appear in good quantity except for 1 slice that had no sausage.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The New York style crust and crumbled sausage give the pizza a typical New York style appearance.  The picture on the box appears very low resolution and grainy.  I don’t usually comment on the box, but the picture quality was especially awful in this case.  The dining room seemed to be small and functional with some nice large TV’s.  Communication with my server was a little awkward (odd greeting and seldom takes carryout orders it seemed), but the service was not bad all things considered.  Score: 7/10.

Value: The price is higher than average, but this is a 16” pizza, not the usual 14” pizza the national chains call a large.  The quality is also pretty good, so the price/quality value ratio grades out better than you might initially think.  Giant and super-giant pizza sizes of 20” and 28” respectively potentially help on the price side too.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: The toppings greatly improve what is otherwise a slightly above average tasting pizza.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

New York Pizza and Pasta is not quite the best pizza in Anderson (see DiVinci’s or Mellow Mushroom for that), but it is pretty good.  This restaurant deserves a spot in your pizza rotation.  Score: 60/80.

Jack's Pizza in Indianapolis, IN

The Facts:

Pizza: Jack’s Pizza

Business Category: Regional Chain (11 locations, all near Indianapolis, IN)

Website: http://jackspizza1966.com/#home

Location: 86^th St. and Michigan Ave. in northwest Indianapolis

Date of Review Visit: June 13, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (10”) pizza with sausage and pepperoni

Price: $10.34 (includes tax but not drink)

The Micro:

Crust: Jack’s Pizza has an odd crust: it is thin and crispy but not too thin.  The crust is ¼ to ½ inch thick under the entire pizza.  The crust is loaded edge to edge with toppings, and my pizza was baked just the right amount.  This crust is different, but I like it.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: I didn’t notice the sauce much, but not because the pizza is undersauced.  Rather the sauce blends in very well with the rest of pizza.  When I did specifically put my tongue on the sauce, it had a yummy tomato-y taste that was not the least bit overspiced.  This sauce is very good.  Score: 9/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in great quantity and produces almost no grease.  The cheese tastes like good quality mozzarella or provolone.  Sometimes I would downgrade for using only 1 type of cheese but not when they include this much of it.  Excellent!  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: Both meats are a little spicy but neither is overspiced.  I could still taste the meat over the spice.  They appear in good quantity also.  What’s not to like?  Score: 10/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The abundant plain white cheese dominates the pizza’s appearance.  The jacks (the metal kids toy) printed on the front of the box are an odd touch.  The location I visited has no dining area, and it does not even have a place to sit while they are making your pizza.  This is the first time I have been forced to stand while my pizza was baking (after I had already been hiking all day), and that inconvenience leads to a deduction.  The service was prompt and fine.  Score: 8/10.

Value: Jack’s makes good quality pizza.  The price is high (remember that no drink is included in the price I posted above), but it is nowhere near the most expensive pizza around.  Thus, the price/quality ratio grades out pretty well.  Score: 8/10.

Taste: All of the parts are very good, but then they sprinkle some extra herbs over the cheese.  As a result, you taste only the herbs at first.  The extra herbs tend to wear on your palette until you get used to them, and only then do you start tasting the rest of the pizza.  The overall taste would be far better with fewer extra herbs.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

Congratulations Indianapolis! You have a 70+ rated pizza that is among the best I have had anywhere.  Stop here and enjoy it often.  Score: 70/80.

Cassano's Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Cassano’s Pizza

Business Category: Regional Chain (33 locations, all near Dayton, OH)

Website: http://cassanos.com/

Location: 430 W. Main Street in New Lebanon, OH (on US 35 near Family Dollar)

Date of Review Visit: June 11, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (9”) pizza with sausage and pepperoni; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.51

The Micro:

Crust: Cassano’s Pizza features a crispy thin crust.  The crust is similar to Donatos in style, but no cornmeal is baked into the crust for texture.  Like Donatos, the crust is loaded edge-to-edge with toppings and other good stuff.  My pizza was slightly overbaked but only slightly.  Overall, this crust does a solid job of what it is supposed to do, and for that it deserves good marks.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: This pizza has almost no sauce, and therefore it is very under-sauced.  I could not even get a pinch of the sauce on my tongue to determine what it tastes like.  How do you rate something you can’t taste?  I’ll pretend I tasted a little and score it….  Score: 3/10.

Cheese: The cheese is applied with good quantity, but it produces too much grease to be good quality cheese.  They do give you the option of sprinkling on some parmesan for more flavor.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: The quality of the toppings is a mixed bag.  The pepperoni comes in thin crunchy slices that are nothing to brag about.  The finely ground sausage is more appealing; it has a lot of fat but also some flavor.  Both toppings appear in good quantity.  Score: 6/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is tidy.  The dining room atmosphere is purely functional.  The room features some very bad ceiling tiles that show heavy evidence of roof leaks.  On my visit the TV was tuned to a bad movie, so bad that I turned my back to the TV to prevent myself from watching it.  The service was prompt and helpful.  Score: 6/10.

Value: The price is low, but this metric is value, not price.  Cassano’s small pizza only measures 9 inches, and the quality is not great.  Therefore, this pizza performs well on this metric but not as well as you might think.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: Everything comes together pretty well.  The high amount of grease is the only real turn-off.  Score: 16/20.

The Final Judgment:

Somewhat of a Donatos want-to-be, Cassano’s is not bad for a change of pace, but it probably will not top your list.  There are better pizza options in this area (see LaRosa’s or Donatos, for example).  Score: 52/80.

Charley’s Pizza Parlor in Jacksboro, TN

The Facts:

Pizza: Charley’s Pizza Parlor

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Charleys-Pizza-Parlor/120612704671774

Location: 103 E. Cumberland Ln. in Jacksboro, TN (on US 25W/SR 63 3.9 miles east of I-75 exit 134)

Date of Review Visit: May 20, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (10”) pizza with Italian sausage and pepperoni; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $8.14

The Micro:

Crust: Charley’s Pizza Parlor offers 2 crust choices: thick and thin.  As will be no surprise to any regular reader of this blog, I chose thick.  Charley’s thick crust is different from other thick crusts because it is thick under the entire crust, not just around the edge.  The crust is very chewy with no crispiness even though my pizza was well-baked.  Overall, this crust is not the tastiest, but I got thick crust at no extra charge, so I can’t score it too low.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in good quantity.  You can still taste the tomatoes, though only slightly, so the sauce is not overspiced.  I like it.  Score: 9/10.

Cheese: This pizza has plenty of cheese, but the cheese produces more grease than I would like.  Sprinkling on some parmesan helps an otherwise unremarkable flavor.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The toppings are the major weakness of this pizza.  Both the pepperoni and the Italian sausage have some spices, but neither tastes like fresh, quality meat.  The Italian sausage comes in manufactured pellets that bounce like ping-pong balls if you drop one.  Fortunately, the high quantity of toppings prevents a disaster.  I have eaten worse toppings, but improvement is needed on this criterion.  Score: 5/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The large pellet-style sausage really hurts this pizza’s appearance.  The dining area offers a nice casual-dining atmosphere, but some ceiling tiles show evidence of a leaky roof, and the carpet is old.  The large TV tuned to ESPN is a nice touch, and my service was excellent.  Score: 7/10.

Value: I could not believe the price was so low.  I would tell you how much they could raise the price and still have a good value, but then they might actually do it.  Hearty, filling pizza for this price is rare.  Score: 10/10.

Taste: The overall taste is pretty bland but not terribly offensive.  This pizza’s selling point is quantity to fill the stomach, not subtlety to tantalize the tongue.  Score: 14/20.

The Final Judgment:

Charley’s Pizza Parlor is a local favorite that fills the stomach without emptying the wallet.  They also have a buffet option, but the variety on the buffet is limited, and you really don’t need it at these prices.  I recommend stopping by and ordering off of the standard menu if you are in the area.  Score: 60/80.

Brooklyn Pizzeria in Newport, TN

The Facts:

Pizza: Brooklyn Pizzeria

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: (none)

Location: 1015 Cosby Highway in Newport, TN (adjacent to Best Western Newport Inn at I-40 exit 435)

Date of Review Visit: April 11, 2015

What I Ordered: 2 slices of pizza with pepperoni and sausage; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $7.57

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Brooklyn Pizzeria is not really New York style.  Instead, this crust has medium thickness, and it is very crispy, even a little overbaked.  In fact, the overbaked property really kills the texture and the flavor of the crust.  Overall, the crust is probably the weakness of this pizza.  Score: 5/10.

Sauce: The sauce, on the other hand, is quite tasty.  The sauce appears in good quantity, and it is neither over-spiced nor bland.  I like it.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: Like the sauce, the cheese also appears in good quantity.  The cheese that comes on the pizza tastes a little bland, but sprinkling on some parmesan adds good flavor.  Only a slight excess of grease keeps this score from being higher.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The quantity of the toppings is better than average.  The crispy pepperoni has a slightly spicy flavor, and the sausage comes in nice large chunks.  Both meats have some spices, but neither is overspiced.  Score: 8/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: This pizza is overbaked, and the appearance testifies such.  Brooklyn Pizzeria has a nice dining area with 1 large TV.  Unfortunately, our service was terrible: we waited 20 minutes for 2 slices of pizza, and the restaurant was almost empty.  Much improvement is needed in the service.  Score: 4/10.

Value: For less than $8 you get two very large slices (probably from an 8-slice 18” pizza) and a drink.  The quality is better than average, so the value metric grades out pretty well here.  Score: 9/10.

Taste: Everything works together pretty well aside from the fact that the pizza is overbaked.  Brooklyn Pizza offers large, filling slices with abundant cheese, sauce, and toppings.  Yum!  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

Brooklyn Pizza is a cut below top-quality gourmet pizza, but it is a cut above most interstate town hotel pizzas.  I would recommend stopping here if you find yourself on I-40 in eastern Tennessee.  Score: 59/80.

Joe's New York Pizza in Seneca, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: Joe’s New York Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://joespizzaseneca.com/

Location: 625 By-Pass 123 in Seneca, SC

Date of Review Visit: March 21, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (10”) pizza with pepperoni and Italian sausage; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $14.02 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Joe’s New York Pizza does not make the usual floppy, foldable, New York style crust.  Instead, this crust has medium thickness; it is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  The result is that this crust produces a non-descript almost manufactured taste.  To their credit, Joe’s does have a deep dish option, but it costs $2 extra.  The “traditional crust” that I had is passable but nothing stellar.  Score: 5/10.

Sauce: Unlike the crust, the sauce on this pizza is in-line with the traditional New York style, i.e. there is very little sauce.  What sauce exists is rather overspiced: I tasted the spices and not the tomatoes.  Some people may like this sauce, but it is not for me.  Score: 4/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in sufficient quantity, and it produces some grease but not too much.  The cheese blend tastes like bland pure mozzarella, but sprinkling on some parmesan helps in the taste department.  Score: 6/10.

Toppings: Both the pepperoni and the sausage are pretty bad.  The pepperoni comes in thin slices of pepperoni, and the sausage appears as tiny shredded bits.  Even worse, the pepperoni has little flavor, and the sausage is overspiced.  The quantity is passable but not remarkable.  Score: 5/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The shredded sausage gives the pizza a crude appearance. The dining area features some nice TV’s tuned to sports events, and the purple and orange tables and chairs make sense due to the geographical proximity to Clemson University.  I had no problems with the service.  Score: 8/10.

Value: Joe’s pizza is not terribly expensive, but it is not of particularly good quality either.  The half-price Monday special would really help on the price side, but I came here on a Saturday.  Score: 5/10.

Taste: This pizza has too much spiciness from the sauce and the sausage and not enough flavor from anything else.  I’ve eaten worse tasting pizza before, but this combination does not work for me.  Score: 13/20.

The Final Judgment:

Some people really like this pizza, but I am not one of them.  In fact, this is one pizza I would not mind shipping back to New York.  I could see eating at Joe’s occasionally, but there are far better pizza options in the Clemson area (such as Todaro Pizza).  Score: 46/80.

Amici Cafe in Georgia

The Facts:

Pizza: Amici Cafe

Business Category: Regional Chain (7 locations, all in eastern GA)

Website: http://amici-cafe.com/

Location: 233 E. Clayton St. in downtown Athens, GA (1 block from UGA)

Date of Review Visit: March 7, 2015

What I Ordered: Small (11”) pizza with pepperoni and Italian sausage; Mr. Pibb to drink

Price: $15.04 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: The crust on this pizza is kind of unusual: it is a half-inch thick around the edge but very thin underneath the toppings.  The crust reminds me of a Chicago-style butter crust except that it has no butter taste.  Instead, Amici’s crust has a fresh bready taste that I like quite a lot.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce is spiced just the right amount, enough so that you can taste the spices but not so much that they overpower the tomato taste.  The sauce appears in plenty of quantity.  Overall, this is a fantastic sauce.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The cheese on this pizza has an average, bland taste except for the parmesan cheese, which really brings the cheese blend alive.  They sprinkle on some parmesan for you, but you can add more using the shakers on the table if you see fit.  The cheese emits some grease but does not peg the grease meter like the poorer quality cheeses.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni and Italian sausage appear in slightly above average quantity, but both meats taste pretty bland.  The toppings do not offend too badly, but I have definitely eaten better toppings elsewhere.  Score: 6/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is excellent, especially with the parmesan cheese sprinkled on.  The dining room has a downtown packed-in atmosphere with some TV’s tuned to sporting events, as they should be in a college town.  The service was also attentive and excellent.  Score: 9/10.

Value: Amici makes good quality pizza, but it is also pretty expensive.  $2 per meat topping for a small pizza adds up quickly.  Score: 4/10.

Taste: Everything comes together pretty well here.  The sauce and parmesan cheese really stand out on the taste palette.  But for some better-tasting toppings this score would be even higher.  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

I first found Amici Café several years ago as a UGA student.  Among downtown Athens pizza places, I like Mellow Mushroom and DePalma’s, both of which have locations less than 2 blocks away, a little more, but Amici is slightly better than Your Pie and far better than Little Italy.  Amici is worthy of a regular spot in your dine-out pizza rotation.  Score: 62/80.

Wedgy's Pizza in upstate South Carolina

The Facts:

Pizza: Wedgy’s Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned (3 locations, all in upstate SC)

Website: http://www.wedgysonline.com/

Location: 2708 E. North Ave (just south of Whitehall Rd.)

Date of Review Visit: January 25, 2015

What I Ordered: Large (14”) Pepperoni Madness (double pepperoni) pizza

Price: $13.99 (with a coupon; the regular price is $16.19)

The Micro:

Crust: Wedgy’s Pizza offers two crust options: hand-tossed and thin.  Being the thick crust fan that I am, I chose hand-tossed.  The crust tastes just like a Papa John’s crust: fresh and bready but maybe a little too bulky.  My pizza was baked to perfection, another plus.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: Unfortunately, the crust is the strength of this pizza.  The sauce comes mostly as a thin smeared-on layer, so the pizza is substantially undersauced.  When you get an actual bite of sauce, it tastes like condensed tomato soup with almost no spices or seasoning.  I’ve had worse sauce, but this sauce is far from the best.  Score: 5/10.

Cheese: Wedgy’s advertises their cheese as 100% mozzarella, which is not the tastiest of pizza cheeses.  Accordingly, the cheese has a very bland taste that does not horribly offend but does not really impress either.  I give average marks here.  Score: 5/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni has some zip without being overspiced, but it comes in thin slices.  The pepperoni also leaves a lot of grease, which speaks to the low quality of Wedgy’s toppings.  The topping quantity is only average considering that this is a double pepperoni pizza.  Much improvement is needed on this criterion.  Score: 4/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza has a clean-cut appearance with every slice of pepperoni in its appropriate place.  The box has an attractive picture that perhaps not coincidentally is identical to the box you get from nearby DaVinci’s.  The atmosphere and service are purely functional, much like Papa John’s.  Score: 7/10.

Value: The price is not too high for a double pepperoni pizza, but it is also not overly cheap, even at the discounted price I got.  You can get similar quality for cheaper at the national chains.  Score: 4/10.

Taste: The pizza’s overall taste is not bad, but it is pretty nondescript.  High grease and bland cheese are the biggest turn-offs.  Score: 14/20.

The Final Judgment:

A Papa John’s want-to-be, the name Wedgy’s sounds like this pizza place was founded by some college fraternity boys, and the pizza kind of tastes that way too.  I could see coming here occasionally, but there is far better value and quality to be had elsewhere.  Score: 47/80.

Brixx Wood Fired Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Brixx Wood Fired Pizza

Business Category: Regional Chain (locations in 5 states; based in Charlotte, NC)

Website: http://brixxpizza.com/

Location: 30 Town Square Blvd. in Asheville, NC (in Biltmore Town Square shopping center)

Date of Review Visit: January 11, 2015

What I Ordered: 10” 4x4 pizza (4 meat, 4 cheese); Mr. Pibb to drink

Price: $15.19 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Brixx’ pizza has a crispy thin crust that is partly blackened due to the wood fired baking technique.  The crust has very little taste; it mainly stays out of the way so that the other tastier items on this pizza can shine through.  My pizza was baked perfectly, which is hard to do in the high heat of a brick oven.  The crust is not the strength of this pizza, but it is pretty good for what it is.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: This criterion is not applicable: the particular pizza I ordered has no sauce.  I want to give a final judgment score out of 80, so I took an average of the scores from the other criteria and rounded up.  Score: 9/10.

Cheese: The 4x4 pizza features a mixture of 4 cheeses: mozzarella, parmesan, gouda, and goat.  This mixture sports a flavorful taste, and it is applied with plenty of quantity.  Freshly grated parmesan applied by the waitress at my table is always a nice touch.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The sausage is too spicy for my taste, but the prosciutto and bacon are among the best I have ever had.  All toppings appear in plenty of quantity.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The slightly blackened crusted gives a nice well-baked appearance.  Brixx’ restaurants have an upscale casual dining atmosphere.  There are large TV’s and paintings for sale on the walls.  The service was among the best I have ever experienced at a pizza restaurant.  Score: 10/10.

Value: As you would expect for pizza this good, the price is not cheap.  Brixx only makes 10” pizzas, so you get no help on price by ordering larger pizzas as you might at other pizzerias.  Every pizza has its weakness, and this is it for Brixx.  Score: 4/10.

Taste: Everything comes together to yield a light and flavorful taste that I really like.  This pizza wins your taste palette with subtlety rather than brute force.  Score: 19/20.

The Final Judgment:

I might not be a regular here due to the price, but for special occasions it can hardly be beat.  I highly recommend Brixx when you want a first class pizza experience.  Score: 68/80.

Donatos Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Donatos Pizza

Business Category: Regional Chain (200+ locations in 6 states; based in Columbus, OH)

Website: http://www.donatos.com/

Location: 8484 Winton Road in Cincinnati, OH (across the street from the Finneytown Kroger)

Date of Review Visit: January 8, 2015

What I Ordered: medium (12”) pizza with pepperoni

Price: $10.99

The Micro:

Crust: Donatos is famous for its thin crust pizza, but this thin crust is not as thin as you find on some pizzas: it is almost ½ inch thick.  This type of crust allows Donatos to pile toppings edge to edge, a key point in the company’s marketing strategy.  Some cornmeal baked into bottom of the crust adds nice texture.  I am not a thin crust fan, but this is not your typical thin crust.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in appropriate quantity, and it is spread evenly over the entire pizza.  The sauce is definitely not overspiced, a major pitfall among pizza sauces.  To the contrary, this sauce has a strong sweet taste that I really like.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The cheese may be the weakness of this pizza.  The pizza is not undercheesed, but the cheese gets overshadowed by the sauce and toppings.  Likewise, the taste of the cheese gets lost as well.  On the bright side, this cheese does not produce much grease, a testament to its quality.  Overall, the cheese is not bad but not great either.  Score: 7/10.

Toppings: As I mentioned before, Donatos markets their pizza by emphasizing the edge-to-edge toppings.  Thus, the toppings appear in plenty of quantity.  The pepperoni more or less forms another layer, and it has a crisp taste with just the right amount of spiciness.  From past experience, I know the sausage is pretty good too.  Score: 10/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: Donatos cuts their pizza into odd rectangular-shaped slices, not the usual wedge-shaped.  I am not sure the cutting style is bad, but it does give the pizza an odd appearance with some pieces much larger than others.  The edge-to-edge toppings give it a nice decked-out look.  The restaurants’ atmosphere is purely functional, and I have never had a problem with the service.  Score: 8/10.

Value: Donatos makes good quality pizza at an average price, so the quality/price ratio grades out pretty well.  I always found I needed a larger pizza than usual at Donatos due to the thin crust, or is it due to the fact that the pizza is so good I eat it faster?  Score: 7/10.

Taste: Everything comes together to produce a taste that grows on you the more you eat it.  Donatos Pizza is not quite elite, but it is very good.  Score: 18/20.

The Final Judgment:

Donatos may be my second favorite pizza in Cincinnati (behind only LaRosa’s).  It deserves to be a regular part of your pizza rotation.  Score: 69/80.