Pizza Ranch

The Facts:

Pizza: Pizza Ranch

Business Category: Regional Chain (locations in 14 states; based in Iowa)

Website: https://pizzaranch.com/

Location: 305 E. Main St. in Mandan, ND

Date of Review Visit: August 4, 2018

What I Ordered: 1 adult buffet, drink included

Price: $12.34 (includes drink and tax)

The Micro:

Crust: The different pizzas available on Pizza Ranch’s buffet have different crusts.  The thin crusts such as the crust on the double pepperoni pizza are nice and crispy.  The “usual” crust pizzas are bulky and flavorless.  The sausage pizza even has a Pizza Hut-style stuffed crust.  Overall, I found more to like than to not like among the crusts.  Score: 6/10.

Sauce: Most of the buffet pizza options have little sauce, and what sauce there is has little flavor.  The barbecue beef pizza has a nice barbecue-based sauce that reminded me of Cici’s old barbecue pizza that I really liked.  One good sauce is not enough to earn a good score on this metric, though.  Score: 4/10.

Cheese: Again, the pizzas do not have much cheese, and what cheese exists does not have much flavor.  At least there is not much grease either.  Score: 4/10.

Toppings: The toppings are mostly very tasty, especially the double pepperoni.  The toppings appear in plenty of quantity for the most part.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza buffet is well-labeled and neatly arranged.  The dining room has a western theme with witty sayings such as “the Lord is my saddle partner.”  The service was fine.  Score: 9/10.

Value: Pizza Ranch is more expensive than Cici’s, but you also get more.  They even have some non-pizza items such as fried chicken on the buffet.  Score: 10/10.

Taste: You usually sacrifice quality for quantity at a pizza buffet, but that sacrifice is fairly small here.  Most of the pizzas have enough distinctive flavors to make the taste pretty good overall.  Score: 15/20.

The Final Judgment:

Pizza Ranch is very popular.  I tried coming here twice: the first time I could not even find a parking spot and left.  The second time I had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated.  Pizza Ranch is like a Cici’s for grown-ups with a western twist, and I think its popularity is well-earned.  It gets a big “yee-haw” in my book.  Score: 57/80.

Jammer Joe’s Grill and Pizzeria (Xanterra Travel Collection)

The Facts:

Pizza: Jammer Joe’s Grill and Pizzeria

Business Category: Operated by Xanterra Travel Collection

Website: http://www.glaciernationalparklodges.com/dining/lake-mcdonald-lodge/jammer-joes

Location: Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park

Date of Review Visit: August 1, 2018

What I Ordered: personal (10”) pizza with pepperoni and sausage; Coke to drink

Price: $13.66 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Jammer Joe’s is hard to classify, but I would classify it as a butter crust.  Nevertheless, it has only a slight butter taste.  The crust has medium thickness, but it is very hard, so hard I had a difficult time cutting it with a knife.  Score: 4/10.

Sauce: This pizza does not have much sauce, and what sauce there is mixes with grease to form an orange ooze.  Score: 2/10.

Cheese: The cheese produces a lot of grease, and it appears in only average quantity.  Even sprinkling on some parmesan cheese helps the flavor only a little.  Score: 4/10.

Toppings: Neither topping has much flavor, but both toppings appear in good quantity.   Score: 5/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: As usual with a butter crust pizza, this pizza has a crust-dominated appearance.  The slices are evenly cut.  The dining room needed some air conditioning on the hot summer afternoon that I came here, but otherwise it was pleasant.  The service was prompt and friendly.  Score: 7/10.

Value: I was expecting the high national parks price, but I was hoping for the high national parks quality that never materialized.  Score: 1/10.

Taste: I remember eating some frozen butter crust pizza a few years ago that tasted suspiciously like this pizza.  I can’t remember the brand of the frozen pizza, but the “frozen” in that statement is what you really need to know about the taste.  Score: 8/20.

The Final Judgment:

The national parks may be America’s best idea (although I tend to think of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as America’s best ideas even if they are not exclusively American), but this pizza does not do our national parks a favor.  Maybe we could improve it by borrowing some ideas from Italy or even Canada (see my previous review).  Score: 31/80.

49-degrees North Pizza in Waterton, AB, Canada

The Facts:

Pizza: 49-degrees North Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://www.49degreesnorthpizza.com/

Location: 303 Windflower Ave. in Waterton, Alberta, Canada (just over 1 block west of the tour boat dock)

Date of Review Visit: July 29, 2018

What I Ordered: medium (10”) pepperoni pizza; Coke to drink

Price: 20.50 Canadian dollars (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: 49-degrees North Pizza says their pizza is unparalleled, a pun on Waterton, Alberta’s location on the north 49^th parallel.  The crust has a crispy texture and medium thickness.  The crust does not stand out as unparalleled, but it does the job and does it rather well.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce, on the other hand, is some of the best I have had recently.  It has a thick consistency with a nice tomatoey taste and comes in plenty of quantity.  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The cheese appears in excellent quantity and produces little grease.  The flavor as presented is a little bland, but sprinkling on some parmesan makes it come alive very nicely.  Score: 9/10.

Toppings: I only got one topping because of their pricing scheme, but the pepperoni was excellent.  It comes in nice thick slices with just a little spice, and it appears in good quantity too.  Score: 9/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza has a nice well-ordered appearance.  The dining room is very small with no frills whatsoever.  The service was friendly but slow even though they were not too busy.  Score: 6/10.

Value: 49-degrees North makes good pizza, but Waterton is a national park tourist town.  Thus, the tourist town price creates a problem on the value metric.  Score: 3/10.

Taste: I wish I had ordered more toppings (costing more money, of course), but the overall taste was pretty good for what was there.  Score: 17/20.

The Final Judgment:

O Canada!  49-degrees North was my first Canadian pizza, and I ate it on my visit to Waterton Lakes National Park.  If you find yourself in the tourist town of Waterton, Alberta, you could find far worse eats than this pizza.  Score: 62/80.

Little Big Men Pizza in Lewistown, MT

The Facts:

Pizza: Little Big Men Pizza

Business Category: Locally-owned

Website: http://www.lbmpizza.com/index.html

Location: 630 NE Main St. in Lewistown, MT

Date of Review Visit: July 27, 2018

What I Ordered: Small (8”) pizza with pepperoni and sausage; Pepsi to drink

Price: $7.55 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Little Big Men Pizza is thinner than you would expect for this far north, but it isn’t bad.  Some cornmeal baked in the crust gives it a nice texture.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The sauce has a fresh and tomatoey taste, but the consistency is so thick the sauce seems to be pasted on the crust.  Also, the pizza is slightly undersauced.  Score: 5/10.

Cheese: This pizza features a tasty cheese blend that appears in good quantity and does not produce much grease.  The cheese is the strength of this pizza.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni comes in thin slices with no flavor.  The sausage is of the horrible pellet variety.  Both toppings appear in good quantity, which is still a good thing, I guess.  This area needs a lot of work.  Score: 3/10.

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The pizza’s appearance is OK except for the pellet sausage.  The dining room has a nice rustic atmosphere with large deer heads hanging on the wall and old lanterns for light fixtures.  The service was friendly and fine.  Score: 9/10.

Value: This pizza has a low price, but it is only an 8” pizza and has horrible toppings.  Little Big Men makes cheap pizza but not pizza with great value.  Score: 7/10.

Taste: The overall taste is very good except for the toppings, which I have already elaborated on.  Score: 15/20.

The Final Judgment:

The toppings are really a shame, because otherwise this is pretty good pizza.  Although I am more of a fat big man than a little big man, I would come here at least occasionally if I lived in the area.  Score: 57/80.