Papa Johns Pizza, Epic Pepperoni-Stuffed Crust

The Facts:

Pizza: Papa Johns Pizza
Business Category: National Chain
Website: https://www.papajohns.com/
Location: 3014 N. Main Street in Anderson, SC
Date of Review Visit: August 2022
What I Ordered: large (14") Epic Pepperoni-Stuffed Crust pizza
Price: $15.25 (food only; includes tax)

The Micro:

Crust: My usual view of Papa Johns' crust is a mixture of good and bad: I like the fresh bready taste, but I find the crust too bulky.  Enter the pepperoni-stuffed crust.  As the name suggests, they bake both pepperoni and cheese into the crust.  The cheese blends better with the crust than with Pizza Hut's stuffed crust, and I really like this combination.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: Papa Johns is well-known for using sauce that is way too sweet.  It even tastes too sweet to me, and I like sweet sauces.  Aside from the sweetness, the quantity and texture are quite appealing.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: Like the crust, the cheese also has a rather bland taste, but this pizza does not suffer from severe undercheesing or greasy poor quality cheese, the two things that make for bad cheese.  Thus, this area grades out fairly high.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The only topping is the pepperoni, which of course appears both in the crust and atop the pizza.  The pepperoni is not overly spicy, and it blends nicely with the sweetness of the sauce.  The pepperoni appears in high quantity.  Score: 8/10.

 

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The ample cheese and toppings give this pizza an appealing appearance.  The large crust is a bit unappetizing, but knowing there is cheese and pepperoni inside helps.  I have always thrown out the infamous peppers and garlic sauce that come with every Papa Johns pizza.  That fact does not directly impact the appearance of the pizza, but I needed to mention it somewhere.  Like most Papa Johns locations, this location does not offer dine-in, and therefore atmosphere is not applicable.  The service was fine on my visit.  Score: 7/10.

Value: Granted I got this pizza while it was on a promotional special, but this pizza has above average quality for a pretty low price.  Therefore, the value is quite high. Score: 8/10.

Taste: Everything works together rather well here.  The overall taste seemed a little on the salty side to me.  I could not tell if the saltiness was from the cheese, the pepperoni, or both.  Score: 16/20.

 

The Final Judgment:

Papa Johns is my favorite national pizza chain, and they delivered a nice pizza here.  You should try this one while it is still on promotional special.  Score: 64/80.

Fyre Pizza in Anderson, SC

The Facts:

Pizza: Fyre Pizza
Business Category: Single Store
Website: https://www.fyrepizzaco.com/
Location: 148 Civic Center Blvd. in Anderson, SC (across the street from the baseball fields and The Trails Disc Golf Course)
Date of Review Visit: August 2022
What I Ordered: 14" pizza with pepperoni and Italian sausage
Price: $16.34 (includes tax)

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Fyre Pizza is not too thick and not too thin.  In terms of texture, it is nice and crispy on the outside, but it is more tough than chewy on the inside.  I can't say this is one of my favorite crusts.  Score: 4/10.

Sauce: Fyre offers several sauces to choose from, but I chose the traditional red sauce.  This sauce doesn't have a lot of flavor, and it doesn't appear in much quantity either.  Score: 3/10.

Cheese: Fyre offers several cheeses to choose from; I chose the three cheese blend.  I tasted more mozzarella than any other cheese, but it appeared in high quantity and produced very little grease.  The cheese is the strength of this pizza.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The Italian sausage has some spiciness, but otherwise it is of the tasteless pellet variety.  Likewise the pepperoni adds little flavor.  Both toppings appear in decent quantity, but the quality is severely lacking.  Score: 4/10.

 

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: This pizza has a respectable appearance with plenty of cheese.  I ordered take out, but the small dining room featured chair-and-table seating.  The service was quick and friendly.  Score: 10/10.

Value: For average-priced pizza, the quality is not that great.  Therefore, the value is not that great either. Score: 3/10.

Taste: The cheese seemed to be the tastiest part of this pizza, and therefore I was very unimpressed with the overall taste.  Maybe it would be better with different sauce or toppings.  Score: 11/20.

 

The Final Judgment:

Fyre Pizza doesn't exactly light my fyre.  In this part of town, I prefer New York Pizza and Pasta over Fyre.  Score: 45/80.