The Facts:
Pizza: Marco's Pizza
Business Category: national chain
Website: https://www.marcos.com/
Location: 1815 E. Greenville St. in Anderson, SC
Date of Review Visit: August 2023
What I Ordered: large (14") sausage magnifico pizza (2 types of sausage plus extra cheese)
Price: $11.98 (promotional price; includes tax but not drink or tip)
The Micro:
Crust: The standard crust on Marco's Pizza is the thickest standard crust of any national chain, but the thick crust is needed to support the large volume of cheese and toppings, as described below. Besides, the crust has a pleasant bready taste, and I like thick crusts. This specialty pizza has some Roma seasoning on the crust, which I could live without although it does add some extra spice. Score: 9/10.
Sauce: There is plenty of sauce on this pizza, and it has a thick texture with a robust tomatoey taste. The sauce tastes slightly overspiced to me, but that may be due to my preference for sweet sauces. Overall, this is a good sauce. Score: 8/10.
Cheese: The cheese is a little on the greasy side. This pizza is supposed to have extra cheese compared to their non-specialty pizzas, but I can't honestly say I could tell a lot of difference: their standard pizzas have plenty of cheese too. Score: 7/10.
Toppings: The two types of sausage form an interesting combination. The Italian sausage, which comes in large chunks, is their standard sausage; I have always thought highly of it. It has a little spice but you taste more pork than spice. The old world sausage comes in slices/cups, and oddly enough it is spicier than their Italian sausage. No matter what kind of (good) sausage you like, you will find it on this pizza. Score: 10/10.
The Macro:
Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: The golden brown pizza looks great. Even the box is one of the best looking pizza boxes I have ever seen. The service at the Anderson location is quick and accurate. Magnifico! Score: 10/10.
Value: The quality is quite high, and even at the regular menu price of $15.99, the price is reasonable. Thus, the value is quite high. Score: 8/10.
Taste: I like the flavor of the sausage combination, but the robustness of the cheese and toppings are what really stand out with this pizza. This is hearty fare for the serious pizza-eater. I like this pizza's taste, but you have to decide if it is what you want. Score: 19/20.
The Final Judgment:
A clone of their pepperoni magnifico, I like this clone better than the original, partly because I like sausage more than pepperoni. Order and enjoy! Score: 71/80.
