Dino's Pizza and Restaurant in Holyoke, MA

The Facts:

Pizza: Dino's Pizza and Restaurant
Business Category: single store
Website: https://www.dinospizzaholyoke.com/
Location: 615 Homestead Ave.
Date of Review Visit: September 2023
What I Ordered: large (18") pizza with pepperoni and sausage; Coke to drink
Price: $26.56 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

 

The Micro:

Crust: The crust at Dino's Pizza and Restaurant has a nice crispy texture, but it is not super thin.  This crust has a nice bready taste, and while I wish it were thicker, this crust has plenty going for it.  Score: 9/10.

Sauce: The sauce appears in sufficient quantity and has a fresh tomatoey taste.  What more could you want?  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The cheese does not have a lot of flavor, even when you sprinkle on some parmesan.  It does produce quite a bit of grease, which leads to a mandatory deduction.  The quantity is sufficient but only sufficient.  Score: 5/10.

Toppings: The sausage is excellent: it comes in nice large chunks with a fresh pork taste and just a little spiciness.  The pepperoni is more average.  The toppings appear in slightly below average quantity.  Score: 8/10.

 

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service:  The pizza looks a little bland due to the sparseness of the toppings.  Dino's has a casual dining atmosphere with a bar and plenty of TVs to watch.  The menu is outdated: increased prices are not reflected in the menu prices.  The service was quick and attentive.  Score: 6/10.

Value: The price is high, but this is a high quality 18" pizza in Massachusetts.  That considered, the value is not as bad as you might expect. Score: 7/10.

Taste: The sausage really stands out and turns a rather ordinary tasting pizza into one worthy of a pizza eater's palette.  This pizza would taste better if I had ordered double sausage rather than sausage and pepperoni.  Score: 17/20.

 

The Final Judgment:

Dino's is not the cheapest pizza around, but it offers quality pizza at a reasonable price.  If I lived near Holyoke, I would be a regular customer here.  Score: 62/80.

Pizza Hut, Big New Yorker Pizza

The Facts:

Pizza: Pizza Hut
Business Category: National chain
Website: https://www.pizzahut.com/
Location: 1647 E. Greenville St. in Anderson, SC (near Publix and behind Chick-Fil-A)
Date of Review Visit: August 2023
What I Ordered: Big New Yorker Pizza (16" pizza with double pepperoni and extra cheese)
Price: $16.34 (includes tax but not drink or tip)

The Micro:

Crust: Pizza Hut has many "interesting" crusts, and you can add to that long list the Big New Yorker crust.  This crust has a nice fresh taste and below average thickness, but it is too crispy to be foldable like a true New York style crust.  While I have had worse crusts, I prefer their pan or stuffed crusts to this one.  Score: 6/10.

Sauce: The pizza has sufficient sauce, but the sauce has an almost bitter taste.  Also, the sauce tastes canned rather than fresh.  I prefer sweet sauces, and while I have certainly tasted worse sauce, there is room for improvement.  Score: 6/10.

Cheese: There is supposed to be "extra cheese" on this pizza, but extra must be relative; this cheese appears in only average quantity.  Also, something on this pizza makes it taste very salty.  The breadsticks dipped in pizza sauce do not suffer from a salty taste, so I am thinking it is the cheese.  Score: 4/10.

Toppings: Pepperoni is actually my favorite topping at Pizza Hut, partly because their sausage is rather horrible.  The pepperoni comes in thin slices with just a little spiciness.  If this pizza has "double" pepperoni, I would call their "single" pepperoni half pepperoni, i.e. the quantity is acceptable but not overwhelming.  Score: 7/10.

 

The Macro:

Appearance/Atmosphere/Service: There is a clear circular pattern in the pepperoni, which gives this pizza an unusual swirl-like appearance.  I used to really enjoy the service and dining atmosphere at Pizza Hut, but these days the service varies widely across locations, as does the dining experience.  The Anderson location performs quite well on these criteria.  Score: 8/10.

Value: The price is quite low for a decent quality 16" pizza, and therefore the value is quite high. Score: 8/10.

Taste: The salty taste overrides almost everything else on my tongue and really brings this score down.  This is not the worst-tasting pizza I have ever eaten, but it is a far cry from the best.  Truth be told, I have always thought Pizza Hut's breadsticks taste better than their pizzas.  Score: 13/20.

 

The Final Judgment:

The Big New Yorker is not my favorite pizza at Pizza Hut, which in turn is not my favorite pizza provider, even among the national chains.  That said, I come here fairly often, so maybe my actions speak louder than my reviews.  Score: 52/80.