Pizza Plus in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pizza Plus

Number of Locations: 52, mostly in Tennessee and Virginia
Location Reviewed: 606 E. 5th Street in Big Stone Gap, VA
Website: https://pizzaplusinc.com/
Date of Review Visit: April 2026
What I Ordered: small pizza with sausage and pepperoni, Dr. Pepper to drink
Price: $15.85 (includes drink and tax but not tip)
Photo:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

 

Detailed Review:

Crust: Pizza Plus offers 2 crusts: thick and thin.  It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I chose thick.  The thick crust is somewhat thick, but it is not a true deep dish.  It has a nice and crispy texture on the outside.  My crust was somewhat soggy underneath, which is never a good thing.  Score: 6/10

Sauce: The sauce has a discernable but not particularly strong tomato flavor.  It appears in adequate quantity.  Score: 8/10

Cheese: This pizza has sufficient cheese with decent flavor when you sprinkle on some parmesan.  But this cheese produces more than sufficient grease, which leads to an automatic deduction.  Score: 7/10

Toppings: The sausage looks like the horrible pellet variety, but in fact it has a little spiciness without being overspiced.  The pepperoni is unremarkable.  Both toppings appear in plenty of quantity.  Score: 8/10

Overall Taste: This pizza would have a very bland overall taste were it not for the sausage.  Score: 7.5/10

Pizza Appearance: This pizza has a very average appearance; it is dominated by the toppings.

Dining Atmosphere: Pizza Plus has a casual dining atmosphere similar to an old-fashioned Pizza Hut.  The Big Stone Gap location has some Roku televisions for entertainment.

Customer Service: on the casual side.  They have no knives to cut your pizza with, only forks.  I couldn't cut my thick crust with a fork, so I had to pick it up with my hands and eat it the "American way."

Monetary Value: This pizza has decent quality, but the price is pretty low, so the value is fairly high.

The Final Judgment:

I first encountered Pizza Plus when I visited my cousins in Tennessee many years ago.  I thought pretty highly of it then, and I still do today.  While it may not be unique enough to be your favorite pizza, it is worth coming here regularly.  Score: 81/100

Pizza Hoss in Knoxville, TN

Basic Information:

Pizza: Pizza Hoss

Number of Locations: 3, all on the north side of Knoxville, TN
Location Reviewed: 7215 Clinton Highway in Powell, TN
Website: https://pizzahoss.com/
Date of Review Visit: March 2025
What I Ordered: small (10") The Big Hoss Specialty Pizza (4 meats pizza); Dr. Pepper to drink
Price: $13.15 (includes drink and tax but not tip)
Photo:

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

 

Detailed Review:

Crust: The crust at Pizza Hoss is thicker then you would expect for a southern pizza.  The texture is nice and crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside.  My pizza was baked the perfect amount.  Excellent! Score: 10/10

Sauce: The sauce has a fresh tomatoey taste.  This pizza is slightly undersauced but only slightly.  Score: 9/10

Cheese: The cheese appears in sufficient quantity and has a pleasant if unremarkable flavor.  It produces some but only some grease, and hence only some of the mandatory 2-point grease deduction applies.  Score: 9/10

Toppings: The Italian sausage has a nice fresh pork flavor with just a little spiciness.  The bacon has nice flavor and is not even a little salty.  The Canadian bacon and pepperoni are OK but less remarkable.  All toppings appear in sufficient quantity.  Score: 9/10

Overall Taste: The sauce, sausage, and bacon really shine and combine to produce a flavorful pizza.  Score: 9.5/10

Pizza Appearance: As usual for an all-meats pizza, the toppings dominate the pizza's appearance.  The thick and wide crust makes the pizza look less appetizing than it is.

Dining Atmosphere: Pizza Hoss offers a casual dining room with mostly high chairs.  I would prefer some lower more standard seating.

Customer Service: The service was quick and attentive on my visit.

Monetary Value: For such a good pizza, the price is surprisingly low, and hence the value is pretty high.

The Final Judgment:

Pizza Hoss is a "big hoss" on the Knoxville pizza scene.  They make a fantastic pizza that is now my favorite pizza in Knoxville.  Score: 93/100

Mamma Rosa's Italian Restaurant in Cookeville, TN

Basic Information:

Pizza: Mamma Rosa's Italian Restaurant
Number of Locations: 1

Location Reviewed: 200 S. Lowe Ave (2 blocks south of US 70N in downtown Cookeville)
Website: http://www.mammarosasitalian.com/
Date of Review Visit: September 2021
What I Ordered: 2 slices of square (Sicilian) pizza with pepperoni and sausage; Coke to drink
Price: $15.61 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

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Summary Review: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Mamma Rosa's offers two crust options: hand-tossed round and Sicilian square.  As most regular readers of this blog would expect, I chose the thicker square crust.  The square crust is a true thick Sicilian crust.  While I appreciated the heartiness of this crust, my pizza was slightly overbaked, and some parts of the crust were hard and overly crispy.  Overall, I have had better Sicilian crusts that this one.  Score: 6/10.

Sauce: The pizza is fairly undersauced.  What sauce does exist has a nice tomatoey taste.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: The cheese tastes like high quality provolone or mozzarella.  It appears in high quantity and produces little grease.  The cheese is the strength of this pizza.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: The sausage comes in tiny crumbles, and it offers spiciness but no real flavor.  The pepperoni has nice flavor with just the right amount of thickness and spiciness.  Both toppings appear in above average quantity.  Score: 8/10.

Overall Taste: The crust is filling, and you get some spiciness from the sausage.  Yet the overall taste is fairly underwhelming.  This pizza delivers quantity but not flavor to the taste palette.  Score: 6.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza has a nice square pizza appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room offers a casual dining atmosphere with nice music and pictures on the wall.

Customer Service: The service was slow, but they were very busy on my visit right after a Tennessee Tech football game.

Monetary Value: The quality is solid, but this pizza is very expensive if you buy by the slice as I did.  Buying a whole pizza is more economical, but I had nowhere to store any leftovers.

The Final Judgment:

There are some things to like here, but the cost and lack of flavor keep it from the top of my pizza list.  Score: 77/100.

Papa's Pizza-to-Go

Basic Information:

Pizza: Papa’s Pizza-to-Go

Number of Locations: about 20 locations across 4 states

Location Reviewed: 3064 US Highway 76 in Hiawassee, GA

Website: https://papaspizzatogo.com/

Date of Review Visit: June 2017

What I Ordered: Small Piggystix (cheese bread with bacon topping); medium fountain drink

Price: $9.33

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Summary Review: 2 stars (out of 5)

The Macro:

Crust: Not to be confused with the big national chain Papa John’s, the crust at Papa’s Pizza-to-Go comes in medium thickness.  This chain used to have a location near my home in Athens, GA, and I used to order the Piggystix regularly because I thought it was their best product. (Aside: I also liked their Hundred Pounder pizza: 100 slices of pepperoni and a pound of cheese on an 18” crust.  Unfortunately, I had nowhere to store the leftovers from such a pizza on this visit.)  My Piggystix were baked the perfect amount.  The crust is fresh, but it has no other real distinctive.  This crust is not offensive but not commendable either.  Score: 5/10.

Sauce: For the Piggystix, the tomato sauce comes on the side for dipping.  The sauce is not overspiced, and overall it has a nice tomatoey taste and a nice thick consistency.  Score: 7/10.

Cheese: The Piggystix are somewhat undercheesed, and what cheese there is has little flavor.  Score: 4/10.

Toppings: The bacon used to come in nice juicy chunks, but now it comes in thin too-crispy pieces that have little flavor.  The bacon appears in decent but not stellar quantity.  Score: 4/10.

Overall Taste: I used to eat the Piggystix all the time and enjoy them, but the thin crispy bacon makes the taste very pedestrian now.  Score: 5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The Piggystix have a somewhat bare appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: Most Papa’s Pizza-to-Go locations have no frills sit-down dining areas, though the drive-up window is a nice convenient touch.  The lake view from the hillside Hiawassee location adds some scenery to the dining area.

Customer Service: The service is counter service, and it was fine on my visit.

Monetary Value: Below-average quality plus below-average price equals average value.

The Final Judgment:

Papa’s Pizza-to-Go’s Athens location closed almost a decade ago, and the quality this pizza exhibits today makes it easy to see why.  Most people can find better pizza elsewhere.  Score: 62/100.

Big Daddy's Pizzeria in Pigeon Forge, TN

The Facts:

Pizza: Big Daddy’s Pizzeria

Number of Locations: 3, all near the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee)

Location Reviewed: 3053 Parkway in Pigeon Forge, TN

Website: https://www.bigdaddyspizzeria.net/

Date of Review Visit: May 2016

What I Ordered: small (10”) Boo Boo Bomber pizza (i.e. pepperoni pizza)

Price: $11.06 (pizza only; includes tax)

Photos:

Summary Review: 3 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Big Daddy’s crust has the not-too-thick not-too-thin style that can be rather unappetizing, but it comes across pretty well on this pizza.  Some flour baked into the crust provides nice texture.  This crust is not fantastic, but it is not horrible either.  Score: 7/10.

Sauce: I could barely taste the sauce, and not because it doesn’t exist.  In fact, the quantity is slightly above average.  The sauce just doesn’t have much flavor.  I also found small chunks of tomato in the sauce, a personal pet peeve of mine: I don’t want to find chunks of anything in my sauce.  I have had far better pizza sauces than this one.  Score: 4/10.

Cheese: The cheese comes in a thick yummy layer.  The 100% mozzarella blend does not have the most flavorful taste, but the excellent quantity makes the cheese the strength of this pizza.  Score: 9/10.

Toppings: The pepperoni appears in average quantity.  I could taste the spices in the pepperoni, but they are not overwhelming.  For only a one-topping pizza, the toppings are decent overall.  Score: 6/10.

Overall Taste: The cheese really saves what is otherwise a fairly dull-tasting pizza.  Nothing about this pizza really offends the taste buds but nothing really impresses them either.  Score: 7.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pepperoni was not evenly applied, so the pizza looked a little bare.

Dining Atmosphere: Big Daddy’s offers a casual family-oriented dining atmosphere with a nice video game arcade for the young and young-at-heart.

Customer Service: The service was quick and attentive.

Monetary Value: The quality is slightly above average and the price is slightly above average, so the price/quality value ratio grades out about average.

The Final Judgment:

Big Daddy’s Pizzeria makes a just slightly different than average pizza.  It is worth coming here occasionally for a change of pace, but there are better pizzas around.  Score: 53/80.

Charley’s Pizza Parlor in Jacksboro, TN

Basic Information:

Pizza: Charley’s Pizza Parlor

Number of Locations: 1

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

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

Date of Review Visit: May 2015

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

Price: $8.14 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Photo:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

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.

Overall 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: 7/10.

Pizza Appearance: The large pellet-style sausage really hurts this pizza’s appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: 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.

Customer Service: The service was excellent on my visit.

Monetary 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.

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: 80/100.

Brixx Wood Fired Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Brixx Wood Fired Pizza

Number of Locations: 20 across 4 states; based in Charlotte, NC

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

Website: https://brixxpizza.com/

Date of Review Visit: January 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)

Photo:

Summary Review: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

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.

Overall 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: 9.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The slightly blackened crusted gives a nice well-baked appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: Brixx’ restaurants have an upscale casual dining atmosphere.  There are large TV’s and paintings for sale on the walls.

Customer Service: The service at Brixx is among the best I have ever experienced at a pizza restaurant.

Monetary 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.

The Final Judgment:

I might not be a regular here due to the price, but for special occasions Brixx can hardly be beat.  I highly recommend Brixx when you want a first class pizza experience.  Score: 88/100.

Gondolier Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Gondolier Pizza

Number of Locations: 19 locations across 4 states; based in Cleveland, TN

Location Reviewed: 6901 Lee Highway in Chattanooga, TN

Website: https://gondolierpizza.com/

Date of Review Visit: October 2013

What I Ordered: 2 small pizzas, 1 with sausage and pepperoni, and 1 with sausage and onions

Price: $11.84 (includes tax but not drink)

Photos:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: The crust is a nice, thick crust baked to a perfect golden brown.  The crust does not have a lot of taste, but it does its job without being bulky or distasteful.  This is not the best crust ever, but it is pretty good.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: You hardly notice the sauce thanks to all the cheese (see below), but that is not because the pizza is undersauced.  The sauce does not have a strong taste, and even though it may do little to add to the pizza, it certainly does nothing to detract from it.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: This is probably not the tastiest blend of cheese I have ever eaten, but the quantity more than makes up for any blandness.  The cheese covers the pizza from crust to crust with a thick layer of off-white goodness.  Memo to the national chains: this how you cheese a pizza.  Score: 10/10.

Toppings: As good as the cheese is, the toppings are almost as bad.  The sausage appears as tiny ground balls, and the thin slices of pepperoni add only a little flavor.  The quantity is decent but not excellent.  There is room for improvement here. Score: 5/10.

Overall Taste: The cheese and crust make a nice combination, but the taste of this pizza is held back by the quality of the toppings.  I do like the taste of this pizza, but it could be better. Score: 8/10.

Pizza Appearance: The appearance of the pizza is satisfactory except that the cheese looks too white to me.

Dining Atmosphere: The dining room has a casual family atmosphere with big screen TV’s.

Customer Service: The service was quick and attentive.

Monetary Value: Now here’s an odd case.  Gondolier sells their pizzas buy-one-get-one free.  If you only buy 1 pizza, the value is probably average at best.  Buy two and the value/quality ratio starts to tip in your favor.  Thus, you should bring a friend or take one home for tomorrow whenever you come to Gondolier.

The Final Judgment:

Gondolier makes a pretty good pizza, and it is significantly better than the national chains.  I will come here again the next time I am in the Chattanooga area.  Score: 84/100.