Papa John's Pizza

Convinced that I should NEVER order pizza in any of the large chains!

Its just not my cup of tea! I have been spoiled by the city's gourmet offerings that I can't settle for the cheesy mess that these chains call pizza. Ordered it in when we were in quick need of pizza for dinner for 10 people. Where's the sauce? where's the flavor? where's the ooey gooeyness I love in a pizza?

I don't know why in a city of great pizza I ordered Papa Johns. It was most likely some foolish sense of college nostalgia. Or a weird craving for their garlic butter. Whatever it was, I popped online and ordered some pizza and cheese sticks. What a mistake!

First off, this store has a laughably small delivery radius. Like maybe a mile tops. I don't know. I live pretty close, but nope, no delivery. Fine, I had to satisfy my craving and picked up the pizza.

The pizza itself was not what I remember. Bland. Doughy. The cheese didn't have a taste. The pizza sauce was basically ketchup with sugar added and pretty gross. The garlic butter has changed somehow. It's nowhere near as good as it used to be. The cheese sticks were probably the best thing because they didn't have that lousy sauce on them. Now I can understand why Papa John and Payton Manning can afford to give away millions of these flavorless Frisbees for free every NFL game day.

If you're reading this you live in Chicago. There are hundreds of great local pizza joints. Do yourself a favor and order from them instead. You'll actually get a pizza that tastes good.

Rarely do I feel it necessary to update a review, but Papa has earned it.  We were in a pinch the other day, tired, hungry, and without anything in the 'fridge worth warming up.  So we gave PJ another try.  We ordered whatever the special was, but this time we thought to ask for a "well done" pie with extra sauce.  That made all the difference. Fast delivery, nice driver, AND a good tasting pizza.  

'nough said.