Papa Murphy's

This was my first visit to a Papa Murphy's and it was a great experience. The workers (and the owner) were friendly and outgoing. The pizza tasted great and the price was unbeatable.

As a small business owner myself (I own Fantastic Sams in Edwardsville), I appreciate the great customer service that I received from the team at Papa Murphy's and the great tasting pizza I enjoyed shortly after my visit!

Review 317, numerical symbol of St. Patty's Day, just about as far away on the calendar as I can get. I suppose Seamus McDaniel's or John D. McGuire's would have been good choices. But, no, after a few hours in the CWE, and in a rainy day mood, it was easier to drive back to E'ville for pizza, a far cry from Irish food. I traveled not to Papa Antonio's or Papa Giovanni's, but to Papa MURPHY'S. How DOES a pizza place get an Irish name?

I didn't think I'd like it. The concept sounds a little bit like a Seinfeld sketch: Kramer's idea for a pizzeria in which each customer bakes his or her own pie. Except, in this case, the profit margin is even higher, since the pizzeria has no investment in a pizza oven, and no utility bill for heating it.

But ... the young staff was friendly, eager to suggest items from the menu, and advice for baking the pie right. Then, when the "Cowboy" came out of my home oven, it was good, especially the sausage, certainly better than a frozen pizza. Though the calorie count was probably high, the toppings were founded on a "de-LITE thin crust," and accompanied by the veggie bulk of a Club Salad with low-cal Italian dressing. So it probably was healthier than some other items that I might have chosen. Not quite a four-leaf clover dinner. Still, Papa Murphy's was a lucky choice for me today.

Papa Murphy's business model is a little strange.  With the exception of a grocery store or food market, where else does one pick up partially cooked food to make at home?

I am a pizza connoisseur, and while I'm by no means a food douche (look it up on Urban Dictionary, folks), I will turn my nose at a mediocre pizza.  

My main concern when I had my first Papa Murphy's pizza was that I wouldn't like the crust.  Many people don't realize that pizza ovens get much hotter than the ovens you have at home: that is how they get the crust nice and brown on the bottom without burning the cheese and ingredients on the top.

I'm glad to report that this isn't a big issue with Papa Murphy's pizza.  You bake the pizza on a tray that they wrap the pizza in, and through some miracle of modern technology (space-age polymers pioneered by NASA?), it gets the crust nice and brown.

Take-and-bake pizzas are much cheaper (and equally or more delicious) than delivery pizza and are a far superior option to frozen pizza, the armpit of the pizza industry.  

Four stars to Papa Murphy's!  A fifth star would be added if they could make the pizzas a little cheaper.  After all, you can get a fully cooked pizza at Little Caeser's (though I admit it's not the best in the world) for a low sum of $5.00, and it usually costs around $10.00 for a similar-sized pie at Papa Murphy's.