The Johnson City Pizza Discussion Thread (Franklin, Chapel Hill: coupon, chapel, high school)

[JakilaTheHun]

After reading Bailey's post on all the pizza restaurants in JC over in the Mellow Mushroom thread, I am now curious to hear everyone's thoughts on some of the pizza places I've never been to.

Unfortunately, I have not tried that many pizza places in JC --- this was largely because I worked at Papa John's throughout high school and college and got pizza there for free. Why go out and pay $10 for pizza when you get it free and you can make it your way? But now I feel deprived!

What experiences have you had with the following pizza places:

Scratch
Mama Mia's
Simm's
Johnny Brusco's
Papa Murphy's
Buck's (are they still in business?)
Italian Pizza Pub

Feel free to add any others to the list. Those are the ones I am particularly curious about.

Other than the chains (PJ's, Dom's, Caesar's, CiCi's, Pizza Hut), I believe the only places I've eaten pizza from in JC are Crazy Tomato and Greg's.

I realize this is heresy but I've never particularly cared for Greg's.

I like Crazy Tomato's pizza, but I've had better before. It's a bit too greasy for my tastes, but it's still good.

Best pizza I've ever had in my life was in Chapel Hill, NC at a place called Pepper's Pizza (no direct website, but they have a MySpace)

[anidez28]

Sims has the best pizza in town. But I also like Kings ( formerly Bucks ) and Cootie browns / Jack's city grill pizza. enjoy

[pineywoods]

Loved Cootie Browns pizza...unique toppings and flavors.

[jabogitlu]

Wait - Sim's/Simms?!?! I've never even heard of this? What!? LOL!

[ljay42]

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest

Scratch - 6
Sims - 4
Mama Mia's - 4
Johnny Brusco's - 5
Papa Murphy's - who?
Buck's - 5
Italian Pizza Pub - 6
Cootie Browns - 6
Mellow Mushroom - 5
Crazy Tomato - 4
Greg's - 7

Who did I miss? I give Greg's a slight edge because of the ingredients. About 30 years ago I prepped for a pizza place that used high quality fresh ingredients including a 50/50 mixture of mozzarella and white cheddar cheese. Greg's tastes almost exactly like that place.

Of the rest, Cooties gets marks for having a nice thin crust with a great selection of toppings. I can eat at IPP. I thought JB's was better before they went crazy with expansion much like Mellow Mushroom but I'll still hit a MM from time to time for the beer.

[rccrain]

Papa Murphy's is a take and bake. Not really something I have a use for.

[Bailey.]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Wait - Sim's/Simms?!?! I've never even heard of this? What!? LOL!

Simm's is in the complex with the Food City and dry cleaners on N Roan (N JC) They are decent, though I always order "well done" it was a little soft for me.

We always order from Johnny's. It is $11 for a large with the $2 coupon you get on every box. (there is also a $1.50 coupon for a medium on the box) I order: easy on the cheese, extra sauce, well done. Different every time. Only had it perfect once, but Ricky likes it so I deal.

The worst pizza I've had is from Crazy Tomato. Tasted like a brick of salt. The dough was decent, though.

As for chains, I prefer Papa John's, though I tend to dislike chains for the most part. We eat DiGiorno a lot

Anybody had Fox's? They leave flyers on my doorknob all the time.. but I've never eaten from there. Anybody need a listing of restaurants? pizza, johnson city tn - Google Maps

[Tnhoneypot]

What is the name of the pizza place on State of Franklin. Its fairly new. I think its called Marcos, but not sure. I was wondering if anyone here has tried it yet? Is it good?

[jabogitlu]

State of Franklin... is a long road...?

OH! Nevermind, figured it out, yeah, it's Marco's. Silly me, like three seconds from my house! It's a chain, pretty good though. The worst part is they don't have online ordering, or didn't last time I tried them.

AFA Chains go, I prefer Papa John's. I actually really like it, hopefully no one will attack me for promoting a chain .

I tried Mama Mia's once and thought it was bad. Not disgusting, but bad as in a Domino's Pizza that had been refrigerated for a day. It was cheap, though.

I'll rate the ones I've tried:

Scratch - 8
Sims - ???
Mama Mia's - 3
Johnny Brusco's - 6
Papa Murphy's - ???
Buck's - 4 (haven't been there now that it's Knights)
Italian Pizza Pub - 5
Cootie Browns - 5
Mellow Mushroom - 6
Crazy Tomato - 5
Greg's - 8

I too have never tried Fox's, on the Parkway near the I-26 overpass.

[rccrain]

Fox's Pizza Den is really good. The crust tastes like Papa Johns, but the toppings, cheese, and sauce is a lot better. Their "Big Daddy" is BIG. The box fits in the fridge with like a millimeter to spare. A single guy could eat on it for a week.

The one thing I'll note is that their service is "spotty". The owners might be newcomers to food service because every time I go in there, they are working their butts off but they just aren't well organized. This seems to affect the accuracy of the time they give you, but not the quality of the pizza.