Pizza Papa

Tonight, for the low low price of $22, I got chicken poppers, cheesy sticks, and a large one topping (pepperoni) pizza from Papa John's.

The chicken poppers tasted good, but they were little bit disappointing because I thought they would be bigger. I didn't expect them to be as large as, say, a boneless wing but I did expect them to be as big as, say, a jalapeño popper. Instead they were about the size of a pair of dice. A 10 piece comes with two complementary sauces, so I chose Buffalo and Ranch. When I saw the size of the poppers, I realized I would only need one container of sauce so I decided to use the Buffalo. I'm not sure if I've ever had Papa John's buffalo sauce before, but it was freaking amazing - it's spicy, it's hot, and it has a lot of flavor!

The pepperoni pizza was excellent; super hot and super crispy on top. The cheese sticks, which I have never had before, were actually a small 10 inch pizza with garlic sauce and a very thick layer of cheese on top. It comes with 2 garlic sauces, which I will save and use for pizza tomorrow.

The best part is that by spending at least $15, I earned a free pizza, so that makes me happy!

Mi piace il cibo italiano!

Location: 

Petti's Pizza & Restaurant  

29303 Euclid Avenue

Wickliffe, OH 44092

(440) 944-1028 ‎

When I was young, my father worked just down the street from Petti's, and we would often make the drive there to meet him for lunch. Any time we were out, especially for doctor/dentist appointments, my mom would take me over there to see my dad and get some awesome Italian food for lunch. I always made sure to behave extra good so that I'd be guaranteed this trip!

It's been two years since I've been there, but the last time I went was with my mom after we visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's pretty close by (about 10 minute drive) so I knew we had to go. It looked different inside than I remembered, much smaller and brighter, but I suppose when your head is at table level, everything seems gigantic!

Once again, it's been so long since I took these photos/ate here that I don't specifically recall the entire meal. I remember scarfing down everything on my plate, including a salad and several rolls, and I was still hungry - never fear, however, there was a lot of food - I just happened to be pregnant at the time and didn't know it! Hahaha!

I do remember that we were there on a Friday and it was packed. They had a few good specials going on, and our waitress was hilarious and awesome. Petti's has been run by the same family for generations, and probably 80% of the staff is family/related.

All in all, I'd say that if you're in the Cleveland/Wickliffe area, check it out! If you are from Columbus and have ever been to Villa Nova, it's a similar atmosphere, room size, menu, etc.

Overall Scores: (1-5, 1 being lowest, 5 highest)           

Cleanliness: 5

Value: 5

Accessibility: 3

Friendliness: 5

Menu: 5

Is this what Italy looks like?

 

Like being at your Italian Gramma's house

Big plate of ravioli!

Good photo of one meatball and one piece of Italian sausage.

My mom got the Lake Perch and some roasted redskin potatoes.

She puts ketchup on lots of things...

Economico e deliziosa!

Location:

Morone's Italian Villa

1490 Bethel Rd, Columbus, Ohio 43235

(614) 457-7444 ‎

Where do I begin to sing the praises of Morone’s?  I guess I’ll just dive right in and start describing everything that is wonderful about this random Italian restaurant.

Dining Room

Located in the Bethel Centre at Godown & Bethel Roads, Morone’s is truly a hidden treasure.  In the same centre there is a Cosi, BW3, a couple bars, and a Panda Inn.  Way in the back nestled between a hockey store and another bar is this delicious treat.  There are three areas at the end of a long foyer, the dining room, another dining room (which I believe is reserved for parties) and the back area for picking up pizzas (where the bar is also located).  The whole place smells delectable, and as the server takes you to the table your brain is already contemplating what kind of Italian meal you’ll be feasting upon today.

Giant Lasagna

The menu is simple, featuring pasta, pizza, sandwiches, salads, and dinners.  There are a few appetizers, desserts, and drinks.  Very easy to read, very easy to choose from.  They even have an a la carte section for people like my mother who like to order chicken fingers, two meatballs, and a side salad.  My favorite dish, if I had to pick, would be the lasagna.  I am a HUGE lasagna fan, so I am very picky, and I could literally eat Morone’s lasagna three times a week.  It is tall, filled with cheese and meat sauce, but not too saucy and runny – it stays in “loaf” form and that is what I love.

Complementary Bread

Mom's Chicken Fingers (note bowl of meatballs on right)

The one thing I dislike about Morone’s is the service.  Most of the servers are teenagers, and while I was a teenager working in foodservice once, I can only excuse so much.  They tend to only check on you once or twice, and if you ask for something, such as more butter or bread or whatever, more often than not you have to flag down someone else to remind your server of the request.  The most annoying thing to me, having also been a server, is an empty cup.  This is a problem at Morone’s as well.  On a trip to the restroom I think I figured out the cause of this neglect – in the back, where the bar is, I came across four servers just hanging out, talking, waiting around for who knows what.  One of them was my server, and I had been out of pop for at least ten minutes.  Perhaps they should hang out in the server station adjacent to the dining room, where at least they can keep an eye on the tables… Just a thought!

All in all, Morone’s is a great place to go any night of the week if you are hungry for good, comforting, stick-to-your-ribs Italian fare.  It’s good for families, dates, business lunch (they have a buffet during the week), or any other reason to go out!

Overall Scores: (1-5, 1 being lowest, 5 highest)           

Cleanliness: 5

Value: 5

Accessibility: 5

Friendliness: 3

Menu: 5

Like the moon hitting my eye...

Location:

Dough Boy’s Pizza Co.

4658 Kenny Road

Columbus, Ohio 43220

614-459-4400

Dough Boy’s is located in an old “strip mall” next to the Kenny Road Market (yay exotic beers) and U-haul rental spot.  We ordered delivery, so I never saw the inside, but peeping in through the windows a couple times led me to believe they were straight on the cleanliness – and they had a green sticker.

The man was tasting for pizza, and I had a flyer. “Anniversary special! One large pizza any way you want it with an order of cheesy bread only $9.99!” WOW! What a great deal!  They had left the door hanger about a week before that, so we called up to take advantage of the bargain… and that’s when my unhappiness began.

Upon ordering this super-awesome “Anniversary Special”, my man was told that it had ended on Memorial Day.  Wait – didn’t Memorial Day happen in May?  Why were they putting door hangers out almost two months after they expired?  So we ordered a large pizza with five toppings – extra cheese not being included as a topping but rather costing $1.50 extra, was skipped – bacon, pepperoni, tomatoes, green peppers and onions.  No cheesy bread because that was $4.95 extra and we weren’t trying to spend a whole lot.  They quoted us 45 minutes to an hour (at five o’clock on a Sunday… apparently this is prime pizza time).

The one good mark Dough Boy’s gets is in time management.  The pizza arrived within 20 minutes.  I was thoroughly shocked.  Bill: $11.49 - $9.49 + $2.00 delivery charge.  Not bad, but not as great as that tantalizing Anniversary Special that had lured us in.  The slogan at Dough Boy’s is “We load on the toppings!!” and in all fairness to my readers, don’t believe this false advertising.  If by “load on the toppings” they mean toss them about randomly in a haphazard fashion so that only some slices have 2 toppings and some have 5, well then fine.  But in my book, “loading on the toppings” means having lots of each topping on every single slice across the entire pizza.  Ugh!  There were no more toppings than any other pizza I’ve ordered from any other place.  As for the size of the large, well, it was actually the size of a Pizza Hut medium.  Seriously.

Overall, I was quite disappointed.  It was a fine pizza, not great or spectacular, and I’d really like to know exactly who voted them best new pizza in Columbus.  The menu is fairly extensive, with wings and Italian dinners and salads and all that jazz, which might be the reason why they can’t focus on an awesome pizza.

To learn more about Dough Boy’s, click here to visit their website.

Overall Scores: (1-5, 1 being lowest, 5 highest)           

Cleanliness: unknown

Value: 2

Accessibility: 4

Friendliness: 3

Menu: 5