A little research into the area's best pizza brought us to Johnny's in Lakewood. The hotel we were staying at offered to take us over in their shuttle. The place is rather small - with a large counter area and a few tables on the sides. Even the small size pizzas are large enough for two people to share. We were a group of four, so I got Lael's Favorite with pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, and tomatoes to share with someone and the others shared Fish's Favorite with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and black olives. The pizza itself was tasty with the fresh toppings, however not like real NY style pizza I am used to. The dough was just different - a little more chewy and thick. Also, the sauce was a little too plain. It needed more Italian seasoning and better quality tomatoes. My boss also tried the meatball hero and thought it was very good with moist and flavorful meatballs. For all these reasons, the food rating came out a little above average. Like I said, the pizza was good - just not "NY pizza".
An oddity that occurred is that one of my colleagues ordered a side of ranch dressing to add to his pizza. Apparently this is common in the South as well as Western/Upstate New York, and frankly I find it disgusting, almost sacrilegious! Regardless, I managed to eat about 3 slices (sans ranch dressing) before surrendering. My colleagues finished the rest of the pie. At about $12 for 8 slices, the price was excellent. The pizza was decent, not traditional NY style and not deep dish Chicago style, more Denver style I suppose.
Total Rating: 3.6
Food: 3.5, Price: 5, Service: 3, Ambience: 2, Accessibility: 4
What I ate:
Lael's Favorite
pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, tomatoes
