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I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
Cook ingredients that you are used to cooking by other techniques, such as fish, chicken, or hamburgers. In other words be comfortable with the ingredients you are using.
--Bobby Flay

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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Papa John's Pizza in Lakeland, Florida

It has been rather a standing joke that everywhere we have lived one of the first things we do is seek out a good pizza delivery service.  At home we can take our time but vacation homes the rules change.  We camped in a self contained RV for about 15 years.  Pizza consisted of homemade, quick pizza and very rarely take-out.  There are some areas we camped that pizza could have be ordered for delivery but we never did.  This vacation home is different because it really is the same as a permanent home only being used part of the year.

Papa John's pizza box
The second night we were there and being totally exhausted we ordered Papa John's delivery pizza.  What is really nice is this pizza can be ordered and paid for online so all you need to do is sit back and wait for delivery then tip the delivery person.

We decided to try Papa John's through a recommendation.  When we were out shopping we checked out the location and liked what we saw.  Their prices were good and ordering was about as easy as you could get.  We really like what we saw from the website so that was the final deciding factor.

Papa John's chicken wings
We ordered an extra large original crust 7-Topping Pizza (beef, grilled chicken, mushrooms, ham, onions, three cheese blend, sausage) and BBQ chicken wings with special garlic and barbeque dipping sauces.  The total cost including delivery, tip and taxes was $25.  As a comparison we would pay about $40 for this order where we live at home (ON, Canada) so the price was more than reasonable.

The wings came with a nicely flavoured barbeque sauce along with 2 dipping sauces.  At $6.99 for the wings it was a good deal.  We will definitely be including wings with our next order.

Papa John's pizza
The pizza was well worth the $12!  The crust was excellent as were the toppings.  It had a gorgeous eye appeal and even better flavour.  The rich sauce was nicely seasoned.  The pizza was wonderfully cheesy and I really liked that it came with a hot pepper.  This definitely is a pizza worth ordering.  The service itself was great with painless ordering and quick delivery.

I was really surprised that we were able to find a pizza delivery service that easily.  When we are at home pizza more often than not means homemade pizza from making the dough, homemade sauce and then topping from there.  At the vacation home cutting out a couple of steps might be desirable.

I'm debating buying a stand mixer for the vacation home that would be available for use to us and family but not anyone who rents the house.  So home baked yeast products will continue mainly as normal so homemade pizza will become a norm on longer stays there as well but our experience makes me feel quite comfortable ordering this pizza occasionally and recommending this pizza delivery service.


6 food lovers commented:

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

haven't had papa john for years... but I like the better ingredients idea... will consider when i get back home

Jen said...

I don't know if I have ever had Poppa John's Pizza. I get coupons all the time but my son works at Little Ceasars (the worst pizza on the planet) and I have to be supportive. That looks like a really good pie.

Joanna said...

Papa John's is probably the best out of the chain pizzerias, but being from NY, I say nothing can beat a true Italian, family owned Pizzeria. The only time I order pizza from a chain is if it is really late at night and the small pizzerias are closed! Or, if I want a specialty pizza, like ranch chicken or BBQ pizza, which the small restaurants do not have.

Garden Gnome said...

Hi Dave :) The better ingredients was a selling point for us as well. When do you get back home?

Garden Gnome said...

Hi Jen :) I hear you on being supportive for you son. That is very important. My husband gets Little Caesars at Joe Lewis arena when he goes to the hockey games. He loves it but I find it a bit too greasy.

The Papa John's pizza was quite good, a definite will order from again. We discovered there is one in the city a couple of hours away from here so they are in Canada as well.

Garden Gnome said...

Hi Joanna :) I think we will have to settle for a chain pizzeria where our vacation home is. I agree a true Italian pizzeria is a delight! There are a lot of authentic Cuban restaurants to try out in the area so I will be blogging more about that.