Little Joe's (Farragut)

So far, our experiences have ranged from "Ehhh..." to "Good". Little Joe's pizza was great. It is definitely going to be in the running for the win. It's the best we've tried so far.

Little Joe's is at the intersection of Watt Road and Kingston Pike in Farragut. Don't let the quaint, old-school store front fool you. They can make some mean pizza. Here's the verdict. We chose to do one set of scores because we agreed on them all.

Crust: 4.5 out of 5
We ordered a pizza with regular crust. It was nicely seasoned, thin, and crispy. Bethany made happy noises and motions while eating it. Kevin, though a big fan of thicker crust, thought it was very well done. They serve breadsticks with a red meat sauce when you eat in, which are dangerously delicious.


Sauce: 5 out of 5

The sauce was on the sweeter side, the way Kevin likes it, but even Bethany enjoyed it since it was full of flavor and just plain delicious. Not too much, not too little.

Toppings: 4.5 out of 5

The cheese was thick, fresh and delicious, as were the toppings (ham, green peppers, and onions). They were all perfectly distributed and proportioned. Almost too good. Like they knew we were going to write about it later.

Overall Taste Experience: 4.5 out of 5

You know it was good when 1) you begin day dreaming about "the next time" as you drive home, 2) when your mouth waters right now as you think about it a few weeks later, and 3) you set your alarm to go off in the middle of the night so that you have the leftovers all to yourself. Selfish little fatty. Everything about the pizza went together well and was an overall wonderful experience.

Overall restaurant experience: 4 out of 5

The signage and facilities may not be fancy at all, but the staff were super nice. Our waitress, with typical southern sweetness and charm, offered to bring Andrew, our toddler, some spaghetti that had "just come out". He took her up on the offer, and miracle of all miracles, he lapped it up like hot, sweaty dog. Despite the lack of fanciness, we give it a 4 out of 5 because of the atmosphere, service, and the fact that they found something our kid will actually eat that isn't a sweet breakfast food (for free!). Our son is cute, see.

Bella Roma (Karns)

We know its been a while since we posted, but we have not been slacking too bad in our pursuit. We have eaten at two more local pizza joints and one small chain joint in the last couple of months. Here is our review of Bella Roma in Karns.

Bella Roma is located in a small strip mall in Karns. We had heard good things, and we had a Groupon deal, so we were as excited as a kitten in a yarn factory. Bethany graciously agreed to order a deep dish (Kevin's favorite). We got it with onions and green peppers (Bethany's faves) and grilled chicken (Kevin's have). Take a look.

Here's the report:

Kevin:

Crust: 4 out of 5

The crust was delicious, thick (deep dish, so duh), and perfectly pan seared on the edges. The only downside was that the crust in some of the slices in the middle was not done completely. This means slight gag-reflect when you bite into it. Since I am gracious (more so than Bethany), I still gave this a 4 because what was done was great! Also, we got breadsticks before the meal, and if those are any indication of the typical quality of the crust, then Bella Roma is on the right track.

Sauce: 3 out of 5

The sauce was solid, but didn't rock my world. It wasn't a distraction or a disappointment.

Toppings: 5 out of 5

The cheese was thick and yummy, the onions and peppers were the perfect size and cooked just right, and the chicken, oh the chicken(!), was cut in large, well seasoned, expertly cooked slices. Pardon me, I need a moment...Ok, I'm good. These may have been the best executed toppings I have ever had.

Overall Taste Experience: 4 out of 5

As you could probably gather from above, overall this deep dish pizza was well done. Each bite had plenty of delicious toppings, sauce, and crust. If only the sauce had been more memorable, and the crust done all the way through, this would have received a 5. For real.

Overall restaurant experience: 2 out of 5

The folks that run this place are proud of their food and super nice. The service was prompt and courteous. However, the dining room felt like a Chuck E. Cheese's without all the fun games and scary robotic animals (both a plus and a minus, in my book). What I mean is that the place was kind of messy, damp, and sticky feeling. This could be because it was a week night and there was a buffet (= messy families with kids outnumbering the staff 10 to 1). Anyways, the dining room is not the highlight of the experience, but the pizza is fantastic.


Bethany:

Crust: 3/5

Yes, I am less gracious than Kevin, I expect my pizza dough to be fully cooked. But, as Kevin said, the breadstick dough was great and the owner was very proud of their freshly made dough. They had thin and regular crust options as well.

Sauce: 4/5

Agree with Kevin.

Toppings: 4.5/5

They were great!

Overall taste: 4/5

Overall Restaurant: 3/5

Pizza joints aren't supposed to be fancy, this wasn't worse than I expected.

Marco's

Ok, so Marco's is a chain... which we didn't intend to include in our reviews. However, multiple friends recommended we try Marco's and we got a sweet deal on Groupon so we decided to include it. Since the deal was for two larges, we took our pals Todd and Anna for a double date. Here's the breakdown:

Bethany: 

Crust: 4
We ordered the "classic" crust but they have extra thick and thin options as well. It was definitely better than your average take out. We got "roma italian" seasoning on our crust which was tasty. They had several options for "spicing up" the crust which is a nice touch.  It was very fresh tasting.

Sauce: 4
I don't remember too much that was distinctive about it which is a good thing. I think the sauce should blend well with everything else. Since the sauce isn't my favorite part it's good when it doesn't take over.

Toppings: 4.5
They boast of the freshness of their toppings and it's definitely true! Just looking at the pizza you could tell they hadn't been sitting around for who knows how long. The bacon (yes, i have a bacon problem) was awesome and the veggies definitely seemed like they were freshly sliced per their claim.

Overall taste experience: 4
Definitely much better than your average take out. Kuddos for super fresh toppings! I liked the free extra options for the crust style, crust flavorings and "sides" (ranch, garlic butter, banana peppers, etc)

Overall restaurant experience: NA
This was a take out place. There were two tables, 8 chairs and a highchair for onsite dining. But, i will say that the guy at the front was super nice and accommodating. I noticed he left he
front desk and opened the door for all the people carrying pizza out which I thought was great customer service.

Kevin:

Crust: 4
I like thicker crusts, and their original crust was on the thicker side. It had good flavor and the extra seasoning made the end crust a perfect finish to each slice.

Sauce: 4
A great balance of salty and sweet. Nothing earth shattering, but solid and good.

Toppings: 4
I got chicken on my half and it was well seasoned, large cut, and was pretty much in every bite (I take pretty big bites, though). The cheese was a delicious mix and was piled on thick.

Overall taste experience: 4
Everything was good quality, and the crust/toppings/sauce proportions were very well balanced. The only reason why none of these are 5's is because I didn't have a quasi-religious experience while eating it.

Overall restaurant experience: NA
See Bethany's comments above.

Gavino's (Bearden)

Tonight we began our project to find Knoxville's best pizza. We started with a fairly new place in town: Gavino's in Bearden. The restaurant is small, basic and open with flat screens and a small bar area. Here is our take:

Bethany

Crust: 4
I liked that it was very thin with good crispiness. Firm enough to hold without flopping all over the place. It could possibly use a hint more flavor.

Sauce: 3.5 
Good proportion and seasoning. Had a hint of something I couldn't put my finger on that tasted a little plasticky.

Toppings (Bacon and Cheese): 3
Good proportions again, cheese was satisfactory. Bacon basic.

Overall taste experience: 3.5

Overall restaurant experience: 2
This is a new restaurant and I think it hasn't discovered it's personality yet. It had little ambience and was overall non-descript and forgettable.

Kevin

Crust: 3
Slightly overcooked, and not a whole lot of flavor. The restaurant has a thicker pan type of pizza (the Sicilian) that I probably would like better. Not their fault I got a pizza type to bless my wife.

Sauce: 3
Delicious saltier, but subtle taste. I prefer tangy or sweeter sauces, but this one was good.

Toppings (Grilled Chicken, Cheese): 2
The chicken cost more than the other toppings and was in small cubes. I'm not sure I really ever tasted it over the cheese, which was delicious.

Overall Taste Experience: 3
Three means average, and that's how I would categorize this pizza. Good, but not above or beyond what I could get many other places.

Overall Restaurant Experience: 2
See Bethany's above.

Since this wasn't our usual date night, we had our little sidekick. After he threw all his food and toys on the floor, he got bored. Andrew spit each bite of the pizza out after sucking off the sauce, so he gives the sauce a 5.

And the Quest begins...

Pizza has something for everyone. There is a type for every mood, palate, and budget. You can get fancy pizza, basic pizza, delicious pizza, and nasty pizza (that taste like stomach acids in the back of your throat). When it comes to crust: some like it thin, some like it thick, some like it bready, crunchy or biscuity. As for sauce: some like lots of sauce, some like no sauce, some like weird non-tomato based sauce. Regarding toppings: the options are endless.

Our quest is to find, in our completely subjective opinion, the best slice of pizza in Knoxville, TN.

Over the next year, or whatever, we will try dozens of non-mega chain pizza joints, and share our experience for everyone who cares (yes, both of you).

We will rate the following attributes on a 5 point scale:

Crust
Sauce
Toppings
Overall Taste Experience
Overall Restaurant Experience

We will report the cost, but we will let you judge if its really worth it.

You should know our particular preferences upfront.

Bethany prefers thin, crispy crust, a well seasoned, salty tomato sauce (and plenty of it), and bacon, onions and peppers as her toppings of choice. However, these are subject to the mood and other sources of whimsy. Her favorite pizza to date was in New York, NY.

Kevin prefers thick, biscuity crust, with lots of thick, chunky, salty/sweet sauce, and tons of cheese. If there must be toppings, chicken or sausage are his favorites. He gags over most onions and peppers. His favorite pizza to date was in Chicago, IL.

So, we may end up picking a his and hers favorite.

What we need from you are suggestions of places to try. No opinions or expressions of praise or hate, just names. Go.