Take-Out Chronicles: Papa John's

Papa John's Terwillegar

14030A 23 Avenue

Edmonton, AB 

T6R 3L6

(780) 439-7220

Papa John's is a US-based pizza chain that's had a presence in Edmonton for about a year now. Though there was a period of time during my undergraduate days that I subsisted almost entirely on take-out pizza, these days, the pizza I do eat is usually made at home, so I haven't had the chance to try Papa John's since the chain came to Canada.

This Monday, however, a promo code combined with an exhausting day were the push I needed to order in and try it. The promotion I took advantage of is their NFL Monday Deal which offers a percentage discount (on regular priced items) based on the highest score in Sundays football games. The Seattle Seahawks smoked the Arizona Cardinals 58-0 the day previously, so my discount Monday was 58% -- I think I could really get behind this team!

From left upper corner clockwise: Chicken pizza, cinnapie, pepperoni pizza, cheese sticks; Buffalo wings (center).

Two pizzas, a pepperoni, and a chicken & tomato, were both topped with plenty of cheese and toppings. I prefer their pizza sauce to other chains, bright with tomatoes and the zest of garlic Italian seasonings. The Cinnapie and cheese sticks were on the same pleasingly chewy crust of the pizza. Surprisingly, there are no salads on the menu, so we opted for some buffalo wings to round out our meal. These were decidedly average.

This particular Monday's discount was the highest in the course of the promotion, so it wasn't surprising that the restaurant was flooded with orders. It took just over and hour and a half for the order to arrive (despite the email confirmation indicating 45 minutes), and, it's likely the delivery driver made several stops on the way to my place, as the food was only slightly warm by the time it arrived. This was understandable in light of the promotion, and my patience was greater on account of the discount. I was not expecting to be blown away by the food, and I wasn't, but I was adequately satisfied based on the price I paid; however, had I the additional 42% for regular price, I'm not so sure I would be.

Go Seattle?

Restaurant website