Allpizzasare not created equal.
It’s these details that set different regions and brands apart … and what makes the big names famous.
But what’s the difference between themajor national chain brands?
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And most importantly, which chain has the best-tasting plain cheese pizza?
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These rankings reflect overall performance across all three styles.
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This was unexpected since their cheese is fresh and never frozen, and a blend of mozzarella and Muenster.
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Marco’s Pizza
We wanted to like this one.
Unfortunately, we won’t be earning loyalty points with this one, since it was regrettably disappointing.
Su-Jit Lin
The pizza itself is very soft with lots of chewy crust, undercooked in spots and generally uneven.
We found the sauce very sweet, likejarred Ragu brandwith a little extra oregano and salt.
“It’s just very blah from every angle,” remarked one taster.
Su-Jit Lin
Another added, “Also a little spongy, especially as the cheese cools.”
But were these changes enough to earn them the pizza chain crown again?
According to our panel, it’s a resounding no.
Su-Jit Lin
The dry, papery crust of our 14-inch large hand-tossed pizza still had its issues.
The bottom of it was heavily floured, so much that the taste of raw flour was apparent.
“It tastes like a floury hard pretzel, a little,” but without the alkaline complexity.
Su-Jit Lin
The layers of both were meager, and all dried up into a powdery graininess on the reheat.
What little there was, was SpaghettiO’s sweet.
“It’s different in the Northeast, though!”
Su-Jit Lin
And for $9.99 each, it’s even more so.
But the most wow-worthy fact of it all?
It’s actually very good.
Su-Jit Lin
“It does the stringy-thingy!”
But don’t tell me!")
But actually, it proved to be perfect, with a thicker crust that avoided being spongey or doughy.
Su-Jit Lin
You smell it before you even taste it, wafting up buttery and divine.
The cheese that was on the pie was finea little dry cold and reheated, but perfectly acceptable-tasting.
“There’s such an abundance of all three elements!”
Su-Jit Lin
And it was just as good, and perhaps even better, than it looked.
The Takeaway
It should be assumed that nonational franchise pizza chainis “bad.”
