Papa Joe’s is a local chain of Italian restaurants in the Central Florida area that used to be really popular. Their Altamonte Springs and Lake Mary Blvd locations almost always had a wait, and then they started to expand. As they opened up more and more restaurants in the area, their food and service became worse and worse. After a while I decided the restaurants weren’t worth eating at anymore. Eventually other people must have gotten the same feeling because the restaurants seemed to no longer have waits to eat, and Papa Joe’s closed all of their restaurants except for two in Lake Mary and one in Altamonte Springs.

After years of not eating at a Papa Joe’s, I decided to give them another try and went to the restaurant in the Colonial Town Center in Lake Mary, FL. Unlike in the past, there was no wait to eat and the service was good.  We ordered garlic bread and a cheese pizza. The garlic bread was disappointing and was nothing more than a roll topped with that garlic butter stuff and some parmesan cheese. I don’t think there was any actual garlic involved.

Papa Joe’s pizza seemed to go into a downward spiral back when I used to eat at the restaurants more often until it wasn’t worth ordering anymore. When my pizza on this visit came out, I was surprised with the result. The pizza was actually pretty good. My only complaint was about the sauce, which I found it to be way too sweet.  Other than that the pie was pretty good. It didn’t come close to King Umbertos standards (best pizza I’ve eaten), but was definitely a few steps above many other local pizzas.  I think I’ll be returning again!

6 out of 8 slices.