Review: Papa Johns - Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza

Papa Johns Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza features a large, hand-tossed, stuffed crust pizza filled with garlic seasoned cheese, coated with garlic parmesan sauce, and dusted with garlic-parmesan seasoning.

I got a large pepperoni Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza for $13.99.

A cheesy garlic bread aroma wafted from the box as I drove my pizza home. The pizza was quite hefty. Opening the box showed a fairly normal-looking stuffed crust pizza only with a toasted, shredded parmesan crust dusted with seasoning (a combination of grated parmesan and burnt black garlic it looked like). It looked like the chain's Epic Pepperoni Stuffed Crust but with the addition of toasted, shredded parmesan.

The pizza crust was mostly soft but offered a slight crispiness at the surface along with the extra crunch from the toasted parmesan. The crumb was airy and chewy with a relatively uneven bubbling structure. The crust was particularly puffy atop the stuffed sticks of cheese inside.

Looking inside the end crust, my particular pizza didn't seem to have any extra garlic seasoning. I pulled some of the relatively melty and somewhat stretchy cheese to taste and it tasted just like normal, creamy, mozzarella-ish cheese. That being said, there was a good (but not excessive) amount of garlicky flavor and crunch to the end crust as well as plenty of cheese.

I tried dipping the end crust into Papa Johns Special Garlic Sauce, and while it provided an enjoyable buttery garlic flavor, it was a step too far in the salt department to be enjoyable.

The pepperoni on the pizza was slightly crisped and greasy with the requisite smoky, slightly peppery, and meaty qualities. The cheese on the pizza was fairly thick on this occasion, although it expectedly didn't stretch much. The sauce wasn't too heavy and offered the familiar tomato-y tang, seasonings, and slightly overmuch sweetness.

Overall, Papa John's Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza turned out fairly well for me. I was expecting more of a garlic bread-like feel to the crust but the toasty parmesan and garlic seasoning still made for tasty eating.

Nutritional Info - Papa Johns - Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza (not including pepperoni)
Serving Size - 1 slice
Calories - 370 (from Fat - 140)
Fat - 16g (Saturated Fat - 8g)
Sodium - 990mg
Carbs - 39g (Sugar - 4g)
Protein - 16g