Jo-Jo's Pizza & Pub — Restaurant in Cherry Valley Township

I'd eaten here a few times years ago with generally good results and made a mental note of the good experiences; I suppose it's time to share my most recent experience?

Ordered a pizza by phone for carryout. Tried to use the menu on their website first, and discovered that it contained no pricing. Was told the pizza would be half an hour. Arrived early and could not locate a carryout window, so I entered the first door I found--which seems to be a main entrance. Place looked clean and I eventually found my way to a large room consisting of a bar with slot machines and a number of tables, probably space for about 50 seated people max. Asked the bartender if I was in the right place and was told yes. As I was early, I sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Plenty of vodka choices, a few tap beers, minimal Scotch and cordials, several whiskey varieties, and maybe three or four bourbons (one was a sipper, one was a high-alcohol mixer, one was typical, one was top shelf, and maybe one other?). Probably about 50 or so different liquor bottles on the bar, plus any rail stuff--nothing special nor too-much out of place from what a typical bar might regularly stock, depending on the clientele. Probably don't get many cocktail orders here, though? Pricing was on-par for the area/region, and servers were attentive/friendly.

Probably not the best environment for kiddos as the clock gets later in the evening, and is not very quiet when busy, but it's easy to hear people speaking at your own table. Online jukebox for music. Two big screen TVs.

Now for the pizza review: Rockford-styled thin crust pizza, box cut, tasty red sauce, heavy/dense and dry (non-greasy) crust with strong unsalted-saltines/water-cracker flavor notes (yum!), adequate quantity of cheese and toppings, crust thickness is typical-to-thin for the Rockford style. I've had a lot worse pizza than this from other Rockford pizza places on good days, and I'd easily put this pizza up as one of the better-tasting bar pizzas in town. "It's no Nunzio's" when compared to the high cheese quantity or slightly-thicker thin-crust depth of that Loves Park establishment's incredible Rockford-style regional pizza masterworks, but it's also no slouch of a pizza either. Pricing was typical for the style/size. There's also not much here on the menu for those who are vegans.

I need to remind myself to eat pizza from here more often when I'm in southeast Rockford, or plan on making trips here for pizza and drinks. It's also attached to a laundromat, so maybe a great pizza/drinks diversion while cleaning my clothing?

Strong four of five stars, possibly even 4.25-4.5 (as it's really tough to beat Nunzio's awesome "five-stars Rockford-style pizza" extravagance). If this place was the only Rockford-style pizza place still in existence for whatever reason, I'd have few complaints.

Location is at the stoplight, next to the self-storage place (across from the strip mall/gas station). Building is shared with a self-service laundromat. Neighborhood is heavy industrial. Private parking lot. Gender-specific restrooms. Cash & credit cards. Approx. half a mile north of the US-20 and Alpine Road full-interchange for easy/nearby highway access to I-39. No clue regarding semi-truck or RV parking spaces, but seeing how the neighborhood is heavy industrial companies of many sizes, I'm going to wager that one could park one or several quite nearby or within a very-short...

It seems like a convenient place being right next to the laundry mat. I figured I'd reward myself while doing laundry. After sitting down and asking for a beer the bartender threw a menu in my direction. Took that because well I'm a black woman in a predominantly white environment. I received my beer and paid while I drank. My money sat in front of me the whole time. I go back to the laundry mat and just as I am unloading the washer, the bartender comes in the laundry mat asking if I was going to pay for my beer. I follow her back into the bar and sure enough my money is gone. Thank God for the angel he had watching as she explained to the bartender that I did pay her. By far the worst experience in all of Rockford. Come to find out she placed my money in...

I've had several really good pizzas there (resulting in an extra star) but my most recent experience drove me to write this review. I ordered a family size with the veggie special on half (~$23) and two toppings on the other half. They wound up charging me $2.50 per topping on the second half which made the pizza $30+ after tax. I think that's a price gouge; typically, one would simply pay for the more expensive half. After talking to the owner's son about this, I felt like my patronage was unwanted. In that case, I'm...