Jaspare's Pizza & Italian Foods — Restaurant in Comstock Charter Township

This review is bittersweet for me.

I used to order from the Jaspare's on Stadium Drive back around the 2012-15 era until it closed. Everything was perfect. It was my all-time favorite pizza. Getting a 20" pizza was a plus.

After they closed and I moved closer to Gull Road, I started getting pizza here (late 2016 until present). The pizza is still the BEST pizza I have ever had. I will always pay the extra cost to get a pizza from them because I feel that the quality justifies it.

That being said...

They never (and I mean NEVER) get our order correct. The most common mistake is not making the crust garlic crust per request. But we also do a split pizza (half artichoke, half artichoke-pineapple-ham). It shouldn't be that hard -- we've had the same order for years now. Well, apparently it is. We preface every order with the fact that our order is always wrong. We have DRAWN PICTURES and given them to the waitress to take to the cooks.

We won't even get delivery (we live less than a mile away) because we don't want to risk them dropping it off and being wrong. We just do pick up and we ALWAYS open the box before we leave. And, almost always, have to ask them to add garlic to the crust.

The last time that I went in (which was actually two pizzas ago), the order was wrong. I had told her on the phone that the order is always wrong and please get it right. I asked for a manager finally after what I feel has been a very understanding and patient few years on my part. The manager was terribly unprofessional. He blamed it on his staff member who took the order which put a bad taste in my mouth. Then, when I explained that we had been coming for years and had issues every time, he gave me a long look and then said "Well, I've never seen either of you in here before" as if he knows every customer who ever walks through the door. His skepticism toward my complaint agitated me as it felt like him deflecting any responsibility back to me. The only thing he offered as consolation was taking our first names (Sara and Kris, pretty common) and saying he would make sure our next orders were correct. Whatever.

It is the best pizza. I will continue to order it. But I have no respect for that particular manager who seemed to care very little about making the customer happy or getting their order right but was perfectly content to blame anyone else he could find. I wish I had remembered to get his name, but honestly, I was red with rage and didn't even think to acknowledge it at the time.

Atmosphere is great, too, if you decide to stay. Can't speak to any food other than pizza because I wouldn't dare choose something...

I'm not too big to admit that I had inadequately pronounced the name 'Jaspare' in my head. I had applied my best stereotypical Italian accent. I had envisioned a large chef flinging pizza dough with great ease, twirling it above his head like a t shirt in a Petey Pablo video; a perfect caricature. 'Jah-spar-ay' he called out to me, sensing my hesitation. The yeasty smells of dough, caramelized cheese, and simmering marinara wafted through the air of my imagination, igniting salivation as my body prepared itself for what would surely be an unforgettable culinary experience.

But first, I must place my order.

As quickly as my fingers could find the call button, I pressed it and waited with baited breath for the greeting that would start me on the path to fulfillment. 'Thank you for calling Jasper's on Gull Road, will this be for pick up or delivery?' the voice on the other end inquired of me. 'Pick up' I said as I saw it all disintegrate. The grand Italian chef ruling over his fragrant domain was no more than the product of a wandering mind gone astray. It's pronounced 'Jasper', like the kid from the midwest that I was in 4th grade with. Undoubtedly, the fruits of the restaurant in this tangible world would be a paltry imitation of those produced in the pizza paradise of my mind. Yet still, my soul longed for pizza. Brushing the pieces of my crushed expectations aside, I ordered a large pepperoni pizza. '30-45 minutes' and my consolation prize would be sufficiently prepared for retrieval. Not wanting to find myself corralled into a tight corner of a pizza parlor lobby while the mercenary chefs concoct my fare, but still desiring to appreciate my pie while at it's freshest, I made my arrival at 38 minutes. The lobby was refreshingly clear of vagrant patrons loitering to and fro, which gave me a clear course towards the register where my anticipated transaction would occur. Upon landing on this sacred isle of commerce, I was warmly greeted and my business was concluded with the swiftness of a wild hare. With great restraint I journeyed home, not once lifting the lid of the box that ensnared my forecasted nourishment; though the pizza pleaded for me to free it from it's prison and deliver it to its final resting place. At last, I returned to the site at which my adventure had commenced. With formidable suspense, I laid hold of a slice and took my first bite; my lips grasping for more as my teeth tore through it with all of the voracity of a starved lion. It was delicious. The grand caricature of my mind had returned, where they will...

Rude place. Screw you on portions. Zero mgmt. Not like the original days! Soon this will be with Todd Glenn to show leadership, or not, to deal with managers like the one working the evening of Dec 21.

Outside of food related issues, for those folks that used to go there, but no more like us now, some of the current “experience”, like with call in orders, is mostly “un-greeted” cold pickups of the phone (in part the people do NOT seem happy to be there in the first place). Sometimes put on hold, even though hardly any customers there. Sometimes not coming back to the phone after being put on hold. And especially over the past year, giving out “expected time ready for pickup” always at like some 15 minutes, even though in the golden days it was never that quick from being TRULY busy. It seems that probably some boneheaded manager in a really odd way has ordered their troops to intentionally do that in part to try to make it “appear” like more customers are around, since it’s typically notably less customers around compared to like several years ago. About the only reason that makes sense, and at the expense of annoyed customers that are told “15 minutes” and stuck waiting.

And on the “waiting” inside side of things, stuck seeing some employees that think they’re out of site from everyone, but actually enough in site to see stuffing their face in with food.

That’s a better glimpse of today’s Jaspare’s compared to years past. :(

Back on the food side, with the picture uploaded, the bowl is only 6” diameter. It used to be properly filled in years past. The 2nd bowl of our order had essentially what equated to what wasn’t filled in the other bowl. But again note it was indeed 2 orders though. We weren’t able to get a picture of that other bowl after noticing the pathetic state of both bowls since our son wanted to at least start eating. From just starting out to tell the manager over the phone what we received, without really asking further on clarifying the “what”, she just blindly starts saying that’s the typical portion; and from trying to respond from being a many year customer that NO that’s not the case would keep yapping back not letting us finish stating the state of what we got, she just literally hung up in our face. That’s the current management of Jaspare’s, at...