Five Star Pizza — Restaurant in Gainesville

I usually order from the downtown location and have been highly satisfied every time, but was visiting my mother and ordered from the 34th St location which was closer. My mistake - it would have been worth it to have driven all the way across town honestly.

We placed the order online through an account we’ve used many times before, then we called after we placed it because I had forgotten to change the payment from cash to card. So the order was verbally confirmed (address and all) and we were told it’d be around 30 minutes. When it was 50 minutes later (I like to give the benefit of doubt and not go postal over 10-15 minutes, it is just a pizza after all and we ordered during dinner rush) and I called, the pizza was still there and we were immediately handed over to the manager about the issue.

We were told the driver had been there, knocked and waited, and called the number we gave them. We were in the living room, we have three dogs, all the lights were on, there were two cars outside, and the house number is very clearly lit up by the outside light… So they cancelled that order and we replaced a new one for pick up because delivering was too difficult for them. (Upon going to get the pizza, we realized that it was less than half a mile away – should have looked at that before selecting delivery in the first place.)

Once we were there, all we were fed were excuses. The phone number they said we gave them was completely wrong, not just a miss-typed digit that could be accounted as my mistake. When the manager asked his driver about his location history in his GPS, he conveniently had left it in his car (so I guess he wasn’t using the phone he slipped into his pants when we first walked in). And then we were told this “was something that happened” as though I’m supposed to believe they have serious glitches in their online software that only affects this store (again, never had an issue downtown and everything is owned by the same person) so, how is that? And if that were the case, how are there not more angry reviews about this “glitch that happens” that completely messes up contact information, but gets the actual order right?

It felt like we were being blatantly lied to because the “manager” (who looked just like the other workers) didn’t want to confront his friends about screwing up and seem uncool to them. We promptly cancelled that order and just picked up a frozen pizza from Walmart - at least there we expect negligence and...

I'll fess up - pizza is my favorite food. It's a constant craving that I have to reckon with on a daily basis. When it comes to pizza, the balance between price point and quality is also quite a tricky one.

I rated Hungry Howie's highly in the past not for being top quality pizza, which it isn't, but rather for being affordable. Similarly, I enjoy other local pizzerias such as Piesanos and Midici, where there is a heavy emphasis on delivering a memorable experience with friends and family, so price is less of an object there in favor of high quality ingredients. There comes a time, though, where one would prefer to meet in the middle.

Five Star Pizza has consistently delivered quality pizza time and time again, every time I order from them (or if someone happens to bring them to a party). The dough is simultaneously chewy and tender, baked with high-protein flour which makes it both taste good and also serves as a sturdy base for the toppings. The sauce is rich without being overly sweet or acidic, and the cheese is exceptionally flavorful and well-textured.

The price is not bad either. Although they've had to naturally increase their price over the years due to inflation, they are still well affordable and have good offers and coupons for if you need to order items in quality. And of course, they have the infamous Piezilla, a 24" monster of a pizza - two and a half times the square footage of a LARGE pizza - which is a great novelty for parties of six people (or two college students!)

To be clear, this is not a dine-in place. This is strictly a take-out or delivery shop and the austere interior design reflects this. The entire kitchen is within full view as you enter. However, the cashiers and backroom staff are among the friendliest and professional I have ever dealt with. This is a tightly-run ship, much appreciated when customer service and professionalism these days is considered a luxury rather than a necessity.

Tl;Dr - good pizza, good price. Go here.

Edit: I'm more than a little bemused at the reviewer who ordered an extra cheese pizza and complained there was too much cheese, compared to joints like Domino's. And that's a...

I can appreciate a pizza restaurant that stays open late enough, that when I get home from work I can depend on them. I ordered a sixteen inch ground beef pizza and pepperoni rolls. The rolls were nothing but amazing. The pizza on the other hand was quite the let down. Warm to the touch, so I had to heat it up so I could ingest the cheese. The ground beef was flavor less and burnt from the oven, and minimal sauce. Unfortunately, a ritz cracker with cheese wiz would have suited me better. I have not been this disappointed in a while. I haven't lost complete faith, but hopefully something will happen so that the next customer is not dissatisfied and they recieve a better, flavor filled product unlike myself. Having been in the restaurant business for twenty years, I understand product cost and cutting down prices, but companies become successful because of the original flavor filled product they won their customers heart with in...