Joe's Italian Pizza in Springfield (not Lincoln) — Restaurant in Illinois

My name is Mike Lawrence. I began coming to Joe’s when it was still located in a somewhat decrepit house located just one door west of the building it’s now in. The front porch on that old house was loose and would bounce or sag a bit when you walked across it and my joke to guests I took in there with me, was they should carefully walk around that bad spot when we left because we’d all be heavier from having eaten and would probably fall through.

My daughter lost her first baby tooth while eating Spaghetti at Joe’s. She’s now 43 so, yeah, we’ve been coming for decades; certainly since the days when Joe Porcasi ran it.

All the food was great and, through all those years, I NEVER heard anyone say anything bad about the food, the service, the price, nothing … until now.

I guess it’s to be expected, especially in the food industry. Over time people weary of doing the same job day after day, get tired of serving the same food to the same people. Pride in performance gives way to pet peeves and personal pity parties. Oh, I get it. I do.

The reviews I read now talking about bad service, bad food, no longer being able to dine in … none of that would EVER have been true back in the day. Back when we came and sat down, talked, laughed, took in the awesome smells, and delighted when the food came. Even standing up to get the door for someone exiting with boxes of pizzas and more to take home to loved ones. Man, those were the best of times.

When we first found Joes, we didn’t go to any other shop in town. Why, when you’d found the best, would you want to go anywhere else?

We had even talked, briefly, with the original owners about opening a franchise on the east side of Springfield. Wish we’d carried through with that instead of opening a restaurant. Ah, well.

I don’t know if it’s still there, but I donated a kitchen chef statue to Joe’s when Jeff bought the place. Used to be right up on the counter.

I live in St. Louis now but, from time to time, when I long for one of Joe’s pizzas, or meatball subs, or lasagnas … and it’s only a 200 mile round trip but, frankly, some of the reviews have kinda bummed me out about doing it.

Ah,...

All I can say is WOW horrific customer service. That old woman will run that business down to the ground. I order there every couple of weeks and today when I was trying to order it was continuously busy and then it said I was blocked. That’s weird so I had my boyfriend try and he got the busy line non stop but no message saying he was blocked. So, he went to the store and tried to just order a Togo since he couldn’t get through to anyone and the young kid took the order and said it was going to be an hour. I showed up an hour later to pick up the pizza and the old woman came out and said she didn’t have the pizza that he placed because they don’t do that it was only curbside ordering and we needed to call the number. I then explained that I couldn’t get through to order and he tried but mine said it was blocked and then she had the AUdacity to say that they blocked me for a reason either I didn’t pick up a pizza or someone was being an idiot. 😳😳😳😳😳 She had no clue why I was blocked, called me an idiot indirectly, did not care to resolve any issue and didn’t know of an issue. I would say that if she was smart that she would have a separate line for people to call orders in and then have a separate line for people to call to pick up the pizzas curbside so that people can get through the lines without continually being busy and if she was smart she would not assume and she would know why someone was blocked if someone went to the extent of blocking someone. I am so appalled by her, such an awful person. I will let everyone know about this experience. I have never felt so attacked by nothing that...

Someone told me about Joe's And my wife wanted to do pizza and a movie on a friday..... So we ordered!

It was our first time, so we decided not to order over the phone but go in and order. Not.... The dining room was closed... They have food runners bringing your pizza to your car... taking payment from the car also... cash or credit 🤔. However, they did a outstanding job, and that was the highlight of the whole experience.

We ordered one large pepperoni and one large sausage... Both pizza with tax was 35 something.... But who cares about pricing when it comes to GOOD PIZZA.

So I thought.... Truthfully the pizza was a 2.5 The taste just wasn't there... Sauce makes a pizza in my opinion and Joe's sauce didn't have any taste what so ever. I asked for extra sauce on my sausage pizza and still no flavor. Not sure if we ordered on a bad night, but Joe's just didn't live up to the high expectations we had. There was plenty of cars waiting for orders So maybe it's just me. Being from Chicago, I've had some of the best pizza in the world 🌎. So my taste buds know goodness when we get it. 2.5...