Miguel's Pizza — Restaurant in Stanton

TLDR: Amazing spot, considering how remote it is. The pizza is good, but better after a long hike.

I was first introduced to Miguel's when I was in Scouts. After a long 2-day hiking trip, this pizza was exactly what I needed.

I was excited to return to Miguel's as an adult to see how it stacked up.

Miguel's is a Mecca to hikers, climbers, and the outdoorsy. So, don't be surprised to see this restaurant packed on any given weekend. It's amazing how vibrant the spot is in a small town in the woods. Both the inside seating and the outside are teeming with customers.

On checkout, you are greeted by the myriad of merch. Hoodies, tanks, stickers and bottles in tie-dye, line the checkout counter.

You get to customize your pizza with a large menu of toppings. A great sight was their vegan dough and vegan cheese - they even had gluten free options. Additionally, they offer bowls, salads and sandwiches. Thier beer and drink menu has a really solid lineup of the classics, local, and delicious craft. I am a fan of Voodoo Ranger's Juicy Haze IPA with my pizza.

An order usually takes 30 minutes to fulfil and they will call your name and your table number and bring it to you. They are so dedicated to getting your food to you that they called an order 10+ times - Zach, your pepperoni pie is getting cold, if you see this.

The toppings were great and they didn't skimp on it either. The cheese was mellow and went perfectly with the pizza(It had that good grease on it). The sauce was balanced and fairly fresh. Not too sweet or acidic.

The one thing that lacked, imo, was the dough. I think through the sheer quantity of pies they sling in and out of the oven, it gets under baked. I like a nice dark crust on the bottom of the pie, for texture reasons. I also wished it had risen more. The crumb structure was teeny-tiny. Did it ruin the pizza? No, but a better crust would make it top-level.

I'm glad that Miguel's has grown since I last went. It has transformed from a local hole in the wall to a Kentucky...

After two bites I threw the entire pizza away. I wish I hadn't carried out, had I tried it before leaving I would've demanded a refund. The dough used to make my pizza must have been old or something, it was like chewing on cardboard, it was so tough. The pizza looked cut until you tried pulling a slice away to realize the crust was all still connected, it was so much like cardboard the cutter didn't even cut through it. I didn't even take time to consider the taste after fighting to chew off my first and second bite. I'm from a big city, I'm used to excellence when it comes to pizza, I'd rather have $1 frozen pizza from the grocery store than order here again.

Edit: Another person I was with also ordered a pizza, we ate separately in our hotel rooms. After talking to them about how my pizza was trash, they agreed saying they picked off the toppings and threw out the crust, I wish I had thought of that, I was just too angry to have wasted $20 on garbage to think straight enough to salvage any of it. The owner responded to this review wanting me to email him so he can figure out what happened, but after reading the other reviews and seeing them saying the pizza is also bad, I can't imagine he really cares enough to do anything about it or he already would have.

Second edit: This morning (the day after), I spoke with another person staying at the lodge we're in who also ate at Miguel's yesterday. They agreed wholeheartedly that the crust was like cardboard, their pizza also wasn't cut all the way through. That's three different orders, three different people, all dining separately, who all had the same experience,...

Not really sure what the draw of this place is? After seeing these reviews and even hearing from our campground host how popular it was, we decided to give Miguel's a shot for dinner on our first night in town. Cool overall "grounds" with a ton of seating outside with a basketball hoop, and open air tables.

We stepped inside, and that's where the romanticism ended. It was probably about 95 degree's outside, and about 80-85 degree's inside. We were early enough, that we didn't have much of a wait to order. We ordered a total of 3 pizzas, were given a number, and went to sit down.

Tables, floors, and trashcans were just disgusting. Flies EVERYWHERE, literally, everywhere. Tables that were uncleaned, and we never saw an employee clean them. Patrons had to grab napkins to clean a space to eat. Trashcans were overflowing.

This was all BEFORE the 6pm rush. I can only imagine what this place looks like come 7-8pm at night. By the time we left, it was packed, standing room only to order.

On to the food. We try to give restaurants the benefit of the doubt. With that said, the pizza's were mediocre at best. The dough lacked flavor and the toppings (while being generous in portion size), also lacked flavor. The middle was soggy, until you got to the outside crust portion, so we had to eat it with a fork.

Not sure what else to say. It wasn't good. I can understand being super famished after a long day hiking and just needing food, but otherwise, we just weren't impressed. In fact, it left us feeling...