AJ's Pizzeria — Restaurant in Woodland Park

6/13/24 - I'm happy to update my previous review and bump it backup to 5 stars! Both new staff teams have thoroughly impressed me in the last few months. They are comprised of pretty young people, but they are respectful and competent, and they strive to be courteous, respectful, and professional. The food is also pretty darned good! I'm happy to call AJ's one of my favorite restaurants in town again. I recommend it accordingly!

Review from 2022 - I hate to update my earlier 5-star review, and I'm only giving 4 stars cause I really like the owners and Andy Knowles, a manager at AJ's. I ordered pizza last Saturday night, February 19th, 2022, and my experience was beyond disappointing. The kid who answered the phone was not professional at all and barely made it through taking my order. He did say it was his first day working, which boggled me to hear. He definitely wasn't adequately trained to be on the phone taking orders at that point. I finally got through making my order (repeating myself multiple times along the way), offered my credit card and rendered payment, and hung up. After sitting there thinking about the call for a few minutes, I realized the kid never asked for my address. So, I called back, and the fun started again. They had no record of my order, and the young man who took my order was apparently no longer there. At this point, i demanded to talk to a manager and was put on hold. The guy came back online and said the manager was busy cooking and that there wasn't a manager available to take my call. I asked him if my credit card had been charged. He said he didn't know. Now I started getting a little hot. I demanded to talk to a manager and was not going to take no for an answer. He got a little freaked out and put me on hold again. Finally, a lady answered the phone and said that she knew the other guy failed to get my address and that they were waiting for me to call back to give it to them. I wasn't even going to give her a hard time at that point. I thanked her and hung up. Pizza came about 30 minutes later, but was burnt. My son also bit into something small and hard that hurt his tooth. Here's the deal... every business in town is struggling desperately to find good help, and AJ's is obviously included in that. They were obviously overwhelmed and busy to the point of failure. Things happen, and I get it. My biggest complaint here is that management completely failed. There's zero excuse for poorly trained people to be taking orders and charging credit cards. Additionally, if the manager was actually waiting for me to call back, the guy answering the phone should have been expecting my call. The rushed and broken down nature of their operations also led to a major breakdown in the quality of the food that night. It was all very disappointing. My wife and I went back and ate in the restaurant today and had a great experience, and the food was good. I'm hoping AJ's can find good help and figure out better processes for operating under strain to ensure that doesn't happen to me or anyone else again. I wish Andy had been working that night. I'll keep eating there because I want to support hard-working local businesses, and when they're operating correctly, AJ's is great. That was just a terrible experience, and it shouldn't have happened...

The business shares a paved outdoor parking area with several retail stores, a coffee shop, and other fast food business. Parking area is paved, and although no handicap spaces were marked, patrons can park literally outside their door. Depending on how busy they are of course. Interior has a sort of minimalist warehouse sort of feel. Floors are painted concrete, and seating is fixed 'picnic' type steel framed seats attached to tables. I did not require the use of bathroom facilities, so am not aware of whether handicap facilities were available. When ordering food, patrons must walk up to a steel counter and place orders. We chose takeout, so did not utilize seating. No handicap seating was seen. I was bothered by the lack of cleanliness. I noticed two tables that had obviously been used, and even though they were not busy, had remained uncleaned. There was also a scoop of ice cream on the floor that had obviously been there for some time, as it was entirely melted. Floor also had trash and food bits in several places. Parking I would give +4 stars, however it is part of a large parking area of an outdoor mall. Atmosphere and cleanliness +1 stars. Handicap facilities +0. The young lady who waited on me was efficient. She neither smiled or was personable. I ordered two large pizzas which cost $40.11. I paid and was told it would be 15 minutes. No "thank you" from the waitress was offered. She was neither friendly or unfriendly, just uninterested. I rated service as +2. Pizzas were edible. Not special by any means. Crust was good, but sauce tasted like a standard marinara. I e pizza I ordered was supposed to have barbecue sauce on it, but appeared and tasted like standard marinara. A "thank you" was not offered to me by the waitress when I received my order either. She appeared to be more interested in a conversation going on among employees. The pizzeria advertises "stone oven baked" however, a standard steel pizza oven was used. I did see an employee (manager?) Clean up the melted ice cream on the floor with several napkins as I was leaving Overall, I cannot recommend AJ's Pizza. The place is unclean, atmosphere is totally lacking, there are no COVID-19 practices utilized, and I observed no handicap seating. I would rate that at +1. Employees appear more interested in their conversations than their customers, there is no true stone oven baking that I observed, and the food, at best, is edible but not good. I gave AJ's Pizza 2 stars originally. But after much thought I had to, in good conscience, give them 1 star. When fast food costs $40+ for two pizzas and no extras (drinks etc), I believe you can have simple expectations met for cleanliness, atmosphere, friendliness and manners when being waited in, and food if some quality. AJ's has very much room to improve in...

update: 3/25/22 still one of my favorite places to go and one of the best places hands down in teller county . the main reason I took one star away is inconsistency. if you refer to the pictures I got the bread that when ordered was the cheesy garlic bread. as you see on 3/2/22 it came as amazing yummy goodness. they look like dinner rolls but they are full of cheese and covered in garlic butter best i ever had here. now if you look at the picture from this time its more like cheese sticks. big difference between day crew and night crew. night crew on the 2nd of march definitely takes the win. day crew on the 25th of march unfortunately you lost a star for this 5 star establishment. other than that the pizza was amazing as always. the wings were even spicier than last time. which again I like that yall add spice to the garlic parmesan wings but I don't like that one time its amazing and then this time its too spicy. there's a proper ratio and it wasn't there on this day shift. just another reason for the lose of a star and the review I'm giving.

update: 3/2/22 I'm still new to taking pics and tend to forget before digging in so excuse the fact that some knots, wings and a slice of pizza is gone. I'm proud of this place through the whole pandemic y'all faced adversity and didn't make excuses for anything. and your still one of the top places in our community today. when you make a mistake you fix it with no excuses. you make sure to give quality customer service. the entire team last night was amazing from the girl that took our order to the guy running the oven , and what I'm assuming was the manager on duty great job calling out orders and being involved in helping everyone your not a boss your a leader. this team deserves more recognition and to the new guy you slayed it on the oven . keep it up. Onto the food; pizza was amazing as always. I've had the pleasure of eating every one that y'all offer. Garlic parmesan wings are the only ones I get and they are phenomenal . they were spicier than normal but I was okay with it. NOW onto the part that I was shocked surprised and thoroughly enjoyed. the cheesy garlic knots . completely different from any other time I've been there and I didn't think they could get any better but you did it. they are so delicious. I did notice a few differences such as the garlic butter sauce under them . basically i hope the new recipe stays as they were great before but they are even more delectable than ever before

Been here at least 5 times with different friends or family and always get great feed back from them. Personal favorites are garlic parmesan wings , mountain high bbq , and the...