Commandough's Pizza — Restaurant in Zephyrhills

I want to share some good things first. The manager today was extremely receptive to the things I discussed that happened during our ladies lunch. Also two of the ladies and had previous visits to this restaurant and enjoyed the food. I had delivered (Uber driver part time) from Zephyrhills to Wesley Chapel a very large order and the people said they absolutely love the food that they get there and it's worth every penny to have it delivered all the way to Wesley Chapel. All of the reviews I had read were pretty good especially for the pizza so I had very high hopes. And let me add I spent 25 years in the hotel (many 5 ⭐️) and restaurant business in all types of positions.. but a lot of it was as a waitress. I did everything from very high-end White Glove catering to Hole In The Wall little privately owned cafes. The restaurant has a lunch special two slices of pizza and a drink basically for $6 myself and one other lady got the special. The two slices of pizza were huge.. which was pretty great... Unfortunately they were barely warm and looked to be kind of dry but both the other lady and I thought well maybe just looks that way... extremely dry and not fresh. (See pictures) we decided to make the best of it and called the waitress over and asked did they have any kind of dipping sauces. Here's where it almost became comical... we explained that the pizza was extremely dry.. (not really any sauce on the pizza..) Her response was the pizza was pre-made.. not sure that something you want to tell a customer but I can understand that maybe they sliced up a large pizza and had it ready for the lunch rush... and heated up the slices as needed.. We asked for suggestions...maybe something like a garlic butter sauce or marinara something would make it more pleasant since we all were very hungry.. She seemed confused why we would want any kind of sauce and not even sure if they had a sauce ....it took her about 4 minutes to finally say oh we do have a garlic butter sauce.. we each ordered one (small plastic cup $1.25 each). We also decided to add one marinara sauce each ($2.25 each). Both dipping sauces were pretty decent.. I personally like the garlic sauce the best quite flavorful. It didn't do much to add to the basically by now cold pizza. Now let me say with great enthusiasm the crust of the pizzas was to die for... one of the best pizza crusts I've ever tasted. All three of us decided to give desert a go and we tried the Italian fried dough with powdered sugar...Holy smokes!!! I would equate it to having a beignet in New Orleans! Yum Yum Yummy! End of story.. spoke with the manager and told him about the whole situation... he listened with an open mind and was very shocked that this has happened and that that was not the impression he wanted to leave any customer. He stated that that wasn't the type of food that they put out and it was unacceptable. I was definitely happy with the response. We also talked about maybe the waitress needed some training tips she was quite young and maybe not a long time in the restaurant server field. Here's the last disappointment... I would have thought he might have offered a coupon with a certain percentage off on our next trip there or a free drink ticket or a basket of Italian fried dough on our next visit for free.. OR taken off the $3.50 we had to pay just to make the pizza eatable....anything/something We had already paid weren't expecting a complimentary meal for all three of us.. but at least some kind of acknowledgment to come back and give us a try again kind of thing. Our little ladies group at very minimum try one new restaurant and week that none of us have really ever been to or recently been to. We love to try many different cuisines and restaurant styles. We've been doing this for about a year and a half. Unfortunately we will not be revisiting this is one of our favorite places. Maybe in a few months will try it again and hope...

I wanted to like it. I wanted to so bad. I've had a couple of friends through the years tell me I had to go there and how great it was... Maybe there's new management?? Idk...

Hot, open air even inside, with a couple of fans going and so many flies.

We walked in and ordered two calzones, and then proceeded to wait almost 40 minutes while everyone that walked in after us had their food and was done before we got our to go boxes.

The server told us several times it would be up in just a minute... For about 30 minutes.

I wish I had taken pics of the calzones we got, but we were so hungry by then we just ate them. My husband's was the shape of a hot pocket, and only a bit larger, and mine looked like a fancy handbag because for some reason the dough on the ends was pulled up and wrapped around like a calzone that had the outline of a full pizza... Here. I drew it for you. Check the picture.

Anyway, you get one topping with it and have to pay a couple bucks for each other topping. I don't think they should have mushrooms as an option if they aren't going to dehydrate them a bit first. I don't honestly think it could have all been mushroom juice, because there was so much, but somehow, some kind of liquid just dumped out of it with every bite. More than 12 paper towels worth. Bounty paper towels. Sopping wet.

It didn't even taste good... And my marinara sauce that came with it tastes pungent and disgusting, I had my husband try it to see if it was bad. He said yes and gave me his. It wasn't horrible like mine but not good. I gave up on eating it.

Also, the rest of the day was spent in the bathroom or in bed with horrible pains and poor food choice consequences.

Nope. No thank you. No more for me. Not a good experience.

Oh, and it was SOOOO expensive. It was like $40+ for...

Wow! Let me start by saying I absolutely hate pizza. However, I have 3 kiddos and a hubby who loves pizza. We've drove past commandoughs a thousand times, and we've talked about "it must be good, its always packed." Well, in my experience, you get what you pay for. Thinking it must be good, equals it must be pricy. I was happily surprised! Prices are very fair, and right on point for the area. And wow, for not being a fan of pizza, it was good. Not just meh. Im hungry, its food... But good. I went back for 2nds! The crust was a tad thinner than i like, and it was a little greasy. But being real pizza, i fully expected a thin greasy pizza. It wasn't an aweful wait either. Standard 15-20 mins for pick up. Pizza was hot, fresh, and tasty. Not over or under cooked, just the right amount of sauce and toppings. Very impressed! We'll be back!

Update: so we ordered pizza from a couple other places in town. I forgot how much we enjoyed commandoughs the 1st time. (Hubby actually thought it was 1 place we didnt like, he was wrong) Decided to try them again.... 💥😋 i still dont like pizza. But for being a pizza hater, this stuff is so good. Had the Supreme. It was chuck full of toppings! Bacon was real bacon, not bacon bits. Veggies were cut big enough to taste, but not so huge they pull everything off. The crust was crispy and done. The delivery driver was all smiles, and friendly. The lady on the phone was friendly. Just an all around great pizza meal!!! Seems a little expensive, but if you go on to chain places, and price out the same thing with delivery, they arent any more expensive, but way more tasty. This 1 wasn't greasy at all... I just cant say enough how yummy this was. Keep up the good work!!! Love the...