Review: Papa John's - Epic Pepperoni-Stuffed Crust Pizza

Papa John's Epic Pepperoni-Stuffed Crust Pizza features the chain's original pizza dough stuffed with pepperoni and cheese and then baked into a seasoned crust and topped however you like.

It goes for $13.99 in my area but I got this one courtesy of Papa John's (it only came topped with cheese and sauce but you can get 1 topping for no added charge).

The end crust turned out to be roughly the same width as Papa John's regular pizza crust but with an extra plumpness from the pepperoni and cheese inside. As with Papa John's original pizza crust, there's very little in crisping to the surface so that I was mostly left with a soft chewiness.

The pepperoni in my pizza was very evenly laid out in an overlapping single layer that pretty much guaranteed some pepperoni in every bite unless you managed to pull a pepperoni slice out of place. It was salty, porky, and just slightly spicy. The cheese was pretty evenly placed and melted but, as with the cheese at most major pizza chains, it wasn't very gooey or stretchy.

The seasoning on the surface of the crust offered a blend of parmesan touched with garlic. The parmesan was pretty salty and combined with the pepperoni lined a bit too heavy in that direction.

Taken altogether, Papa John's Epic Pepperoni-Stuffed Crust Pizza made a decent showing versus similar offerings from Pizza Hut and Little Caesars. I wouldn't say any of them does enough to stand out above the others but Little Caesars remains the cheapest of the three offerings, while Papa John's includes their buttery Garlic Sauce for dipping (and Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust Pizza doesn't come stuffed with pepperoni).