While Eastown isn’t known for chains, that’s about all you’ll find when it comes to pizza. Enter Gino’s Pizza, which continually holds its own against three major chains as a cult favorite of the area (since 1972), and continues to succeed in bringing great pizza to people’s doorsteps.
Having gone there several times, I can tell you that Gino’s is one of my favorite pizza places in town. It doesn’t try to do anything fancy — it just sticks to the basics. You won’t find healthy options on the menu — what you will find is pizza loaded with grease, cheese and some pretty good sauce.
And Gino’s doesn’t go shabby on its toppings either — your pizza will be covered with the toppings you desire, and then some. It’s one of the only pizza joints I’ve visited where I’ll actually leave the pepperoni on and not have a problem eating it.
After a long hiatus of visits, I recently returned to Gino’s. It was the exact same atmosphere, the exact same people behind the counter. We even got to see Gino himself this time around (which is a rare treat). We ordered a two liter of pop and large cheese pizza ($9.95, 14-inch) to split, and 15 minutes later it was delivered fresh to our booth.
I could literally see the cheese melting throughout the pizza. It was a gooey delight and the amount was generous (probably not necessary to order extra cheese at Gino’s). The sauce is likely the best part — a clean tomato taste blended with an array of spices and Parmesan cheese. The sauce tastes like a real tomato, and it’s sits right in the middle between sweet and spicy (many other places can’t seem to get it right)
As for the crust, it was just as crispy as I had remembered. It’s pretty much your classic thin hand-tossed — crispy around the edges and a bit fluffy in the middle. The large pizza was certainly that — huge.
Gino’s has a small dining area of four booths. Most likely the main business is delivery and pickups, but this is a nice option. Still, it’s not designed as a sit down pizzeria, so don’t expect a lot of frills when you walk in (expect some Ms. Pac-Man, pinball and other arcades).
Needless to say, the pizza was a remembrance of old for me. It hadn’t changed whatsoever, and had brought back so many great memories of past visits. The arcade games, the…late night extravaganzas. It was all worth it for this pizza. I remember working at the student newspaper office in college and ordering a huge pizza for our staff. Each time was a treat.
And this time was no different. Gino’s isn’t fancy, and it isn’t a place to go out on a date. But it’s definitely a place that serves some darn good pizza.
