I consider myself somewhat of a pizza connoisseur. And within the past year or so, having moved out and becoming fully accustomed to the bachelor lifestyle, pizza has become even more important. I have pizza at least 2 time a week, usually more.
There is usually a wide range of quality and options for pizza lovers like myself. I have my favorites.

• Bellacinos – There just so happens to be 2 within easy driving distance of my house. While definitely not a powerplayer in the pizza wars, it is definitely good food. I tend to get a small sausage pizza with the cheese breadsticks. It is the breadsticks and dipping sauce that make the meal. One drawback is that they charge 50 cents for the dipping sauce, when it really should come with the sticks. I’ve eaten numerous meals of the same exact variety at the Hermitage Bellacino’s, so often that the employees know my name and exactly what I ordered.
• Pizza Hut – Probably the most filling pizza out there. You really can eat a Pizza Hut pizza and truly make it a meal and not be hungry for several hours afterwards. The ‘Huts are all around and you can be pretty sure what you’re getting. In the meantime, I have problems with the Mt. Juliet Pizza Hut. On a handful of occassions they’ve been out of the personal pan pizza dough and lost a sale. Plus I’ve seen employees eating in the food prep area, apparently a big no-no in the food score rating.
• Papa John’s – Almost always good quality. I’ve had good service from the Mt. Juliet area Papa John’s. However the Hermitage outlet is another story. Countless numbers of times I’ve walked in, found half a dozen employees in the back making pizzas…or just standing around talking, while 1 or 2 employees are up front answering phone calls. Somehow they would put the customers on the phones ahead of me…they would continue to take phone calls while I would stand there for 5 minutes waiting patiently. Then again I feel like they should train all employees all of the jobs…from making the pizzas to taking orders so that there would be no wait. Somehow it seems a bit frustrating to have so many people in the back not doing much of anything while I wait patiently for someone to take my order.
• Domino’s – Pretty much on par with Papa John’s…only slightly lower quality. Trust me, it’s good and I find myself eating there quite a bit. Mt. Juliet’s Domino’s used to have a guy there who seemed to hate working there and you could tell it when speaking to him over the phone. I haven’t seen him in quite a while…
• Store Bought Pizzas In terms of value and quality, Totino’s pizza wins hands down. You can get them for around $1 and find good taste. Tortino’s aren’t so filling. Tombstone pizza is good too, with a higher quality than Totino’s. I stay away from Tony’s Pizza (too spicy) and Red Barron (lack of taste). And I find myself exclaiming “I Can’t Believe I Just Ate a Digiorno!” After all Digiorno has some type of unnecessary doughy taste to it.