John’s Best Pizza Restaurant

Stick with the takeout.
I’ve been coming here for many years and can only give them three stars because the pizza is better, with a thinner crust, than a lot of what you can get in the area lately. The trend around here has been pies with a soft, doughy crust. I prefer a crust that takes me back 50 years to the era of the red-​and-​white checkered tablecloth.
Anyway, my last inside dining experience here is liable to be my last inside dining experience here. After someone in our party ordered a dish she had specifically discussed with the waiter, he served her something completely different. What? He told her it wasn’t his fault because the kitchen had made the mistake. Once her proper dish finally did arrive, a young waitress or helper who spoke no English came over within two minutes wanting to take the dish away from her.
It was a cold day, I get that, but by the end of the meal, I really had to put on my coat to sit in the restaurant.
Very sad to see things come to this, bit as I said, stick with the takeout and you won’t be disappointed.

Been coming here almost my whole life, from back in the day when it was around the corner and the dining room looked like a cave. It’s been consistently decent for a lot of years. My tastes have evolved a bit past the old school red sauce Italian that this place serves but the pizzas still pretty good and the chicken parm is good old fashioned comfort food.
Staff is friendly, place is clean, plenty of room for a big family dinner. There used to be a lot more of this type of restaurant around in the area, I hope John’s best stays around because I think it fits a niche, «well priced family owned old school red sauce place». Go here instead of some corporate «family» restaurant. Take your grandma, she’d probably love it.

Do not have a large party there. Bread baskets and water were brought out for the first hour. Pitchers of soda were flat. Everything else came out so slowly that we had to order a pizza to keep the kids from starving. My son had to literally pull and gnaw on the pizza because the bread was like leather. Chicken and mushrooms was served on a tray SWIMMING in something other than gravy. Thin, flavorless and dry (how could something in a pool of liquid be dry?). Eggplant parm was flavorless. Pasta would have been better out of a can — at least there would’ve been a sauce with some flavor. No one took orders for drinks, so EVERYONE had to go to the bar all night.
They were NOT that busy, but the service was horribly slow. The food took over three hours to be served, and was the worst Italian food I have ever had in my life.
They, of course, built in a 20% gratuity for service and food that deserved no more than 3%.

Quite possibly one of the best, mouth-​watering Sicilian pies I’ve ever had. The owner, I believe, spoke in a Sicilian accent and made me a delicious pie that I posted on Facebook and has made mouths drool all over the country. The photo of the Sicilian pie in the gallery is mine. Let’s just say when you bite into the pizza your teeth go through a soft and pillowy layer of sweet dough and when you reach the bottom of the bite there’s a crispy layer on the bottom and the edges, giving you the best of both worlds. The cheese is crisp yet gooey, and beautifully layered with extra sauce in streaks across the top for extra zest. The pie is about $ 20, which translates into about $ 1.75 a slice. What you don’t finish, you can freeze or eat during the week, or obsess about it and get up in the middle of the night, like I’m about to do right now to devour a slice or three. Connecticut boasts brick oven pizza, and «Apizza,» with thin crusts, burnt edges, and Pepe’s which I find to be grossly over-​rated, crowded and not worth the wait. Stop by John’s Best and try something out of this world.

Im in a quandry reviewing this place. The food is GREAT, but the service is TERRIBLE. We sat 15 min before we even got water, bread, or even a waiter or waitress. I had to goto the pizza pickup counter to ask for service, and there was staff all around me! People seated 10 min after us got served immediately, it’s like we were invisible. I don’t think I’ve ever complained on Unilocal before, and usually give a restaurant a bye the first time for bad service, stuff happens, but this is the SECOND time in a row we were treated poorly. No more dinners there, but I MIGHT still buy my takeout pizza there, It’s great. Wait staff needs to GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER!

The meatball pizza was wonderful, and not overly priced either, I paid less than $ 9 for a small. It is definitely something I would order again. In previous visits I normally get the pasta pizza, its a heavy dish but definitely worth trying, other restaurants don’t make their pasta pizzas as nice. Along with the pizza I got an side of meatballs, they weren’t bad but not the best, I felt like they were just balls of beef, really lacking in flavor. I feel that if you eat here, get an pizza, my family has eaten our pizza from here long before they even moved to the shop rite location, and pizza worth trying if you’re looking for an thin crust delight.

Pizza is ok. Good but not great. It’s usually too greasy and the crust is inconsistent. Good place to go with kids. Their other Italian food is usually undersalted and underseasoned.

My family and I went to have dinner there last week, and I ordered seafood/​shrimp pasta dinner. To my surprise, the shrimp was bad, it smelled terrible. I told the two waiters about the shrimp was bad, they looked at me as though I was crazy. Then they came back about 10 minutes later and took away the diner plate, and asked me «Would you like something else?. I ordered veal parm, but the meat was tough with more bread coating then veal. I won’t recommend anyone to go there for dinner.

I’ve dined in, as well as ordering from the quick bite side, and YES, I AM A FAN.
Although the quick bite side left a lot to be desired in terms of taste, 2 slices, 3 garlic knots and a soda for $ 5.99 is a STEAL. (Don’t ever get the philly cheese steak grinder, its nasty) But the garlic knots are great, you can taste the fresh garlic and the slices they dish out are HUGE.
I’ve had a few pizzas here, but what will keep me coming back and coming back again is the shrimp casino on Sicilian. My god, is it delicious. John’s is definitely not stingy with the shrimp, each slice you grab has an ample amount, not to mention bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon?! Bacon. I even had this pizza coldcoldcold out of the fridge, and it was even better!
The service is great, wait staff is always friendly and refilling waters on queue.
Yay.

Popping my first Unilocal cherry (:
My third BEST pizza joint!
Went in for lunch after attending a Grand Opening event for Froyoworld.
The Shrimp Casino pizza is a MUST try … get it Sicilian style for thickness or you can get it regular. BOTH are really good. Not a fan of shrimp?
Try the Chicken Marsala pizza and add red onions to it!
Yummy in my Tummy!
Service is good. Clean environment. Great bread too!

Whoever thinks this pizza is good may just be a window licker. If this is John’s best then I don’t want to see him at his worst. I had cobwebs on me when we left.

This is a pretty good place. Pizza is really good and they have some great deals. 19.99 for two large cheese and free soup at lunch time during the week. The only thing I was a little wary about was the older tall waiter with white hair. He’s an off-​the-​boat somewhat arrogant italian man. If you can avoid him, I’d recommend it, if not the food is worth it. The owners are adorable and it is definitely a family-​oriented restaurant. I’ll be back!

We’ve been meaning to go here forever and we finally did when we got a hankering for pizza. The person on the phone was courteous, and it didn’t take much time at all. Just remember to remember the number they give you. That’s how they keep track of their orders.
We ordered a Hawaiian pizza and I say they jipped a little bit on the toppings. It was quite good, albeit a little greasy. And I had no problem picking it up. I also didn’t get sick from it. The only thing I can say is that pizza is quite expensive, even with the coupon.
If you’re looking for a place to get pizza from, you could do a lot worse.

This pizza place is on Federal Road in the Panera Bread/​Shop Rite Plaza. We ordered an extra cheese pie and for $ 13 it wasn’t too terrible but I don’t think we’ll be back. The cheese was sliding off the pie, as the crust was too doughy and couldn’t stand up to the toppings.

John’s Best has been a mainstay of the Danbury area for decades. For most of that time their food would consistently rate in the range of 7 – 8 on a scale of 1 – 10. That seems to have changed since they moved from their long-​time location next to the empty «Fine Arts» movie theater — to a new location across the street in the Shop Rite plaza. While the restaurant itself is considerably nicer… the atmosphere seems to have taken a major hit. The long-​time waitresses have moved on… and with them went the welcoming atmosphere John’s was known for. The new crop of waiters and waitresses seem to want little interaction with the customers… and you get the feeling that «lingering» would not be welcome.
The food has also suffered since the move… particularly within the last year (2008 – 2009). While the pizza remains one of the best in the Danbury area… the quality of the other dishes on the menu has dropped substantially. For many years John’s had the best Gnocchi you could find in the area… hands down. However, on a recent visit, the Gnocchi appeared to have been thrown in a deep-​fryer (rather than boiled) in an attempt to cook them quickly. The result was an extremely greasy pasta… with a burnt and hard outside and a dry, gritty inside.
Another bad habit which seems to have started in recent months is the over-​use of chopped parsley garnishes. The annoying habit from the 70s and 80s seems to have returned full-​force… with an over-​abundance of chopped parsley covering everything from the Baked Ziti to the Fettucini Alfredo. It’s both annoying and overpowering.
Portions have gotten considerably smaller over the last couple of years. What was once a huge bowl that could serve several people… is now a small plate — priced higher… and sometimes not enough to fill you.
Still… John’s consistently has one of the best pizzas you’ll find in Fairfield County. Particularly tasty is their authentic Pizza Margherita… made with real buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil. If and when there’s a wait for the dining room, it’s usually a short one… yet lines for pizza pick up can practically go out the door, especially on weekends.
John’s is a family-​friendly restaurant… with a basic kids menu offering several types of pasta… and chicken fingers. The restaurant can be loud during the dinner-​rush… so it isn’t the place to go for a quiet meal. Still… it’s well-​worth a visit.