Hungry Howie’s Pizza

For starters, this place is not closed… or maybe it moved. This review is for the Howie’s across from Village Idiot on High Street.
The crust is ok. Butter and parm is not impressive.
Cajun is pretty good.
The cheese and sauce does not really have any flavor sadly.
Meh overall. pricing is decent, but why?
Maybe I’ll just try the bread sticks with flavoring

Ordered online. Pizza was not that great. Kind of bland, but the crust was good. That was the best part, unfortunately. Tried garlic and the cheese crusts. Probably won’t order any time soon.

Hungry Howie’s makes the best $ 5 deal pizza. What I mean is that for a medium one topping pizza made in 12 minutes, piping hot, and a crust smoldering with flavor, it remarkably hits the spot.
Went there last night after a night of gallivanting. Prepared myself mentally for the sight of an Ohio State Pizza-​type second tier pizza with ancient onion toppings. Instead, thought for a moment I was at Donato’s when the cashier, a jovial, smiling, bespectacled college student, asked «What flavor crust would you like on that?» I didn’t know you had choices for a Five Dolla Deal Pid-​za.
Took the cajun crust with pepperoni topping, having suppressed an urge to go to Da Levee earlier in the night, and less than twelve minutes later, we were given our steamin’ round pie o’ satiety.
And sate it did. Hungry Howie’s is an expert at crust-​making, so I found myself deliberately munching on my crust, savoring every nibble, and taking big McGruff-​style «Bites out of Crime» off the actual pizza. Cajun is the spiciest, most satisfying pizza crust I’ve had. As for the pizza, it is a little thin on the cheese, but there is so much oil and sauce, and the crust in the middle is somewhat soggy (good soggy) in a way that masks that cheese deficiency.
Which is fine. Hungry Howie’s asks that you be hungry. We were, and we snarfed it down in ten minutes. Satiety followed. Mission accomplished.

The verdict is in: Hungry Howie’s is pretty good!
I have lived in Columbus, just a block away from Hungry Howie’s, for a year, and while when I first moved here I looked far and wide for Columbus’s best, now that I’ve tried so much I have begun to search more locally. Within 3 blocks of my apartment are Mama Mimi’s, Gatto’s (which I still haven’t tried), and Hungry Howie’s, and 5 blocks from Hound Dog’s.
What truly wins at Hungry Howie’s (and what almost tempted me to give it 4 stars) is the deal. This may sound incredibly cheap of me, but the fact that I only paid $ 5 for a medium pizza which feeds both Rachel P. and me actually makes it taste a little better for me! The amount of food we get for $ 5 is pretty close to what Mama Mimi’s gives us for $ 10 (two small pizzas at $ 5 each), without a HUGE taste difference and we don’t have to bake it ourselves. WIN!
As for the pizza: it’s not too shabby! Is it the best pizza I’ve had in Columbus? No. But it hits the spot on a wet rainy day. The pizza is a little soggy, oily, and messy, but it is tasty. The bacon is crisp and delicious, but the pepperoni is a little bit soft and wet. The crust (we choose the butter crust) is quite yummy, and I like that it is not overdone.
But would I choose this pizza over Hound Dog’s or Mama Mimi’s if it weren’t such a good deal? Probably not. The deal is it, I have to say. I mean, $ 5 to feed two people is probably equivalent to cooking supplies to make a home cooked meal, and it even beats McDonald’s. But despite my frugal-​sense, rest assured if the pizza were bad I would NOT eat there just because it’s cheap. However, the taste is just at that point where it’s good enough to take up that deal. The last two weeks we’ve had weekdays where we did not feel like cooking so we just got Hungry Howie’s. And if we kept it up weekly, it would only cost $ 20 a month, which is less than many of our night out meals alone. Sweet!

I’ve only had it once, about a week ago. But I have to say that it may be one of the best pizza’s I have ever eaten. And I’ve had A LOT of pizza. Not sure what all the bad criticism is about but maybe I just had it on a good day or maybe they have changed things up. The ranch flavored pizza crust was awesome.

I had Hungry Howie’s at a work-​related function a little over a year ago and was surprised at how good it was. Nearly eight months later, and after jonesing for the pizza quite badly, I ventured into the Clintonville location and was ready for part deux.
Okay, this is real simple: the pizza was horrible. This was kind of like a celebration dinner (I was planning on eating here for a long time and it was right after an important event) as well and I can say that I was thoroughly disappointed. It was actually so bad that I three away the last ¹⁄₃ of the pizza.
Everything that was fantastic about the first pizza was definitely not duplicated on this one. The crust was SUPER salty and virtually devoid of sauce. Actually the only thing that was good about it were the breadsticks that came with it. We actually ate all of those!
Now this begs the question: where did the first Hungry Howie’s pizza come from that I ate? The one that tasted so good? I don’t know but it’s safe to say it wasn’t this location.
The pizza was so bad that it’s put me off of eating any Hungry Howie’s pizza ever again.

Possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten. I had some sandwich with wet, drippy white cheese on it that seemed more like mayo than cheese. Now every time we drive past, I sing «Home of the jizz sandwich!»

We ordered food from Hungry Howie’s once. Sandwiches. Here’s the thing. These sandwiches were soggy. I don’t undersand it, but water squirted into my mouth when I bit down. This is not a pleasant feeling.
I heard the pizza is better but you won’t find me trying it.

I didn’t realize that Hungry Howie’s was a chain for the longest time since it’s a fairly new establishment in Cbus. I’ve ordered from them several times and always been fairly happy with the food and service. Here is what I have learned from my experience:
–If you are a fan of garlic, that is by far the best flavor to go with of their crusts. The rest are all so-​so (Note: I have only tried onion, butter, and Cajun, so I can’t speak for ALL the rest)
–They have the best cheese bread around, altho there are several different options for it on the menu and only one of them is stellar. If I can remember which one it is that rocks so much I will add it later.
–They will NOT deliver to Victorian Village, or anywhere south of Campus, even if the dude on the phone tells you they will. You’ll likely get a call 45 minutes to an hour later from a manager apologizing for the map-​illiterate staff, and even though you’ll have to pick up your grub, it will be free with bonuses and/​or coupons for your next order.
I’ve never tried any of their salads, wings, or subs, but I’ve always been pleased with the pizza. They advertise pretty heavily around Campus/​Clintonville so discounts are pretty readily available, another plus in my book. And just to comment on the other review, I’ve never had a soggy crust or undercooked crust from them myself, but every place has their off days.

I tried Hungry Howie’s twice because not many decent pizza places seem to deliver in Clintonville. Both times the crust was almost soggy and under-​cooked in the middle. It wasn’t terrible, but Papa John’s is better. And Hungry Howie’s makes a big deal about their flavored crusts, but the herb crust we got just tasted incredibly salty.