Today, we are reviewing Godfather’s Original Crust Cheese Pizza. This is the fifth of a six-part series called the Cheese Pizza Challenge. The concept is simple: I visit six chain pizza shops and review six similar cheese pies. The goal is to rank how the cheese pies stack up.

Marco’s was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, by Willy Theisen. Theisen sold the company to Pillsbury in 1985. Pillsbury named Herman Cain its CEO in 1996. Cain stepped down from his position as CEO and president in 1996 but stayed chairman until 2002. In 2009, Cain was bought out by Ronald Gartlan. At its peak in the 1980s, Godfather’s had close to 1,000 locations. As of 2021, it has reported 445 locations in the U.S.

The Construction

The Cheese Pizza Challenge involves trying similar large round cheese pizza options from various pizza chains. There are several crust, cheese, and sauce options. As closely as possible, I tried to use the default choices that had been used on previous installments of the pizza challenge.  Normal amounts of sauce and mozzarella cheese were used. Since this is a cheese pizza challenge, no other toppings were used.  This pizza was made to order.

One interesting note is that this was the heaviest pizza. While I weighed the box, this pizza also felt heavier in my hand.

  • Crust: Original
  • Size: Large
  • Cheese: Mozzarella
  • Sauce: Signature Pizza Sauce (Normal Amount)
  • Diameter: 14 1/3″ – 14 1/2″
  • Weight: 2.60 lbs (including box)
  • Bake: Default (no option)
  • Location Purchased: Charlotte, NC
  • Price: $17.69
  • Pies Purchased: 1

Crust

The Original Crust is primarily a wheat and malted barley-based flour crust. This was a firmer crust, not very doughy. This crust had the look of pan pizza (and might have been). The crust didn’t have me doing a handstand regarding the overall flavor. On top of that, this was a floppy crust and was way too soft for my liking.

Score: 0.75 out of 2.5 points

Sauce

The Signature Sauce was quite good. It had some robustness to it, and I liked the oregano component. There weren’t any detectable sugars in this sauce.

Score: 1.75 out of 2.5 points

Cheese

Godfather’s doesn’t get overly fancy with its cheese. It goes straight mozzarella, and it’s hard to mess that up.  There was some crisping of the cheese, but I wish it were more consistent across the surface of the pie.

Score: 1.5 out of 2.5 points

Intangibles

If you follow the cheese pizza challenge, there are three specific intangibles I look for in a pie:

  • “Orange Glow”: This is created when the cheese melts into the sauce with some of the oils blending in. It’s enhanced when the cheese is crisp. The Godfather’s Original Cheese Pizza didn’t have much of an orange glow, nor did it have more crispness.
  • Well-defined Edge: There was a well-defined edge, but this seemed more of a pan-style crust as I mentioned.
  • Firm Bottom Crust: The bottom pizza should not be floppy, nor should it taste doughy. As mentioned, Godfather’s Original Crust Pizza had a floppy undercarriage with slightly doughy components. The undercarriage needed to be crisper.

This pizza had a good balance of cheese and sauce. Overall, all of the components tasted good together.

Score: 0.75 out of 2.5 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Overall, Godfather’s Original Crust falls down on the crust options. I wonder if an alternate crust might have scored better (i.e., the golden crust). The sauce and cheese on the pizza are quite tasty, though. However, it still needs a crisper and more flavorful crust to make this whole pie work. While price doesn’t factor into the score, Godfather’s came in with quite a high price point at $17.69.  Yes, it’s a slightly heavier pie, but in the end, the quality of this pizza does not justify its price.

Summary

Crust 0.75
Sauce 1.75
Cheese 1.50
Intangibles 0.75
Total 4.75

Score: 4.75 (out of 10 points)
Value: Slightly Below Average

Cheese Pizza Challenge Standings (Thru 5 Pies)

Each category is worth 2.5 points, with a maximum of ten points per pizza.

Pizza Crust Sauce Cheese Intangibles Score
1 Marco’s Original Crust 1.50 1.50 2.00 1.50 6.50
2 Papa Johns Original Crust 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 6.00
3 Domino’s Hand Tossed 1.00 1.50 1.25 1.25 5.00
4 Godfather’s Original Crust 0.75 1.75 1.50 0.75 4.75
5 Little Caesars Round Cheese Pie 0.50 1.50 1.00 0.75 3.75

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Charlie Minato at Halfwheel, who suggested including the measurements and weight of the food products and the store location. We will use this information in our future food product assessments.

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop