Johnny Brusco's Pizza

I wasn't sure what to expect at Johnny Brusco's, but just walking in the door I was favorably impressed by the smell - it smelled like a pizza place!  There are tables, booths, and a bar.  If you sit at the bar you can watch the pizza being made.  And they really make it here - they throw it up in the air and everything.  There are about 3 TVs around the outside wall of the restaurant, and 2 by the bar, but it doesn't have a sports bar feel, which I liked.

We went at an off time, before the supper rush (and during a Hawg game), so the TVs were on and a bit loud.  I said something about the noise when we arrived, and a few minutes later I noticed a guy going around turning the volume down on the TV sets.  Then they turned on the music, which was Country.

Frank had coffee and of course I had ice tea.  The tea was a little bitter, but at least then you know it's real tea.  And the coffee was actually good!  They didn't have to make a pot especially for Frank, there was already a pot going.  Usually Frank rates restaurant coffee on a scale of "crap" to "I can drink it."  He said this one was "pretty good." 

The food was really good!  They have pizza, calzones, stromboli, salads, subs, and dishes like spaghetti and lasagna. We ordered a 1/2 order of garlic knots, which was $2.50.

That's a lot of food for that price!  The knots are just dough knots, but they were cooked with garlic and butter.  And the garlic was very mellow, not scorched.  The marinara was really good too!  Very light and fresh tasting.

I had a pepperoni calzone, and Frank had the 12" (medium) pepperoni pizza.

They both tasted great!  The calzone is an actual calzone, not those pizza pockets you get at most places.  And as I mentioned earlier, they actually throw the pizza.  The pepperoni itself wasn't anything special, but it was good.  They also don't drown everything in sauce.

Overall, we both really liked the place.  The food was very good.  The service was also really good.  We went at an off time, which usually means the server either hovers or ignores you.  Our server was there when we wanted her.  She even refilled Frank's coffee.  You'd think that would be normal, but in our experience, servers usually ignore the coffee refill.  Our experience was good enough that I'm giving them 4 to 4-1/2 stars.  And Frank can't wait to try the meatball sub!