This place looks like death from the outside. Tucked away behind a Dunkin' Donuts and the hilariously named For Your Convenience convenience store, the half burnt out sign atop John's Pizza screams, "we'd probably fail our health inspection." But never fear, just beyond its doors is a downright respectable pizza restaurant.

Establishment. Beyond the hideous exterior is a bright, clean, spacious pizza parlor with a diverse menu and loud, boisterous counter service. Unfortunately, John's only takes cash which is a practice that we believe should be reserved for drug dealers, hookers, and Slovenians. Also, one kind of has to navigate through the kitchen to get to the bathrooms, but beggars can't be choosers, yes?

Pizza. Here's where the place takes off. John's Pizza is excellent. The dough is made in-house daily, the cheese is great, the pie would have stayed piping hot for 3 days straight had we not finished it in 6 minutes, and while the sauce isn't perfect, it's worlds better than some of the flavorless garbage we've been subjected to thus far. Everything falls into place to yield a superb product save for the less-than-stellar toppings (meatball, read: crumbled ground beef). Had it not been for John's unfortunate use of the dreaded cut-the-round-pizza-into-square-pieces-leaving-four-crustless-and-undesirable-center-slices technique, we might be willing to just give them the trophy now.

The bottom line. Uninviting and brown from the outside, John's offers an excellent, delicious product to those brave enough to delve into its guts: the kiwi of Stamford pizza restaurants.

Establishment: 17/30
Pizza: 23/30
Hits the Spot: 9/10
Large Cheese: $11.75