Johnny's Pizza - Review - Bryn Mawr - Philadelphia - The Infatuation
"When you think of great Bryn Mawr restaurants, you probably imagine coastal grandmothers clinking glasses of Chardonnay over their cobb salads. Johnny’s is not like those Bryn Mawr restaurants. This one is filled with college couples and construction workers squeezing into formica clean-your-own booths in a graffitied dining room. The good news is that the energy that Johnny’s saves on its decor and hospitality is invested into great food. Its compact menu and crowded open kitchen offers stellar square and round styles of pizza, drippy, delicious cheesesteaks, Italian sausage sandwiches, assorted fried appetizers (like cheesesteak eggrolls, yawn) and salads. Everything is solid, and some is the best you can get on the Main Line, if not beyond. photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo Pause Unmute The most challenging aspect of Johnny’s Pizza is, well, getting a pizza. Try to order online and you may find online ordering shut down. Try calling. Then try calling again a few more times. Someone might pick up. Try going in person at a reasonable hour, say 3PM on a Saturday, and you might be told they are sold out for the day. Or if you’re lucky, you’ll be told to come back at 7 to pick up. If that’s the offer, take the deal. Anticipation is the best aperitivo. Food Rundown Round Pie Johnny’s serves the platonic ideal of pizza. While they have the usual toppings and you can do you, this is pizza that does not need much messing with: crisp yet chewy crust, sauce and cheese, finished with extra virgin olive oil, pecorino romano, and fresh basil. The shakers of crushed red pepper, oregano and garlic powder don’t get much action at Johnny’s. This is pizza that doesn’t need help. photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo Square Pizza Johnny’s is better known for their square pizza. Their traditional square has similar toppings to the round with a thicker crust–and it is stellar. The buffalo chicken pizza disappointed, however. It was dry, lacking the saucy, cheesy goodness of its sister. Stick to the classics. photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo Wings The wings at Johnny’s come traditional or boneless with your choice of sauce: hot, barbecue, garlic parm and so on. You might expect a place with perfect pizza to have a weaker wing game. Not the case. These are big and juicy with plenty of extra sauce. Skip the buffalo pizza and order the hot wings for crust-dipping. photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo Cheesesteak Nearly everyone taking out a pizza from Johnny’s has a brown paper bag perched on top with a cheesesteak or two inside. Served on a crusty-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside seeded roll and packed with meat, it’s almost unfair that one of the best pizzerias in the Philly area also has one of the region’s best cheesesteaks. While they offer the usual options–whiz, cooper sharp, provolone, and so on, get the spicy cooper sharp sauce, a Johnny’s signature that threads the needle between whiz and cheese. With onions, duh. photo credit: Nicole Guglielmo Caesar Salad It’s a great pizza place. Don’t get a salad. But if you must, the crisp fresh lettuce, homemade croutons and real pecorino show that the attention to detail here does not stop at the pizza. The bottled dressing says, “What do you expect? We’re a pizza place.”" - Jonathan Deutsch
