Visiting Maroni’s Pizza House after 10 Years – New Ownership, Same Great Pizza!
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| Maroni’s Pizza with Light Extra Sauce and Hand Cut Pepperoni |
Extra Sauce and Hand Cut Pepperoni is My Favorite Way to Order Maroni’s!
After 10 years, I returned to Maroni’s Pizza for another review. Although I had the pizza multiple times over that span, it’s been a whole decade since NEPA Pizza Review posted a formal update and I knew it was time to go back for more, especially since ownership changed (still in the family) fairly recently!
My favorite component of a Maroni’s Pizza is the sauce, which is smooth, rich, and with a bit of a peppery finish (not spicy, but some black pepper vibes) so I like to order extra sauce on my pizza. The other cool thing about Maroni’s pepperoni is that they slice it themselves in-house. The pepperoni is thicker than most other pepperoni that pizzerias tend to use, and the texture and flavor is just phenomenal! Check out the video below to see my review as well as the scores. Keep scrolling to see my full review from 10 years prior!
Restaurant: Maroni’s Pizza
Location: West Scranton, PA
Date: June 2022
Pizzas Ordered: Square Tray with Extra Sauce and Pepperoni
Price: $17.50
Eat In/Take Out: Take Out
Location: West Scranton, PA
Date: June 2022
Pizzas Ordered: Square Tray with Extra Sauce and Pepperoni
Price: $17.50
Eat In/Take Out: Take Out
Crust: 7.8
Sauce: 8.2
Cheese: 7.8
Overall Taste: 8.2
Crispy/Cooked Properly: 7.9
Overall Value: 7.5
OVERALL RATING: 7.9
Similar To: Vince the Pizza Prince
Sauce: 8.2
Cheese: 7.8
Overall Taste: 8.2
Crispy/Cooked Properly: 7.9
Overall Value: 7.5
OVERALL RATING: 7.9
Similar To: Vince the Pizza Prince
RETRO REVIEW – When I visited Maroni’s Pizza in 2012
It has been about a week and a half since the NEPA Nation voted Maroni’s Pizza in Scranton as the pizza they would like to be reviewed next, so I thought it would be wise to give the people what they want and get to Saint Anne’s Street in West Side!
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I placed an order for a half tray of pizza and was told 20 minutes to pick it up, so I quickly got on my way in the pizza mobile! Immediately upon entering the pizzeria, I ran into a mountain of pizza boxes which were ready to be filled with trays of Maroni’s famous pizza and sent home to anxious customers. There must have been 1,000 boxes piled up, and judging by the stacks of pizzas that customers were carrying out, I don’t doubt that they would have filled every one of those boxes on this Friday night. Beyond the mountain of boxes was a small army of diligently working pizza makers who were methodically making pizzas, baking them, cutting them, and shipping them off. It was a cool site to see, and would be an environment I would enjoy working in myself!
It was evident to me that the customers who were visiting today were not first-timers like myself, because the people behind the counter greeted each of the customers by name with a friendly smile. There was something magical about the whole atmosphere inside Maroni’s. Perhaps it was the cheesy, peppery smell that lingered in the air which gave me visions of Guy Fiery doing a Food Network visit for Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. I’m not sure what it was, but at one point I was wishing I had a camera, a microphone, and a face for TV so I could do a pseudo-episode of my own! After I received my pizza, which coincidentally WAS RIGHT ON TIME, I paid and eagerly retreated to try this pizza I’ve heard so much about.
As you can see in the the poor picture taken by my flip phone, the pizza closely resembles a typical Old Forge Style Pizza with a twist, but the true test is in the taste. After the first bite, there were a ton of really rich and intense flavors coming through – the most prevalent being the black pepper in the sauce. The pepper is the most unique thing about Maroni’s, and I believe it’s kind of a love/hate thing with people. Personally, I loved it. If you like a sweeter sauce or a more bland pizza, you may need to try somewhere else. The next most distinct flavor was the layer of (presumably) Parmesan cheese under the cheddar and American blend. Where this added a lot of flavor and texture, I found myself wanting more sauce because I enjoyed it so much.
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| Half Tray of Maroni’s Pizza taken with my flip phone in 2012! |
The cheese was quite flavorful, and was charred in some spots. Finally, I could really appreciate the crust, as it was clearly freshly made in-house. It had a nice firm, bread-like consistency throughout with a very slight crispiness on the bottom. It was cooked all the way through and wasn’t doughy in the middle. The edge of the crust had a really nice flavor and crunch to it. Overall the pizza flavors came together nicely, although I would change the amounts of Parmesan and sauce to make my perfect Maroni’s pizza. This pie is definitely something different, and is what I look for and enjoy reviewing. The peppery sauce is a real stand-out, and the establishment is clearly a community staple in West Scranton. Hopefully next time Guy Fieri is in the neighborhood, he will stop by Maroni’s and do a segment on his next episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. What do you think? Please comment below on your most recent Maroni’s experience.
Restaurant: Maroni’s Pizza
Location: West Scranton, PA
Date: August 2012
Pizzas Ordered: 6 Cut Red
Price: $7.95
Eat In/Take Out: Take Out
Restaurant: Maroni’s Pizza
Location: West Scranton, PA
Date: August 2012
Pizzas Ordered: 6 Cut Red
Price: $7.95
Eat In/Take Out: Take Out
Crust: 7.5
Sauce: 8.1
Cheese: 7.3
Overall Taste: 7.6
Crispy/Cooked Properly: 7.3
Overall Value: 7.2
OVERALL RATING: 7.6
Similar To: Vince the Pizza Prince,
Sauce: 8.1
Cheese: 7.3
Overall Taste: 7.6
Crispy/Cooked Properly: 7.3
Overall Value: 7.2
OVERALL RATING: 7.6
Similar To: Vince the Pizza Prince,
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Maroni’s is known for their peppery sauce, and they delivered the goods in this pie. look forward to trying a tray with extra sauce and their hand-cut pepperoni in the future!
