Pizza Pizza Rises Above The Competition

There are nearly a dozen pizza places within a few miles of Burhan Papila’s Pizza Pizza restaurant, but Papila is adamant that Pizza Pizza’s pie is the best. 

“We use fresh ingredients, natural ingredients, we’re unique...we have the best pizza in town,” he said.

Pizza Pizza opened in November, and Papila said that the starting months have not been as easy as he would have liked. 

“Business has been pretty good, but because of the economy it has not been how we expected,” Papila said. “But considering the economic situation, we’re still doing fine.”

He believes it's the uniqueness that brings customers in and keeps them coming back, but said it's a passion for pizza that's his secret to success. 

Papila runs the restaurant with the help of his wife and said they like everything about their location in West County just off of Manchester Road, except “that there is so much competition. But if we continue to be unique and to keep the quality consistent, we’ll achieve a lot of things here.” 

Papila, who is Turkish Canadian, said that he and his wife have been in the restaurant business, more specifically the pizza business, for more than a decade. 

“We did have a restaurant in Canada and used to make pizza there. So when we moved down to St. Louis, we decided to bring the same quality and taste here,” he said.

The Papilas say they like owning their own restaurant because of the level of personal satisfaction they take in their customers' satisfaction. “The best aspect is seeing people happy and coming back, coming here every day becoming a regular. That is the best thing to see,” Papila said.

The Papilas have kept their personal approach to customer service, however, some of the other aspects from their old restaurant did not come along with them from Canada.

“(The restaurant in Canada) was serving doner (gyro) and all kinds of Turkish style kebabs and Turkish style pizza, which is called pide, as well as Italian/Canadian style pizza,” Papila said. “Pizza is very common in Turkey, it’s like how it is in America, but they change it a little for Turkish tastes, that’s not what we do here (in St. Louis) though. It’s Italian pizza here.”  

The Papilas chose to focus on traditional Italian pizza because that is the type of pizza most well known and marketable in West County. However, Papila said that they would be happy to make anyone a pide at the restaurant.

In addition to its Canadian, Turkish and Italian aspects, Pizza Pizza contains some distinctly American elements as well. The restaurant’s most popular offering is the double cheeseburger pizza, with Papila’s four-cheese blend and quite a bit of bacon.

From Turkish Pide to cheeseburger pizza, there are a lot of options.

“It’s not like you’re getting just thin crust pizza with Provel cheese, it’s totally up to your own taste whatever you like, your own crust, your own toppings,” Papila said. “You can create your own pizza totally from scratch, it’s not like your just choosing from a list of one thing or another.”

Now that Pizza Pizza has found a following, Papila said that he would like to do more dine-in business in addition to free delivery and carry out. Plans are in the works for an outside eating area, and the Papilas are considering purchasing the space adjacent to theirs for a dining room.

“Now that school is out, we think that kids might want to come and eat outside and chat...that is something we are really wanting to have,” he said. 

When asked what one thing she would like Patch readers to know about Pizza Pizza, Papila responded with a laugh, “We’re at 15638 Manchester Road.”