"It's The Price, Not The Place"

Name: Big Joe's Pizza & Subs

Cuisines: Pizza, Pasta, Subs

Payment: Cash, all major Credit Cards

Alcohol:   Yes

Price: $

Address: 7787 Sudley Rd, Manassas Va

Hours of Operation:

 Mon-Thu 10 a.m.-10p.m.; Fri-Sat 10a.m.-11p.m.; Sun 11a.m-9p.m.

Salt Says:

To me, Big Joe's seems like the perfect place to catch a quick lunch or to waste time with friends and family on a lazy weekend afternoon. It even seems like a good place to take a casual date, assuming  you don't think to0 much of the person.

 Judging from the outside, I thought it would be your typical strip-mall pizza establishment with average food,  a sub-par atmosphere and a marginally friendly staff.  If I'd added a salad bar to that assumption, I would have been dead on.

 While the inside was well decorated— there were even a few game machines— there wasn't anything exceptionally amazing about it. The staff was also pretty cordial, they were extremely helpful and got my order out to me fairly quickly. Also they had pretty good free wifi. The only thing I could find any fault with was the food. Being that this is a restaurant, uh, that's a problem.

 I ordered a slice of cheese pizza.  To be considered decent, a slice should have an adequate amount of sauce and toppings evenly distributed over a mildly flavorful crust. That being said, this pizza was not decent. The sauce was thin and clumpy and so was the cheese. There were definitely spots on the slice where I could see the crust.  The sauce itself didn't leave a lasting impression with me; it tasted pretty basic.

The cheese was semi-fresh and flavorful. For me, the biggest letdown was the crust. It was slightly over kneaded and had no flavor  whatsoever, except for the spray the cook used on the pan. So as for the flavor, the cheese and buttery spray were amazing!

 The only thing I did like about the pizza was its price. For a mere $2.38 (tax included) I got a massive slice that one could easily stretch out over a couple of meals. So if you're on a budget you could definitely make that work. But then again, you would be stuck with not-so-good food for a couple of meals.

 While I wasn't overly thrilled with the pizza, I would probably go to Big Joe's again. Everything on the menu is incredibly affordable. I would never try the pizza again, but I would definitely like to check out the salad bar. It looked pretty good.

Pepper says:

Big Joe’s is a place I often pass by, but never walk in. When I moved into my newest home, I received many flyers from Big Joe's and started ordering from there, specifically the steak and cheese stromboli.  In the beginning, I  enjoyed their cuisine  and ordered it monthly.

However, a few months ago, I received a stromboli, that had a hair in the dough. Gross! So I decided I was over Big Joe's strombolis and would not be ordering again. And then a few days ago, I had a hankering for a steak and cheese stromboli, and thought it would be a good opportunity to try Big Joe's again and see what it was like to actually dine in the restaurant.

The restaurant was like I had imagined, nothing glamorous, moderately sized and humbly decorated.

It's the sort of place you would go for a quick bite, but certainly no place for a planned sit-down dinner.

So I walked in, ordered my beloved steak and cheese and waited in anticipation for the taste I had missed during my hygienic protest of the establishment. I figured the “hair incident” was a one-time thing and it reminded me of my prior silent protest of Popeyes, after I discovered  fried feathers on my chicken. The incident was initially traumatizing and put me off, but it faded with time, as I reminisced about what food I did enjoy from there.

Disappointingly, the strombolis have changed since I had previously ordered from them. There is much less cheese and meat. The first few times I ordered, I ordered the “regular” with onions, peppers and mushrooms, then later switched to just meat and cheese, with a slight up charge of a dollar. The dough was the same— well baked, chewy and fluffy in the middle. But the portion of meat and cheese has changed so drastically.  I was disappointed because it seemed to change the taste entirely.

Another thing is that they actually put the marinara sauce in the Stromboli itself, which most places don’t do.

It doesn’t really seem to change the flavor too much, but makes the dough soggier much faster. All in all, it was mediocre visit. 

I’ve also tried the fries, which are mediocre. I'm not quite sure if they’re “home made” or if the staff just bought them from the Shoppers a few doors down and fried them.  Big Joe's  is decently priced, which is a plus.

The place could be a fun place for a quick bite with friends, or to order takeout while shopping, but nothing worth craving anymore.  At least the few games they have will provide entertainment while you wait for you food.

It’s hard to say if I will ever eat there again, it certainly wouldn't be my first choice for a night out, but  I may order from there again on a rainy day. It’s certainly convenient, especially for those who don’t want to do a “beer run” because they deliver that too.