9 Papa Johns Ordering Tips You Should Know

A big pizza chain like Papa Johns understands that people get particular about pizza. Sure, house specialties can be tasty, but the real fun comes when you have an insider's scoop on what and how to order. Most pizza chains will offer a "build your own pizza" section of the menu, but how can you be sure you're really getting the most out of those customizable options? Well, for one thing, you can ask your pals at The Daily Meal — the same people who told you about the 101 best pizzas in America. We know just what to do with the Papa Johns menu.

Papa Johns is not a place where you want to order the same old, same old all the time. This is a place that likes to have fun with its pies. For example, Halloween is even bigger than the Super Bowl for Papa Johns, but there are quite a few things you should know before ordering at this popular spot. So whatever way you're looking to hack the Papa Johns menu, we've got it here.

Whoever first said that "less is more" probably never had to buy a bunch of pizza for their 10-year-old's slumber party. Things don't even have to be that dramatic — leftover pizza simply tastes good, whether you eat it cold out of the fridge or reheated. Considering this, allow us to highlight the cost of some of Papa Johns' specialty pizzas. Prices vary by location, starting at$21.99 for a large The Works, $21.99 for a large BBQ Chicken Bacon pizza, or $23.48 for a large Shaq-A-Roni pizza, which the Papa Johns website bills as a fan favorite. If you check the deals section of the website, though, you can often find lower prices on large pizzas.

You'll also find deals like the longtime favorite Papa Pairings coupon, which allows you to get two medium one-topping pizzas, plus a side or dessert for as little as $6.99 per item. Two one-topping pizzas are a great way to play mediator if you're feeding meat eaters as well as vegetarians, or if you've got two people who can't seem to agree on anything. If the deals are right, go ahead and order some extra pizza. Just make sure there's plenty of space in your fridge before the delivery driver arrives.

Maybe the best reason to order Papa Johns is the included garlic sauce, and some people go so far as to call it the main reason they keep coming back to the chain. Maybe that's a bit extreme, but it speaks to the power of this sauce. Buttery, garlicky, this molten ramekin of joy is included in every Papa Johns pizza box, as it has been since the chain's birth in 1984. Yes, other chains have garlic dipping sauce, but how many of them include it automatically with your order? With Papa Johns, the garlic dipping sauce is a known quantity. Reliable.

What if one included sauce cup is not enough, though? We know that there are those of you who want to get the most garlicky experience you can at Papa Johns, and we want you to know that we support you. An extra side of garlic sauce is $1 and 150 calories. Go ahead and indulge. There's even a spicy garlic sauce for you thrill seekers out there. Not a fan of garlic? You can still max out on dipping sauces. Papa Johns also offers pizza sauce, buffalo, barbecue, bleu cheese, and more. There's really no reason to take a single undipped bite of crust.

Pizza and wings are an unbeatable combination, but many chains' wings are subpar. We have to admit, Papa Johns wings fall into this category. One YouTube tried the garlic Parmesan boneless wings and gave the chicken a pretty unenthusiastic mid-tier ranking, saying, "I've had better, I've had worse." That's why we advise ordering chicken wings well done if you're really craving chicken with your Papa Johns.

It's easy to wonder what's so hard about chicken wings. At Papa Johns, the wings are baked, not fried. While it's absolutely possible to make delicious chicken wings in the oven, regular Papa Johns wings leave something to be desired. First timers at Papa Johns often get the overwhelming recommendation that you can order any sauce you like, as long as you get your wings well done. So listen to the rigorous taste-testers you may encounter, both online and off. You want these wings to be crispy. Order them well done, and you'll never look back.

If you look at the Papa Johns website, anchovies are listed under the "extras" section. Sure, these little fish are also listed as a topping, but anchovies are right alongside additional pepperoncinis, banana peppers, and jalapeño peppers. Sometimes, this can make for a slightly confusing dinner. Order them, and you may find a small tin of anchovies included with your pizza. According to someone claiming to be a Papa Johns employee, there's a simple reason for this — anchovies don't seem to do well overnight after the can has been opened, and the topping is not exactly a popular item.

While it's not hard to open a tin of fish, fork-toss a few over your pie, and chow down, something is lost when the anchovies don't have time to cook into the pizza. Ideally, the flavors should have time to integrate. Unless, of course, you simply like the taste of anchovies. It's totally understandable to crave that extra hit of concentrated salt. but just remember that at Papa Johns, the anchovies are sometimes less of a topping and more of an add-on.

Dieting does not have to mean cutting out your favorite pizza chain. If you're on any sort of calorie restriction, one YouTuber has a Papa Johns order for you, and you should not be expecting toppings. Instead, ask for a gluten-free crust with light sauce and light cheese. This crust is 90 calories, the light sauce is only bringing 5 calories to the party, and each slice of light cheese pizza is 35 calories, with six slices per pizza. 

Sure, we're really getting down to the bare essentials with this order, but it's hard to argue with a sub-1,000-calorie pizza from a chain. If you're counting calories, even using one of these tips can go a long way. The ratio of cheese and sauce to pizza crust is a matter of personal preference, but you never know. Maybe light cheese and light sauce is the ratio you've wanted from Papa Johns all along.

Papa Johns is pretty strict about portion sizes. Even adding extra sausage or pepperoni to a small pizza can tack on $2-$3 to your order, and for just a few pinches of extra topping. Frankly, it's one of those chain restaurant add-ons that's just not worth the price. It may be a hard fact to admit when you're hungry, but sometimes limits are good. The best pizzas are well-balanced, after all. Your mileage may vary, but is a four-topping pizza better than a three-topping pizza? Don't you primarily want to taste crust, sauce, and cheese, with toppings as garnish rather than main event? Sure, sausage and green peppers are the part to get excited about, but you don't want a pizza so saturated with sausage and green peppers that the crust starts to droop. A droopy crust is the worst.

As well as the high cost of extra toppings, there's another obstacle to loading up your pizza. The more toppings your order — say, you go from a two-topping pizza to a four-topping pizza — the smaller the quantity of each topping you get. This keeps the pie balanced, sure, but if you're ordering sausage, don't you want to taste sausage? Our advice is to keep the number of toppings on a pie low. Then you can order more pizzas.

At Papa Johns, pepperoni is not simply tossed on the pie wantonly. There's a counting system for how many slices to put on a pizza, with numbers increasing as the layers get closer to the crust. It's so regular that former employees claim they can still rattle off the pepperoni counts for different sizes of pie years after they leave the company. If you're so inclined, you can even count the slices of pepperoni to ensure that you've gotten your money's worth.

Now, complaining about the exact pepperoni count probably isn't going to win you any friends at your local pizzeria. We all know the adage that there's no such thing as bad pizza, and individually counting the pepperoni slices might get your friends and family whispering about you behind your back. That said, if a certain Papa Johns is consistently short-changing? Well, maybe that's a sign you should order from a different location. After all, pepperoni pizza is serious business. You want as many spicy meat discs as the restaurant is willing to give, and you're entitled to that amount, too. 

In the 2020s, it seems like every restaurant has a rewards program to join. Which chain restaurant apps fill your phone's home screen is your business — we're not here to judge — but if you're interested in what Papa Johns has to offer, its program advertises exclusive deals, the ability to try new items before non-members, and free dessert on your birthday. You can also earn $2 in "Papa Dough" for every $15 spent.

If you've got some trepidation about joining a restaurant loyalty program, that's understandable. Like your Mickey D's? Congratulations, your McDonald's app knows more about you than you realize already, and that can be a little unsettling. It comes down to usage. Eat a lot of Papadias? Maybe the Papa Johns reward program is right for you. At its core, it comes back to one thing: Order enough pizzas, and you eventually get one for free. That's a pretty good setup.

Delivery is one of the greatest things about pizza night. It takes so much labor out of your evening. Ideally, you come home after a long day, kick your shoes off, flop on the couch, and order pizza from your phone while under a pile of blankets. Then you can just look for a movie to watch while you wait for delivery. Well, wait a second. How much does that delivery cost? At the Papa Johns we checked, the delivery fee is $5. 

One person on Reddit said that their fee was $5.50, and we found some locations charging up to $6.99 for delivery. That's not even including the tip for your delivery driver — and you simply must tip your delivery driver. When the extra fees are starting to inch up toward the cost of a whole pizza, is delivery even worth it?

We can talk all day about which pizza ordering hacks are best, but there's one foolproof way to be nice to your wallet: Carryout. Walk into a Papa Johns, smile and say hello to a cashier, then have your pizzas handed to you. That's at least $5 saved! No one wants to hear it, and it means leaving the house, but carryout is great. When you're on a budget? If you can, save the cash and pick up your pizzas yourself.