Anyone who lives in San Leandro and has the lowest appreciation for good food, cannot but decry the state of our local restaurants. There are only a handful of acceptable restaurants in town, and none of them ever change their menu, which makes them boring on my book.

But after reading last week's San Leandro Times poll, it's no surprise that good restaurants avoid San Leandro like the plague. The SLT asked five random San Leandrans what their favorite restaurant in San Leandro was. The answers? Wendy's, McDonald's, some unnamed taqueria on East 14th, Los Pericos (which I like) and Tsuru Sushi (which I don't think much of). Yeah....

I'm also very sad to report that the old space occupied by Peewee's Pizza on East 14th by Estabrook (a stonethrow away from my house), has re-oped as a Papa Johns, a cheap pizzeria chain :-( Peewee's was no gourmet restaurant, but it was a cool place - a little dive that had been a family business for decades, and made quite good pizza. It had character, it was locally owned, we liked it. Alas, it burned down to the ground a few years ago and the owners did not have insurance. We kept the hope that they'd be able to get the money somehow and rebuild, but alas, it didn't happen.

What is even more pathetic is that we'll at least try Papa John's pizza.

December 2010

Papa Johns has become our default pizza joint in the last 6 months. We find the pizza to be good enough (no worse than what you can find at most San Leandro pizzerias) and the fact that it's 1/2 a block away from our house, so we can easily pick it up and thus avoid a long wait (pizzas are usually ready in 20 minutes) and delivery charges is very attractive. They no longer have the great deal that they had when they opened, but they usually have a deal that makes the pizza substantially cheaper than regular menu prices. BTW, the deals online are usually (but not always) better than those on the printed menus.

June 2010 Review

As I mentioned in my last posting, a Papa John's Pizza joint has opened at the former Peewee's site. We were out of food last night, so we ended up checking it out. The conclusion: it offer mediocre pizza, but, right now, at an unbeatable price.

We got an x-large pizza, half with extra-cheese and ham, and half with a bunch of meats, cheeses and pineapple. The pizza dough was fine, not too chewy, tasty but not particularly so. The sauce was a bit sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. The cheese was fine, but not very flavorful. The main problem with the pizza is that Papa Johns puts the toppings underneath the cheese, which means that they slide off the pizza very easily, taking the cheese with them. So it's a bit messy to eat. In all, it tastes OK, but it wouldn't be my first choice if 1) it wasn't so cheap (right now) and 2) it wasn't just across the street from my house.

As for the prices, the regular prices are quite high. A 16" specialty pizza will cost you $21. But right now they have a deal where you can have such pizza for only $12. And, if you order an extra-large pizza at whatever cost, you get a free three-pack of It's It ice creams. So yeah, it'd be hard to find a better deal. Delivery, btw, is $2.

In conclusion, I'll probably order pizza from Papa John's while they are having this deal, but I won't when they stop. BTW, I ordered online and it worked perfectly.

Papa John's
2198 East 14th St.
San Leandro
510-483-7272
http://www.papajohns.com/

San Leandro Restaurant Reviews

June 2010

The Englander is our favorite place in San Leandro for watching World Cup Games. It's close to our home, the food is fair, if expensive (their onion rings, for one, are quite good), and it has a great soccer-watching atmosphere. So that's where we headed last Saturday morning to watch the Argentine-Nigeria game (Argentina won 1-0) and where we stayed for the US-England game (tied 1-1). In all, we spent 7 hours at the restaurant - my kids are saints. I'm not planning to go there for the 4:30 AM Argentina - South Korea game on Thursday (and I doubt they'll be open anyway), but I will probably catch the Argentina - Greece game there next week.

Anyway, all of this is to say that the Englander will be open for most games (at least the 7 AM ones) and do offer breakfast for the morning ones. The morning buffet consists of French Toast, scrambled eggs, sausages and country potatoes and it costs $10. The food is quite acceptable, I really liked the sausages, and it's not a bad price given that you're really paying for watching the game. The breakfast buffet is set in the small room by the bathroom, it took us a while to find it last Saturday.

If you go there for one of the 11 AM games and are planning to have lunch, you may want to sign up for Open Fence, which allows you to print ONE coupon for a 15% discount on two entrees. Not much, but it's something.

Service, btw, was great on Saturday. I don't really know how those waitresses were able to handle the dozens and dozens of orders they got once the US - England game started (the place was PACKED), but they did. Good for them!
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May 2008 Update