Big John’s Pizza & Donairs

Like others have said, its rough-​looking. Didn’t try the pizza but I do enjoy a good donair. Cannot complain about the size! The large beef, definitely lives up to the large aspect. Waaaay too much sauce though and they make it in the back so you’d have to know the second time coming, what to ask for. My East Coaster tag-​a-​long said it was the most «Halifax style Donair» he’s had since moving to Cowtown 3 years ago,
Kinda wish I could vote 3.5 Stars. It’s better than 3 but definitely not a 4.

Was craving donair pizza and this came up in the Unilocal search, and I’m so glad I gave them a shot! They were super friendly on the phone and helped me with my order. My sister and I were starving and were gonna order 2 jumbos, but he laughed and said that was way too much food for us and recommended the donair pizza and maybe a garlic fingers. Delivery in 45 minutes he said and to my area it would $ 4 charge. No problem! He gave us our total and arrived in 40. Dropped off a magnet and was very happy and cheerful. The pizza was hot with a thick crust. The donair sauce was thin and watery, loosing a star, Hard to get it to stick when dipping. The toppings were generous. My sister and I horfed down a huge slice each before we took a breath. It was so good and filling. I would order again. Loved the thick crust

Not much to look at and honestly if I had seen it before I tried the food I never would have eaten here. But they make the BEST donairs in ALL Calgary, the pita is consistently hot and fluffy, fresh yummy meat and veggies covered in a tasty tzatziki sauce. The garlic fingers are also a great finger/​snack food, that are amazing for a hangover! The quality is clearly in the food and not superficial concerns, which usually make the best comfort foods :). The delivery staff are very polite, friendly and accommodating. Not a fan of the pizza but I’m new to calgary so maybe I’m just not used to the western style of pizza. But if you are they make frozen pizzas to take home for a future date! Such an awesome idea! The old adage is true here, do not judge a book by its cover :)

I am a huge fan of their $ 5 (+GST) lunch special: ¼ of a large pizza and a can of soda pop (Coke and Pepsi products). My favourite is the pepperoni and mushroom pizza: which I eat far too much of. They don’t skimp on the mushrooms.
The location is old and it is, to be quite frank, a bit of a dive. There is one table with a couple of chairs. This isn’t really the type of place where you eat in. But, I’ve never had issues with cleanliness or food handling practices, and I think their lunch special is way to good a deal to pass up.

May not look the best from the outside or the inside for that matter, but this place has the best donairs I have ever eaten! Great price and two size options to choose from. Always spend the extra few dollars and go for the super donair — two smalls overlapping to make the super!

Not a bad place to go. Convenient location not very accommodating to different request though. I asked how big a certain size donair was and they didn’t want to tell me.

We had the Navi on to find a Dairy Queen downtown to grab a birthday cake. We ended up in a strip plaza and walked by this pizza place hole-​in-​the-​wall and of course, seeing slices in the window, I had to walk in and check it out. I am still on the hunt for a «more than» decent piece of Calgary pizza. I found it tonight, ladies and gentlemen! I did not pay much attention to much else other than the slices looking at me from the glass case. No idea if the place was clean or not or if there was any seating. This was between me and the large, single piece of veggie looking at me in the eyeballs. LOL. The service actually was amazing as well. I am positive it was the owner over the counter boasting about his business and pointing out that he was voted Best Pizza and Donair in Calgary on his little sales flyer sheet. We got 2 large slices of za and a can of pop for a little over $ 9. Not bad at all. It traveled well and it well worth the buy. YUMMY! The cheese was the GOOD kind of mozza, firm and reheated nicely. Also, the crust was fresh — crispy yet pillowey where it needed to be and we just loved it. We got the veggie and the pep. Anxious to go back and try the Hawaiian — there just was not any available tonight. Great find, by accident no less.
4 stars.

I’m sorry to say that I was quite disappointed in Big John’s Pizza and Donair. I’ve read a few great reviews about their pizza — which I haven’t tried — but their donair was a let down.
While searching for a donair spot downtown one afternoon, I used a combination of Urbanspoon and Unilocal to find Big John’s, which had a 90% rating on Urbanspoon. I ordered the regular beef donair with no tomato and what I got was a pile of meat with garlic dressing and onions. I’ll admit that for under $ 7, this thing was packed with beef, but that was all it had going for it. It didn’t stand out against other donairs, and some donair staples — and favorites — like pickled turnip weren’t available. From now on, I think I’ll go to Babylon Qithara in Eau Claire when I’m craving donair.

Calgary, this is real pizza. Big John’s looks terrible from the outside and the inside is no better, but the pizza here is delicious.
I bought a slice one night hoping that my instincts were correct (that the dirtiest looking place would actually have really great pizza). I was right. Lots of cheese and delicious pepperoni make this one of the best spots in town to get good pizza. I mean this. That Wicked Wedge is terrible crap and most chains in this province produce equally disgusting pies. We ought to have some sort of pizza-​showdown here, where the best slice is determined by a panel of judges who understand what makes pizza good in the first place. Naturally, these people will have been to places where pizza is cooked and made properly and have come back to spread the word.
I don’t think I can put this any more clearly: there is bad, bad, horrible, disgusting slices of baked dough floating around Calgary and bragged about by people who don’t know the goddamn difference between pizza and spaghetti. If anyone from here were to try a piece of Big John’s, I think it might be an awakening of sorts for them. Now, don’t get me wrong, Big John’s is NOT the BEST pizza in the world or even the country. But it is good pizza for it’s time and place.
Try it.