Happy Joe’s Pizza

We’re from the Midwest and just love that we now have a happy joes in Gilbert! Go for the lunch buffet so you can try everything to find your favorite.
A few of our faves…
1. Taco… try this 1^st if you’re a 1^st timer
2. Nacho Joe… it’s a taco pizza with nacho cheese instead of pizza sauce… what? !!! Delicious.
3. BLT… mayo on s pizza… sounds gross right? Its freakin’ genius and super yummy.
4. Pepperoni… it’s like little nuggets of pepperoni instead of slices. Maybe it brings me back to my childhood, but I still think it’s one special pie.
5. Cinnamon dessert pizza… I’ve compared every dessert pizza to this one my whole life. It’s a must have if you like a sweet ending to your meal.
6. Breakfast pizza

So I want to give more stars. Last week had an amazing pizza delivered. Half taco half combo. Today had the same pizza delivered with some yummy chicken wings. Wings are good but the pizza was crisp on the bottom but raw. When I called they offered to replace it but weren’t overly customer focused and it felt a bit short like I was putting them out. So I have an inedible pizza now waiting on another. I just want good service and good pizza. Please come through and I hope my next review is better. I will let you know when the second (hopefully fully cooked) pie gets here. Just please work on the service.

The service was fine as was the restaurant. But the food we ordered was tasteless. We decided since they were famous for the taco pizza we’d order that. The only flavor was from the chips on top. Others there were raving about it. One family said they drove from surprise just to eat here. The only thing I can figure it’s an Iowa thing…

I have to say, I don’t eat here often because I live about 45 minutes away, but last Friday night, I just had to have Happy Joe’s. About 3 month earlier, I had a disappointing experience. Whoever was making the pizza, it wasn’t done right. Something was off that evening. So I decided to give it another try, and this time I am happy to report that it was done right! The ingredients were rich, the flavor plentiful. I ordered a large pizza ½ Taco, ½ Canadian Bacon Mushrooms and it was heavenly. Now I’m not sure I would say that if I ate it on a regular basis, but somehow staying away and trying it every few months just hits the spot. I would also say that At 27.00 dollars for a large pizza, it’s kinda pricey, but I would pay it once in a while to get that amazing taste.

What an amazing taste of back home (Iowa).
I first heard about this place opening here some time ago. Had not even really planned on going tonight but let me tell you it made me very nostalgic.
It was the same great taste of back home but without the atmosphere! At that’s an amazing thing! Because most of the places back home are family type places with games and stuff for the kid that sometimes you feel you are at a Chuck E Cheese! I liked that it was basic and had that same pizza taste of the taco pizza I remembered from growing up!
I would be honored to go back to this quant little place!

TACO PIZZA!!! Happy Joe’s is the place to go for the best Taco Pizza along with many other specialty pizzas to choose from along with the original favorites too. Great customer service and clean, family friendly environment. First time here but will definitely be back often! Go get a slice, you won’t be disappointed!

Wow! Great pizza. We loved the original crust and sausage! It’s a nice change from all of the other pizza places!

It’s like being at home, my favorite pizza ever! They have a great breakfast buffet on Sundays so you can try a little of everything. The Canadian Bacon and taco pizzas are an absolute must. You won’t find pizza like this anywhere else. We need one in North Phoenix too!

Grew up on Happy Joes! Given Happy Joe lives in Phoenix it was awesome to have him open a few locations here. The wings are AWESOME! And the boneless wings are massive!

So happy to have Happy Joe’s in AZ! MN transplant and almost paid $ 150 in shipping fees to have a Taco Pizza sent for my mom’s birthday on year. She was thrilled when we received our order yesterday. I only gave it 4 stars because it’s so dang small and feels more like a fast food joint than the family restaurant that I remember and loved so much about it.

Whether you are from Iowa or not, this place is a great pizza place to visit! I am from Phoenix and this was my first time eating this pizza, but it for sure won’t be the last! I loved the taco pizza and the BLT pizza, but I didn’t taste a single bad slice in there! I would have given this place 6 stars if that was an option.

The taco pizza, their specialty is as good as I remember it being. Happy Joe’s is one of the few Midwest chains I missed here in Arizona, and unlike Steak N Shake, it’s arrival here is far from a disappointment.
Now let’s talk about service. Kevin, the GM, is a shining example of how to run a restaurant. I watched him make his way around and greet every table with a smile and really try to get to know his customers.
I can’t wait for Happy Joe’s to open up on the westside of town. I highly recommend this place to any pizza and taco lovers alike out there.

Sauerkraut on pizza. Its awesome. A bit of small town Iowa nostalgia.
Yes, the pizza isnt the best ever, but it is definitly better than most chain pizza (Peter Piper, Dominios, Papa Johns (ugh), etc). And the lunch buffet is a deal.

I grew up with Happy Joe’s Pizza from my home town of Davenport Iowa. The folks that started the location in Gilbert are doing a great job at providing a warm inviting environment and the same high quality food I am use to from back home. I know they are working on expanding and I can’t wait to see where that takes them.
Terry Day

Love, love, loved! My husband, son and I got to come eat here today. We are originally from Iowa and moved to Tucson 5 years ago. Happy Joe’s happens to be one of the restaurants we miss terribly! We had heard that Happy Joe’s had opened in Gilbert and we were up in Phoenix.
We walked in and first off I ran into three gals I went to High School in Muscatine, Iowa from over 10 years ago! Seriously, what are the odds?
The customer service was incredible and immediately we ordered a taco pizza and blt pizza. Personally, taco is my fave and blt is my hubby’s. I was so delighted our pizza came and it was on point! The blt was delicious and my husband was so pleased.
We also got the chance to meet the owners they are wonderful! I am so happy for them and want to say thank you for bringing Happy Joe’s to the Southwest! We have missed it.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with taco pizza it is amazing and if you want something traditional I promise the pepperoni will not disappoint!
They layer the pepperoni until the whose pizza is covered their sausage is delish too!
I am a huge fan and so excited this is here!

I really have to laugh at all the angry people leaving reviews on here. They’re probably the sort that rant and rave about how «amaze-​balls» Pizza Hut’s trendy new crusts are, or who take shots of Papa John’s florescent phosphorescent garlic sauce for breakfast. I see a lot of comparisons to Totino’s frozen pizza too, and really, that should tell you all that you need to know. You obviously can’t trust the culinary judgement of somebody who has willingly ingested a Totino’s frozen pizza.
Like many on here, I grew up in Dubuque (And yes, I will party ’till I puke. Thanks for asking!), and I have many fond memories of birthday parties at that location, all the way up through high school first dates. It’s a community fixture in a sleepy Iowa town, and for some people that is enough to sing the praises of the chain. For those of you that feel differently, you should try to calm down, be nice, and not be so quick to defecate on a business in the nascent stages of its existence.
When I go to the location in Dubuque, I’m genuinely looking forward to the pizza – and I don’t even go for the taco, the old fashioned garden, or the Canadian bacon and sauerkraut. I just get plain old pepperoni. The nostalgia is on the side, but I can take it or leave it.
No, what keeps me coming back is the sauce. It is a great combination of the perfect amounts of sweet and spicy. I love the crust, which kind of has a slightly bubbly saltine cracker pattern on the bottom that is perfectly crunchy, yet with just the right amount of give near the top. I like how the toppings don’t stop, they just kind of fade into the airy, pliable, and slightly chewy end crust. I don’t know what blend of cheese they use, but it is unique and delicious, and doled out in perfect proportion to the amount of sauce and the other toppings. Put a Happy Joe’s pepperoni pizza in front of me, and my mandible goes on auto pilot. I’ll eat the whole thing, or possibly die trying.
So yes, some of us DO love this pizza for what it is. Do you really think if it was as awful as you claim, it would inspire such far-​flung brand loyalty? Would we really crave it out here in the desert just because we fondly remember all the crazy detritus on the walls inside the Eastern Iowa location?
Perhaps the rest of you should take a lesson from the Hawkeyes on this board. Calm down. Be nice. Stop pretending to be Unilocal’s 895,334,234,234,432,434^th digital incarnation of Gordon Ramsay. You probably won’t be any worse off for abstaining from another anonymous tirade, and as an added benefit, you just might stop yourself from ruining it for the rest of us.

Totino’s is probably the closest comparison I could think of. For those who don’t know Totino’s is an extremely cheap and pretty awful tasting frozen pizza brand. But at least they know they’re cheap and price accordingly. Happy Joe’s is way more expensive than places like Pizza Hut and Dominos and can’t match their quality. Just look at the photos on here, not appetizing.
Side note: I’ve noticed that the majority of the people who like this place have mentioned that they grew up on this food in the Midwest. As someone who was born and raised in the Midwest this embarrassed me. Let’s have higher standards please.

Wanted to try something new. Won’t be returning. Barely walked through the door and the girl behind the counter yelled out their greeting. Like, hold on a minute and let me get in the door. She rushed us while we were trying to decide what to get. Never been here before. Instead of trying to make recommendations, she was chatting with a fellow employee.
When my husband asked how long it would take she turned to the oven and told us there was nothing in it, so about 20 minutes. Okay. Paid and went across the parking lot to Zipp’s to grab a drink. Came back to grab our order and for $ 38 it sure wasn’t worth it. Got a medium ($ 18) of the Taco Joe’s pizza, a small pepperoni, and a combo pasta. I could go on, but frankly, it’s not worth it… Just one more thing. Kids we’re not a fan of the pasta (which feeds one by the way) or the pepperoni pizza.
If you are in the mood for tasteless, overpriced food… Be their guest. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Service was good. I ordered the taco supreme pizza to give the place a try. They said 25 minutes and it was ready when promised. The pizza itself was pretty unremarkable, no flavor to the crust, not much in the way of any sauce, lots of lettuce, and the «taco chips» were pretty stale.
I will give them another try for a standard pizza and I will give them a try for some wings. If it is markedly better, update the review.

I do not get why this place gets good reviews. Pizza tasted like the pizza slice I remember having at the public pool as a kid… sauce was over-​spiced with oregano. Crust tasted like it was pre-​made. Just horrible.
I wish I could say the service made it better… it did not… the girls behind the register were bored and disinterested in answering any questions. There are a dozen other decent/​good pizza places in the area are worthy. Save the effort trying the «new/​hot» place.