Every Monday night at 5 p.m., almost on cue, a pizza delivery driver from Genoa Pizza rolls up beside The Globe office with a box of cheese and pepperoni.

I was first introduced to Genoa Pizza the first night I was in the office as a news editor. I remember the first time I tried a slice and how good it tasted, mostly because I skipped a meal to be at the layout, and whenever something is free it always tastes better. 

Here I am, for the first time, reviewing the pizza for its taste and quality rather than enjoying the simple fact that being an editor earns us pizza every Monday night paid by the school. 

On top of the layer of pepperoni, there is a layer of grease that, after eating the same pizza every week, becomes a bit too much. Last semester I watched our editor-in-chief Jake Dabkowski “dab” off the pizza grease with a napkin. At the time, I had not yet learned the “art” of dabbing the grease off.

After several weeks of eating Genoa Pizza, I eventually agreed with him that the grease somewhat consumes the pizza flavor. After dabbing it off, there is a savory, sweet and enjoyable cheese and sauce, especially compared to the two other pizza places I have tried Downtown. 

At the end of the day, it is just pizza, but the composition of Genoa Pizza is different. The dough on the bottom from this particular past Monday was soft and below that it was crisp. It’s not that easy to completely pull the cheese off of the pizza, unlike the pies from other places I’ve tried. Even after reheating it in the microwave, it’s still the same, so heat is not a contributing factor. 

The toppings chosen on each slice of pizza wildly change and contribute to the flavor of the cheese. If there are toppings on top of a slice of Genoa Pizza, it completely transforms the slice’s flavor. 

Adding ranch as well, which comes with every box of pizza, balances out some of the dryness in the crust. Which for the most part is consistently fluffy.

The last time I tried something else from Genoa Pizza would have been with my two best friends at 1 a.m. inside of the restaurant. With any location Downtown, you can expect some characters, especially when the restaurant is half food and half bar. 

Barely after we got our food, an intoxicated woman came up and spoke to us for what felt like an hour. She repeated her name over and over again saying that we could use it anywhere Downtown whenever we got into trouble. When she left I found her LinkedIn, which stated she was an intoxicated Point Park graduate and the CEO of a company.

That night, I ordered a calzone. An ultimate hot pocket of lava and cheese and by the time she left, still announcing her name, the calzone cooled down more than enough for me to eat.

All around Genoa Pizza does a good job of staying consistent week to week. Although it’s a bit shady, because they are open at night until 2 a.m. that makes it a nice hang-out spot. The thing that makes Genoa Pizza food worth the most is enjoying it with friends. Located up the road on Blvd. of the Allies in the direction of Market Square, it’s worth a visit if your stomach is asking for something a bit unhealthy and cheesy.