Geno’s Serves Up Basic Pizza (Business Lunch)

Geno’s Pizza by the Slice
644 W. Dickson St.
Fayetteville
2 Stars

Our reviewers enjoyed an unseasonably cool and cloudy walk on the first day of summer to Geno’s Pizza by the Slice, so they didn’t have to worry about parking like other office crowds might when dinning on Dickson Street.

The pizzeria, located just off campus in the renovated UARK Bowl building, is probably best suited for the University of Arkansas campus crowd. It’s relatively inexpensive pizza by the slice without a lot of frills.

To call Geno’s a pizzeria is in itself somewhat of a stretch. One of the first things we noticed was that the place had none of the warm and homey decor we’ve come to expect from a traditional pizza joint. Not even a travel poster from Italy adorned the walls. One reviewer described the restaurant’s sanitary feel as a “generic Subway-like atmosphere.”

The menu at Geno’s is pretty basic: pepperoni, sausage, cheese or supreme pizza by the slice; custom ordered pizza pies; about three hot sandwiches; spaghetti and a dinner salad. But there must be something compelling about going to a by-the-slicery, because every customer we saw, including our reviewers, ate directly from the by-the-slice menu.

Geno’s slices are generous, covering as many square inches for half price of “personal pizzas” at most other restaurants, which allowed everyone on our team to try a variety. Our reviewers at least lean in the same direction when it comes to the tower of pizza possibilities — we all tried one slice of the pepperoni and another slice of something different (all pizza slices were basically $2).

One reviewer had the pepperoni, a slice of the supreme and a cup of iced tea ($1). He said the pepperoni on his slice was good and salty, the cheese was so-so and the crust was a little underdone for his taste. He did complain that there was a lack of sauce. He said pizza isn’t pizza unless it’s got a distinctive, zesty sauce and Geno’s came up dry as an Oklahoma west wind.

The supreme — which came with pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, bell pepper and mushroom — was about the same, he said, but it did have a little added crunch from the fresh veggies. That gave it a good springtime taste, he said.

Another reviewer at our table said the pizza was good but not great. “I wouldn’t make a special trip for a slice of Geno’s pizza, but I would stop by for a bite if I’m already in the neighborhood,” he said.

A third reviewer at our table had a similar opinion, calling it “exceptionally average” pizza.