SOME times the best laid plans can go awry.

This was one such night.

I think in our heart of hearts we knew that we were never going to make it to the restaurant on time, which is why we didn’t book. But as the evening progressed and the glasses of wine in The Roaring Donkey became more efficiently measured in bottles, our attention did eventually turn to food.

But by then we knew we would be far too late for pizza at nearby Gaetano.

Resigned to calling it a night we began the disappointed walk home, when we were greeted by the bright lights and comings and goings of an army of delivery drivers on mopeds streaming in and out of Papa John’s on Victoria Road.

Prior to this particular night, I had never had a Papa John’s pizza. Mad, I know, as I wouldn’t describe my life as being particularly sheltered to date! But when I was at university it was Domino’s that was on the corner at the end of my road which was always my go-to when I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of super noodles.

So this was uncharted territory for me.

It seemed to be a bit of a struggle for my hungry colleagues too, who couldn’t seem to agree on which pizza we were going for – not through strong opinions either way, but rather over-politeness with everyone suddenly becoming ambivalent to whether we had pepperoni or not. Should we just play it safe and order a plain cheese and tomato? Absolutely not, that’s simple madness right there.

Personally I was drawn to The Greek - a Mediterranean-inspired pizza featuring crumbled feta cheese, red onion, tomatoes, black olives, sliced pepperoncini and the mandatory mozzarella with a sprinkle of oregano “guaranteed to bring you a taste of summer sun”. It is worth noting that this forms one of four vegetarian options on offer, so plenty to choose from. And if there’s nothing that takes your fancy, you can create your own. Though I feared that was more than my colleagues would be able to deal with, as nobody still seemed to mind whether we had pepperoni or not.

So taking control of the situation I ordered a Papa’s Double Pepperoni in medium (£9.99), which was swiftly upgraded to a large for no extra cost by the helpful team who pointed out there was a special offer on.

A short wait later and I was gathering up my scattered colleagues in an attempt to heard them down the road home so we could enjoy our long-awaited pizza.

And it didn’t disappoint – the double serving of pepperoni was on point, and the cheese deliciously melted and runny. The large serving was plenty for four, and we made our way through it all, without feeling disappointed by the end of it.

We may have been disappointed not to have had a sit-down meal at Gaetano, but there really isn’t beating pizza at home in your pyjamas with great company. Andd they were all in agreement with me that it was abundantly apparent why those delivery drivers were so busy.

Papa John’s

136 Victoria Rd, Swindon SN1 3BU

www.papajohns.co.uk

136 Victoria Rd, Swindon SN1 3BU

Adver Ratings

Food: 9/10

Choice: 8/10

Waiting time for order 10 mins

Price range

Starters: £2.99 - £4.49

Mains: £9.99-£20.99

Trip advisor rating: 3.5