Pizza is one of the most valued foods to college students. Late night studying, parties and limited Convo days leave us to rely on the tried and true, the stuff we know we can count on to be good and, more importantly, cheap.

Some of us don’t know which places to count on however – which pizza places in the area will not only satiate, but satisfy? On a mission for the pizza-deprived of Ashland, I journeyed my way through O’Bryan’s Pub, Papa John’s, Besta Fasta, KD Pizza, Donna D’s, and of course, Ashland University, to find out what works and what just doesn’t cut it. Here’s how they stacked up.

In last place is Papa John’s, a chain restaurant whose pizza you can get just about anywhere and it definitely tastes that way. The rough crust, featuring so-so sauce, had too little cheese and toppings. If the proportion is so bad that that the sauce is the main attraction, it probably would be a good idea to pay a little more attention to the ingredients.

Besta Fasta ranked number five. This pizza place is extremely unique, as its pizzas feature an extremely hearty sauce with actual vegetable chunks in it. The whole thing is just big, with lots of sauce, lots of cheese and lots of crust. The parmesan melted on top was pretty good. The rest of the pizza, however, left something to be desired. It was a mess and the chunky sauce did nothing to improve the pizza. The pizza seems to also be made very inconsistently, as other students have experienced a different pizza here. It is simply the luck of the draw when it comes to getting a good bite at Besta Fasta.

In fourth place was O’Bryan’s. This pizza is made more traditionally European, relying less on quantity and more on quality. The thin crust is delicious. If you are looking for something more delicate and delicious than the chunky-mess pizza, this is for you. The proportions of each ingredient are quite good as well. The prices are reasonable too. All this pizza needs is more cheese!

Donna D’s pizza ranked third and it is definitely the best pizza for the price. A one topping 16 inch pizza is $11.99, compared to KD’S $15.20 or Besta Fasta’s $14.49. The sauce is homemade and delicious but the crust was average and there were no outstanding flavors.

In second place is the pizza served at Ashland University. It definitely wins for best looks. It’s also what we, as AU students, have come to know and love. It includes a sweet sauce, covered with melted, gooey cheese and plenty of it. Some of it was crunchy and some of it was not, however, and a crunchy crust is generally preferable to a soggy one; overall, though, not bad at all.

Finally, ranked first among all others is KD’s Pizza. It has become somewhat of a staple for AU students to get KD’s because it is close by and pretty good. Still, it’s rather greasy, which may be part of its appeal. The cheese is the kind that could slide off altogether without any real stringiness or quality, but the sauce is good and there is just enough dough to enjoy it.

Given that each pizza was ranked based on the taste preferences on only one person, it is important to give each one a chance. You really can’t go wrong with any pizza place in Ashland and, with the exception of Papa John’s, each pizza place deserves a fair chance. Perhaps the moral of this story is, “friends don’t let friends eat at chains.” Regardless, with the wide variety of pizzas around here, there is something to appeal to every taste.