J.J. Dolan's

Let's face it - Honolulu is not a pizza town. Long have residents had to suffer the lack of a quality pie, instead having to put up with sloppy oil bombs mass produced by minimum wage fast food drones. Well, that used to be the case. No longer, my friends.

Enter JJ Dolan's. A welcomed and much needed addition to the Honolulu food scene. The atmosphere is cozy: basically an authentic Irish pub without the soccer hooligans, instead being replaced by hipsters and young business professionals. Of course, what else would you expect from impresarios whose lineage include Murphy's, O'Toole's and Anna Bananna's (rest in peace). The space is intimate, though if it weren't for the large windows letting in sunlight from the outside world, JJ Dolan's could easily have crossed the line into a dark uninspiring pit.

Hee hee hee. Snarky coasters. A good way to win me over.

The bar seemed to be decently equipped, with the requisite flatscreen TVs for sports aficionados to settle in and have a pint. I didn't notice if there were other TVs around the room, so if you're thinking this might be your next spot to settle in for beer, pizza and football, unless you find a spot at the bar and bribe the bartender into tuning into the game you want to watch, you probably would be better served going elsewhere. This isn't the niche that JJ Dolan's is trying to fill.

What they do here and do damned well is serve up a good pizza. I suppose you could classify this as a thin crust pizza. Unlike some other places whose thin crust has a cracker-like consistency and is a constant threat to cut the roof of your mouth Cap'n Crunch style, JJ's achieves a nice medium of pleasant crunchiness with a bit of soft give to it.

Downtown Design Buddy and I opted for the Giacomo on this day, topped with sausage, pepperoni, salami & olives. A great choice. The saltiness of the slices of pepperoni and salami worked great with the slight sweetness of the ground sausage and olives. I almost want to say that the pizza was light, but it being pizza, that would defy the laws of physics. However, I can say that I was able to manage three slices without the invariable stomach anarchy that would happen with a lesser pie.

Hello Giacomo. Now get in my belly!

Expect to pay just under 20 dollars for a 17 inch pie. Well worth the price. Especially when you consider that Pizza Hut's "large" pizza is about the same size and they'll charge you more for an inferior product.

There are specials listed on a sidewalk chalkboard stand, and on a woefully small board on a pillar inside... or follow them on twitter. With combinations like Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese or a Salmon pie, my curiosity is piqued. They also serve other offerings like wings and sandwiches. I understand if you want to vary the menu a bit to keep things interesting, but I hope it doesn't get to the point where JJ's forgets who they are and what they do. (Update: Tried their wings and garlic edamame recently. Wings were nice, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, spicy and hot. Edamame was garlicky without being overwhelming. Awesome job all around.)

Whatever they're selling in these cans, give me a gallon.

Good pizza, friendly service and a cold beer. What more could you want? JJ Dolan's is an irrefutable winner.

JJ Dolan's
1147 Bethel Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
537-4992
jjdolans.com