Indians are mighty big on Chilli Chicken (a spicy Indian-Chinese delight that comes in dry and gravy formats, served as appetizer or entree and great with fried rice, noodles and Naan bread).

Although American Sweet Chili Chicken seemed like a far cry from the famed Indian Chilli Chicken, I readily jumped at the opportunity when news came my way today of Papa John’s new Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza.

Papa John’s Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza – Not Impressed

Hey, I’m always ready for pizza (I’ve been rumored to consume even Pizza Hut and Domino’s foul smelling pizz*@$&&#^as). 😉

Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza

I called in my order and, braving the heavy evening rain, hotfooted over to the local Papa John’s store to pick up my large Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza ($12).

The pizza comes with sweet chili sauce, and four toppings – Pineapple, Onion, Red Pepper and Breaded Chicken.

Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza is not much to look at (see picture above). Nothing like those attractive veggie pizzas.

Not Worth It

Maybe my expectations were unduly high but Papa John’s Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza turned out to be an utter disappointment, in more ways than one.

First, my pizza was not well baked.

Somebody at the store was in a hurry to remove it out of the oven. The crust was way too soft.

Second, the pineapple pieces dominated the flavor of the pizza initially although I did get some flavor of the sweet chili sauce subsequently.

Still the sweet chili part of my Sweet Chili Chicken pizza was kind of muted. At least, not as strong as the name suggests.

Perhaps that was because the sweet chili sauce was not evenly/adequately distributed in the pizza.

When I held up the slices, I could see the Sweet Chili Sauce at the edges below the cheesy layer but I didn’t find much evidence of them away from the edges as I started biting into the slices.

Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza Ad at a Papa John’s U.S. Store

And the breaded chicken pieces had no flavor. Zilch! As if they were dropped in as an afterthought just before the box was thrust into my hands.

Red peppers were not evenly distributed on the pizza and the onion pieces yielded little taste. Why, why?? 🙁

By the way, the outer edges were horrible – inedible by Man, Beast or God (among the chain store pizzas, only Uno’s outer edges have scored passing grade in my tough exam)!

And what about the Garlic dipping sauce that came with Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza? Man, this was way too chemically smelling and chemically tasting for my liking.

Bottom line, I wouldn’t be too keen on ordering Papa John’s Sweet Chili Chicken Pizza again.

  Pizza