Restaurant Review Crew – Gus’s Pizza Palace, Whitewater

Gus’s Pizza Palace
139 West Center Street
Whitewater, Wisconsin
www.gusspizza.com
262-473-3562

A recent Tuesday evening found your Jefferson County Pizza Review Crew diving into a slice of history at that venerable Whitewater gastronomic institution: Gus’s Pizza Palace, now at their new location at 139 W. Main Street – downtown Whitewater. Gus’s Pizza Palace has been serving up superb pizza pies since the early 1960’s. To put this into perspective, Gus’s Pizza Palace has been in constant operation since Elvis went into the Army!

One couple, part of your Review Crew met, married then graduated from UW Whitewater. Now married nearly 50 years, they fondly remember dating and dining at Gus’s. In fact, it is still a favorite pizza restaurant for them. Now that’s what I call a venerable institution.

Heck, when you call your restaurant a Palace, you had better live up to the name. And do they ever! Owners George and Karen Christon have kept Gus’s original recipes cooking since taking over in the late 1970’s, and they have the art of pizza making down pat.

Menu

Cheese Sticks Gus’ original homemade cheese sticks.

BRICK OVEN THIN CRUST PIZZA

Build Your Own

SMALL 10″$7.10MEDIUM 12″$8.10LARGE 14″$9.10EXTRA LARGE $14.75

Deep Dish Pizza

House Special Pepperoni, Sausage, Green Peppers, Onions, Beef, Mushrooms, & Bacon

Vegetarian Pizza Onions, Green Peppers, Mushrooms, Black Olives, Olives, Fresh Tomatoes & Fresh Garlic.

Gus’ Special Sausage, Onions, & Green Peppers

Heart Stopper Sausage, Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Breakfast Bacon & Extra Cheese

Greek Pizza Gyro meat cooked w/ mozzarella cheese, then topped with fresh tomatoes, onions and feta cheese.

Friday Night Lent Shrimp, green olives, mushrooms, green peppers & onions.

Family Favorite Shrimp, bacon, onions and mushrooms.

CHICKEN DINNERS

BUCKETS OF CHICKEN

SALAD & SIDES

GYROS & PItas

As you walk into Gus’s you are greeted with Gus’s huge brick oven. We loved watching the staff assemble and bake the pies in the brick oven, turning out cracker thin & crispy crusts that hold the ingredients perfectly; delivering the satisfying signature crunch-bite.

As we settled in, our engaging waitress was very friendly, even putting up with our middle-aged corny humor. Very sweet. We were happy to see Sprecher Root Beer on the menu, along with a solid selection of beers.

For an appetizer we opted to share a small order of the Cheese Sticks, essentially Gus’s pizza crust topped with garlic butter and “a few other spices,” topped with mozzarella cheese, cut into strips then served with your choice of dipping sauces: nacho cheese, ranch dressing, pizza sauce or garlic butter. Our group voted the garlic butter our overall favorite, but your server will gladly provide all four for a taste test. We found that a “small” Cheese Stick order was perfect for the 6 of us. Huge portion and delicious.

Then it was time for the main pizza event. Gus’s Special, the Family Favorite and a Build Your Own with mushrooms and onions were delivered. Can a pizza be too hot? It honestly took quite a while for the molten cheese to cool enough to eat…those babies were piping hot right out of the brick oven. It was worth the wait. Gus’s sauce, refined over those many years was spiced just right and there was no skimping on the terrific ingredients. Nothing left but crumbs. A definite pizza destination for pizza lovers.

And did we happen to mention the college-town prices? Uber reasonable considering the quality of the food and the ambience of the dining space. Taste and value: a winning combination.

We all agreed, we’ll be back to Gus’s when in Whitewater. And who knows? Maybe that student couple in the back corner will marry and be sitting right where we are 50 years from now?

Congratulations to George, Karen their family and staff for keeping Gus’s tradition of high quality pizza preparation alive and well and living in Whitewater.

You’ll feel like royalty at Gus’s Pizza Palace in Downtown Whitewater, Jefferson County, Wisconsin.

Happy dining!
Your Jefferson County Pizza Review Crew