First visit: May 2024 (Colorado Springs)
HQ: Albuquerque, NM (founded: 1978)
Locations: 29. New Mexico (23): 17 in the ABQ area; 2 each in Santa Fe and Las Cruces; 1 each in Roswell and Clovis --- Colorado (3): Two in Denver and this one in Colorado Springs --- Texas (3): Two in my old college town of Lubbock and one coming soon in El Paso.
Dion's has an image problem. For years I thought they were just a regular diner. They were just wallpaper to us in all of our trips down to New Mexico. I never once thought it would be a place to try given the abundance of other options. Imagine my surprise when I learned they were a pizza chain. They are? In any case, it took me another couple of years to finally step foot in one, our sole location here in the Springs. Mrs. RJG ran up to Denver for some family business, so this gives me a chance to recon these places for the two of us.
Not only is the image outside confusing, but so is the inside. It looks all the world like a Perkins (same color scheme even) or a Village Inn. If they used the logo as I have it shown here, I would have been better informed - but they only use the more generic cursive spelling on the sign without the image.
It's a sizeable restaurant, though it's still a quick serve place that even sports a drive-thru. I think the idea is to order online and then pick it up at the window. In any case I went about ordering a 12 inch pizza with Italian sausage and a small drink. They said it would be ready in 20 minutes. Sort of irritating that they don't have the drink machine in the restaurant itself, and you have to ask for refills (they're free). And the small is really small, so I had to do that twice. I felt like a pain, but they were nice about it at least. Hey, pizza makes me thirsty! At least they didn't ask for an unearned tip.
About 15 minutes later my pizza arrived. It certainly looks good! On the plus side it appears they use real Italian sausage, looks homemade even. The cheese is gooey and they season it. On the downside it wasn't really that flavorful and the crust was more chewy than crispy. It wasn't doughy though. I think Mrs. RJG would thumb it down, though she wouldn't have made a face either. It's not good when Mrs. RJG "makes a face." It could have also used more sauce. It seems I always say that. But the best pizzas tend to be saucy in my mind. 12 inches is a little too much for me in one setting, though I still managed to devour it haha. 10 inches would have been better.
The restaurant was largely empty and it feels chain-y. Only teens and young adults were working there. On the whole I'd say it was good and certainly wouldn't object if someone wanted me to take them there. But I don't see Dion's going into the rotation either. It wasn't anything special.
According to their history, Dion's was supposed to be Dionysus, but they saved some money on their sign by shortening their name (lol). It was a Greek restaurant but most patrons liked the pizza, so they decided to focus on that instead. They've done quite well with the concept.
5/5/24 (new entry)
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