Quick Take:
Location: Downtown Lakeland
What Katie ordered: Plain slice of pizza, bruschetta, a specialty slice & a cannoli
Extra Order
(My Order): Plain slice of pizza and a Sicilian slice.
Final Score: 5/5*
Price: ~$10–20 per person
For our twelfth stop on our Polk Food Quest, we visited Palace Pizza in Downtown Lakeland.
We're a dozen reviews in so far, and for this one Katie is taking over.
(For those of you who are new here, Katie is my wife, and she comes to every single Polk Food Quest, but is usually the one taking the pictures. I finally convinced her that she is much better to look at and she's taking over some!)
Pizza is extremely important to both of us.
I'm from Long Island, New York, and Katie is from New Jersey.
Which means we're in a constant battle to decide who grew up with the best pizza and bagels. 
We started our Best Food in Polk lists with The Best Pizza in Winter Haven, and after reviewing Pizza Connection (which came in at number two on the list) we realized we really can't trust many Floridians with our pizza.
That said, Palace Pizza came in at number one on the list of The Best Pizza Places in Polk County — so you can see why Katie felt comfortable hopping in for this one!
Palace Pizza is to pizza what Uncle Nick's Italian Deli is to bagels, egg sandwiches and Italian food.
But without spoiling anymore of the review, I'll cut it there.
By the way: if you're new here, the concept of our Polk Food Quest is simple: every week we try a local spot, order the most common thing people get, try a few extras, and rank it on taste, value, vibes, and overall.
This week: Pizza!
Which means we ordered a two plain slices of pizza, bruschetta, a specialty slice, a cannoli, and a Sicilian slice.
Listen, Katie took her new role as lead of the Food Quest VERY seriously, okay?
How Does This Work?
I order the standard item for that category (for pizza that's a plain slice of pizza), plus a few extras so I can get a full feel for the menu.
Then I rank the experience on four things:
Taste | Value | Vibes | 
Overall
Taste focuses on the standard item.
The rest reflects the entire experience.
Taste: 5/5*
Palace Pizza is the GOAT of pizza in Polk County as far as we're concerned.
We grew up on New York and New Jersey pizza, and this is the closest it gets.
And this is coming from two very picky pizza lovers.
The same way Lovebird Chicken had a 5* and Brake Burger Garage had a 5* because they were the gold standard — Palace Pizza has the same.
This is the gold standard for pizza in Polk.
And, we HOPE more spots come around to compete with it — but as of right now the only other place that is in the same league is Palace Pizza in Bartow.
Here's a quick breakdown for my quick scanners, though:
- The Plain Pizza: Incredible. No notes.
- Sicilian Slice: For me, Sicilian is my second favorite, right behind a plan slice of pizza, and this is top tier for me as well.
- Bruschetta: Katie said "this was SOO good." And I can vouch for that considering she wouldn't even let me have a bite!
- Specialty Slice: This was good, but not something we'd need to order again. Good enough to still be a top tier slice, but not good enough to warrant ordering it over one of the other amazing options.
- Cannoli: A staple from Palace or Uncle Nick's for Katie.
If you want good pizza in Florida (I know, this is usually an oxymoron), you can trust Palace Pizza in Downtown Lakeland.
Value: 5/5
Easy 5/5 for value.
Cheese slices for $3.95, Sicilian for $5.95, a cannoli for $2.85 — you can't really beat this anymore.
Tack that on with the fact that you're getting the best tasting food [in it's category] around Polk County, in the center of Downtown, and this one is just a no-brainer 5/5 here.
This is how everything priced out (for my quick scanners):
- 2 Cheese Slices = $7.90
- Sicilian Slice = $5.95
- Specialty Slice = $5.95
- Bruschetta = $2.55
- Cannoli = $2.85
- Fountain Drink = $3.55
For a grand total of $28.75 for Katie to absolutely stuff her face and say she felt like she was doing a food challenge.
Can't beat that.
Vibes: 5/5
Another easy 5/5.
The best pizza in Polk, in the center of Downtown Lakeland, with great service, and an especially nice location.
The inside is great, the front outside porch area is great, and they even have an outside patio area that's great as well.
We don't have anything bad to say about the vibes at Palace Pizza (Downtown).
We've been there quite a few times now and the service has always been good and we've never had even a slight problem.
Overall: 5/5*
Overall Palace Pizza is getting a 5/5* (with a star).
As I mentioned above: the star is there to show you that this is the gold standard for their category (in this case, pizza) in Polk County.
This is what all the other pizza places have to compete with when we review them.
It's what we're thinking about going into another place when we say "was this as good as Palace?"
Here are some of the new standards I like sharing in the Overall section:
Would I bring my visiting family there?
I don't know if my family trusts Florida for pizza (they're coming down from Long Island, NY when they visit) BUT .. if for some reason they wanted Florida pizza ... this is one, if not THE, pizza place I'd be bringing them.
Here’s how I’d sum up Palace Pizza Downtown:
This is what we've been looking for since we moved to Florida.
Real, no-nonsense New York-style pizza at prices that almost feel like a mistake.
Cheese slices for $3.95, a cannoli for $2.85.
Katie and I both grew up on pizza and bagels in New York and New Jersey, and Palace is the closest we've found to the real thing in Polk County.
The plain slice is incredible on its own, the Sicilian is a top-tier runner-up, and the bruschetta had Katie guarding her plate.
Add in the Downtown Lakeland location, the great porch and patio seating, and consistently solid service, and there's just nothing to complain about.
This is the place every other pizza spot in Polk is going to be measured against.
Before You Go....
Hey!
I want to know what you think of Palace Pizza in Downtown Lakeland.
Leave a comment below.
The more you share, the better, but anything is appreciated.
Each comment helps The Best Of Polk articles and eventually, the yearly awards!
Have a place you want me to try?
Make sure to comment that as well.
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