Catfish Biff’s Pizza & Subs

I thought I would see if the subs are any better. They are okay but still much better than the pizza. I had a pizza sub with banana peppers, mushrooms, and onions. It was not too bad and it was cheap. There is no way I will ever have a pizza from here though.

I used to frequent this place about 10 years ago and loved their pizza.
However, it has gone completely downhill. The dough tasted like it came par-​baked from their food supplier. I gave a two star rating because the service was good and the sauce was tasty.
They truly need to step-​up their pizza recipe.

Hey, a quick slice joint with reasonable prices, cash encouragement, and a space encouraging paper plate to-​go-​and-​hurry-​up-​about-​it orders? This is your real New York style.

Affordable, prompt, open late, guys working there were really nice. But as a New Yorker, the pizza entirely sucks. My friends from ohio all thought it was quite good, so maybe you will too? The crust was crunchy as was the bottom of the pizza… Fair amount of cheese though. Id come back again, it was a fun place despite too crunchy crust :-)

I don’t know how I’ve lived two blocks away from Biff’s for a year and I only tried it yesterday. I’m eating my second pizza as I type this. Chronic.
While the extra thin crust is crispy and delicious the downside is that it takes more pizza to fill you up. I can eat a whole large by myself. It’s reasonably priced so it’s not a huge deal but if you’re buying several for a group you should get one more pie than you would elsewhere. It’s worth it.

They’re only good on osu game days. Otherwise it’s not recommended for lunch or any other day. We picked up couple pizzas 2 days ago and it was not fresh at all. The supreme was insanely salty and the dough was not fresh at all. It literally was like outdated piece of cardboard. The other one was chicken bacon ranch what we ordered but for sure they didn’t put any ranch on it. It was a disappointment for a campus place that we wanted to support.

What can you say?! I am on a quest to try every pizza joint (non-​chain) in Columbus Ohio and this is one is in the Top Ten (and I have just done five places so far!)
I heard about this place from a buddy at work. He grew up as a professors kid and knows every good or bad place on campus of OSU. So, anyway, we were sitting at work one day and he asked me if I had ever had Catfish Biffs?
I said no in a bored tone and he said, well, I am going to get a pizza at lunch and I will let you try it. Um, ok. (Was not interested either way)
He got back an hour or so later and I’d forgotten about the pizza but he reminded me that he brought one back with him. I said okay I’ll try it mean it’s probably pretty good. But the moment the pizza hit my taste buds I was totally amazed at the flavor combination.
I asked if the entire pizza was for me?! He smiled and told me to get my own.
I left work and went and got one. It was that freaking good! I always order it a little more well done and get it with just pepperoni and banana peppers.
My wife has a dairy allergy and she even eats Catfish Biffs. My four year old asks for it by name. If we get something else, he has a fit. Yeah, it’s that good.
I left the work group I was working in when I discovered the place and came back A few months later just to say hi around lunchtime. I walked into the room and saw that there were like 15 boxes of pizza. They were all larger from Catfish.
I asked, «was there a lunch meeting?», and everyone said NO. When people heard my friend was going, about 20 people started asking him to get them some. Even the fitness gym nut who NEVER eats anything like pizza has two larges next to him. I asked why he had two boxes.
He said that he had to actually take a second pizza home for dinner or else he would be in big trouble if his wife found out that he had had that pizza for lunch and had not brought one home for her!
Yeah, it’s that good. I never understood addiction until I had Catfish Biffs.

Maybe it was the fact that I found a meter right in front of the place…or maybe the chuckle I got out of the scrawled «P Mush» on the side of my box. .. or it could’ve been the preceding happy hour, but darn it if I didn’t like this pizza.
CB’s served me a «cross-​over pie» — NY style underneath, wearing an Ohio style square cut. The dough reminded me of Domino’s — puffed up around the rim with no real air pockets, just slightly crisped, chewy goodness (yes, I’m a closet Domino’s fan). The sauce was tart on the first note and finished with a spicy little fantastic spank. Toppings were all good and the cheese to sauce to toppings ratios were within my acceptable range.
While I still might prefer that other joint right down the street, CB’s wins on price — my 12 inch, two topping pie ran me less than $ 10. So, color me a fan. Good stuff.

This place is an institution on the campus of OSU. The pizza never disappoints. A must if you’ve never been.

My favorite pizza spot here in Cols. I also enjoy Mikey’s Late Night Slice. But Catfish Biff’s is prob my pick over it. Fast service, fresh pizza, and really cheap per slice. Just not a fan of the location being by so many one way Streets and parking there. Wish they had more locations.
There pizza is like a NY slice but you can also order a whole pizza pie. Please try if you haven’t already!

Great New York style pizza. Tastes much better when you add garlic salt. A classic ohio state college student spot. You won’t find anything fancy on the menu but they do regular pizza really well.

This place has the best pizza in the city! It’s classic greasy, pizza that’s sold by the slice. The price is great and the quality is excellent. The only downside to this place is that there really isn’t any sitting area and after 12 am you will have to deal with a lot of drunk college kids. But it’s no wonder they show up, the pizza is delicious. I’m not from Columbus and grew up eating New York pizza and I know people from Columbus think they have great pizza but this is only place worth going out to. It’s hot, fattening and cooked to perfection! And they sell Pepsi… which close to campus is practically a miracle.

definitely a college pizza parlor after a drunk night out but really? people are treated like crap here. service is horrible.
understanding it was a Friday night, sure, maybe it can be a little annoying for staff to be serving obnoxious students but really??? don’t treat people like they’re dogs. one brunette girl at the register was so cold and so rude. then after, she dropped my change behind the counter and she says in front of my face «ew!!» and literally tossed the exact change that she dropped in front of me that was dropped behind the disgusting counter… so how does that make me feel about the cleanliness? so in return I dropped that change in the tip jar.
wowww. no matter how much of a college campus area pizza joint this is… don’t treat people like they’re nothing. We, as consumers, are the ones that are keeping you in business.

Perfect plain pizza. They finish making your order in about ten minutes no matter what and it’s awesome. I love this pizza and always will. Drunk or sober.

Let me just say I probably have a biased opinion here. This is nostalgic food for me, living across the street for a year and probably eating this pizza about twice a week. It is my kind of pizza to begin with and the garlic shaker on the counter I abuse no doubt. But if you are in the area, please at least give a slice of pepperoni a try.

Here is the thing about Catfish Biff’s. It is turning into an institution in Columbus. I visited friends at OSU back in the early 90s (like ’90, ’91) and everyone was talking about Biff’s. Plus it was across from the mostly predominant Freshman dorms.
Now I grew up with two pizza joints in my family — two very successful pizza joints — so successful that they both put Pizza Hut out of business twice when Pizza Hut tried to open up locally. I understand good pizza, I understand great pizza, I also understand sufficient, cheaply priced pizza. Biff’s being the latter — cheap and sufficient for Central and Southern Ohio tastebuds (we are dealing with mostly rural country folk down that way — outside of Columbus).
But, Biff’s was the first pizza I saw cut into squares, as opposed to the traditional triangular slices. The crust was so thin, I thought it was a large «matzo» cracker. The sauce was not flavorful. I vowed that I wouldn’t eat there again if I ever visited. Now, keep in mind that is has been over 20 years since I ate it. I was not a poor freshman (i became poor after my third year — probably from eating overly-​priced pizza), but the price was right for Biff’s — the flavor was not. I now live in Chicago, and honestly, I am not a big fan of Chicago Pizza. It is a personal preference of mine — I prefer NYC Style.
Yes, there are frozen pizzas that are better — but there is a reason that stoves aren’t allowed in dorm rooms on college campuses — especially freshman dorms.
Kids eat anything. So given that logic — the star rating can be bumped up to a 2 or 3-​star. If you are an adult and really do not have to eat here… don’t.
Biff’s — honestly, keep doing what you are doing. You have been around for quite some time. Who are we really to tell you how to do it. If they keep eating it, then keep making it.

I can’t even begin to comprehend all of the negative reviews for Catfish. I was (like many of their customers) a south campus dorm frosh. Almost all of our nights out ended with Catfish Biffs. The pizza is amazing. The entire state of Ohio has a lot to earn about good pizza, but Catfish and Adriattico’s are two places way ahead of the curve. Don’t listen to the negative reviews, it’s an awesome place and the pizza is great. Long after I moved from the dorms into off-​campus housing, I still found my way to Catfish all the time.

I’ve been reading the Catfish reviews, and I seriously think that folks without much pizza experience outside of their small pretentious towns’ who only try to emulate Papa John’s should really not post about what they don’t know. I’ve lived on three continents and in NY, attended OSU some 10 years ago when I discovered Catfish, and as an adult, still live in town and get my pizza from Catfish and Catfish only.
This isn’t gourmet pie, but what it is is flavorful, not too overwhelmed with toppings so you can actually taste the spice blend they use in their sauce, and at a price that still can’t be beat when it comes to pizza. I’ve found that people who hate Catfish love Adriataco’s. That I can’t understand as on two separate occasions they gave me and other students food poisoning (experience, not hearsay) and their pizza is more akin to the awful Hounddog’s, which is actually closer to quintessential «college pizza»: drowned in grease and full of crust for those nights that precede days your boss expects you in to work.
In addition, the guys who work at Catfish are the nicest ones on campus. They’re personable, and if they make a mistake, they apologize sincerely and remake without question, which is not the way the operate at Adriataco’s where they’ll spend the time telling you why you didn’t have a problem instead of fixing it. Catfish’s delivery drivers are prompt and polite, and now that they do have summer hours, Catfish stands to me as the best that campus has to offer pizza wise. Is everything always perfect at Catfish? No. Is it always perfect anywhere? For an operation the size of Catfish’s, what they produce is pretty awesome, and that’s why they’re still exist.
If you are one of those who honestly think frozen pizza is any good, you have no palate, and really should not waste the time of people who prefer and enjoy fresh food by posting a review on any restaurant site. And yes, I am a chef and know what I’m talking about.

No. No. No. No. No.
I don’t care how broke of a college kid you are, there’s no reason ever to eat pizza from Catfish Biff’s. The crust is like cardboard, the toppings are virtually flavorless – trust me, you can do better with a $ 3 Tony’s frozen pizza from Kroger.
There are lots of cheap pizza options in the area, so I honestly don’t know why this place even still exists.
Go for the $ 3 frozen pizza. Seriously better.
ETA: Dear Madam G,
«I’ve been reading the Catfish reviews, and I seriously think that folks without much pizza experience outside of their small pretentious towns’ who only try to emulate Papa John’s should really not post about what they don’t know. I’ve lived on three continents and in NY, attended OSU some 10 years ago when I discovered Catfish, and as an adult, still live in town and get my pizza from Catfish and Catfish only.» Ooh, an expert!
«For an operation the size of Catfish’s, what they produce is pretty awesome, and that’s why they’re still exist.» Nice, responding to me in an oblique manner! Is the small pretentious towns also directed at me? Oh, you ;)
«If you are one of those who honestly think frozen pizza is any good, you have no palate, and really should not waste the time of people who prefer and enjoy fresh food by posting a review on any restaurant site. And yes, I am a chef and know what I’m talking about.» Oh, dear. Do you work for Catfish Biff’s? I only ask because, I’ve been through chef training (surprise! or did you think you were the only one?) and discerning chefs I know won’t even eat off-​brand pasta, much less emphatically defend cheap campus pizza. You seem to be taking this rather personally for someone not affiliated with CB.
I’ve eaten pizzas in many places, dear heart. I, too, have eaten pizza in New York City. I’ve eaten it all around the country. I’ve lived in Columbus for most of my adult life (small pretentious town dig aside ;). While CB may have improved in the past two years (I haven’t been back, so, I don’t know), I still assert that the pizza I ate from CB tasted worse than a frozen pizza. Note that I didn’t say I enjoy frozen pizza in my original review; I said that a frozen pizza is better. Comparatively, not absolutely.
And hey, next time, feel free to address people directly instead of taking cheap shots. Also, thanks to the manager; if he hadn’t sent a note to me today for my two-​year-​old review, I would never have seen this.

A convenient location, good value and tasty enough pizza if you buy it by the slice. If you are going to order a whole pie, go somewhere else.
In fact, if you are going to buy it by the slice, go to Flying Pizza (now A Slice of New York).
Unless you are a student at OSU you probably won’t even hear about or consider this place.
Also: so dependent on student business (i.e. don’t know better or don’t care) that it is one of the few eateries in the area that closes over summer. A common practice in smaller university towns, but this is the capital of the 7^th largest state.
I think the best thing it has going for it is its kickass logo.