Ok, some thoughts and responses after letting things settle for a few days.
First off, I typically post my reviews after giving it ample time for thought (& reflection). The review above was quick and raw, however, had I given it more time, my views would've been the same (albeit with less colorful language).
This pie was certainly overcooked. I don't have many other Johnny's pies to compare it to, but the Barstool review provides one look. Barstool's pie had a bit less black rim, but it was pretty black. More noticeable was that his slice dropped when he held it up, even with a fold. But the droop was probably 1/3 of the slice. The other 2/3 looked to be a solid sheet of crunch.
I'm definitely sensitive to crusts being cooked well done. Even with my own pizza, where I've spent years working on flavors and ratios to meet my specific tastes, if it cook the crust too much it can ruin the pie.
There were some bites that were less done and had bits of flavor. Those were pretty good, but still not spectacular for me.
No real issue with bench flour. I did notice it coming off on my fingers, I think it was fine semolina, not sure...but that didnt seem to be a problem.
Regardless of crust bake, the ratios didn't meet my preference. While I like saucy pies, sauce on top is tricky for me, and it was globbed on in most spots. It reminded me a bit of the upside down Sicilian at NY Pizza Suprema. And it reminds me of dipping bread into a pasta sauce.
I hadn't thought of WB's point that the oven was hot as I was early. I was actually remembering my visit to Modern in New Haven where I went to lunch the day after Christmas and I suspected the oven was unusually cool. But yeah, I might have actually been their first pie that day. I imagine consistency is generally tough to achieve, and its tricky when I'm doing a one-and-done review. I like to get a fresh pie instead of a reheated slice to try to tip the odds in their favor. I'm also reminded of my visits to Tommy's (Bronx) and Scarr's. At Tommy's I had 2 reheated slices, and I could see that one was from an older pie. The difference was tremendous, the older slice was dry. Somewhat similar at Scarr's. It wasn't until the tail end of my experience at Johnny's that I thought of ordering another pie and asking for it to be less well done...I would've been ok to donate another $20 to see how it came out, but I ended up not doing so. Partially because I was headed back to work, but mostly because of my next comment.
9SlicePie said he'd devour the pie. I want to note that while I nitpick pizza, particularly my own, I really, really like pizza. I had my usual salad with me as a backup in case for some reason I wasn't able to get a pie. But the thought of breaking out that salad never crossed my mind. And while I complained a bunch, I crushed the pie (except for the bones). I'm guessing there was 6 ounces of mozz on the 16" pizza.
