Something old feels new again as we turn our attention to Ooltewah for the opening of a family-friendly pizza spot. If you’re craving great food without stretching your wallet, this one’s worth a visit.
What do you mean by “family-friendly?” You’re not sending me to Chuck E. Cheese, are you?
I’d never steer anyone to The Big C. The good news? You don’t have to compromise to get a delicious pizza at a price that won’t break the bank. Load up the spouse and kids – or whoever makes up your crew – and head to Mr. T.’s Pizza & Ice Cream for a meal that’ll have everyone moaning about how their eyes were bigger than their stomachs. That was my wife and me last night – and we still have leftovers waiting in the fridge.
I used to go to Mr. T’s as a kid! Good times.
You’re not alone. Tyler “Mr. T” Gray opened the original St. Elmo location in 1989, taking over the site of a former Kay’s Castle – which explains the ice cream cone perched on the roof. Over the years, he built Mr. T’s into a local institution, earning a following of families who have stopped in for pizza nights for decades.
Is Mr. T still around?
You might still spot him around town, but not behind the counter. Tyler retired in 2023 and passed the torch to father-son duo Eddy and Jackson Hilger. From the start, their priority has been to honor Tyler’s legacy, preserving the spirit of a local, family-focused restaurant while continuing to serve both the community and visitors for years to come.
Is that what you meant by “something old feels new again?”
I can see how you’d think that, but no. I’m talking about something else – the opening of a second Mr. T’s in Ooltewah, 37 years after the original first fired up its ovens.
That’s right. Eddy and Jackson have kept the ingredients people love while piling on a double helping of ambition. Now open at 8890 Old Lee Highway, Mr. T’s Pizza & Ice Cream is bringing its classic menu to a new market, planting a flag in one of the Chattanooga area’s fastest-growing communities.
Those are the good kind of growing pains.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Mr. T’s, so give me a refresher on the menu.
This will be easy: pizza, appetizers, sandwiches and salads for lunch or dinner, plus ice cream, milkshakes and floats for dessert.
To break it down a little, you can build your own pizza with a range of toppings, sauces and crusts (think grilled chicken with BBQ sauce on a hand-tossed crust), or go with one of the specialty pies. I had the Veggie Lover, while my wife went for the Meat Classic. The Cheese Bread is a standout starter, and the Italian Supreme leads the sandwich lineup. Ice cream comes in a cup, cake cone or waffle cone.
Sounds like standard fare.
Let me tell you about standard fare.
A few evenings before our visit to Mr. T’s, my wife didn’t feel like cooking and I didn’t feel like washing dishes – our usual tag-team routine. So I said, without realizing the regret it would bring, “Let’s try [pizza chain X],” which I’d never had.
Talk about blah. The cheese bread was mostly bread, and the pizza was about as flavorful as the cardboard box it came in. The price was right, but the taste wasn’t.
Mr. T’s is a different story. It won’t cost you an arm and a leg, either, but it delivers where it counts. The crust gets a solid thumbs-up, but the red sauce earns an enthusiastic one – and the toppings are generously applied.
The red sauce contains a signature seasoning that also shows up in the cheese bread and the dry-rubbed wings, which, frankly, are some of the best I’ve had in Chattanooga. Plenty of local places put “wings” in their name, but I mean it – Mr. T’s beats them all.
Go hungry, because you’re going to want to try a little of everything.
Speaking of restaurant names, what about the “Ice Cream” in Mr. T.’s Pizza & Ice Cream?
I’m glad you asked. Mr. T’s ice cream has that classic, creamy flavor, not that disappointing “tastes like vegetable oil and sugar” version that’s taken over too many grocery store freezers. Even better, their scoops aren’t just scoops – they’re scoops and then some. When I ordered a single scoop of mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone, my immediate reaction was, “That’s just one scoop?”
Seriously, Mr. T’s might be under newer ownership, but Eddy and Jackson are sticking to what’s worked for nearly four decades – honoring tradition instead of cutting corners at the expense of flavor.
It’s time to make new memories. What else do I need to know?
My wife has been searching for a spot she could claim as her own ever since she moved here a year ago, and we’ve given it the college try. But somewhere in the middle of our meal at Mr. T’s, she looked up from a slice of Meat Classic and said, “This is it. This feels like our place.”
She’ll get no argument from me. At a time when Chattanooga is losing many of its long-standing institutions – in food and beyond – it’s refreshing to see a spot staying true to its roots, even as it grows across the region.