Lou Malnati's Chicago Pizza

[Common Sense Al]

Some people have mentioned Chicago Pizza. I saw this on slickdeals.net and ordered some:
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1846603

6 Chicago pizzas for $100 delivered... we'll see how it turns out. They better be good at that "slick" price!

Anyone else every mail-ordered frozen pizza?

Jump to my Lou Malnati's Pizza review.

[L-Dog]

I've never tried getting pizza shipped. Let me know how it turns out, Al. If it's good, I'll give it a shot as well...

[Techfan93]

Lou's is good Chicago deep dish. Al, I think you'll be happy with it! Mmmmm!!

T

[Common Sense Al]

I tried a cheese and pepperoni today. I may post a more detailed review with photos later. They were good, but not as good as I was hoping. There were many bites that tasted a bit bland (especially with the cheese one)... but they both had a good amount of cheese on them. Overall, probably 4 out of 5 (with 4 being "very good" and 5 "excellent")... but would have had to be at least 4.5 to be worth the price so I'm most likely not going to order these again at $16.67/pizza or $8.33 per meal per person.

[L-Dog]

Thanks for the feedback Al.

[2quick]

That’s kind of a bummer, I was hoping your review would be more positive. When we lived in Orlando, my wife and I frequented a place called Giordano’s and it was the best pizza ever. We make it a top priority to eat there when we visit. I have checked on having their pizza delivered, but the minimum shipping cost is almost $60.

Here is a link so you can look to see if they have the same appearance.
http://www.giordanos.com/

Thanks for the review

[BStrauss3]

Giordano's is much better pizza - you can order per pie at about the same price

http://www.giordanos.com/shop/home.php

[Common Sense Al]

NOTE: This is an updated review with 4 new pizzas sent on a 2nd delivery. Ratings were improved across the board. I'd say this is because:

* New cooking instructions were used; basically, I cooked the pizza longer and it helped create a crunchier crust and better tasting pizza
* The new cooking instructions said to cook the pizzas from frozen, which I did with the 2nd delivery
* I used butter to oil the pan; previously I used another oil that may have been affecting the taste
* The new pizzas had more sauce, and the sauce seemed to be more flavorful
* The pizzas (overall) were less watery after cooking (notably the pepperoni and sausage). The cheese and veggie were not watery at all.


My favorite is the pepperoni, then the veggie, then the sausage, then the cheese.

The cheese pizza had a good amount of cheese, in fact, all pizzas had a good amount of toppings. The sauce was very important to the flavor. The first pizzas I tried (from the first delivery) seemed to have less sauce and the sauce was less flavorful as well, but this was improved in the pizzas sent with the 2nd delivery.

The sausage pizzas were a bit watery after cooking but did have a good amount of sausage. The cover claims that it "contains 19% sausage".

The veggie with roasted vegetables was surprisingly better than what I expected. It wasn't watery at all and those roasted veggies smelled great while cooking.

What was surprising was their customer service. They found my original review, emailed me about it, and sent me four more pizzas to try again along with some slightly different baking instructions. They were friendly and responsive. I'm going to award a very rare 5 smiley rating for this. The ratings are also based on the "updated" review.

Originally I paid about $100 shipped for 6 of the pizzas, and each feeds about 2, but if you're like me, you may overeat and eat more than 1/2 a pizza at one sitting! These are relatively expensive, but are very good or better when cooked well and when made well with a generous amount of flavorful sauce and other toppings. I suspect quality will vary a bit as the first delivery had a "bland" cheese pizza but the other delivery had more flavorful pizzas.

Lou's cheese deep dish pizza (4 out of 5):


Lou's sausage deep dish pizza (4 out of 5):


Lou's veggie deep dish pizza (4.25 out of 5):
1/4

Lou's pepperoni deep dish pizza (4.5 out of 5):
1/2

Customer Service (5 out of 5):


Value (3.5 out of 5):
1/2

Rating Scale

: 1 - poor (rarely given)
: 2 - fair
: 3 - good
: 4 - very good
: 5 - excellent (rarely given)

-- Ratings of Various Food Places I've Tried --

[Rosemary]

[quote="Al"] I paid about $100 shipped for 6 of them, and each feeds about 2.

At almost $9 a serving, I don't think it was such a good deal. As a matter of fact, after looking at your photos I lost my appetite.

[jlbates]

Would be curious to see the nutrition label on those puppies.

[Common Sense Al]

At almost $9 a serving, I don't think it was such a good deal. As a matter of fact, after looking at your photos I lost my appetite.

It wasn't bad, but you're right... not what I would call a good deal... but it was nice to try some "real Chicago deep dish pizza", but there's gotta be better out there.

[Common Sense Al]

Would be curious to see the nutrition label on those puppies.

There's a PDF here:
http://www.tastesofchicago.com/customer_service

Looks like 1/2 a cheese pizza is 900 calories and 45g of fat, pepperoni is 900 calories and 51g, sausage is 780 calories and 45g of fat... that's for about the amount that a normal adult might eat I'd say.

[Rosemary]

At almost $9 a serving, I don't think it was such a good deal. As a matter of fact, after looking at your photos I lost my appetite.

It wasn't bad, but you're right... not what I would call a good deal... but it was nice to try some "real Chicago deep dish pizza", but there's gotta be better out there.

Did you ever try "Uno" in downtown Fort Worth? My daughter and son-in-law love their Chicago deep dish pizza. I haven't had it since Uno used to be in Arlington years ago, but I thought it was good then.

[HEAD]

The Taste of Chicagos website is more for Chicaoians that no longer live there and need a "fix" from back home. Trust me when I say that if you were from there, $100 for some Lou's is a steal. If you want a taste of Chicago pizza, both thick and thin, try Chicago Pizza Cafe in Frisco. If you want a true taste of Chicago pizza, it has to be fresh.

[jlbates]

When I was in CA, I used to love to go to Pizz'a Chicago in San Jose. It was de-li-cious! http://pizzachicago.com/