Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

Update: 12/12/2022 ~ Returned to give this Lou Malnati’s another try. The pizza came out better than my last experience. The pros were the pizza being cooked to my liking; great service - especially by Chris who took my call and placed my order; and the salad being exceptional as always. The cons were - maybe my fault if I wasn’t clear - the sausage in huge pieces instead of broken up; and not a lot of cheese. It was amusing as I pulled up to pickup my order… Chris came out and asked if I was Diane? We shared a good laugh as clearly I’m a guy, and I wasn’t parked in Curbside Pickup. I had a slight wait as I arrived early. So there was a slight wait that I did not mind. In the meantime, Chris couldn’t find my in-store credit that should have been under my name and number. Regardless, he gave me no hassle and applied the credit. All went very well, and I am pleased with the service and food. My apologies for not returning sooner. If ever I’m in the area I will consider ordering from this Lou Malnati’s for lunch or dinner. Thank you; and a special thanks to Chris.

I’m from Chicago, and I’m a huge fan of Lou Malnati’s. It’s disappointing to have this experience. I gave this location a try following an afternoon appointment nearby. My order was for a large deep dish pizza: sausage broken up into pieces, onions, and green peppers — cooked well. In addition I picked up a Lou salad with the sweet vinaigrette. The wait time was for 30 minutes, and I prepaid for the order which came to $56.96 after tax. The pizza itself was $39.26… a bit pricy. The salad was the best part of this order. It’s the reason why this review is getting three stars; otherwise it would be a two star review. Why? The pizza was more like a hand tossed pizza crust — far from the deep dish I’ve known with the high outer crust. The cheese didn’t seem to be as much as what’s usually applied. The onions, peppers, and sauce were ok; but the flavor wasn’t there. And the pizza wasn’t cooked to order. I’ve had better from the Lou’s in Scottsdale. I’m curious if these are owned by the same management, or two different owners? And what kind of training was received to ensure quality in making Lou Malnati pizzas? I doubt that I’ll return based on the distance. Had it been better I’d keep it in mind the next time I’m in Gilbert. Hopefully they’ll read this review, take it to heart, and do what needs to be done to improve the quality of pizza that the Chicago Lou Malnati’s is known for. How well do they want to succeed will show in their future pizzas that they make. For the price they charge, they owe that much to their customers.

Nothing special. Average at best. The cheese and sauce are excellent. I ordered a pepperoni and there was way too much pepperoni. The crust is tasteless, bland, and nothing to celebrate. Beware: if you pick up your pizza like I did, you cannot sit in a slightly inclined seat. I had the pizza sit on my passenger seat at a slight angle and everything slid to one side. I’ve never experienced a pizza slide to one side like this! I did not factor this into my review as this mistake was on me. I’ll try this place again in a month or so. Maybe it was an off day for flavor.

So.... I'm going to chock it up to being a new location. The pizza...was great. The ingredients were awesome, the crust was perfect, the cheese was super stringy. However, I ordered 1hr ahead for pickup for a party. I arrived on time and only had to wait 5 minutes in parking spot after check in to get my pizza. I had a 3 mile commute and when I opened the deep dish pizza, it was disheveled. There was so much water (assuming from the tomatoes) that had leaked out into to the box. The pizza was just warm, not piping hot. The cheese pizza was great just colder than expected. I will definitely try it again cause the pizza was good but would much rather enjoy it straight from the oven. Hopefully they will iron out some of the ruff spot before I return.