Taste of Chicago

Been ordering though them for years and last hotdog kit the all sudden stopped sending tomatoes and onions. Then just received an order for the wife and now they removed sending kosher dill pickles for a Chicago Hot Dog?????? Stupid and will never order here again. I would recommend ordering directly from portillo's as they still send 10 pickles and like $10 cheaper. Taste of S... is what they become.

I ordered the four pack of Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza. Had it shipped down to Florida shipping arrived earlier than scheduled. Everything was perfect well packed still frozen and the pizzas I gave away the people loved them. Would definitely order from Taste of Chicago again. I wish there was a Lou Malnati’s in the TAMPA/CLEARWATER area. Also, I wish they would had an option to order some supreme tamales or iltoco taco pizza puffs.

I ordered 2 pizzas and a beef kit to be sent to my family in CA. They received 2 pizzas and a jar of giardiniera . There was no beef or buns. When I called to complain I was told if I couldn't produce pictures then tough luck. I spent $124.00 on 2 pizzas...I will NEVER use them again. The food is great and I've sent several of these packages to family over the years but NEVER again. Customer service AWFUL.

Just ordered their six pack deep dish pizzas, also having them shipped to Florida. The order process online was simple and with the free shipping and their Christmas promo couldn’t ask for a better option to ship to my daughter and son-in-law and grandkids in Florida that miss all the Chicago foods.

Updating my review. We had originally ordered from them and the pizzas hadn't arrived after about 2 weeks. Perhaps the delivery company had someone steal the box. It is labeled as a food product. A wife called and talked to a very nice person who not only corrected the issue, he sent four pizzas instead of the three we ordered. They arrived in a timely manner and I've only eaten one so far that was quite tasty. Not as good as being in the restaurant but quite tasty. I'm giving them a four for all that reason and that reason only but the customer service was amazing

Not sure why the reviews are what they are. I ordered the pizza and arrived as expected completely frozen. Was able to cook it as instructed and came out. Great tasted excellent. I will tell you that we were shorted pizza from my order we went under the support put in an email. They responded within one day and automatically sent us. Two pizzas no charge. They resolved our concern very quickly and effectively. I appreciate them very much. As far as taste goes the hot honey was fantastic. We haven’t tried the others yet, but I’m sure they’re just as great.

This was my first time ordering food to be shipped, so I wasn’t sure what to expect—but wow, it topped all my expectations! The pizza was absolutely delicious. Living in South Texas, I’ve been seriously missing that authentic Chicago deep dish. I visited last year but didn’t get a chance to stop at Lou’s. Took a chance on this order and I’m so glad I did—it was love at first slice!

We had gone to a Lou Malnati's while we were in Chicago and thought the pizza was great. Once we got back to Florida we looked for a way to get them shipped. We ordered 6 deep dish pizzas and from start to finish the process was great! We received an email once we ordered, an email when they were going to be shipped and an email once it was delivered. We were amazed that even in the hot Florida sun, the pizzas were still frozen. The dry ice was almost gone, but that was to be expected. The taste was exactly as we remembered, awesome! We will be ordering again soon!

We received a large gift assortment of the Chicago foods we grew up with. They arrived fairly well packaged in dry ice. Though the box was "curated" by Lou Malnati Pizza, the pizzas were the least favorite of the collection. They also make a deep dish style but we received 4 thin crust. The cooking instructions were to take them out of the tins and cook on oven rack, but the crust edges on two of them were broken so we could not remove them. They were all actually so thin and fragile that we cooked the other 2 on a cookie sheet. So they did not come out as crisp as we would have liked and the ones in the foil tins stuck to the pan. We had cheese, sausage and pepperoni. Sausage was ok, the other two blah and mediocre. No herbs on any of them. The Chicago dog kit was great, with Vienna red hots and poppy seed buns with all the condiments. Easy to heat and tasty. The half rack of ribs with sauce was good too. The highlight was Eli's cheesecake. Perfect, thoughtful packaging, easy to serve and just delicious. I made a strawberry sauce to serve with it. All in all a lovely gift but I would send the deep dish over thin crust pizzas. I think they would hold up better and be easier to heat.

Delivery was quick and the pizzas were still frozen. The bad news. These are not very good tasting pizzas. The sauce is tart and tastes like uncooked canned tomatoes, the mozzarella is tasteless and terribly chewy, and the crust is bland with no flavor and hard (you could crack a tooth eating it). I ordered a variety and none of them were worth it. I wanted so much to have that deep dish sensation but it's not happening with Malnati's shipped pizzas. Gino's from Safeway is better and that's not saying much. I have thrown out the left overs each time I have baked one of these disappointing pies. I have one more to go and can't wait to be done with these yucky pizzas.

For a company that is basically a novelty they need to have customer service. When their system works and you don't need to reach out for assistance this organization is fine, if there are issues, good luck getting any assistance. This year they had a promotion for a $25 voucher if you spent a certain amount, so I meet that requirement, received an email confirming I had a certificate that would be good for the month of January, beginning on the 1st. One of the orders arrived without issue the other was sent Fed Ex ground and took 5-days to arrive, so no dry ice and room temperature pizzas were delivered. They did replace the pizza's, but it took just over two weeks and I feel that is a bit slow. The real kicker came when my $25 certificate that was supposed to be valid on January 1st, was not valid, I reached out to their customer service on the 1st and have yet to hear back from them. Although I have received subsequent advertisements from them wanting me to buy more pizzas. If they are not going to honor the terms on their own certificates, they should be held accountable. My way of holding them accountable is not spending another nickel with them. As I mentioned this is a novelty item at best, nobody believes this mail order pizza is the best and it cost twice as much as if you just ordered from a local pizza shop, who would also cook it and deliver it when you want.

I first found Taste of Chicago years ago, like 2011 or before. It's an awesome way to get a taste of Chicago, especially when you live all the way in California. It's obviously not as good as having it there, but it's the next best thing. Love that stretchy mutz and those tomato chunks. I suggest putting it on to a cast iron pan, little Olive Oil, 425, 35mins. Gives the bottom a nice crunch. I also added a little fresh parm at the end. Thanks to my cousin for this awesome gift! *Wish they sent the larger sizes and the thickness that comes with it*

6 Pizzas were ordered 9/13/24 and delivered on 9/16/24. i received them and the dry Ice melted, there was water and sauce in the container. The pizzas were thawed out . I immediately called customer service and they were supposed to send me a link to send them pictures and videos but I did not receive anything. I called him on the 17th, asked to speak to a supervisor they said someone would call me back, explained what happened. Today is 9/ 19 and I have heard nothing from them. The water and sauce dripped on me and my floors. Pizzas order in the past were always good. Oreder # 227379

Six pizzas ordered and dry ice melted, Pizza warm, My last three orders of 6 pizzas have not had enough dry ice in the box, The pizzas arrived warm or barely frozen All previous orders before 2024 have had plenty of ice and were still cold and frozen when delivered. I have been ordering for over 3 years . They are skimping on the amount of ice added to the box. This seems short sited and makes for an unhappy customer, I will not be ordering again any time soon nor recommend your delivery service to anyone. Ordering 6 pizzas is expensive. I complained on my last order in September when the pizzas arrived without any ice and the pizzas were warm. Even the new order in September arrived with no dry ice remaining. Maybe they are using a new service provider. It seems none of this bad press has changed the way of doing business.

My yearly gift of Lou Malnati's and Garrett's to my brother's family ($120) was accidentally sent to the wrong address. I called Tastes of Chicago and the "best they could do" was 50% off - so an additional $60 on top of the $120 - ie $180 for 2 pizzas and some popcorn. Too bad, I would have loved to keep this tradition alive, but customer service wasn't that interested in helping me. It would have been nice for them to resend at least the pizzas and have me pay shipping in the form of good will. Happy holidays!

To Start my Review, I am a Native Chicagoan who lives in Texas and returns to Chicago regularly. I have enjoyed Lou Malnatis pizza for years. Not anymore. They do not provide what I consider quality Customer Service with their enterprise, "Taste of Chicago" Now I know I ordered during the Holidays, but I would not have ordered had they not sent out a soliciting e-mail telling me I still had time to make an additional purchase that would arrive before Christmas. Here is a Copy of the e-mail I sent to them regarding the spoiled order I received 4 days late and after the Holidays: As a returning Customer, No Hooray Here! Pizzas that were supposed to be part of my Christmas Eve celebration did not arrive on the 23rd (scheduled date) nor on the 24th. They arrived today on the 26th. All dry ice was gone and the pizzas were at room temperature. I called customer service and was told they could resend the pizzas (Darrin). I explained they were to be used on the 24th. I had the added expense of having to purchase pizzas from a local pizza place. Unfortunately, I'm in Texas where deep dish pizza does not exist. I had to settle for NY style Pizza. I inquired about additional compensation and Darrin informed me he could not do anything but send out a replacement. He stated this was a FedEx issue. I explained I didn't choose to use FedEx, Taste of Chicago did, so delivery still falls under their responsibility. Needless to say, I am not Happy with Taste of Chicago and will not be purchasing from them again. Even if they had thrown in some Chicago Hot Dogs or an additional pizza to make this right, it would have gone a long way. Instead, they lost a customer. When friends in Texas are visiting my Hometown, Chicago, I will be sending them to Geno's East or Giordanos for Deep Dish. Not Lou Malnatis. Very Disappointed Now Former Customer, Alan R.

Just about everybody knows frozen pizza just doesn't hit the spot the same way pizzeria pizza does. Tastes of Chicago helps bridge that gap by offering delivery of Lou Malnati's pizzas shipped from Chicago to anywhere in the US. (They may ship outside the US, but since I live in NY state, I didn't check.) Since I'm no longer able to find Pizzeria Uno pizza in local supermarkets, and Pizzeria Uno closed both Westchester NY locations, I needed a deep dish fix, and didn't want to travel to NYC for it. Then I saw an ad on Facebook for Goldbelly that featured Lou Malnati's c/o Tastes of Chicago, so I went for the six pie order. At this point, I'm halfway through the third of the six pizzas and I've gotten the cooking down to the point where I'm pretty sure t's coming out exactly the way it's supposed to. The good news: it's better than any pizza I can get in a supermarket. The not so good news: I still wish I could buy Uno's in the supermarket, because that's a better tasting pizza than Lou Malnati's. Now, Lou Malnati's pizza has a great sauce, in generous amounts, and an ample portion of cheese so you don't need to add more, though the crust will support it. But the crust itself, while baking to a crisp texture, fully capable of supporting the included toppings and extra, lacks in flavor and doesn't measure up to the flavor or texture of Uno's crust. So, while I can enjoy this pizza, and some people may like the crust over the Uno's crust, for me it's just not good enough to be worth a second order. I will keep trying to find Uno's in Westchester supermarkets until then.

Lou Malnati's - Best pizza ever !! Lived in Chicago area my whole life until our recent move out of state. We are so delighted to be able to order Lou's and have it shipped to us. Nothing compares to the phenomenal taste, the excellent quality, the absolutely delicious crispy butter deep dish crust (the thin crust is superb too), the incredible tasting chunky pizza sauce, and the perfect amount of cheese and toppings. The absolute best is right out of the oven at a Lou Malnati's restaurant, but having these shipped frozen to our house, and cooking them and serving them from our oven in our house is perfectly satisfying. Our favorite for so many years. Chicago has the best pizza and since moving out of state we have searched for great pizza and have never found anything comparable. We are extremely happy being able to have these shipped to us. The Portillo's hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches are as perfect. The chocolate cake is the best available. Thanks for offering this service.

They continue to mail me crap in spite of their issues-ordered once and food was good but overpriced Subsequent mailings leading to an attempt to ordered left me hanging - they will not let you order (once initial order is placed) without creating a user name- every year now same issue I write to company and have yet to ever get a response I don't want a user name I want to order as a guest...keep your food keep sending me marketing because you can't figure out spending marketing dollars and getting zero revenue doesn't make good biz sense

Seeing the beautiful red, white, and black box makes me so happy. Every year for wedding anniversary and birthday since I've lived in Florida, I get this amazing box of heaven. My fave pizza is Lou Malnati's pizza, and seriously it is love!!! The tomatoes, sauce, cheese, pepperoni, or sausage, they even have heart shaped pizzas too. All of the above along with the crust is the best. I feel so special that my friend is so generous and sends this!!! It makes my day. If you are looking for the best Tastes of Chicago, check out their website. I've really just had their pizza. That's all I want. They even sell Lou Malnati's tshirt. I would love that!!!

We had a pretty good experience compared to others I have read. An acquaintance we know gifted us a "Tastes of Chicago" duo of 2 Lou Malnati's pizza's along with a decorated sugar cookie from Deerfield's Bakeries. First the pizzas! We received a Pepperoni and a Cheese Pizza. They were packed in a Styrofoam container with dried ice at the bottom. The pizza's were frozen solid. I tried the pepperoni first. I plopped it in the oven according to directions, and about 4o minutes or so later, a beautiful pizza bubbling hot and ready to be served came out . The pizza was very good. The crust was crunchy around the edges. The sauce was in between sweet and bitter with a touch of salt. It was a fairly thick pizza with the usual cheese and sauce , loaded with pepperoni's! The following week we cooked the cheese pizza! It was just like the pepperoni, super good! We added pepperonis to it before we cooked it. It was another thick pizza, loaded with cheese, sauce and a crunchy outer edge crust. Super good! We also received a cookie from Deerfield Bakeries. The cookie was nicely decorated. I shared the cookie with my wife, we broke off a piece to try it and did not like it. It was lacking in flavor and sugar. Maybe it was just for decoration? Maybe the cookie was intended to hang on a Christmas Tree? Who knows, but me and my wife agreed that the cookie was not good. Bland and flavorless . I really hope someday Lou Malnati's Pizza opens in Louisville Kentucky. As far as ordering from Tastes of Chicago? I am a bit a loss after reading many comments about service that wasn't up to par. So I am a bit apprehensive about ordering from them.

I first learned about Tastes of Chicago during a online yelp event in early 2020 that was done by Lou Malnati's Pizza. My friends can all tell you how much I love Pizza! I am obsessed with that food! I have a little tradition of always eating in at least one pizza restaurant in ever city i visit... my favorite has been and probably will always be Lou Malnati's in Chicago. So to have a website which ships Lou Malnati's pizza to you... no matter where in the country you live... was amazing to discover. Now, you do have to bake the items you purchase yourself but the instructions are very easy to follow. I have purchased from this website a number of times already, most especially for New Years. I have bought Lou Malnati's Skillet Cookie, Sausage Pizza, and Pepperoni Pizza. I have also gotten Baby Back Ribs from Real Urban BBQ, and a Cheesecake from Eli's. All delicious choices! And there are so many restaurants and products i still haven't tried! Only gripe is that they only have occasionally the Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza from Lou Malnati's... its a special occasion thing and i always end up missing it! If you want to eat some great food from Chicago but are unable to make the trip, order from Tastes of Chicago!

I ordered some items from Taste of Chicago. Good is ok. The portions are tiny compared to the enormous prices they charge. I won't be ordering again.

I have had Lou Manalti's Pizza several times on my various visits to Chicago and Schaumburg so when I learned that they offered their pizza via their website, TastesofChicago.com I had to give it a try. Shipping was quick, secure and freezing cold! The cost is rather high, but these are the legit, Lou Manalti's Pizzas that I do love, with a slightly lesser-buttered crust. The flavors were spot-on! They baked up quick and came out PERFECT! I'd suggested Tastes of Chicago for, at least, some amazing Chicago pizza!

Like most people using this service, I am from Chicago and grew up with Lou's and Portillo's. Love the food, can't get enough when I'm home. Family knows this and accordingly send me pizzas and hotdogs for special occasions or holidays. This Christmas the wife ordered the 10 pack hotdog kit from Portilo's. It was $77 which is shocking enough when it used to be around $50, but whatever, everything is more expensive now. Problem is, for $50 bucks you used to get the 10 hotdogs, buns, mustard, relish, celery salt, TOMATOES, ONION, PICKLES and JAUNTY PAPER HAT! so you're basically paying 30% more for about half the shit they used to give. Not a huge deal, but shows a lack of quality and concern. I will probably still order the pizzas, but I'm done with the hotdogs. Real shame, cause the wife enjoyed wearing the jaunty hat when we used to prepare the dogs lol.

Do not ship orders from Malnati's. Looking at the online choices and combination pricing, I called the customer service number. I asked the man on the phone "What would be the most economical way to purchase 6 pizzas and Garretts popcorn?" He gave me a quote. I then asked "How much would it cost to buy 6 pizzas and a Garretts popcorn separately?" That price was $50-$70 lower! Obviously he was upselling me and not being honest. I'm sure he gets away with it from unaware customers. What is the greatest fear when ordering a frozen pizza and other Chicago items online especially being a former Chicagoan inviting other Chicagoans to a very special birthday party or any event? For me it is "will the items show up on time"? I got the tracking number and the shipment arrived in perfectly planned time. However the Garretts popcorn was not in the box. I called Malnati's and asked if it had been shipped. She responded that it mistakenly hadn't been shipped. As it was late afternoon Thursday and the fastest they could get it to me would be the following Mon or Tues. The party was planned for that Sat. My money was refunded but alas this fun surprise for my guests was not happening. The party was a Chicago theme. Yes, the party would still go on and would be fun. Just not special because of Malnati's poor shipping practices. The experience from beginning to end was 1 star or less. Many reviews are similar. I guess Malnati's doesn't care. Poor service, poor quality pizzas and poor shipping fulfillment

I ordered 24 pizzas from Tastes of Chicago (4 groups of 6) to send to family as part of their Christmas gifts. Two out of the four orders delivered late. One showed in the tracking to have arrived at a FedEx facility within 45 minutes of my daughter's house, but still took nearly 72 hours to deliver. When I contacted Tastes of Chicago's customer service, I was treated rudely by a rep named Erica Kolton. She basically told me that I didn't know what I was talking about. The company reached out to me saying that they wanted to do some sort of resolution to my complaint. I sent a message to them and all I got back is an auto-generated response that they are very busy and would get back to me. That's been several days ago and still haven't heard back. Tastes of Chicago's customer service is TERRIBLE!!!!!

Very upset. Ordered 6 pizzas. They arrived a week late because of "supply chain issues." There was no dry ice left it leaked out of the bottom corner. The pizzas were all soggy and Luke warm. We threw them straight in the trash.

We have gotten several deliveries of Lou Malnati's deep dish sausage pizzas all the way to Northern CA and we will continue to do so. Honestly, they taste almost as perfect as having one in the Windy City and the price is not too much more than you would pay for their frozen ones to go from their restaurants. They arrive nicely boxed with dry ice and a foil cooler bag inside and cook up perfectly with crisp, buttery crust, slab sausage, nice pully cheese and sweet tomato sauce on top. We usually cook about 10 minutes longer than the recommended 40-45 min to make sure the inside is all the way done. It is our special shelter in place treat during the 'vid!

Excellent deep dish pizza! Easy to make. Each pizza is enough for 2 adults. Try it, you won't be sorry!!

Don't send pizzas out of state. I live in IL. I ordered Lou Malnati's pizzas for my niece in GA. Delivery of this perishable product was delayed by FedEx for days. Pizza was delivered spoiled and had to be tossed out after sitting in a truck for 5 days. I hope it didn't smell. This result was not Taste of Chicago's fault, but I bet this situation happens too often. They offered me a store credit that I don't want. I can't risk sending spoiled pizzas as gifts ever again. I will try to reverse the charge through my bank.

Online order 12/8/23 - I ordered Lou Malnotti's pizza 2 pack and entered the code for a free pizza. I was expecting 3 pizzas but on 12/13/23 only received 2 pizzas. I went online and used their contact form to report the missing pizza. I received no response to that as well as two more emails. Finally on 12/21/23 I called. I was told that no code was entered for the free pizza although I checked and double checked my order before placing to make sure I typed the code correctly. The rep I spoke to was very unprofessional and unfriendly. He refused to make things right and refused my request to send the order back for a refund. These pizzas cost over $75 for a 2 pack. The only way I would justify that cost would be if there was a third free pizza involved. I feel they have quite a scam going and never actually send a third pizza and claim the code was not entered.

My husband and I have been ordering from here for years since we left the Chicagoland area & moved to the west coast. We've ordered at least 6 times. Usually only the pizza which I would give 4 stars. Our most recent order in April 2020 I decided instead of just getting pizzas, that we should do the Vienna Hot Dog kit & 2 pizzas. Shipping time was vastly different however totally understandable with COVID-19. What led to the 3 stars instead of 4 was the pizza is completely different than what we're used to? Noticeably thinner. Like you cannot call what we got Chicago Deep Dish. Normally we can't finish a whole pizza from them just us 2 because of its appropriate thickness.... this time we ate the whole thing. Hot dogs were tasty & definitely brought me back home for those bites. Just disappointed the pizza has changed or standards have dropped.

I take my hat off to the good folks who work the customer service lines here. I ordered the Lou Malnati's deep dish pizzas and popcorn combo both for I and a friend in South Dakota. The friend in rural SD got her's as planned in 2 days, frozen with some dry ice still in box. Mine (in Denver) took 5 days and arrived ruined, obviously. Not their fault. UPS dropped the ball. They sent another shipment. UPS took 3 days during 90+ degree days. Same outcome. They sent a 3rd shipment using Overnight Saver. Got here next evening. Frozen and and with some dry ice remaining. I had one of those babies in the oven inside of 20 minutes. It was excellent eating and I'm terribly impressed the lengths they went to make this happen and happen in the right way. Old school customer service. Well done Tastes of Chicago! FYI: The combination Caramel Corn & Cheddar Corn tin. It's scary good in an addictive way. Have somebody close to involuntarily take it away

Lou Malnati's brings tears to my eyes as it's my roots where I grew up learning to love pizza; it also brings love to my belly once I bite in to what is literally the best pizza on earth. Once I learned that I can experience this delightful touchstone anytime just by ordering online or by phone, I became their biggest fan! I think that it's just about my best kept secret but want to fess up and spread some love since it is almost Valentine's Day and all.... My favorite of all time is pictured below. Order more than 1 because it's a better deal but mainly because you're definitely gonna want it!!

This place is a scam. Delivery late so food is spoiled total scam. If you deliver to college kids it's always late. I posted this last night when the delivery missed the delivery time that the kids could actually pick the package up. However, I was too hasty. They had packed it with more than enough dry ice so all was fine this morning. Mea culpa Tastes.

I really missed Lou Malnati's. So, $80-90 later we have 2 pizzas here. The crust came out on both pizzas like concrete and nothing like the real thing. I didn't even finish eating the pizzas. The crust was inedible. Don't waste you money, unfortunatey.

Very disappointed that I paid over $60 for 2 - 9" cheese deep dish pizzas. Definitely won't do that again. Crust was underwhelming and sauce was so so. I know it costs $$ to ship using dry ice but was not worth the money.

A deep-dish pizza from Chicagoland beats any gluten-free burnt Brussels sprout and yogurt pizza in California-land. Kudos to Tastes of Chicago and Lou Malnati's for above and beyond customer service on our latest order. Well, on every order over the years. We ordered the Brisket pack with the 2 pizzas (pep and sausage), BBQ sauce, rolls and mac and cheese for Valentine's weekend and paid the extra $22.00 for expedited delivery. Sadly, it did not arrive on time and my wife suspected the weather. (She's from Chicago, so she would know....) A quick email to your company confirmed this and a second box was immediately shipped out with our shipping fee refunded. Once that arrived the pizzas went into the oven faster than you can say Harry Caray.

Ok tasting delivery frozen pizza, the portion size is ridiculously small. The diameter was 11 inches and each pizza is roughly $26. It doesn't bake up to look exactly like the pictures, it kind a looks like a frozen pizza.

While the quality of the products are satisfying - the bait & switch tactics of this website are deplorable. They advertise free shipping and no hidden charges, then charge an extra $20 for holiday shipping. Disgusting - will never order from them again.

Very disappointed. Wanted to do something nice for my sister's birthday, she's my mom's (94) caretaker. Ordered in advance, was supposed to arrive before her birthday. It never showed up, Tastes of Chicago blamed UPS. Why wasn't I notified??? Customer service said it's because they don't check everyday. Yet they knew it hadn't been delivered, it was in the system. One little good thing could have happened today, since my mom passed last night. A meal for my sister who has been caring for my mom in hospice the past week. Do better for your customers please. After reading reviews I'm glad she didn't receive the pizzas and cake. Sounds like poor quality in addition to poor shipping/customer service. Won't be using, ever. Wendy

My wife and I love Lou Malnati's Pepperoni Pizza. We live in Southern California, so we have to place online orders that are shipped in dry ice. We had an issue with our last order with a few of the pizzas and they responded to my inquiry IMMEDIATELY and made it right (sent out more pizzas at NO CHARGE!). I highly recommend having their frozen pizzas shipped to you if you do not live in the Chicago area. Always a great treat! Way to go ToC!!!!

A great concept. While living in Chicago my husband and I developed a deep appreciation for Lou Malnati's. Last Christmas I encouraged my family to serve pizzas on Christmas Eve and these are what we bought. Shipped nicely (to Iowa) and arrived in great condition. They tasted great; but definitely did not taste like a fresh, right-out-of-the-oven Lou's 'zza you can get in the Windy City. Alas, I think this will surely cure your hankering for the deep dish delight. I think we paid around $110 for four pizzas and a small cheesecake including shipping. Well worth it for this family.

Our pizzas arrived 1 day late. Thin crust pizzas were thawed when we opened the package. We've been trying to contact TOC for 2 weeks with no response

I have bought these pizzas for several years now. They continue to package them poorly with excess space in cooler. This allows a great deal of movement and damages the product. Only about 1/2 of them are free of damage from bouncing around inside the foam cooler. Otherwise they are excellent with good product and customer service

In the midst of this life altering pandemic we went for the ultimate in social distancing, 2,000 miles should do it, and while sitting at home in LA we ordered Lou Malnati's pizza from Tastes of Chicago. A few days later, a flavor festival arrived on our doorstep wrapped in a red and white checked box. Large print on one side urged us to "Open ASAP!" We were happy to comply. Inside we found the motherload carefully sealed, frozen, and packed in dry ice. We excitedly unpacked our deep dish cheese pizza and our deep dish spinach pizza. Wow! Prior to our current quarantine, we would regularly visit Chicago and sample the many favorites among the local restaurants. Now we had one of those Chicago legends in our kitchen in LA. The instructions clearly outlined the heating directions indicating the oven should be set to 425 degrees. From just behind my right shoulder I heard my wife say, in her best Picard imitation, "Make it so Number One." The next 35 minutes passed slowly but when the timer went off we were greeted by a heavenly aroma and a crispy golden brown crust. A Lou Malnati's pizza is a deep dish stuffed style pizza. The dough for the crust is layered with cheese and any other add ons in the pan and then sealed with a second layer of dough on top of the cheese in a pie style. Chunky tomato sauce is spread on top and then the delectable temptation is baked. Our fully cooked pie looked and smelled wonderful. The crust was crisp and supported each piece as it was lifted out of the pan onto a waiting plate. The crust had a faint sourdoughy cornmeal-like taste that was very flavorful. The tomato sauce was chunky and was a wonderfully seasoned accompaniment to the delicious melty cheese mixture inside. Both pizzas were excellent but a slight edge goes to the spinach version which was the more savory of the two. We were full after several slices of the two pies and sat back to enjoy our post-pizza bliss. Lou Malnati's is a luscious pizza choice, and in the absence of being able to visit in person, the Tastes of Chicago option is a great way to enjoy this delight from the comfort of home.

One of my good friends sent me a 17-pound Christmas gift package. All I was sent was the tracking information via UPS. When the package arrived, I saw the huge red, white, and black box with the text "Tastes of Chicago" printed across the front. The top of the box said "Please Refrigerate ASAP!" It was food (and a lot of it)! This friend knows I love a good Chicago hot dog and that's exactly what was inside the box -- a complete Vienna Beef Chicago hot dog kit! The kit, compactly packed in a white cardboard box, contained the following ingredients: - 10 poppy seed buns - 10 Vienna Beef frankfurters - 1 bottle Heinz yellow mustard - 1 mini container of Tone's celery salt - 1 vacuum-sealed package of sport peppers - 1 vacuum-sealed package of neon green Chicago relish I was actually excited upon opening the box. There was so much stuff inside. For those who don't know, Vienna Beef has been around since the late 19th century. Based in Chicago, they've produced hot dog sausages for over 120 years and are used in genuine Chicago-style hot dogs worldwide. As an example, in Atlanta (Sandy Springs), Mike's Hot Dogs on Roswell Rd. serves only Vienna Beef hot dogs. They are delicious. The food was frozen and shipped on dry ice. By the time I opened the package, the dry ice had evaporated. However, everything was still frozen or cool. I had to let the sport peppers and relish thaw before cutting open the packaging and unloading them into small bowls. The poppy seed buns were toasted in the toaster oven and the franks were boiled. Once assembled, the result was delicious Chicago hot dogs. I was very happy especially because I could load up on the unusually large and plump peppers (probably my favorite feature of a Chicago dog). Each pepper burst in my mouth with spicy juices. My mouth waters just thinking about it. But wait, there's more! Underneath the hot dog kit was more food: two circular 9-inch Chicago-style deep dish pizzas from Lou Malnati's Pizzeria. Lou Malnati is one of the most well known names in Chicago pizza. One of the pizzas was sausage and the other was pepperoni. Mamma mia. Each pizza was designed to feed two. The frozen pizzas went into the oven and turned out to be scrumptious. The crusts were thick and chewy and the tomato sauce and cheese were piled on in substantial amounts. These were truly deep dish pizzas. Each pizza had hearty layers of crust, meat, cheese, and tomato sauce. The pizzas were addicting and filling. They were so good, I had to stop myself from overeating. Each pizza was made from scratch and had specific cooking instructions on the packaging to ensure best taste. I never knew Tastes of Chicago existed until I received this gift. I think it is a fantastic gift idea because you can send authentic Chicago food anywhere in the U.S. Note they sell more than just pizzas and hot dogs. Check out their web site (http://www.tastesofchicago.com/) to see all their offerings. Enjoy.

I've been ordering Lou's for years.. since they started shipping it. I am also a transplant that can't live without my Lou Malnati's. I send them to my other family members and friends who also are now living out West. I always get the 2 pizza pepperoni sausage combination. Here is a tip: Make your own butter crust by melting about 2 tblsp. of butter in the microwave, take pizza out of the pan and brush the crust with the melted butter. One of the Lou's girls told me to do this and it makes A HUGE difference in the taste of the crust I add a little xtra butter to the pan to keep it from sticking (besides more butter is always better LOL) . Oven temps and altitudes vary, but I always cook mine an extra 15 minutes longer than the package directions. I no longer have to order my beef & hot dogs long distance because we have two Portillo's in So. Cal. Note to Lou's.. since you grow your tomatoes here in CA for he sauce and you have so many transplants.. how about opening up a take out place in So Cal???... You'd make a killing as the pizza here really sucks. Rosati's opened some locations in Arizona and they are awesome!

third time ordering third time they missed the deliver. I called them and emailed to make sure they would make deliver and the assured it would arrive but it didn't. They claimed a glitch this time.

For those of us who don't live, get to go to, or miss Chicago style foods, the folks behind Lou Malnati's have teamed up with a number of vendors to bring those foods to your doorstep. A friend of mine had sent me a pizza/hot dogs combo a while back for my bday, and it was cool to get Lou Malnati's and Vienne Beef dogs enough for a month. Other vendors include: Portillo's Beef Eli's Cheesecakes Garret's Popcorn Carson's Ribs Hackney's Burgers Wildfire Steaks plus a number of other dessert vendors. You can basically mix and match whatever you want but they also provide some popular combos. Is it as good as fresh from the venor? No, but it's a good way to get the foods you just rarely see in places like NorCal here.

I've been ordering from here for many years and never had a problem. This time I tried to order my usual 4 sausage pizzas but they sent me the standard 4 pack of 1 sausage, 2 cheese and 1 pepperoni. I left MANY voicemails and sent MANY emails. They keep saying someone will reach out to me soon. It's been 3 weeks....nothing. I will never order again.

Exceptionally disappointing! I ordered the Heart Shaped Pizza and a tin of Popcorn on Thursday the 11th. Paid postage of $22.00 to be delivered on Friday the 12th. It never showed up. I thought no problem, it will come on Saturday the 13th. No big deal, that's fine. Again, didn't show up. OK, there are Courier Services that will deliver on Sundays, and being Valentine's Day they are probably very busy. Still no delivery. I called their 800 number, not surprised, robot said their office is closed. Now I'm angry. They took a total of $81.00 from me on the 12th. I've got no pizza, no popcorn and I'm $81.00 lighter. Get this, On Monday the 15th I get an email at 8:00p.m. that the delivery has been made. I was not paying attention to my emails at that time, so she finds the box sitting in front of the door when see locked up for the night at 9:00p.m. 1 hour after delivery. No one rang the doorbell or knocked on the door as she was 20 feet away in the living room and her two dogs would have gone nuts. Oh, did I mention that it was delivered to SW Florida. Seems like the only spot in the nation that is in the 80's. The pizza was not frozen but, thankfully, was still cold. I wrote a message on Sunday to their Customer Service link. Here it is Tuesday afternoon, haven't heard a thing. What do they care, they got paid. She can still eat the pizza and popcorn. I also didn't realize the popcorn tin is shorter than my phone. Had I realized the size, $81.00 was way to much to pay for that tin and the heart shaped pizza. An expensive lesson. I won't make this mistake again.

I'm very disappointed with the ordering experience on Taste of Chicago. I asked for (and received) a gift card for Christmas. The idea was to get Lou Malnatis out here in Salt Lake one weekend. However, they don't ship either their Lou or Chicago Classic pizzas. I called and checked... They don't ship the butter crust for which they're famous. Worse, they advertise free 2-day shipping in all their prices. The advertisement is all over the place. What they don't tell you is that they only ship Mon, Tues and Weds. I sat down Thursday morning to oder pizza for the weekend, and the first available date for free shipping was next Wednesday. They wanted another $22, on top of the $70 I was paying for two 9inch pizzas, to get the pizza here this weekend. So to be clear, they do ship on Thursdays, they just want you to pay for it. This should have been made clear in any of the places they advertise free 2-day shipping, as I could easily have ordered yesterday. I am a huge Lou's fan. I realize it's possible this isn't their fault, that this might be a separate company. Either way, I'll never be ordering from Taste of Chicago again.

5 stars review for Taste of Chicago and their excellent customer service. 4 star review for the actual food itself. The Vienna dog kit is the way to go. If you're hoping for real Chicago deep dish the frozen Lou's will leave you unfulfilled. Don't get me wrong, better than other frozen pizza but certainly not what you'd expect if you were in the restaurant. In fact, not even close! We've also ordered the Manny's corned beef which is a favorite (but do t know why the loaf of Rye is so small!) and lately we've had the baby back ribs which are an easy way to enjoy if you live in an apartment building and can't grill on your balcony (like us). Don't bother with the cheesecake - you can get easily as good in almost any city. Review predominantly goes to Taste as I think they do a really solid job of getting expatriated Chicagoans a little reminder of home. Keep up the good work!

What a change in quality!!!????!!! I can't believe what they did. I grew up w/Lou's and Portillo's. As well as a god bit of others. I made the mistake of ordering 4 pizzas for my parents along w/Portillo's. My mom still likes the beefs despite the now super mini buns, 5.25" was the largest bun in the package. The pizzas bombed: After having the first one for New Years w/my dad a week later my mom said "I guess we'll have another one of those lousy pizzas to get 'em outta the freezer for supper tonight." I felt so bad getting her 4 of them. She'll eat em just to not embarrass herself by giving under par quality food to someone she knows. She won't pitch em where they need to be either as that is sinful. My personal order was 2 pizzas and the beefs of course. For fam down in Georgia. Pizzas were not like a dep dish at all compared to the past. Crust was tough on sides.. Topping choise sucks to beat the band. WTH wnats just sausage or just pepperoni? That;s ignorant. Boy was I embarrassed when some tried to nibble on the Italian beef shavings prior to it hitting the ajus. They were shocked at how dry/flavorless/season less even lacking of salt it was. The meat is cooked w/out any aju at all whatsoever. I bragged about how good they were going to be since we just ordered about 5 years ago and it was great. Now it's NOT. Freeze dried/cooked pathetic. I was shocked and dumbfounded. I never had that kind of crp b4. Unbelievable is the word here. I was red faced for sure. That is NOT the way it was done in the past. The roast was cooked in the most flavorfully seasoned juices ever created. NO LONGER. I'll never order from Tastes of Chicago again since apparently their (Lou's) children don't care about the past, traditions or the food for dm sure.

Noelle's Yelp Notebook 2017 Tastes of Chicago is the brain child of the Malnati Family- it started out with the pizzas and then they expanded to other Chicago favorites such as Eli's Cheesecakes, Portillo's Beef Sandwiches (not their hot dogs), Vienna Beef Hot Dogs, Nuts on Clark (they no longer sell Garrett's Popcorn on their site), Carol's Cookies. My husband was born and raised in Chicago, earned his BS, MS, PhD all in the Windy City, Go Illini : ) I still remember our first trip back to Chicago when we were engaged (nearly eight years ago). I absolutely loved Lou Malnati's, Portillo's and Garrett's Popcorn. On the way out of town we picked up Portillo's hotdogs and Lou Malnati's pizza which we hand carried on our flight home to California. I even ate my Portillo's hot dogs while we sat in first class, lol. A month after my first Chicago eats- I decided to order the six pack of pizza from Lou Malnati's and the Vienna Beef Hot Dog kit since they didn't offer Portillo's. It wasn't as good as when you eat it freshly made. Everything came in a timely fashion and on dry ice. It wasn't something spectacular so I never bothered placing a mail order again. My brother in law just recently flew in from Chicago visiting us in California. We took him to Carmel By the Sea for the weekend and had a wonderful time. Days after his visit I received an email stating I was going to get a shipment from Lou Malnati's. We received the package of pizzas on dry ice. We cooked them to the manufacturer's instructions. The crust isn't as buttery flavored as if you ate it freshly made in Chicago or anywhere in Illinois. For the amount of money spent it was mediocre. Blue Line Pizza aka Little Star Pizza makes a mean pie that is similar to Lou's out here in the SF Bay Area, I'd rather spend $30 on that then purchase the six pack of frozen pizza's from Lou's - and the breakdown of the Lou's pizzas would come out to roughly $18.16 - my advice is if you really love Lou Malnati's Pizza its probably best to wait and get them freshly made at their restaurant locations because the frozen ones just don't taste the same at all. Cool concept but the flavors fall flat even eight years later which is such a shame! Noelle's Notes Lou Malnati's pizzas frozen do not taste as good as the ones in the restaurant. The crust - the flavor is the most noticeable difference :(