Little Caesars' new Deep Deep Dish Pizza ("Deep! Deep! Dish Pizza") promises a Detroit-style pizza with a crunchy crust with a crispy, caramelized cheese edge and a soft, chewy crumb, topped with pepperoni and a blend of mozzarella and muenster cheese.
I picked one up for
$8. It only comes in one size: large.
The rectangular pizza is actually two small square pizzas that are baked in a specialized dual-compartment pan.
While the concept sounds pretty good, my pizza ended up being quite mediocre. The pizza could have stood a couple more minutes in the oven as the crust wasn't quite crispy but rather a crispy-soft mix. The vaunted "caramelized cheese edge" was sporadic and missing from some slices entirely. The crumb was good though; spongy soft and satisfyingly chewy. There's a bit of olive oil flavor to the crust.
There was a lot of cheese going on here and it was nicely melted with a decent amount of stretch, but wasn't doing much on the flavor front. I think parmesan might have been a better play than the muenster they went with. The cheese also covered up the taste of Little Caesars' rather plain tomato sauce, which coupled with the thickness of the crust, became a bit of a wallflower.
The pepperoni wasn't doing too much either; coverage was sparse and the flavor was rather generic--not enough pepper to go with the 'roni. It wasn't cooked long enough to develop that desirable crispy quality.
Overall, Little Caesars' Deep Deep Dish Pizza sounded good, but left me rather unimpressed.
It wasn't crispy enough and needed more zing. Fortunately, I still had some
Papa John's Italian seasoning to liven up the slices a bit. Give me back Little Caesars'
previous Deep Dish Pizza!
Update 3/30/14 - I recently tried this again recently and the crust was much better, with a nice crispiness and caramelized cheese all along the edges. I had it topped with sausages which end up being meatier (they give you more of them) and tastier than Little Caesars' pepperoni.
Nutritional Info - Little Caesars Pepperoni Deep Deep Dish Pizza - per slice (145g)
Calories - 380 (from Fat - 160)
Fat - 18g (Saturated Fat - 7g)
Sodium - 660mg
Carbs - 38g (Sugar - 4g)
Protein - 16g
That's too bad it didn't live up to expectation. Definately looks like yours wasn't quite cooked properly. I assume they're using the same oven to cook the deep dish as the standard pie, and that's probably not a great set up. The guy from CHOW (video's up on youtube) had the same problem with his.
ReplyDeleteI was actually considering giving this one a try I might give it a pass now.
ReplyDeleteThis one defiantly wasn't made or cooked right. I work there and the pepperoni's should have been spread out more, the cheese edge should have been a lot larger, and cooked longer. They are selling tremendously well at our store
ReplyDeleteGot one today at work - everyone who tried it said it was undercooked.
ReplyDeleteI liked the "old" deep dish pizza from Little Caesar's. This one doesn't look nearly as good. Clearly it's all about quantity.
ReplyDeleteWow. This company is in serious trouble when it mandates how much pepperoni goes on a slice of pizza. The CEO is paying a bunch of baseball and hockey athletes millions a year in contracts. You shouldn't be surprised that the quality of the pizza is going down. I'll try some tomorrow, but I really don't like supporting frivolous spending like this.
ReplyDeleteI kinda wanted to try this, but this review has turned me off from doing that. You never expect it to look exactly the same, but there's just way too many discrepancies between how it looks in the promotional pictures and how it looks in real life.
ReplyDeleteHungry Howies is also selling the same thing now. are they related?
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a decent deal but is it $3 better than the Hot n' Ready? I liked their old Deep Dish but the one near me stopped selling in years ago. I will give it a try.
mine looked considerably better than the one pictured. We enjoyed ours, and thought it was a really good value compared to other deep dish pizzas from other places
ReplyDeleteI loved this pizza! Mine was cooked well and didn't look as forlorn as the one in the review. I would qualify it as a step up over Pizza Hut and I liked the 8 corner pieces gimmick.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely less greasy than Pizza Hut pan pizza and the crust tastes fresh. I think Pizza Hut is using frozen dough now. There is more cheese on this pizza then the hot and ready and it is very filling per slice. I usually can eat one half of a hot n ready as a meal, but two slices of this deep dish fill me up.
I understand what people are saying about $5 vs $8 but I think the deep dish is a higher quality, more filling product. In terms of value for your dollar I think it equals out with a more satisfying tastier product. If I am going to get fat on inexpensive pizza I would rather spend the extra intial $3 and enjoy my investment. ;)
I also want to say that I remember 'Detroit Style' pizza having the sauce on top of the cheese. If you ask me, this is really Sicilian Style Pizza.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if it was because we had delivery, but we were charged $13 each for the two Deep Deep Dish pizzas we ordered.
ReplyDeleteThat it unique. I didn't know any LC's delivered. $8 seems the national carryout price.
ReplyDeleteI didn't enjoy mine. First of all, I don't think of this as a real deep dish pizza, this is a pan pizza. Mine was a bit undercooked, and I found the bread to be unsatisfying. The crust was probably the best part.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, my favorite item on their menu is their Italian Cheese Bread. I enjoyed getting large orders of it, despite how terribly unhealthy it is. You could even order it with pepperoni, and it was quite a treat. Unfortunately, they no longer offer the large size, so they've essentially lost my business entirely. I did get a small order with my pizza, but it was burnt and all around pretty bad.
I think the pizza is a rip off. It's the exact same thing as the old regular deep dish pizza. I was highly disappointed, thought it was something actually different for once. Guess not, try again or just stop.
ReplyDeleteYou are just hating on little Caesars. Do you even put into context the price? You review isn't doing much to be honest..
ReplyDeleteMost fast food pizza chains regulate how much of a topping and cheese go on their pies...you know that, right?
ReplyDeleteWow my brilliant friend, I didn't know that!
ReplyDeleteThey do, but never in such an easy to identify, anal way. 4 toppings on each slice? really? Exactly? That was my problem.
The 8 corner gimmick is a rip off Jet's Pizza chain. I believe they were the first to do this and promote it.
ReplyDeleteThis was the best pizza I have had in so long, it is well worth the $8 for me, sucks that your little caesards didn't cook the pizza long enough. Mine had the pepporoni crispy and the crispy edge, the cheese was so gooey and there was so much of it, there was just the right amount of sauce... it was delicious.
ReplyDeleteThis should be called deep bread pizza, mostly bread.
ReplyDeleteit's not even close to the same thing, might wanna check the LC you got it from. Cheese is different and crust is different. I've ordered it twice and it was pretty obvious that it wasn;t the same as the old deep dish (which I always ordered instead of the HNR)
ReplyDeleteThe two i've gotten from 2 different LC stores were both excellent
ReplyDeleteOMG these things are good. I suggest trying the cheese one. More cheese than on the pepperoni version.
ReplyDeleteI'm somewhat of a pizza snob but I've have this one twice now and it's pretty darn good for being pick-up ready. The edge of the crust is just right and the sauce seems spicier than usual. The cheese even tastes better. Overall a much better pie than the $5 Hot N Ready. The old deep dish was blander and inconsistent in texture.
ReplyDeleteHeck, you can't even get a combo from Burger King or Wendy's these days without breaking the $8 barrier. The new deep dish is a great value.
greasy. cheesy. great if you like that. i don't.
ReplyDeletebad pizza is still good food
ReplyDeleteThis is the best chain pizza currently available in my opinion. I find the crust edges to be crisp and buttery, and the sauce and cheese is quality. For the amount received, I think 8 bucks is well worth it.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that this tastes exactly lie Pizza Hut pizza.
ReplyDeleteActually way back in the late 80s and early 90s Liitle Caesar's sold exclusivly square deep dish pizzas (two to a box, hence the Pizza! Pizza! slogan) similar to these, then they changed to the round low cost pizzas.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I remember that. The pan! pan! promotion. They were really successive with that but then they changed gears for whatever reason.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I tried the new deep deep pizza from Little Caesars and it looked nothing like the commercial. I was really disappointed. It really lost my interest on getting something like that from them again.
ReplyDeleteWow! I tried it and LOVED IT so much I called them to tell them about it. It was everything the commercial said it would be. Dude I spoke to on the phone said it came freash out of the oven which was why it was so awesome...he said to call ahead to ensure its always that way. I did and it was...over and over and over.
ReplyDeleteCall ahead so they can give it to you right out of the oven...its worth every wonderful bite
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the deep deep dish, well at least partly.. Mine was also a bit undercooked, but beyond that it tasted alright, about the same as their regular pizza. As for the cheese bread, I got one of those too tonight and it was great as usual.. easily the best thing they've ever done in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say exactly, but it was close in my opinion.. which is probably more bad for Pizza Hut than Little Caesar's haha
ReplyDeleteI purchased one a few weeks ago and it was awesome. Plenty of pepperoni,the cheese was melted nicely and the bottom and sides of the crust were crispy. The sauce flavor was perfect.
ReplyDeleteYUM! Just tried my first one today. While I like a little more cheese, it was crispy, soft and caramelized just as described. I like the olive oil taste, and the sauce and crust were very good. For only $8, ready to pick up you can't beat this pizza.
ReplyDeleteOur pizza didn't look anything like the one pictured above. It was just like the promotional pics.