Big Boyz Pizza — Restaurant in Zhongshan District

2023 update: The new location near Nanjing Fuxing is much smaller, and the deep dish feels a little less substantial than I last remember it from the original location. (See the photo of the slice being lifted up.) Flavor still good, and this time I didn’t detect the “Taiwanese bakery butter” flavor, yay. BBP will do if you need a fix in Taipei.

Old location reviews: Get your Chicago style deep dish pizza fix here! Tasty stuff; so happy to see it here. Their thin crust is also good, with a crispy bottom (although I suspect New Yorkers would debate its authenticity). You can even preorder pizzas with a reservation so that they're ready to serve when you arrive!

The grand slam deep dish (No.1/大滿貫深盤) hit the spot. The butter crust has walls that are nice and tall, not quite as thin as say Lou Malnati’s, but still crusty and flavorful (and the little extra softness probably makes it easier to eat anyway). A few other notes:

1. was hoping for more cheesy goodness when pulling out that first slice, such as the experience eating at Giordano’s;
2. the sausage in the grand slam is not a uniform layer, but rather the sausage is dotted all over, since they appear to make a layer of a mix of the three meats;
3. the crust appears to use the same butter as Taiwanese bakeries do, so the flavor gives me memories of those places. (wish it were American butter - Taiwan bakeries can frankly smell too strongly of this distinctive odor, to the point of being unappetizing)
4. I actually like the chorizo on our thin crust more than the sausage in our deep dish, but it did have a good fennel sausage flavor. Still miss sausage from Chicago though.

An 8" deep alone is probably good for two people. I split a 12" thin as well to start since it takes an hour to bake a deep dish, so couldn't eat more than one quarter of the deep dish. Unsurprisingly you'll pay a bit more here than in Chicago (paid ~650nt each), but as a Chicago area native, this place satisfied my craving, despite a few quibbles. 🍕

Tried more pizzas; turns out I like the Hot Summer/墨西哥深盤more than the No.1 and Veg Barrel/蔬菜, as I like their chorizo the most it seems. It also does have a little heat to it, woohoo! Their Funghi Delight/蘑菇 is not bad either, but South of the Border/南方 was tastier (chorizo!). Now if only they had spinach deep...

Made reservations, 530pm, Opened at 530pm, Place only seats 8 people, was seated at a 4 top, They said had no 12in pizzas, so had to order 4 pizza's due to NOT having 12 in pizza's 😞 , Can't you take 3 8in pizza dough and make 2 12in pizza's?? Order coke zero, was in the small can, Pepper shakers not full had about tea spoon of pepper in it, table's where clean and had a TV with sports (Snooker) playing, had jazzy music playing ( English ), Place is full now, first pizza came out, was ok only tast the garlic, crist good and cooked crispy on the bottom, first pizza's gone, 8 small slices, meat was placed so only 1/2 slice of pepperoni and small peace of bacon, one chunk of sausage per slice of pizza, globs of garlic across the pizza. Deep dish was good, crushest was thick on the sides, not bad for an eight inch pizza, would have wanted more peppioneri, 4th pizza was going to be the prawns, but they were out of prawn too, there's fish market near by, couldn't pick any on way to work?? Place was hot only fans running, all and all give this place...

This restaurant claims to be an American-style Pizza place. Judging by the sheer number of qualifications decorating the walls of this restaurant, I am guessing that this statement (at one time) was probably true. Today though there is nothing "American" about this pizza restaurant.

However, not being "American style" pizza does not detract from the fact that it is definitely not bad pizza. As far as Taiwanese style pizza goes, I would say it is actually pretty good. Despite the price being slightly on the high end (about 2x or 3x more expensive than what you would expect to pay in New York, Chicago or any other American city), they will definitely not skimp out on the toppings as some places do. The amount of cheese and toppings on our pizza must have caused the pizza to weigh as much as 2 or 3 pizzas by itself. With 4 people (very very hungry people, mind you) we were only able to eat one large and one small pizza.

If you are looking for good pizza and do not care about authenticity, then this is the place for you. I would definitely recommend...