Chicago Pizza Company — Restaurant in El Cajon

Called in an order for pick up. I used the menu on the website to figure up what we wanted and the prices since we were splitting the bill... when they gave me my total over the phone it was a full 20% more than I had figured, the sweet gal who took my order passed me to the owner who insisted it was correct and that I didn't read the menu correctly. They said they were pretty busy so it would be an hour. I got the text for pick up an hour later, and headed over. When I picked it up I showed the website menu to the guy at the front counter, he was super nice and was as surprised as me that the prices on the website were totally different than the in-person menu. He couldn't adjust my bill because it was already rung up, but he tried asking the owner in the kitchen. The guy didn't even come out of the back but just yelled from the kitchen that he told me the price on the phone. Owner was rude, but the staff was nice. Paid my full bill and tipped the counter guy.

Now, I've had Chicago deep dish in Chicago, and I would say this pizza was pretty good, just a tad greasier (think pizza hut greasy) but the sauce was good and the meats were great. We also tried an alfredo pizza and the sauce was just ok, but the artichokes were terrible. The mozzarella cheese was excellent. It was good food but for two pizzas (one large one small) my bill was about $65 plus tip, it just wasn't THAT good. A little too steep for me for the rudeness we dealt with.

Edited to reply: Thank you for your kind reply! It sounds like you are a great guy! I will clarify: The manager did not honor the advertised pricing (should have been $54) when I asked about it by phone and then when I came in in person I asked about it again, as the credit card ticket was already rung up, but the counter staff offered me a cash refund from the till (with permission from the manager after a long discussion), which I declined since I felt it would get him in trouble based on the comments being shouted by the manager from the kitchen, he never came out and spoke to...

Ended up here on our quest for the best deep dish in the San Diego area. We ordered the breaded zucchini and garlic bread while we waited for the deep dish house special (sausage, pepperoni, onion, and garlic) which came out about 45 minutes later.

The zucchini sticks are baked and came out with a nice firm crispness and not at all greasy, they were really good. The garlic bread was sliced small and was fine but nothing amazing--basically just buttered and lightly toasted with some garlic on it.

The large, deep dish house special was decent. Two things surprised me: the pizza sauce was much sweeter than I'm accustomed to (almost overwhelmingly so) and the crust on this deep dish was lighter and thinner than expected. Someone who loves lighter, thinner crusts would probably have enjoyed it (or just ordered a traditional or thin crust pizza), but I like a more substantial crust than we got here (normally I can only cram down two slices but I had no problem with three here). Even so, I liked the taste of the crust and the toppings were fine.

Other stuff: it's a pretty small space, I got the impression it's more takeout orders than dine-in. By the time our pizza came out we were the last ones there so had room to put it on the table next to us. Probably not a good spot for medium or large groups. Also, there are signs for the three parking spaces directly in front that say "Chicago Pizza Company - No Parking" which confused me at first. No parking except for Chicago Pizza Company customers? No, these spaces are intended for pickup/to-go orders (the signs just...

I realize it has great reviews and it is likely we just had a bad experience, but here goes.

We went there for lunch, a break from a work class. We were the only ones in there and ordered just before noon, two lunch specials. One was a sandwich and salad, the other two slices of pizza and a salad. They clearly had no other customers or called in orders. She told us 10 minutes.

About 12:18, we asked about the order. It's be right out. A few minutes late, no food so we got up and asked again. I could see the guy int he back just making a sandwich and what appeared to be pizza. We watched and he finally put the pizza slices in the oven. After a few more minutes, we said you need to make this to go as we only have 15 minutes left. a few minutes later, we go tthe order to go. Total time, about 30 minutes.

I get back to eat. Apparently pizza was just okay, but I had the sandwich. Sandwich was literally a roll, three slices of folded over turkey side by side, and some bacon sprinkles. That's it. No lettuce, no stacked meats, no nothing. A total waste.

So even if we just had bad service, the food quality and value was...