Scalisi's Chicago Pizza & More — Restaurant in McAllen

I rarely leave a review online but I feel like people should know the other side of the reviews end, since most of the reviews online are positive (but why?).

My first time ordering here, polite service (at first), it was to TOGO order for a medium deep dish pizza and garlic bread with cheese.

Cost: 3/5 - Standard pricing (1 topping medium deep dish and garlic bread w/ cheese) came out about $21

Texture: 2/5 - Very mushy insides that falls apart easy when picking up and burnt ends crust. Garlic Bread slightly crunchy with little soft insides (it was passable).

Taste: 2/5 - Very bland tasting pizza, sauce and cheese barely had flavor so it tasted if I was eating a hot cheese soup with no spicing besides the heavy after taste of garlic. My pizza is a pepperoni pizza but barely had any in sight (found about 2 slithers of pepperoni in my pizza) and trust me this pizza was begging for flavor, I was hoping the meat would of added the missing flavor but came out non-existence . The extra positive point on the review is based on their "ok" garlic bread, that taste like any other heat up bread you buy from the groceries.

Service: 2/5 - Pick up order, quick pick up from front counter, seem nice. But I called about my lack of pepperoni or the lack of. They explained that the pepperoni is hidden under the cheese and since there was only 1 topping that I won't be able to notice the taste. WHAT!? lets just say if there was pepperoni in that pizza, their excuse is that you won't taste our topping because of the other standard ingredients in a pizza? that doesn't make any sense to me (lame excuse for not helping a customer).

So I will say my experience in taste/quality/service is not a positive one, I saw it coming when their busy hours (early afternoon on a Saturday) had only 1 family eating inside their restaurant.

Sadly I won't be returning back to try out more of their food, since their main items were less...

We came for the Deep Dish, which is outstanding the several times that we've tried it. Got my son a pizza from the kids menu which he loved. Service is about average depending on who you get. most of the time it usually has to do with refills where you're just sitting around waiting for the waitress to pass around again.

my main issue with this establishment is the wait time that they give you. I've had deep dishes all over the US and across the valley. whether it's from Armando's Pizza, Mamma Mia's etc .. I know the pizzas can take 45 minutes to an hour. they make this clear especially if you order takeout by phone. on one occasion that I did order by phone, I waited with three or four other people who ordered carry out. I arrived after 50 minutes of placing my phone order and waited another 40 minutes for my order to come out. I was patient because I did order the deep dish but the other people waiting with me did not and were complaining. My wait time was nearly 2 hours from start to finish from the point that I ordered at home and arrived 50 minutes later and then waited another 45 minutes in the restaurant.

Also the billing put me off. I know it's a big thing that other local restaurants are doing, but they started adding fixed fees into the bill. I know another reviewer added a comment about them adding a gratuity fee for a party of five which I completely understand which is traditional for parties of six are bigger. but I never a dine-in with a party larger than 4 and have seen these fees applied on my final bill.

To the credit of other restaurants who are up front about the practice, they'll put up a sign or add it to the menu that there is a fee that will be added to the bill. This establishment needs to do that. otherwise it's very dishonest and underhanded to be doing that...

Scalisi's restaurant is located in the plaza that is just off of Trenton and Main. It's entrance is on the street next to Panda Express that leads to Sam's Club. This is a true Mom and Pop pizzeria because Mom and Pop are there working. I went for take out and ordered the Deep dish Chicago style pizza, lasagna, and a small Greek salad. I was told it would take around 30 minutes for my order to be ready. I don't mind waiting, because I know good food takes time to make, plus this is a deep dish pizza made from scratch. Once I received my order I couldn't wait to get home and get my grub on I like that the lasagna has black olives and mushrooms, two of my favorites, plus I love lasagna, so it's like three loves in every bite. The deep dish pizza is the real deal, loaded with lots of cheese and I really liked the chunky tomato sauce. (I also love tomatoes), the Geek salad had all the right components, including two types of olives, greek and black, again I love olives, so it made my salad day. The thing that really surprised me the most was how low the prices are on the menu. The lasagna is way under $10 where most places have it over $10. The same goes for pizza. I look forward to trying the Italian beef sandwich, I wanted to get it but I had my heart set on lasagna and pizza. I recommend this place because it's a real deal with a Mom...