Lou Malnati's Pizzeria — Restaurant in Surprise

Can't say that I'm impressed AT ALL!! My husband and I decided to give it a try 1- because he's traveled the world and spent some time in Chicago, and loves the deep dish style Chicago pizza and 2- I've never had deep dish pizza! Wrong choice, we should have walked out before we sat down. It was mid-day, so not extremely busy. We checked in with the hostess for 2 of us requesting a booth. Was told yes but it would about 5m for us to be seated, so they could get a booth. So I asked what was wrong with the two open booths that I was looking at, only to be ignored. After almost 10m of waiting, a waitress finally came to seat us, at one of the same booths that I previously asked about. So we waited to be seated for absolutely nothing! The waitress came to take our drink order, and my husband told her to give us a few minutes, as we wanted to make sure it's something we would be able to eat. Another 10m go by before the waitress comes back to see if everything was okay. At that time we ordered. A simple half cheese half pepperoni large pizza, and a family size house salad with tomato and onion on the side. Salad came, definitely NOT family size, and suitable for 2 people let alone 4 people that they claim. Waitress is then going to serve the salad on our salad plates for us, making a mess the whole time, and leaving both of our salad plates dripping with salad dressing off the side, because instead of scooping the salad up, she just scrapped it from plate to plate making the mess. Served with 3 slices of onions, and more water in the tomatoes then actual tomatoes, on the side. We finished our salad and waited an additional 30m or so for our pizza to come. As were waiting for our pizza to come, a new waiter (super bubbly and friendly) started his shift. He got the table next to us, and i heard him asking them if they wanted the additional up-charge of the buttery crust, we werent offered this, but low and behold we were apparently given it and charged for it, without our knowledge!! He then brings them their "small" salad, (the same one as our, but remember ours was family size) and tells them, yup, believe it or not, this is our small size. It was easily double the size of our family salad!! Meanwhile sitting and waiting, you have one waitress that is playing with her hair, while holding customers food, serving food after playing with her hair and not washing her hands. Another waitress biting on her nails in the dining room, and im sure not washing her hands afterwards, but still serving food after having her fingers in her mouth. The hostess is walking around, dragging her feet everywhere, while wearing her house slippers!! Yup, didnt even have shoes on, she had house slippers. I know those are definitely not slip resistant and approved shoes for a restaurant environment. They didnt even have a closed back at the heel! Our pizza finally comes out looking like they dumped a cup of water on top, as it was so watery. We figured we will give it a try anyway, halfway through my first slice, I find a WHOLE peeled tomatoe!! Tells me right there that the tomatoe sauce isn't even homemade!! We didn't even finish half of the pizza. We spent $50 on pizza and a salad that I could have gotten better at a gas station! Needless to say we won't be back, and this is not Chicago approved pizza!! Maybe if you have no taste buds, it may be okay, but overall wasn't impressed with the food or...

Truth alert: We went to Lou Malnati's opening night knowing we'd most likely encounter the types of issues that ANY new business experiences. Having said that, we ran into issues that could have, and should have, been avoided.

Food: Good. It will improve over time as the Surprise team gains experience. We'll be back.

Service: Excellent. Our server Haley was friendly, attentive, and very efficient.

Atmosphere: OK. It's a pizzeria folks, and the design is essentially an unbounded open room. Sound travels readily. It's pleasant, but don't expect "ambiance".

The Review: Thank God for Tanya, the Director of Training in attendance opening night. Lou Malnati's is fortunate to have her as a leader. If not for her intervention, this would have been a flaming 1-star review instead of the 5-star review it is.

The brief background for my review is that I went online and used the OpenTable link from the Lou Malnati's site on Google to make a dinner reservation. When I arrived, I was told they didn't have a reservation for me. I showed them the confirmation text on my phone, but they had no interest in helping me. No name, no entry.

The bespectacled manager - I will refer to her here as "Karen" because she was an absolute Karen - had no interest in trying to figure out how their reservation system had given me a reservation for their Phoenix location instead of Surprise. Rather, she just wanted to be rid of me so she could move on to the next "issue".

This is where Tanya, Director of Training, stepped in. She essentially brushed "Karen" aside and said she wanted to make things right. Tanya escorted us inside, seated us, and then worked with me for several minutes to figure out what had happened.

Tanya was quickly able to determine that OpenTable, not finding open tables in Surprise, had automatically shifted me to the Phoenix location (without telling me), where tables were available at my desired time. She told me that feature of OpenTable is used in downtown Phoenix, where there are multiple Lou Malnati's restaurants - if you can't get into Location A, OpenTable will shift you to Location B, a few blocks away, where you CAN get a table. Makes sense to have that in Phoenix, but not in Surprise. Oooops.....easy fix.

Wow! What a difference in Customer Service:

Karen: Our system screwed up? Sucks to be you. Move to the back of the line, loser.

Tanya: Our system screwed up? We're so sorry. Let us make it right for you. And, let's figure out what happened so other clients aren't impacted like you were.

Which would you prefer? Hmmm.....

In closing, this is more a review of "Karen" than it is of the restaurant itself. Tanya: you were fantastic. Thank you so much for your help, and your incredible attitude. "Karen" could learn a lot from you....please continue to work with her.

Lou Malnati's of Surprise? We're so happy to welcome you to the area, and we'll be seeing you many more times...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unforgettable Night at Lou Malnati’s in Surprise!

We threw a surprise pizza-making party at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria in Surprise for my dad’s 65th birthday, and I seriously cannot recommend this place enough! I’d been to a WildJoy pizza-making event here before and had such a great time that I knew it would be the perfect way to celebrate with family.

Even though I reached out just one day before, Jane, who handles private and special events, didn’t even hesitate — she made it happen. When I arrived 30 minutes early to set up and have balloons delivered, the private room looked amazing and was set up perfectly. It was spacious, cozy, and gave us the perfect vibe for the celebration.

The service? Absolutely next-level. We were greeted right away by managers Sam and Sandy, who were both incredibly warm and accommodating throughout the entire evening. Our server Chloe was fantastic — attentive, kind, and on top of every detail without ever being overbearing. She made sure everyone felt taken care of from start to finish.

And the food… wow. While our custom, hand-made pizzas were cooking (and cooling for take-home), we got to feast on: • The Malnati Salad — fresh, crunchy, and perfectly dressed • Buff-a-Lou Wings — crispy, tangy, and gone in minutes • A Frank’s RedHot Buff-a-Lou Chicken Pizza — spicy, cheesy perfection • The iconic Malnati Classic Deep Dish — rich, savory, and exactly what you expect from Lou’s • Plus, a custom-topping pizza that kept everyone happy

We were stuffed before we even got to take our own creations home — and that made it even more fun!

The highlight of the night was the pizza-making class itself, led by Sandy. She made everyone feel welcome and totally at ease, even those who had never made pizza before. Her energy was so fun and inviting — it truly felt like she was part of the family. Everyone had a blast laughing, creating, and learning — and best of all, we each left with a handmade pizza to eat at home.

This experience was the perfect blend of delicious food, personal service, and fun activity. If you’re looking for something unique to do with family, friends, or coworkers — book a pizza-making party at Lou Malnati’s in Surprise. You’ll be so glad you did. The entire staff made the night absolutely unforgettable.

We’ll be talking about it for a long time — and we’ll...