Tommy Chicago’s Pizza – Mendota Heights, MN

Since this place opened, D.Rough and I have meant to get to Tommy Chicago’s Pizza in Mendota Heights. We drive by it all the time and consistently mention that we need to stop there. We both had Martin Luther King day off from work, so we decided to grab some lunch buffet action there.

The restaurant has a small bar area for seating and also a medium-sized dining room. The really helpful server told us to grab a seat anywhere and she’d be over to help us. We were having the buffet and therefore didn’t need much in the way of assistance.

The buffet area is pretty small. But keep in mind the buffet part is only for lunch, so it isn’t up the entire time the place is open. That being said, there is still enough room to house like 8-10 different pizzas on the heated surface. There’s also a separate salad bar area, which I personally ignored completely. Hahaha.

I loaded up my first plate with a slice of BBQ chicken, pineapple and Canadian bacon, and some Chicago deep dish.

The Hawaiian pizza was pretty good. Plenty of pineapple chunks and the Canadian bacon wasn’t a pain to deal with like it has been at some places. The BBQ chicken was also good. Not a ton of chicken on it, but the BBQ sauce was good. I liked it. The Chicago Deep Dish was just a little disappointing though. I am originally from Illinois, so maybe I had too high of hopes for it. But, the cheese on this piece was pretty skimpy and the sauce on the top wasn’t the same sauce as was on the other pieces that we got. It was more tomato-y and less pizza sauce-y. The crust was nice and thick, so I appreciated that aspect of it, but I think what I was hoping for was more of a stuffed pizza, rather than a deep dish pizza. I get it, it’s deep dish, and it was fine. But honestly, when D.Rough and I come back here, I’m going to do the stuffed crust like Giordano’s does it back in Chicago. D.Rough liked the piece of deep dish she got, so we’ll call it a draw – average deep dish pizza with the sauce on the top, just to make it official Chicago-style.

I went back for some more basic slices after they brought more out (and after the swarm of teenage boys let the dust settle). I got a slice of cheese and a slice of pepperoni. Both of them good, actually. Nothing ground breaking, but it was good pizza (there isn’t too many places I’d consider bad pizza, frankly).

I even went back for a sausage pizza and a couple of beignets (all that were left). The sausage was good Italian sausage and delicious. The beignets were surprisingly better than I expected, especially with a glob of honey on them. And that’s one of the best thigns about this place – they have honey at the tables for you to slather your left-over crust with after your done with toppings. I got hooked on this in Denver and now I love to see it on tables, not just for the beignets.

D.Rough's slice of Chicago Style Deep Dish was much better than the piece I got, so I figured I'd better show a photo of that, so you weren't left with a negative impression - it IS good pizza, I promise.

I’d give Tommy Chicago’s Pizza a big thumbs up. It’s not the run of the mill pizza place and has some pretty special combos on the menu – make sure you look at that, as well. They have calzones, salads, and a bunch of other items on the menu worth picking up. If you’re going to try the Chicago Style, my vote is to go with the stuffed pizza, and leap right over the deep dish. Again, just my opinion.

I’m looking forward to eating here again. They have a great pizza selection, aside from the buffet, and a beer and wine bar that isn’t too shabby. Thanks, Tommy!

www.tommychicagos.com