Costco
Costco Pizza Takeaway. Tastes like a Tuesday. The "everyman pizza". 5/10 pizza. A baseline pizza we can all compare against. Insane value at $10/pizza. Limited options with only cheese and pepperoni. Very cheesey and floppy. Pizza weighs 58.8 oz for $.17/oz, which is crazy. Dominos is $.30/oz. One of the few places you can order by the slice for $1.99.
Tip: Call ahead and order via the food court saves waiting there for 20+ minutes.
You need to be a member. Parking is easy and convenient with the new UCity location off of I-170.
How Costco Stacks Up
Size, price-per-ounce, and crust scored against every other St. Louis pizza I've put on the scale. Costco is highlighted below.
| Place | Score | Price | $/Oz | Width | Undercarriage | Sauce | Cheese | Crust |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pizza Head | 9.2 | $18.00 | $0.45 | 18 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 7.0 |
| Union Loafers | 9.1 | $16.50 | $0.97 | 14 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 10.0 |
| Pie Guy Pizza | 8.2 | $20.00 | $0.58 | 18 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.0 |
| Pizzeria Da Gloria | 8.1 | $17.00 | $1.09 | 12 | 5.0 | 10.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Pizza-A-Go-Go | 8.0 | $13.50 | $0.56 | 15 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Dewey's Pizza | 7.9 | $18.95 | $0.48 | 17 | 6.0 | 9.5 | 7.0 | 4.0 |
| Vito's Sicilian Pizzeria & Ristorante | 7.6 | $14.00 | $0.61 | 10 | 9.5 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 7.5 |
| Pizza Champ | 7.4 | $20.00 | $0.63 | 18 | 10.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 10.0 |
| A'mis Pizza | 7.1 | $16.43 | $0.54 | 15 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 7.5 | 6.0 |
| Dr. Office Pizza | 7.0 | $6.99 | $0.70 | 12 | 9.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 |
| Nicky Slices Pizza Club | 6.9 | $20.00 | $0.56 | 10 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Anthonino's Taverna On The Hill | 6.6 | $14.00 | $1.00 | 13 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 |
| Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery and Bierhall | 6.3 | $22.00 | $0.79 | 17 | 1.0 | 9.0 | 5.0 | 7.0 |
| Pizzeoli | 6.2 | $16.00 | $0.95 | 11 | 1.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 |
| Blackthorn Pub and Pizza | 6.1 | $20.00 | $0.42 | 12 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 |
| You're hereCostco | 5.0 | $9.99 | $0.17 | 18 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Domino's Pizza | 4.0 | $10.39 | $0.30 | 14 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
Costco Pizza Experience Summary
If you're wondering why the heck I'm reviewing Costco pizza in St. Louis, it's because I need a baseline.
To do any future pizza reviews, we all need to agree on what an average pizza experience will be, and Costco Pizza meets that criteria for me. It's a solid 5/10.
It tastes better and has more value than Domino's, and to me, it is worthy of the average rating. If you want to compare Costco to Dominos, Dominos is a 4/10 to me.
Not enough people have had Sam's Club, and I haven't had Papa John's or Pizza Hut in years, so I couldn't use those as a baseline.
Costco is also an insane value at $10 for an 18" cheese pizza. It weighs 58.8 oz for a crazy $.17/oz. Domino's is $.30/oz.
Therefore, it's my staple Tuesday night pizza on the way home from daycare and my choice for the "everyman" comparison.
When you start a St. Louis food blog, you can pick your baseline. :)
The Food At Costco Pizza
An 18-inch Costco plain pizza costs 40 cents less than a Domino's 14-inch hand-tossed pizza.
I'll let that sink in for a minute…
Ok.
That's 65% more pizza for $.40 less because of math. The area of a circle is the radius squared, which means those 4 inches in diameter account for 32 square inches in area.
Now that we have the math out of the way, we can get on to taste.
Costco Pizza tastes like a Tuesday.
You're excited because you're eating pizza, but realize it's not the weekend. Solid 5 / 10 makes it the "Everyman's Pizza".
The pizza is doughier than a typical New York-style pizza but has the proper ratio of sauce and cheese to bread. The cheese tastes like mozzarella, and the sauce has tomatoes in it. It's also quite soupy in that liquid swashes around in each bite.
You're not gonna bring your parents here for dinner, but you'll enjoy it enough, considering the calories you're consuming. It's also one of the few places in the area that offers single slices. At $1.99, those are also a crazy value.
The most important tip: Call ahead and order your pizza(s) for pickup. This saves you the 20 to 30 minutes you'd be stuck waiting there if you just go and order it. Additionally, you pay via the kiosk, select "Called in Pizza", and then show them the receipt to get it.
For an extra $10, you can add a chicken Caesar salad and frozen yogurt to round out a meal.
Costco Pizza Atmosphere And Miscellaneous
It's in Costco, so you'll need a membership.
The UCity Costco is new, clean, and friendly. Just walk in past the membership desk to the food court.
Order from the kiosk, talk to the nice people behind the counter and get home before it gets cold. If you have an eight-year-old as I do, send him up to order food while you check out to round out the perfect Costco experience.
Parking At Costco Pizza
Parking at Costco is straightforward. There's a giant parking lot, and they just added it off of I-170, so you don't have to drive too far away. It's on my way home from daycare, so it's smooth sailing.
Costco Pizza Receipt
