Rance's Chicago Pizza

One of kind pizza! At least for Costa Mesa. Deep dish Chicago style is one you must experience. Thick but almost croissant like crust piled high with toppings. Tomato sauce was tangy and delicious. Full of meet and cheese. The 14" was enough to feed 5 people. One slice pretty much filled most of us up.

UPDATE: Had a better experience today. Piping hot pizza and was tasty. Great service and overall a great meal! I normally love Rance’s but today’s experience did not meet expectations. The tables were dirty, my well done stuffed pizza came out just barely warm and the sauce was nothing like the tomato sauce from 6 months ago. This version of the sauce lacked flavor and depth and wasn’t even hot (temperature) strangely enough. I dined in so this is especially confusing why the pizza wasn’t hot. The waitress was very nice though! Beer was cold.

I have visited Chicago and this pizza seemed pretty similar. Really good.

Really delicious first time trying Chicago pizza. They are very efficient and friendly. Inside is a bit tight.

Closest thing to Chicago pizza I've found in OC. As soon as I walked in I smelled the delicious air and was instantly transported to my hometown. I wanted to bottle that smell. Our waitress was very attentive, friendly and helpful. The parmesan fries were nice and hot with good flavor. I was expecting melted, shredded Parm and this was more the drier, granulated kind but it was still very good. The pizza was Soo delicious almost exactly like what I was used to at home. Let it be known that most Chicagoans do not eat deep dish on the regular. We eat Chicago thin crust aka tavern because it's cut into squares. So that's the pizza I'm referring to here. The toppings were generous and quite fresh. The cheese was tasty and had a nice stretch to it. The sausage was just like sausage from a European deli which is customary on a Chicago pizza. Chain restaurant sausage is a poor substitute. What I would say needs a little improvement is the crust. It needs to be crispier and baked more. It was floppy and slightly raw. I even put my leftover in a toaster oven for quite a while and it never got crispy so that's to do with the dough recipe. The other thing is that it needed a little more sauce. I really didn't taste much at all. Also, it could've used a little fennel seed. It's a common, basic ingredient in Chicago pizza but not every place uses it. It does however add a special something to the flavor profile. The pizza was what I'd been craving for months and it hit the spot. Thank you so much Rance's!

Today I learned that I am not yet a fan of Chicago Pizza. This is the first time I have tried Chicago style pizza and I was not sure what to expect. We ordered the stuffed deep dish, paninis, and garlic bread. The paninis and garlic bread were great. When the pizza came out it looked great but I have to say I didn’t enjoy it. I feel like this is not Rance’s fault, you see when it comes to the construction pizza, I am surely brainwashed. As such, I simply can’t review this pizza till I try their pan or thin style pizza or until I try other Chicago style pizza so I have a frame of reference. However, I can review the staff and other food we ate the they were great. I will try Rance’s again and report back. If you are like me and want to try something new I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you to give Rance’s a try.

One of the best places in Orange County for Chicago deep dish style pizza. All those folks who criticize the thought of deep dish pizza have clearly never tried it as it’s incredible delicious coming from someone like myself who was a skeptic. Highly recommend the stuffed deep deep dish carnivore as the seasoned meats pairs perfectly with the red sauce, cheese, & in the incredibly buttery crust. As a great sign of respect to this place, I would describe that pizza as a michelin star version of a pepperoni pizza hot pocket.