Why Costco's Detroit-Style Deep Dish Pizza Has A Cult Following

Costco's Detroit-style deep dish pizza is giving takeout a run for its money, and it has so far amassed a cult following that lavishes praise on this budget-friendly treat. Sure, it's not a restaurant masterpiece or homemade Detroit-style deep dish pizza, but given its positive reviews, it might as well be. The dish scores so high for flavor and convenience that any faults found are mere nitpicks.

Fans love it not just because it's the best thing to grace their taste buds, but because the pizza comes so close to the real Detroit dish. Ask anyone what makes Detroit-style pizza so unique and they'll say it's the square shape, airy crust, killer crunch, and cheese that generously oozes across its borders. Ask a fan about the Costco version, and they might say the same (with minor differences, of course).

Given that it's frozen and mass-produced, Costco's Motor City pizza lacks the personal touch of Buddy's or Loui's, but followers are most understanding of this fact. Despite this, one Redditor went as far as to argue that it's "better than 50% of the pizza you've had from restaurants." A bit excessive? Maybe. But there's no downplaying the deep dish pizza's bright tomato bite that tastes like it's been stewed for hours to extract deep flavors.

So, is the hype behind Costco's deep dish pizza overblown? Perhaps. But it's not just flavors ramping up the fervor for this dish. Turns out it's a savior for those outside of an ordering radius from pizza delivery joints. For these stranded souls, picking up a Costco deep-dish pizza before driving back home is the only option. This savior status combined with its irrefutable flavor is likely a catalyst for winning over deep-dish pizza disciples.

With the option to stock up on frozen pizza, all that's left is to bake it. Believe it or not, Costco's Motor City pizza still captures more converts at this stage. The pizza comes in a baking tray that you can pop straight into the oven, and all you need to do is crank your oven high. Surely enough, fans have praised that feature. "I love that you can bake it right in the pan it comes in," one Redditor exclaimed, spotlighting the convenience of this cult classic.

Although these are valid acclaims behind the Costco deep dish pizza's fame, don't expect anything extraordinary. Fans have expressed the dish's superiority but also emphasized that this holds true mostly in the realm of frozen pizzas. Amidst a sea of praises and against the grain, one Reddit user wrote, "[t]his is great for frozen, but bottom barrel for pizzeria." This really puts the deep dish pizza's status into perspective, so pre-cultists know exactly what they're biting into.