Rance’s Chicago Pizza

This place was a great restaurant to check out for Father’s Day lunch. We ordered a small veggified and a large house special. It took about 45 – 50 minutes for both of them to come out. The veggie one came out about 5 minutes before the other. I only tried the veggie but our whole table liked both the veggie and the house special. We asked for garlic and ranch on the side so we were able to sprinkle on fresh garlic which was great :). I couldn’t really eat more than one piece but had a quarter of a slice more! Overall the taste was good. I think I would have liked a bit more spice but I added that with the red chili flakes. For 5 people this amount of pizza was definitely enough since we still had leftover to take home.

4.5 stars
I highly recommend first trying their signature stuffed pie — delicious Chicago style pizza that’s packed with flavor. The tomato sauce has chunks of fresh tomatoes that make each bite taste tangy instead of traditional pizza that’s more on the saltier side. As much as I love Tony’s Little Italy’s thicker and beefier version of Chicago style pies, I love (a tad more) Rance’s sophisticated flavors and cornmeal crust that leaves me craving for leftovers.
Yays
— ***CSP
— **Best Seller
— servers are very friendly and attentive
— can order half and half on the stuffed pies
tip: wait is 45 minutes for the stuffed and pan pies so be sure to call ahead!

First of all wasn’t having a good night since my fam and I were suppose to go to food trucks found out they were lame in oc. Anyways, found this place and what caught me by surprise was the long wait time for the pizza to be made. They even tell you on the menu that it’ll take Around 50 min per pizza, but but it is honestly worth the wait. Ordered the stuffed pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms. Really good taste, real tomato’s on top and pizza is thick aye! small place but from the looks of it pretty packed with wide range of age group. Our server was awesome so couple snaps to her and overall worth the 5 star

Great food — ordered as take-​out which was a great decision since the inside is pretty small and it was rather busy that night.
However, when I walked in to pick up my pizza, all the diners looked at me as though I had 6 heads. I thought I was just imagining this, but as i walked out with my boyfriend who came in with me to pick it up, he said the same exact thing. Perhaps they were hangry and upset that I got my pizza before they did.
As a Chicago native, this has been the closest I’ve been able to find to authentic Chicago-​style pizza — will definitely be back!

i go here ever time i need to celebrate, and sometimes ill make up excuses to just go there. expensive, but god damn is it worth every penny. i’ve moved back up to norcal, and there is no where that compares to Rances. I’m thinking about visiting socal just for Rances.
sometimes ill dream about a stuff’d carnivore pizza and ill wake up sobbing because i’m no where near costa mesa, but you can bet your ass that rances is the first place im heading to if i get within 100 miles of it.

This is an update to my first review. Rance was nice enough to explain to me that the last time I was there was right after a rave review article in OC Weekly that they did not know was going to be posted. Hence they got overwhelmed. Makes sense since they make authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza. This time around it looked like business as usual. Service was great, the wait was reasonable and in line with Chicago deep dish pizza joints, and the food was great. We brought a few other family members this time around and everyone enjoyed the pizza and craft beers.

I came for dinner on a Monday night around 7:30PM and there was no wait. The service was a bit slow, but the waitress was very friendly. We ordered the CSP, which consists of chicken and spinach with a garlic and basil pesto sauce. There was also red tomato chunks on the top, which was a bonus. The CSP was not too heavy, except the crust was buttery, making the pie tastier. If
P. S. The stuffed pie took about 45 minutes to make, so if you’re in a rush, call ahead of time.

This was definitely not my favorite pizza place of any variety. I came here on an empty Wednesday afternoon with my fiancé, and we were prepared for the 45 minute wait for our small stuffed deep dish original Chicago style pizza. Despite the fact that when we ordered, we were the only patrons in the restaurant, the pizza took more than AN HOUR from order time until it reached our table. We would understand if this happened at a busy hour, but made absolutely no sense for the fact that no one else was there. When our pizza did arrive, despite the fact that we had ordered pizza with «toppings» (more like fillings for this style of Chicago pizza), there was almost nothing inside the pizzas (unlike the photos of the stuffed pizzas we had seen on Unilocal). It was pretty much pure grease, cheese, burnt crust, and tomato sauce. We also had ordered garlic cheese sticks, but honestly the name is very misleading. It’s more like a sliced up thin cheese pizza made in an elementary school cafeteria. After our lunch here, both my fiancé and I felt extremely sick and couldn’t really eat much for an entire 24 hours after. We had such high hopes for this restaurant and had planned our lunch here for weeks after the many great reviews and recommendations from our friends, but we will unfortunately not be returning. I do have to say though that they had great table service and very polite staff.

Good, rich pizza. Came in hungry, left full and satisfied.
Two major recommendations:
1) Keep in mind that Chicago-​style pizza takes a lot longer to cook than non-​Chicago-​style pizza. Summary: hurry you ass up and order as soon as you sit down and if not, don’t complain to your server or on Unilocal how long it takes. It’s not like they can stick it in the microwave and speed it up.
2) Most people prefer the stuffed pizza to the pan pizza. Sure it comes down to preference but if you are looking for the kind of pizza you had in Chicago (aka Chicago-​style pizza), then you want to order the stuffed pizza. It comes with a lot of sauce, cheese, and toppings. We were confused so we ordered both kinds of pizza to try it out but our group of six all preferred the stuffed pizza to the pan. Will you???
Awesome selection of draft beers, considering how small this restaurant is. And it’s not just the «corporate craft crap». What’s that you ask? It’s the big beer companies parading their beers and tagging that overplayed «craft» label on them. E.g. Blue Moon, Goose Island, Shock Top, etc. Nothing wrong with those beers, except perhaps the marketing =)
Plenty of parking in the plaza.
Come enjoy Rance’s! With a nice frosty mug =)

WOO! This place was busy and now I know why.
With plenty of great beer choices ON TAP, delightful waitresses, and excellent food, this place is as good as it gets.
I came by to take a study break and catch the end of a hockey game (St. Louis v. Dallas). Mission accomplished.
The ambience was somewhat lively and upbeat. I enjoyed the music they played (Ratata, the XX, etc — not too loud). The place was pretty busy at 8/8:30 on a Wednesday night. There were 4 big screen tv’s all playing sports. The waitress found the hockey game for me, too! Even with these elements, I didn’t have trouble studying and working on flash cards while I waited for my food.
I ordered a beer, the garlic cheese breadsticks with marinara, and a small, stuffed, Carnivore pizza. The Carnivore comes with pepperoni, sausage, and Canadian bacon. Beer — ⁵⁄₅. Breadsticks ⁵⁄₅. Pizza ⁵⁄₅. As advertised, there is a was about a 40 minute wait for the pizza. The breadsticks came out in about 10 minutes and I worked on those, careful not to eat all of the breadsticks because they tasted really good with the marinara sauce.
The pizza. Oh the pizza! I’ve yet to have a crust so flaky on the edges, and cooked so perfectly throughout. The cheese was stretching forever like pizza from TMNT. The crust reminded me of some kind of dessert like a Baklava with flaky, not too thick, but not too flaky crust. The crust was amazing! The bottom part of the crust was cooked well and had just enough bite to it to not be too bready or hard to chew. The ingredients were tasty — I enjoyed the pie and although stuffed with cheese, meats, and marinara, I didn’t feel bloated or heavy after. I’ve had a Chicago pizza once in Chicago, and maybe somethings wrong with me, but I enjoyed this pizza much more — its definitely worth a try.
I ate half the breadsticks, and only 1 of 4 slices of the pie. I anticipate a delicious late night dinner and breakfast tomorrow. My 3 items came out to $ 30 (although I could have shared this with at least 1 other person).

Heard about this place at a Unilocal Elite Event, so you know it’s going to be good, well… this place is delicious!!!
**Pro Tip: Look at the menu online and call in your order! They can’t guarantee a seat, but it’s better than sitting there and waiting for at least 45 minutes**
Called in for Sunday lunch around 12 PM and they said the pizza will be done in about 45 – 55 minutes. Got there around 12:40 and there was a good amount of seating, so that worked out for us. We ordered the Artichoke dip as well, and that was ready when we got there! We ordered the Best Seller stuffed pizza w/​sausage, and they said it was going to be a little bit longer for the pizza (we ended up waiting around another 15 minutes for the pizza).
The artichoke dip was alright, wasn’t as good as mentioned in previous reviews. The dip was filled with artichokes, which is perfect for the artichoke lover, but other than the huge chunks, the dip itself was super heavy and oily. Probably wouldn’t order it again since there are other appetizers that sound delicious!
The pizza on the other hand was amazing! Absolutely loved the flavor of the spices in the sauce. The star of the show has to be the crust though. That crust is absolutely amazing. I can’t really describe it, it’s not like anything I’ve had before — crust wise. The best way to describe it would probably be like a flaky, but also sturdy pie crust. I keep wanting to say it’s similar to the top of a chicken pot pie, but harder, but the crust isn’t hard. I really don’t know, all I know is that I absolutely love it!!!
We got a small and split it among three people and we were stuffed by the end of it. Don’t underestimate the size of the pizza!
They offer a good amount of pizzas, but if none of them sound good to you, you can create your own! They also offer a hefty beer list, which seems perfect with this pizza! Great place, definitely will be back for more pizzas!

Definitely coming back for the Carnivore Chicago Pizza.
House Special — was good but not necessarily the best. Came out steamy, but the cheese was hardly melty. (⁸⁄₁₀)
Spicy Hawaiian Pizza — so much better than the first pizza. Came out piping hot. Ugh yum. Pity we didn’t all have the stomach to eat it all): (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
Artichoke Dip — nothing special but it was good for what it was. (⁸⁄₁₀)
Cheese Bread Sticks w/​Marinara — YUM. wish I had 5 plates to myself but had to save room for the pizza. (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
Service: super friendly and attentive to our many questions. She also kept checking in on our pizza (which we ordered ahead of time) and constantly let us know when our pizza was going to be ready. (¹⁰⁄₁₀)

This pizza is so good! We got the basic deep dish with cheese only because we wanted to try a simple pizza dish. It is so cheesy and so rich we could only eat two slices each. It was a great find. I was so happy to find a good deep dish pizza here in Southern California!
This restaurant is located in a big plaza, across from the Lamborghini Dealership (at least that’s what I noticed right after our meal lol) so there is plenty of parking. The customer service was very friendly, and we only had to wait 35 minutes for our pizza. We are definitely coming back to try the other awesome combinations!

Stuffed pizza: the crust is like a slightly overdone biscuit. It’s very buttery and flaky. The sauce is great the stewed tomatoes are very flavorful in the manner of Chicago pizza– it’s not supposed to be a strong flavor bc it shouldn’t overwhelm the other flavored of the pizza. The cheese is great– perfect quantity and great quality. ⁴⁄₅
Cheese sticks: pretty much what you’d expect– the cheese and bread is good but not exceptional– BUT The sauce that comes with them is similar flavor to that of the pizza– this is my kinda sauce I really did enjoy it. When ordered with the pizza it become monotonous in terms of flavor — next time I’ll order a different app (my fault not theirs!) ⁴⁄₅

The wait for the hand scratch made pizza was approximately 40 mins. Customer service was good though. There are several TVS to watch sports. The waitress was nice enough to changed the channel for me. Some borring sport guy was talking the whole time at first. I wanted to watch the GWC game. She was nice enough to change the channel for me.
The pizza was so good. Good texture on the crust. The tomatoes sauce used fresh ingredients and tomatoes. You can totally tell it is can tomatoes at all.
I’ll be back (Terminator voice)

Try as I may, I cannot find any place whose Chicago pizza can come close to Tony’s Little Italy in Placentia, Ca. Sorry Rance’s, but I am a loyal Tony fan. He has been in business for at least 30 years, does it as good, or better than, Lou Malnati’s (Chicago’s gold standard). I admit to personal experience at both.
****However**** Rance’s, even though I cannot give you a 5 star, I must also say you are very good and most worthy of recognition for a neighborhood haunt.
There were four of us, all of whom were unfamiliar with Rance’s. To get a good grasp of their product, we decided to share two 9 inch sized pizzas, trying two different crusts (the third choice that we did not order being a two crust stuffed version).
While this was not the most cozy place to sit, nor was it teaming with atmosphere as we waited, I appreciated that our server forewarned us of the wait (calling your order ahead is wise as they anticipate 35 minutes for the thin crust, 45 minutes for the pan). She made sure we had her undivided attention for water refills and reassurance the entire time. The time seemed to pass quickly before the thin crust came out.
Personally, I preferred the thin crust over the pan pizza, mostly because it was crackery and flaky and had cornmeal on the bottom to give it a texture and crunch. The thicker pan pizza was a heavier, carb laden, crunchy yet oily version.
Our thin crust pie was called «BEST SELLER» — with molten mozzarella cheese oozing from each piece as you dared to lift it to your mouth, and herbs and spices in a chunky, savory yet not overly seasoned tomato sauce, combined with fresh spinach and mushrooms. A wonderful vegetarian classic.
The «CHICKEN & GARLIC» (thicker pan crust) was equally generous with good tasting cheese, cubed, freshly cooked chicken, mushrooms, and that wonderful house specialty, their pizza sauce. I just wish I loved your crust as much.

I haven’t had enough Chicago deep dish pizzas to tell you if this matches with the best of them, but my first visit here was mixed.
First thing I noticed was their craft beer list. They have 18 brews on tap! The restaurant is clean and there are plenty of TVs with sports on. It’s a about a 40 – 50 minute wait for a pie if you are dining in, so prep yourself for that.
We ordered a large pan that was half pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms, half chicken and garlic. The pizza was really salty (maybe because I ordered black olives), but then I noticed there were no mushrooms. The mushrooms would have made that half of the pizza less salty.
I brought the missing mushrooms to my server’s attention and she clearly wrote it on the ticket but they forgot to put it in. I asked if they could give me some cooked mushrooms on the side, that would be fine. She checked with the pizza makers and they forgot the mushrooms and asked if it would be okay if they just took it off the order. I said that would be okay since the pie was already cooked (I was not given option of mushrooms on the side).
When we got the bill I noticed $ 1.25 was taken off the bill. Now each additional topping is $ 2.50, but since it was only half the pizza, they only took off $ 1.25. If it was my restaurant and I messed up the order, I would take off $ 2.50 (the full topping price) and probably bring out mushrooms on the side for the inconvenience. It’s more the principal than the money. When you wait 40 minutes for a pizza that’s $ 29, you really want it to be done right, right? For $ 1.25 I would have rather had mushrooms. For $ 2.50 I would have rather had mushrooms.
So what did I like? Fresh ingredients, «toppings» baked under the real cheese, tomatoes on top of the cheese. And the edge crust, so crispy and flaky, but still a little chewy. What didn’t I like? Very salty and the missing topping resolution could have been handled better.
I wanted to give 4 stars but my overall experience left me with a 3 star feel.

Pick up order specific review:
Tonight was my first time trying Chicago style pizza since I am a fan of NY pizza. I haven’t got to try the real thing yet I would love to try Lou Malnati’s one day I’ve heard good things. But since I can’t compare it to that I will just review based off what I tasted alone.
I called in an order tonight on a Friday and the girl was super sweet on the phone, she told us a 60 minute wait for it to be ready no biggie though! We chilled and left 20 minutes til pick up time and it was ready already. We were going to pick up since I am feeling under the weather. We ordered the Rances favorite and garlic cheese bread. The service was good when we went in and it was packed! I would have love to dine in and try their beer flight selection, it looked good. Next time! Anyway, a guy helped us pay and he was attentive despite to business. We got home opened the box of pie and both thought wow it looks amazing! My BF really wanted the garlic bread.
Range Favorite pan style:
Savory and delicious meatball, great melty stretchy cheese wow the cheese was insane. Just like how a pizza should have it! The touch of jalapeños was perfect on this pie. The crust was like nothing I’ve ever had with a pizza. It tasted butter and flaky just like a pie crust but better. Everything was perfectly balanced on this pizza. I’ll give it to ya Chicago style pizza is up there if not tied with NY style on my list now. I still have yet to travel to Chi Town and try the authentic ones so we will see! I’m sure Rances is a great representation of it though. I have to admit I liked it but wasn’t super blown away. Maybe the car ride home cooled the pizza a bit, gotta judge next time with dine in.
BF inhaled like 4 sticks of cheesy bread and I didn’t even see him eat them but he said he loved it.
Overall great experience as far as service and quality food! I will review next time for a dine in experience.

I had been wanting to try Rance’s pizza for the longest now. I never tried deep dish pizza before because I’m a noob and just got to this country yesterday… please forgive. So anyways I rolled through with my friend and we were so excited. Turns out its located in a complex I am very familiar with (with the Greatland Target, Baskin Robbins, Hallmark, etc). We were greeted immediately by Brenda. I’m usually bad with names but hers stood out because she provided such excellent service.
It takes about 40 minutes for them to make a pie so be warned. With that in mind and how hungry we were, we proceeded to order and waited. They have mini bar area if you wanna grab drinks. They have a couple of television screens which were displaying some basketball games. Once the pie arrived, the aroma filled the air and our noses. I was salivating and ready to dive in.
I took my first bite and was hooked. They had fresh ingredients on their pizza. I was eating real tomatoes #tearsofjoy. The crust was delicious. The sauce was heavenly. There was meatballs inside the pizza… my gawd I was in heaven. Oh and that bacon… boy that bacon. Oh yeah forgot to mention, we ordered the Rance’s Favorite stuffed pizza. I am a fan!
Overall this place rocks. The service is outstanding, the pizza is heavenly, the décor and atmosphere is something I can vibe with plus they play awesome soft rock songs from the 70’s 80’s that has me feeling very blissful. I shall be doing all my pizza eating from here now. This place rules!

We had — A Mediterranean Stuffed Crust Pizza. and their ‘our special’ Bruschetta using home made Pesto.
Their Stuffed pie takes 40 minutes to bake, and you might be TEMPTED TO ORDER an APPETIZER. I would say dont. Just wait for the pizza.
Since I consider myself a P’zza-lover (quite close to a connoisseur) I would like to spend some time.
Thier pie — stuffed crust, is interesting. What i mean is its flaky, just about right, not too thick and tasty. So no complaints on that front.
Their toppings and marinara — this is their spoiler. They make a deep dish pizza and all they do is fill it with cheap mozzarella. I remember eating a deep dish somewhere in Eco Park. They had amazing marinara and their toppings went with the marinara into a hearty pie! Not just cheese.
And this is ONLY pizza place and does not leave you with much options.
The ambience is also boring. They have tables lined up like a row of caravans.
IN Sum — my expectation of a CHicago Style Deep Dish pizza is yet unfulfilled. This would not satisfy me.