Rate-A-Restaurant #388: Gino's East (Sherman Oaks)

Restaurant: Gino's East

Location: 12924 Riverside Dr (Sherman Oaks)

Type of restaurant: Chicago-style deep dish pizza

We stipulated: We've been eager to try Gino's East since they arrived in Los Angeles, in order to get a taste of Chicago without having to order a frozen pizza. The lines have been too long, however, and then the restaurant shut down entirely at the start of the pandemic. Now that they've instituted carry out, we were ready to try it.

They stipulated: Pizzas take around 45 minutes to bake. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, they are offering carryout and delivery from 12pm-9pm every day. Call (818) 788-5050!

What we ordered: Deep dish 12" build your own pizza ($24) with pepperoni (+$3.25); Deep dish 12" supreme pizza -- Italian sausage with onions, green peppers, mushrooms ($33). Bonus pizza: We bought during a buy two large, get a small 9" pizza for free special, and we chose Spinach Margherita -- spinach, cherry tomatoes, fresh Mozzarella, basil (normally $26).

High point:   Loved that free pizza deal. Also, with no traffic, we got to Sherman Oaks in 11 minutes! Pizzas were ready and it was easy to pick up.

Overall impression: Here's an important point: Even that short trip home, followed by a bit of a wait before eating, cooled off the pizzas a bit. Chicago style pizzas are best when they're hot, and the cheese is melting. And the crust needs to be crunchy. When you get home, stick the pizza in the oven at 400 degrees for another 15 minutes. You'll be glad you did. Otherwise, you may be disappointed -- initially I had a "ugh, this isn't as good as Chicago" taste. But when I heated the pizzas up, it improved dramatically. Also, with all that pizza, we managed three meals out of it! Buy more. You won't be disappointed with the leftovers.

Will we return:  Absolutely. Yes, the price appears steep, but don't forget, these are deep dish slices. You'll make more than one meal out of it. Probably.