Rocky Rococo Pizza

Basic Information:

Pizza: Rocky Rococo Pizza

Number of Locations: 31, mostly in Wisconsin
Location Reviewed: Fox River Mall Food Court in Appleton, WI
Website: https://rockyrococo.com/
Date of Review Visit: October 2025
What I Ordered: small pizza with Italian sausage and pepperoni
Price: $20.01 (pizza only)
Photos:

Summary Review: 4 stars (out of 5)

 

Detailed Review:

Crust: Rocky Rococo Pizza has a thick crust, but it is not quite your typical Chicago-style pan crust.  The crust is very bready; it has a soft texture with a crusty outer edge.  This crust is very good.  Score: 10/10

Sauce: The sauce is on the bitter side, and this pizza is slightly undersauced.  I like sweet sauces, so to my taste palette the sauce is the worst feature of this pizza.  Score: 7/10

Cheese: This pizza has plenty of yummy cheese, and it does not produce a lot of grease.  Excellent!  Score: 10/10

Toppings: The sausage is a sweet Italian sausage that comes in nice large chunks.  The pepperoni has a mild seasoned pork taste.  Both toppings appear in above average quantity.  Score: 9/10

Overall Taste: The bitter flavor from the sauce really hurts because everything else combines to make a tasty pizza.  Score: 8.5/10

Pizza Appearance: Rocky Rococo makes rectangular pizzas, so they are bigger than you might think for the size you order.  It looks like the robust pizza it is.

Dining Atmosphere: The location I visited is located in a standard mall food court, and therefore the dining atmosphere feels like a mall food court with lots of people, noise, and other dining options around.

Customer Service: This location has counter service.  The service was quick, but they were not busy when I came here at 5pm on a Monday.

Monetary Value: The price is a mall price, i.e. it is high relative to what you put in your mouth.  Note that the price I give above is only for the pizza; drinks would have been extra.

The Final Judgment:

Rocky Rococo is a remarkable regional reward among Wisconsin pizzas.  I'd rave over this restaurant, but I reserve my regards due to the wretched-to-me sauce and the rocket-high price.  Score: 84/100

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria (Pizza Review #100)

Basic Information:

Pizza: Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria

Number of Locations: 81, mostly near Chicago, IL

Location Reviewed: 1050 E. Higgins Rd. in Elk Grove Village, IL

Website: https://www.loumalnatis.com/

Date of Review Visit: May 2019

What I Ordered: Personal Malnati Chicago Classic Pizza (8” deep dish sausage pizza); Coke to drink

Price: $11.99 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Photos:

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: True to its name, the crust on the pizza at Lou Malnati’s is an inch thick Chicago-style butter crust baked in a pan.  They do also offer a thin crust option, but I have no idea why.  I have not yet seen anyone do this style of crust better than Malnati’s does.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: This pizza features a thick layer of sauce spread over the top.  The sauce has some chunks of tomato, which I don’t like.  However, the most important thing to me about any tomato sauce is that it tastes like tomatoes, and on that metric this sauce passes with flying colors.  Score: 8/10.

Cheese: The cheese seems to be 100% mozzarella, and it appears in high quantity even though I had to look for it under the thick layer of sauce.  Score: 9/10.

Toppings: The sausage is an entire layer, and as you would expect on a Chicago-style pizza it appears in nice fresh chunks.  This is my favorite kind of pizza sausage.  Score: 10/10.

Overall Taste: Everything comes together really well.  Maybe this pizza has a little too much sauce with a few too many chunks of tomatoes.  Score: 9.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The sauce and crust dominate the appearance, as usual for a true Chicago-style pizza.

Dining Atmosphere: The Elk Grove Village location has a dark dining room that is well-decorated with antique light chandeliers and antique-looking chairs.

Customer Service: The service was friendly and excellent, but the pizza took longer to make than it should have considering they weren’t that busy when I came here at 3pm on a Wednesday.

Monetary Value: The price is reasonable for pizza of this quality.  Therefore, while this is not cheap pizza, it does offer good value.

The Final Judgment:

A Chicago classic, Lou Malnati’s ranks right up with Uno’s and LaRosa’s as my favorite pizzas available.  Score: 93/100.

Monical’s Pizza Restaurant

Basic Information:

Pizza: Monical’s Pizza Restaurant

Number of Locations: around 60 across 4 states; based just south of Chicago

Location Reviewed: 850 W. Main Street in El Paso, IL (I-39 exit 14)

Website: https://www.monicals.com/

Date of Review Visit: August 2018

What I Ordered: 8” pan pizza with sausage and pepperoni; Dr. Pepper to drink

Price: $9.46 (includes drink and tax but not tip)

Photo:

Summary Review: 3 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Monical’s offers 2 crust options: thin and pan.  As will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog, I chose pan.  The pan crust is thick but not super thick, and it has a nice crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside texture.  Overall, this is a pretty good pan crust.  Score: 8/10.

Sauce: The tomato in the logo suggests that the sauce will be the strength of this pizza, and the tomato tells the truth.  The sauce has a thick consistency, appears in high quantity, and has a nice tomatoey taste.  What more could you want?  Score: 10/10.

Cheese: This pizza does not have a ton of cheese, but it produces a lot of grease.  As good as the sauce is, the cheese is equally bad.  Score: 3/10.

Toppings: The sausage appears in small chunks but has no flavor whatsoever.  The pepperoni comes in thin slices with just a little spice.  There is also a “topping” of spices sprinkled all of the pizza; I never care for this many spices.  The two real toppings appear in decent but not overwhelming quantity.  Score: 6/10.

Overall Taste: The overall taste is very underwhelming.  The sauce saves what could be a disaster.  Score: 6.5/10.

Pizza Appearance: The pizza has a nice crust-dominated pan pizza appearance.

Dining Atmosphere: Monical’s has a nice dining room with antique sports equipment hanging on the walls, but the entire room smelled like beer.  The independent Baptist I am does not like that smell.

Customer Service: The service seemed rushed even though they were not super busy on my visit.

Monetary Value: This is not the best pizza around, but it is pretty cheap.  Therefore, the value is pretty good.

The Final Judgment:

Monical’s is definitely not elite, but it has some things going for it.  I would stop at Monical’s again if I found myself near one.  Score: 73/100.

Sammy’s Pizza and Restaurant in Minnesota

Basic Information:

Pizza: Sammy’s Pizza and Restaurant

Number of Locations: about 15 across MN, WI, and ND

Location Reviewed: 305 Sunnyside Drive in Cloquet, MN

Website: https://mysammys.com/

Date of Review Visit: July 2017

What I Ordered: small (10”) pizza with pepperoni and sausage

Price: $10.41 (pizza only; includes tax)

Photos:

Summary Review: 5 stars (out of 5)

Detailed Review:

Crust: Sammy’s Pizza and Restaurant puts their signature twists in the crust of their pizza.  The twists have a nice crispy texture.  The crust is thinner than you would expect for a regional chain this far north.  My pizza was perfectly baked, which is essential due to the twists.  This crust is unique, and I like it.  Score: 10/10.

Sauce: The sauce has a slightly sweet taste.  It appears in good quantity, and it blends well with rest of pizza.  What more could you want? Score: 10/10.

Cheese: The cheese comes in good quantity and has decent flavor, but it produces quite a bit of grease.  Therefore, a mandatory deduction applies.  Score: 8/10.

Toppings: The sausage really steals the show: it comes in big chunks and tastes like fresh, tasty pork.  Eating this sausage is almost like eating pork meatballs.  The pepperoni is less remarkable: it comes in thin slices without a lot of favor.  Both toppings appear in good quantity.  Score: 9/10.

Overall Taste: The sausage takes center stage, but everything works together rather well.  Score: 9/10.

Pizza Appearance: The toppings are neatly placed with exactly one slice of pepperoni and one chunk of sausage on every piece of pizza.  This symmetry is not easy to achieve with Sammy’s criss-cross cutting pattern.

Dining Atmosphere: I ordered to-go, but they have a nice casual dining area.

Customer Service:  The service was quick and attentive.

Monetary Value: The quality is excellent, but this pizza is expensive.  The price I list above does not even include a drink, and it is only a 10” pizza.  Therefore, value is not the strength of this pizza.

The Final Judgment:

Sammy’s Pizza and Restaurant started as a family-owned business with a single location.  They have since expanded, and the region’s pizza eaters are better for it.  Sammy’s is a good pizza option if you find yourself in the upper Midwest.  Score: 90/100.