Review: Costco "Combo" Take and Bake Kirkland Signature Refrigerated Pizza

Costco's new refrigerated take and bake rectangular pizza - everything you need to know about it. Is it tasty? Is it worth $16.99? Sneak preview: it's shockingly good! 

Every Costco shopper knows the food court pizza - a huge slice for $1.99 in most locations. Read our review here: tinyurl.com/FoodCourtPizza. This offering hasn't changed in years, but the take and bake pizza in the deli section at the back of the store comes and goes. And it hasn't always been very good.

Costco's newest take-and-bake option

Some years back, Costco offered a round "Artisinal" take and bake pizza. It was cheap ($9) and with a $3 coupon we got it for just $6. It was huge, but it was pretty ordinary. We didn't buy it again - read about why: tinyurl.com/CostcoArtisan.

Kirkland Signature Combo Pizza, pre-bake

So with Costco's track record of "guilty pleasure" soft floppy food court pizza and a take and bake that was no better than DiGiorno (tinyurl.com/Quixote-DiGiorno), what made us take a shot at the "Combo Pizza" we saw in the refrigerated section back by the rotisserie chickens?

Right out of the oven

Maybe we were hungry? Maybe we just had an expectation that Costco is gonna nail it, even though they had not made any special pizza to date. Certainly, the packaging wasn't selling it, a plain brown box with a tiny typed label, and the crust obscured. But we grabbed one on impulse, and now I'm damn glad.

This is not a huge pizza, given its $16.99 price tag. It's a 14" x 11" rectangle, but I could see it was different as soon as I removed it from the box. The cornicione had some real character - it didn't look machine made. Uneven edges, with some bubbles, and a dusting of flour that separated it from mass produced pies.

Underside of a slice

Costco calls this crust a "Roman Pinsa" style. What's that? It is made with a combination of Italian 00 wheat flour, rice flour, and soy flour to develop a light and airy crust that’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. 

Important to note - I've had Roman "al taglio" pizza in Rome, in Philadelphia, and in Austin. It's always been superb, but never made with any flour other than wheat. So this Pinsa style is new to me. Read about Roman pizza here tinyurl.com/AlTaglioPizza or here tinyurl.com/PhillyRoman or here tinyurl.com/AustinRoman.

Roman style from Baldinucci Pizza, Austin TX

We chose the "Combo" (with pepperoni, sausage, and peppers) over the mis-named meatless "Margherita," although both had appeal. For the record, a Margherita is the term for the basic Neapolitan pizza that is baked in a dome oven at 900 degrees or higher. Many pizzerias misuse one or both terms. Here's a primer: thespruceeats.com/what-is-neapolitan-pizza-2708762.

Actual Neapolitan (but not Margherita) from Pizzeria Delfina, San Francisco

I baked the pizza per the instructions, and it sat directly on a rack in the middle of my oven. Don't put it on foil or a pan if you want the crust to get to its optimal texture! I usually bake pizzas to the upper end of the suggested baking time for proper browning.

Kirkland Signature Roman Pinsa Combo

The strength of this pizza is its Pinsa crust. I took notes and recorded that it was like a medium thick focaccia with a terrific chewiness, a crunchy cripsy bottom, and a nice genuine bready flavor. It's the test of any pizza: would I eat this crust without anything on it? For this pie, oh yeah.

The pepperoni was applied in proper proportion; it was nicely spiced but squarely average in terms of its quality. The sausage was another nice meaty element, real chunks and not those gnarly sausage crumbles that some pies have. The peppers were a dull olive color and proved more of a distraction than an addition.

Like the pepperoni, the cheese was ordinary. But it was a proper role player here and was applied in the right amount. The red sauce added some needed acidic kick, but it too was a role player. You put meat and cheese and tomato sauce together, it's going to taste pretty good, even with standard quality stuff.

So this new "Kirkland Signature" take and bake pizza is a great crust topped with ordinary sauce, cheese, and meats. Very nicely balanced, and I enjoyed a few leftover slices on reheat almost as much as the first time, because that Pinsa crust is just so good.

For comparison, the $1.99 Costco Food Court slice

We got 8 decent sized slices from this $17 pizza. It was expensive when compared to the takeout pizza from the food court, but miles better in quality. We will surely get it again; maybe try the "Margherita" and add our own (better) meat toppings.

This is very good pizza that could be elevated to great pizza with better stuff on top, but I suspect that Costco knows it is already pushing the price point at $17. Highly recommended!