Imo’s Pizza

While visiting St. Louis, my wife and I really wanted to try St. Louis-​style pizza (crispy thin crust, heavy toppings, provel cheese). One of her friends took us to Angelo’s Pizzeria in Florissant and it was amazing. As we were leaving Busch Stadium and heading to the airport, my wife suggests that we try to find somewhere quick to have more St. Louis-​style pizza. We had heard that Imo’s is a popular chain in St. Louis, so we looked for the closest one. Sure enough, this one was right outside of Busch Stadium.
The prices are good. I think we paid around $ 8 a piece for a drink, a salad, and an individual pizza. But in this case, you get what you pay for. The pizza was sub-​par compared to the other St. Louis-​style pizza we had earlier in the trip. It tasted more like one of those $ 1 Totino’s pizzas.
If you’re visiting St. Louis, don’t let this be your one and only St. Louis-​style pizza. If you get a good quality pizza, it is quite delicious. Imo’s is just. .. «Meh.»
You know the saying: «Pizza is like sex. Even when it’s bad, it’s pretty good.»

If you’re from the northeast, stop! This is not pizza. Wait until you get back to the NE. I was so disappointed because I’ve heard such good things about Imos pizza. We tried both thin and thick style, all just awful. If you went out drinking for the night, came home and tried to make your own pizza from random ingredients in your freezer, this may be what you come up with. Even frozen pizza you get from a grocery store is way better. We also got toasted ravioli and I’m not quite sure what it was stuffed with. The ravioli tasted like it was in the freezer for years before they microwaved it and gave it to us. I can’t wait to get a real slice from somewhere that actually knows how to make a good pizza. Pretty pricey for an awful taste too.

Let me start off by saying I did not want pizza nor did I even want to walk into the establishment but needless to say I’m glad my significant other threw me over his shoulders and plopped me down. (He didn’t really but would’ve been nice if he did lol)
CRUST: super crunchy, super thin, does NOT fold or break when being picked up even though it’s loaded to the max with toppings
SAUCE: like an explosion of sweet and barely tangy baby tomatoes in your mouth, not watery, but perfect in every way
TOPPINGS: a shit ton of delicious, made with extra love, and baked to PERFECTION
ADVICE: do yourself a favor and order the deluxe, you can thank me later. ;) Enjoy!

Pizza was delicious, and tortilla thin, which is just the way I like it! (Which says a lot being from Chicago)
Customer service was excellent and delivery was fast. We also had provel bites and bosco sticks which were just ok. Overall was a great experience, and would recommend to anyone in or visiting the St. Louis area.

Called this place a few minutes after midnight and was told, «Hello, This is Imos Pizza, We’re Closed». Found it to be extremely unprofessional and rude. I understand your closed but you did not know why I was calling or even if I already knew you were closed. I hope your not always this unprofessional.

My pizza was not what I ordered and was barely warm, though at 11 o’clock at night I wasn’t much for calling back to correct and honestly, I’m not that picky so I ate it and it was meh. Had Imos when we stayed at Union Station and that location rocked it, so idk I’ll prolly go somewhere else in the future if we stay at the Sheraton in this part of the city.

Make a pizza using Kraft slices, that’s about what this tastes like. I’ve never been so turned off by pizza before. I HATE too a round pizza is cut into 2″ x 3″ squares! The «provel bites» tasted like battered fried Kraft cheese slices. I forced myself to eat as much as I could. I’m still hungry. Should have called one of the national chains instead. Plus their website was really hard to navigate, I should have taken that as a sign! It didn’t want to order!

Worst customer service. «Manager» accused us of not paying. This was supposed to be a fun «st. Louis-​style» wedding rehearsal dinner. This «manager» was terrible. Love the pizza, hate the people.

Getting St Louis style pizza with Provel was on my food bucket list, and I’m glad I found Imo’s. It was more of a walk from downtown than I was anticipating, but worth the experience. The pizza is a solid three stars. Nothing overly special. Good pizza, but I might not go out of the way for it in another circumstance.
The toasted ravioli, now that was pretty fantastic.

Disgusting! I wouldn’t even call this pizza! It was gross! I’m not sure what they put on top of this so-​called pizza, but it sure isn’t cheese! Nor is the texture! We ordered this while staying in St. Louis at Drury Plaza, we’d have been better off with dominos or papa johns! My family loves pizza, and they were all disgusted! Don’t order from here!!! I wish u could give zero stars!

While staying in St. Louis and hungry after a Cardinal’s game, my family and I decided to order some pizza from Imo’s. They were reputed by the hotel my family was staying in and the special was a deal. So we placed our order and it was going to be about 40 minutes until the pizza was delivered to the hotel. About 30 minutes later my Dad heads down to the lobby, in order to be there when our pizza arrived. He waited for a about 30 minutes and then I came down. We then waited together for 30 more minutes and there was no pizza. I called Imo’s and the person answering the phone was distracted, couldn’t find my order and then tried to tell me it was on the way. So me and my Dad waited for another 30 minutes. Then I headed back to room, while I my Dad called Imo’s. They told him that the pizza had been delivered.
After almost two hours, we never got our pizza. Thank god we didn’t pay online for our order. I have no idea how bad or good the food is, but this place has crappy service. I don’t think we’ll give them a second chance.

Wow, for 20 years, I’ve held to the notion that America’s worst pizza is in Dallas. You’re never to old to learn. It really is in St. Louis. There’s nothing wrong with this company. The delivery guy was courteous and fast, the prices are reasonable, and the pizza was hot. The issue is the pizza. The crust is a cracker; not thin crust, but a cracker. There is almost no sauce. In fact, I saw one spot of red and was not sure that was sauce. I had the bacon topping and it may have been bacon drippings. The cheese is not mozzarella. It is provobel. What’s that? Wiki says it’s a mix of provolone, swiss, and cheddar. Wiki is wrong. Provobel is salty, yellowish Elmer’s about three hours after being poured. That’s that fourth dimension, where goop, stick, and awe come together… but don’t eat it. It must not be consumed, although they do say kids can consume Elmer’s glue with no side effects.
New Yorkers, Connecticutians, and New Jerseyites need to convene in St. Louis and hold an immediate intervention (ok, maybe not New Jerseyites).

Who knew that St. Louis-​style pizza was so polarizing (aside from anyone who grew up here, but has traveled to taste what others call pizza…)? Is this location that much worse than every other Imo’s? Is Imo’s that much worse than every other take-​out-​style pizza place in St. Louis?
The short answer is: this outlet is fine. They have a couple of booths and a few tables (both inside and outside, depending on the season). Relatively clean, they mostly deliver and the product is a unique style of pizza plus the salads, appetizers and other fare that you’d expect.
For any visitor wondering whether or order/​pick-​up here or play it safe with Papa John’s while staying Downtown:
1) You probably know what Papa John’s tastes like and might have one close to your house. Unless you’re from a pretty small area around metro St. Louis (with a few exceptions), you don’t have an Imo’s. Are you in the mood for adventure or are you starving?
If the former, eat like a St. Louisan. If the latter, order from a non-​local chain.
2) Skim the «non-​description» hate words for this place on Unilocal.Understand that Imo’s «St. Louis-​style» refers to a round pie with a cracker-​thin crust that’s cut into squares. Imo’s uses a sweet red sauce with a texture akin to ketchup and tops with a provel blend (a unique cheese product that’s got a texture and flavor that won’t be immediately familiar). Expect the differences. Maybe add a little red pepper and Parmesan.
You might not like it at all. You might love it.
3) This location’s pretty quick about pickup and runs a killer Monday special: buy one, get one XL free (I’ve only ordered this during lunch; ask if it’s available at other times of the day). Request that your order be baked well-​done in order to get the most crust consistency in the middle portion of the pizza.
Yes: pizza here costs a little more on the average.
4) If you’re really trying to get the full St. Louis experience in one order and also intended to try a quick version of toasted ravioli, this a place to get both.

Cold, burnt pizza delivered long after promised. When asked for plates/​napkins, the driver looked at me as of I was a nutcase and suggested that I should have my own. FAIL

Someone said that it isn’t really pizza — just dough with some cheese whiz and red paint. My review would not share such superlatives… I have always described it to visitors as «baby poop on a panty liner».
St. Louis has some wonderful restaurants and is a great place to live. But St. Louis style pizza? Absolutely vile! Don’t even bother — either go to Dewey’s or call one of the chains, e.g. Racanelli’s, Pizza Hut, etc.

St Louis-​style pizza? Really? All these years I’ve been debating whether New York-​style or Chicago-​style is better, not knowing there was another player in the game?
Anyhow, I’m not trying to say that this style overtook my heart or anything. Deep dish still has a majority of my love, followed closely by the thin crust. I guess St Louis-​style would fall into that category.
We went here after a Cards game and decided to place the pizza on the hood of our car and eat it in the parking lot since there was no seating area inside. Three things that stood out to me:
The CRUST. Really thin, but also really crunchy. I loved it. But that’s only on the edges. The middle section is extremely soggy, and I didn’t enjoy that at all. I got cheese, sauce and other things underneath my fingernails while trying to pry the slices from the cardboard box. Is there a way to order just the outer crust?
The CHEESE. I didn’t know exactly what it was about this cheese that seemed different from other cheeses until I read these reviews just now. Provel cheese? Provolone, cheddar and Swiss? Interesting. But I liked it.
The BACON. These weren’t bacon bits, they were pieces of bacon about an inch to an inch and a half in size. This allows you to actually taste the bacon.
The phone was ringing off the hook the entire time we were waiting for our pizza; it’s nice when people can still be friendly even when they’re busy.
Not a bad experience for my first time with St Louis-​style pizza. I did have some stomach problems that night, but I’ll blame that on the White Castle I ate right after. It was across the street and I couldn’t stop myself from going.
3.5 stars

Ok, let me preface this by saying I am a huge Imo’s fan; I love the thin crust, provel cheese and quick delivery. However, I have to say this location let me down a bit in product quality. I ordered my regular, a pizza with extra cheese and mushrooms and a ½ house salad with extra ranch dressing.
The guy on the phone seemed distracted, he kept repeating things incorrectly then saying «Oh, my bad» when I corrected him. As a positive though my quoted delivery time of 45 minutes was more like 20. But the pizza had very little cheese on it and they lettuce in my salad was about 30% brown and wilted. All in all, it could have been a fluke, but I was dissappointed in this Imo’s experience.

One word: Provel. Now this word means «happiness» to me, but apparently is an acquired taste. Growing up in Southern Illinois/​St. Louis, I’ve had Provel on pizzas, pasta, and salad. It’s melty, gooey, and lovely. I’m not a fan of thin crust, and I still consider this one of the best pizzas.
I know Chicago-​style is amazing but, to me, Imo’s is where it’s at.

Crunchy, extremely thin crust pizza.
We (out-​of-​towners) were hungry, but it was raining pretty badly outside and no one wanted to drive. We decided to try St Louis style pizza and have it delivered to our hotel.
We had ordered a Large– half deluxe, half veggie deluxe. Delivery took a lot longer because they had made it a full deluxe. Instead of remaking it, they just made another Large for the veggie deluxe on the house.
What’s better than pizza slices? pizza squares [mostly]! It is disorganized but more fun to eat. I really liked how the pizza was NOT covered with lots and lots of cheese. I’m a cheese minimalist on pizzas. It was very good
The garlic bread w/​cheese was also good.
+ Tasty
+ Good service
+ Delivery
— Left the red pepper and parm cheese packets in the car (why?)

Disgusting. Vile. Nasty.
This place brings the word «nasty» to a whole another level.
This is not pizza. It is dough covered in cheese whiz and some kind of red sauce. It was horrible enough that I had to put the box outside the hotel room to save myself from the stench.
We ordered delivery around midnight because the Sheraton’s kitchen was closed. We got all excited because google search said it is an independently owned and operated chain. We thought «well, at least it is not Domino’s or Pizza Hut». Wrong! Took one bite and almost threw up.
They advertise as «the original St. Louis pizza». If this is how St. Louis pizza is supposed to taste like, I do not want to live in this fine city at all. I hope this is not how real St. Louis pizza is supposed to be.
Imo’s is an abomination to pizza all across the world. To say Domino’s or Pizza Hut have better pizza is an understatement.
I cannot comment on the entire Imo’s chain of pizza places because each one is independently owned and operated. But, this particular location needs to just go away.