Zelda’s has been a Sacramento institution for decades. It’s always been the most convenient place to get a deep dish Chicago-style pizza, and it was a very respectable version. The proprietor was Zelda, a grumpy old lady from Chicago who stubbornly ran the dining room despite having no customer skills. But the pizza was good, the beer was good, the lighting was terrible, and sometimes the Cubs were on in the bar.
But, finally, Zelda had to retire for real, and left her son, Kerry, in charge. And Kerry inherited his mother’s lack of customer-facing skills, but did NOT inherit her quality control skills. When Yelper’s started to take notice of the drop in quality, he chose to argue, name call, and finally accuse his critics of being “woke libtards” etc. As you can imagine, this did the already shaky post-pandemic business no favors, and last year, he announced he was closing down and leaving “Commie-fornia”. Which, y’know, don’t let the door hit ya on the way out…
But after a few months of lying dark, it was announced that a couple of former managers had agreed to buy it and reopen it, with the same recipes, (hell, the same MENU), and bring it back to its former glory.
And hooray, they’ve done so!! We went back for the first time in many years and we’re happy to see that the lighting is still quite dark, though there is now adequate intimate booth lighting. The place has been given a decent scrub down but is otherwise delightfully unchanged.
Service is still, let’s call it “relaxed”. Eating in is not a quick experience, even if you call in your order ahead of time (which you really should unless you want to wait 30-45 min to eat). It’s no longer amusingly grumpy, but more well-meaning-but-hassled. Hey, if you don’t wanna linger over your beer, order it to go.
Half cheese, half sausage.
The pizza is excellent, with a tender, buttery crust with a pinched thin edge that gives you a nice variety of textures. I think the pie could have used another couple of min. in the oven. The bottom was a bit soft (a frequent occurrence in deep dish). But a tasty cheese blend, and a lightly chunky sauce that wasn’t too sweet. The sausage was a nice garlicky Italian, heavy on the fennel and just a pinch of heat.
Extra credit for cheese, pepper flakes, AND oregano shakers on the table.
A solid 8.5/10.
I’m glad this place can go back into the rotation.
