Well here we go with the pizzas again, as I apparently have some need to try all of them (with the exception of the recently offered Philly Cheesesteak pizza, which made me gag at the mere thought of it; I couldn’t bring myself to pay $9 just to hate it, so I didn’t).  This one, however, has a bit of history with my wife and I, because it’s one of the few Mama Cozzi’s take and bakes that we absolutely hated.  So why try it again?  That was at least two years ago, and taste buds, as well as Aldi’s recipes change, so we opted to give it another go.

As the title implies, this pizza replaces the typical tomato sauce found on pizzas, with barbecue.  We were absolutely huge fans of this tradeoff for their Hawaiian take and bakes, which we couldn’t get enough of.  Even though this is technically that exact same pizza, only with chicken replacing pineapple, I wasn’t as crazy about it here, though part of it might have been due to reading off the ingredient list before eating it.  Don’t do that, or else you’ll find the chicken in question is chicken rib meat, along with “natural flavors” and “chicken powder”.  That’s disgusting.

Of course, modern science has advanced to the point that it looks, and tastes, just like a normal chicken, but I must confess to being a little disappointed to find that it‘s not.  I was also expecting a sweeter barbecue…it didn’t taste the same to me as the addicting stuff used in the Hawaiian pizza, though to be fair, it’s very possible that the sweetness from the pineapple only added to that.  On its own, with partially fake chicken, I didn’t think it was nearly as memorable.

Those two quibbles aside, the Gouda cheese that tops it all off is really, really good, and compliments everything nicely.  I’m not usually one for cheese, but I could have just eaten nothing but sauce with the Gouda, and that’s saying a lot.  I thought it was really fantastic (a though that my wife concurred with). The crust, which I burned, also tasted better than usual, and the crispiness was a welcome addition to the pizza.   Honestly, these two things really carried the pizza for me, and are responsible for pretty much its entire score.

So this review is kind of bittersweet in a way:  While it put to rest the godawful memories I had of this pizza, it still wasn’t really all that great.  I would technically get it again in the future, but given the number of excellent take and bake pizzas Aldi offers, both as special buys, and as part of their year ‘round lineups, it’s safe to say this one will probably get lost in the shuffle for a little while.

Overall: 6/10.  While it’s way better than I remember it being, it’s still not one of my favorite of Aldi’s take and bake pizzas, a category that I am sadly becoming an expert in.  The Gouda cheese is fantastic, as is the crust, but the partially fake chicken pieces mixed with an average barbecue sauce just really didn’t do it for me.  Still, if you end up picking this up, you could do far worse.