Can You Really Take Coscto's Food Court Pizza 'Hot To Go'?

A certain very catchy pop song aside, the original meaning of "hot to go," of course, refers to a ready-made meal you can pick up and take home to enjoy. It's the ultimate saving grace after a long day at work, where you just can't muster up the energy to cook a meal from scratch. Costco, everyone's favorite massive big box retailer, is all about convenience and time and money savings, so it's perhaps a surprise that there's no universal or guaranteed method for grabbing a "hot to go" Costco food court pizza to take home for dinner.

To bring one of those hot pies home to the fam, your options depend entirely on your Costco store. At some, you'll spot a heated cabinet conveniently stacked with pies in the food court area, ready to be purchased and taken home. You can also try calling ahead and requesting a food court pizza to go to the store later and pick it up. This method, though, is not 100% foolproof, as some who have tried it note that wait times can be hefty depending on the existing queue of pizza orders.

And sadly, no Costco store offers true delivery. For the next best thing, your best bet, though also not entirely reliable, is to take your chances with Instacart.  You can order groceries on the app and hope (ask nicely and tip well!) that your shopper is willing to bring home a pizza for you, along with your Costco pantry staples.

For those lucky enough to have a store that offers it, the Costco hot-and-ready pizza cabinet is a treasure and your clearest path to a Costco pizza dinner night. Often located near the self-checkout section in the food court, this is a hit-or-miss gem, so if you spot it, jump on it. Fans have noted that, though glorious as it may sound, it is not without pitfalls. Pizzas can be wiped clean fast, or if the cabinets are well stocked, you don't know exactly how long they've been sitting under the heat.

Other shoppers have reported spotting Costco employees hovering around the checkout aisle hawking hot-to-go pizzas for sale (to which we say, genius!) Once again, though, this offering is totally store-dependent. When these methods fail, your best bet to enjoy Costco's legendary pizza in the comfort of your own home is, again, likely the hope-and-pray Instacart order method. 

Given all this, you may be left wondering, why doesn't Costco just offer delivery? Though all about modern American convenience in many ways, this isn't the only instance of Costco remaining firmly old-fashioned; just look at its archaic but beloved pen-and-paper cake ordering system. Whether you see it as annoying or charmingly retro, Costco's steadfast dedication to the brick-and-mortar approach doesn't seem to be going anywhere, with Costco's CEO stating its focus remains on getting people into physical stores. And when we're talking about pies this good, it's probably worth the drive.