There are a lot of things that make Costco’s shopping experience unique. The food courts in the warehouses are definitely one of them. Costco’s food court items generally offer great value – so much so that the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo has become famous. The future of the $1.50 hot dog has been the subject of a number of news articles like this one and there’s even a story floating around about how one of Costco’s co-founders and former CEOs threatened his successor for suggesting they needed to raise the price!
I’ve tried every item on the Costco food court menu in Canada and the U.S. If you’re wondering which ones are the must-buys and which ones you should skip, you’ve come to the right place!
1/4 Pound All Beef Hot Dog and 20 Ounce Soda
Location
USA and Canadian food courts.
Cost
$1.50 USD and CAD for a pretty large hot dog and a 20 ounce soda with refills allowed! This is probably the best deal you can get anywhere for a hot dog and drink. Canadians actually get an even better deal since the combo is only $1.50 in Canada – that’s like $1.10 USD!
Taste
When we unwrapped the hot dog it was piping hot, which is a good thing! The hot dog itself was pretty tasty. I suggest checking out my review for the Kirkland Signature All Beef Wieners which is the same sausages they use in their hot dogs. The bun seems very fresh and is nice and soft. I don’t love hot dogs and I normally wouldn’t order them but this was really good.
Rating: 9/10
Chicken Bake
Location
USA food courts.
Cost
$3.99 USD.
Taste
The first thing I noticed about the chicken bake is how huge it is. It’s very crispy on the outside and was also really warm and hot when we got it. The texture is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
The filling has a nice amount of cheese and Caesar dressing and the chicken was tender and moist. There wasn’t a ton of bacon though and overall the chicken bake is pretty doughy. The chicken bakes from the food court are much tastier than the frozen Kirkland Signature Chicken Bakes I’ve reviewed.
Rating: 7/10
Pizza
Location
USA and Canadian food courts.
Cost
$1.99 USD per slice or $2.59 CAD per slice. $9.99 USD or $12.99 CAD for an 18-inch whole pizza.
Taste
Cheese
There’s no shortage of cheese on this pizza! It’s totally loaded with cheese and doesn’t have a ton of sauce. It’s pretty greasy and I found the texture a bit soggy in the middle. Overall it’s pretty good. I think Costco has a good oven that makes the crust really tasty.
Rating: 7.5/10
Pepperoni
Wow this pizza is greasy but pretty tasty (especially if you’re really hungry). There’s a lot of pepperoni on it as well as lots of cheese. I think it’s extra greasy because it’s got grease coming from both the pepperoni and cheese. I like that the pepperoni is pretty mild and not too spicy. The overall flavor is somewhere in between a frozen pizza and a takeout pizza.
Rating: 7.5/10
Double Chocolate Chunk Cookie
Location
USA and Canadian Costco food courts.
Cost:
$2.49 USD or $3.49 CAD for one giant, warm chocolate chunk cookie.
Taste
This was my favorite thing we tried at the Costco food court in Kona, Hawaii. The cookie is gigantic, and it’s served warm so it’s all melty and gooey in the middle. The balance of chocolate chips and cookie dough is perfect, the cookie isn’t too sweet. The texture of the cookie is soft but also a bit crunchy on the edges. The flavor is similar to the chocolate chunk cookies you buy in the bakery but this is a larger, thicker version.
Rating: 10/10
Rotisserie Chicken Caesar Salad
Location
USA food courts.
Cost
$6.99 USD.
Taste
This was really hard to get! Often when we went to Costco they were sold out and it took fours trips to Costco before it was available. When we got the salad it was missing croutons which was a bit disappointing. There’s a general amount of all-white cold chicken and a huge packet of dressing. The lettuce is nice and fresh with a moderate amount of cheese on it. The quality of chicken seemed pretty good and we only found one gristly piece.
Rating: 6/10
Frozen Latte
Location
USA food courts.
Cost
$2.99 USD.
Taste
This is so good! It’s very sweet and creamy and refreshing. It’s like drinking coffee ice cream and it has almost a mocha flavor. It totally reminds me of a Tim Hortons Iced Cappuccino with a strong coffee chocolate flavor.
Rating: 9/10
Cold Brew Mocha Freeze
Location
USA food courts.
Cost
$2.99 USD.
Taste
The mocha freeze is the same as the frozen latte but with chocolate sauce added. It’s a bit sweeter with a more chocolate flavor, the syrup doesn’t make a huge difference. Honestly I’d rather have the frozen latte over this and I love chocolate.
Rating: 7.5/10
Fruit Smoothie
Location
USA food courts.
Cost
$2.99 USD.
Taste
This smoothie has a strong berry flavor and isn’t too sweet, it’s actually a bit tart! There are real chunks of berries in the smoothie and it tastes just like berries, ice and sugar have been thrown into a blender. It doesn’t taste like there’s any yogurt or ice cream added. The texture is a bit grainy and crunchy from the ice and berries.
Rating: 8/10
Ice Cream Sundae
Location
USA food courts.
Cost
$2.49 USD.
Taste
There are a ton of different combinations of sundaes and we didn’t try them all. We had vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce.
The vanilla soft serve with chocolate syrup was very sweet and the ice cream was soupy so it wasn’t as enjoyable. There’s a lot of chocolate sauce but I don’t find the sauce that amazing, it’s okay, not great. I think the chocolate sauce kind of overwhelms the natural flavor of vanilla.
Rating: 7.5/10
The vanilla soft serve with strawberry syrup had actual chunks of berries that added texture and flavor. I like the strawberry sauce better than the chocolate cause and find the strawberry sauce with vanilla soft serve tastes less artificial than the strawberry ice cream. The berry sauce sinks a bit to the bottom so it’s a good idea to scoop it up with your spoon.
Rating: 8/10
Ice Cream Cup
Location
USA food courts.
Cost
$2.49 USD.
Taste
There are two kinds of soft serve, vanilla and strawberry.
Vanilla
It’s a really nice soft serve texture. It looks melty but the texture is firm. It’s very creamy with a tasty vanilla flavor. It’s not too sweet and is pretty refreshing. Rating: 8/10.
Strawberry
This has a nice mild strawberry flavor, sweet but not overly so. There aren’t any seeds in the ice cream and I found the overall flavor a bit artificial tasting so it wasn’t my favorite.
Rating: 7/10
Chicken Strips and Fries
Location
Canadian food courts.
Cost
$6.99 Canadian
Taste
Chicken Strips and Fries – This combo comes with four good-sized chicken strips and nearly as many fries as a stand-alone order. The chicken strips come out crispy, but soften if you wait to eat them, so they’re definitely best fresh. They’re nicely seasoned – quite salty with a tiny bit of pepper that adds a mild heat. The quality of the chicken seems quite good.
Rating: 7/10 for just the chicken strips (not the fries)
Fries
Location
Canadian food courts.
Cost
$2.99 Canadian
Taste
The fries are crispy and fairly light. They seem more processed than some other fries I’ve had. They have some sort of coating on the outside. I’m not sure if it’s seasoning or just intended to add texture and crunch. I think probably more the latter as the fries are very plain flavor-wise. They just have a normal salty flavor, and even the salt is kind of lacking – I think I’d like a little bit more. The fries are essentially mediocre frozen French fries that get a boost from being cooked in a deep fried.
Rating: 6/10
Poutine
Location
Canadian food courts.
Cost
$5.99 Canadian
Taste
Poutine – The fries are the same as all the other food court fries, but they come with gravy and cheese curds. You can also buy the gravy and cheese curds as separate add-ons. This dish is super messy! Our container had a fair amount of gravy on the outside and left a wet mark wherever you put it down. There’s a pretty generous amount of gravy and cheese curds on a big container of fries. It turns soggy pretty quickly, so you’re definitely best off eating it fresh in the store. The gravy is pretty mild, but salty. I’m not a big gravy person, but it goes well with the fries. The cheese curds are also mild; they’re basically like mozzarella cheese.
Rating: 7/10
Ice Cream Cone
Location
Canadian food courts.
Cost
$2.89 Canadian
Taste
We got a twist cone which is combination of the vanilla soft serve and chocolate soft serve swirled together. You taste mainly the chocolate but it’s a mild chocolate flavor. The ice cream is creamy, sweet and soft. The cone is delicious! It’s sweet, pretty crunchy and just a generally tasty waffle cone.
Rating: 8/10
Top Costco Food Court Recommendations
I have a few favorite Costco food court finds after trying everything I could get my hands on at the food court in both the US and Canada! I highly recommend the all beef hot-dog because it’s ridiculously cheap and also tasty and filling. I also like the pizza because you get a giant slice of pizza that can be cut into two pieces to share with your kid or partner and the pizza isn’t bad for the price!
I also absolutely love the double chocolate chunk cookie and ice cream. I honestly wouldn’t mind having dinner at home and then heading to Costco for a cookie and ice cream for dessert!
Canadian Costco Food Court Versus the US Costco Food Court
Both the Canadian and US Costco food courts sell hot dogs, pizza, ice cream and the double chocolate chunk cookies. Canada does not carry the caesar salad, chicken bake, smoothie or frozen latte.
The US Costco food court does not carry fries, poutine or any chicken strips. I don’t have a preference between the US or Canada food courts because I feel like they both offer the foods I like best.
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product)
I used to love Costco’s ice cream sundae after shopping, but lately it’s been going down hill. This afternoon’s was the worst. It tasted like it had freezer burn, slightly different color and not as soft, and a big hole in the center of the cup. Very disappointing.
One time I went to costco and my dad insisted that we eat first, so we went to the food court and ordered Ice cream sundaes. Little did I know, that was one of the worst decisions I’ve probably made. When we printed our receipt, it was all messed up but my dad and I just thought it was a bug, nothing else. We waited over 20 minutes for our order, but it never got prepared. My dad insisted on going up to the counter and confront the cashier about it. I told him just to wait a little bit, “I’m sure our order would be ready soon.” Though we waited another 5 minutes and our order still wasn’t ready. So my dad went up to the cashier and asked her why our order isn’t ready yet. The cashier said it wasn’t printed out fully, she asked one of her co-workers to check the order but they never ended up checking the order. By that time my dad and I were angry about how they messed up a lot of peoples orders. They never refilled the printing paper even though a customer already brought it up. They never checked our order either. So we had to go up to the person who was asked to check out order. She told us she would check it out now. After a couple minutes of waiting and total order chaos, we finally got our sundaes. When we sat down and ate our sundaes I thought nothing of it. I just complained to my dad about how bad the customer service was. He agreed with me fully. After, when we were done eating, we went to go grab ingredients for my mom. As we walked down the aisles, my stomach felt a little queasy. I thought nothing of it and continued to shop. Though my stomach was filled with air. After, we went to go checkout our items, my stomach was growling. It was like it was sending me a warning. But, then again, I thought nothing of it. I just thought that I needed to let some gas out. As we loaded all our stuff into the car, it happened again, Another growl. I asked my dad where we were headed next once he started the car. “Walmart,” he said. It took about 10 minutes until we arrived at our destination. Walmart, my favorite place. Well at least I thought it was.
When I got inside, i kept farting. I told my dad I needed to use the washroom. He said he would wait for me so I ran to bathroom, hoping to hold my farts in. I could feel the Ice cream digesting fast. I could feel a volcano about to erupt. I clenched my buttcheeks together hoping that would prevent the volcano. When i arrived at the washroom, I dashed to a stall, pulled my pants down and questioned every decision I’ve made. I could feel a hot, liquidy sensation coming down like lava. I was scared to look down. My butt was burning, It just wouldn’t stop coming out. At that moment I heard a group of people coming in. “Oh no,” I mumbled to myself. How the heck am I supposed to stop the liquidy hot smelly sensation from escaping this hell hole. All you could hear was the toilets water splashing every second. I tried my best to contain the disaster but oh boy, the stall was like a sauna. The entire washroom was like all the garbage in the world compressed together. I gave up on trying to contain all that poo together. So I decided I would let the whole thing rip. I flushed the toilet and pushed out all I could. I grunted and grunted through that journey and finally after 10 minutes of unbearable suffering. It stopped. Luckily, the group of people who were in there left. So I could finally come out of the washroom acting like nothing happened. I felt so much better after that. My stomach was in relief., my buttocks felt relaxed. And I felt so much happier.
Ahhhhh you made my day , Just one question … if you and your father ate same ice cream … why didn`t he also get sick and ice cream doesn`t usually burn . I found you story inspirational . I thought you were gonna say you reached Walmart bathroom and all stalls were occupado and you had to resort to using a sink . Now that would have been a mess and a sight .
B.S.! THIS FAKE STORY NEVER HAPPENED!
I’d like to know what kind of oil the Costco food court in Burlington, Ontario uses to cook their fries. If anyone could tell me that’d be great. Thank you
I have the same question, thank you!
I asked one of the Langford, BC food court attendants and he responded granola oil.
canola* oil.
The only problem I figured was that they fry the chicken and the fries in the same oil which was so contaminated for me because I don’t eat chicken and that was the Scarborough branch.
Are there any items gluten free?? If the fries are indeed cavendish they contain wheat and barley. Would be nice to have a gluten free option. They dont offer salads at the Canadian central costcos
I know! They need a good salad or even a chili or soup option.
I don’t like the ice cream. Too artificial tasting for me, but then I’m comparing it to what I make at home so perhaps that’s not a fair comparison. I really wish they had a healthier option. I seldom eat anything there anymore and if I do, it’s the chicken wings. They used to have a really nice salad with chicken and cranberries. I was sad when they took it off the menu.
It is not yogurt at the Food Court. It is ice cream. I really enjoy the ciabatta sandwich And the wings.
I like the chocolate yogurt at the food court the U.S. I thought the yogurt in Canada was ice cream, so I don‘t eat it here. I am wondering if your reports are about Canadian Costco’s. Thank you for the great job you do on the food reviews.