Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsCheck size of actual cooking surface for your needs and do your own quality control.
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2020
First off, I own several Lodge products including the 13 inch pan and the 14 inch pizza pan. I love the pizza pan and have used and abused it for everything from pizza to naan and other breads as well as roast vegetables, etc. Never disappoints! The 13 inch pan is also useful but is warped and doesn't sit flat on my glass cook top, very annoying! Don't know when or how that happened. All of my lodge products have come with rough surface (don't know if that's intentional? ) and I have found them challenging to season. Also, they all have fairly prominent seams on the handles from the casting process which I find uncomfortable in the hand, especially how heavy they are. I've been tempted to grind and sand them down so they have that satisfying feel of a couple vintage non- lodge pans I own.
So, to the 10.5 inch griddle. Haven't cooked with it yet but know what to expect. Out of the box, there are sizable chinks of missing iron along a roughly 6 inch section, evidently from the casting process. This is not the first time I've seen this with lodge, based in handling in stores, e.t.c. One other thing I'll point out is that the actual cooking surface of the griddle is more like 9.5 inches vs the 10.5 inch overall diameter. This may be standard in the industry, but I was expecting a full 10.5 inch cooking surface since I'm virtually always cooking for more than one person and need to put out high volume quicky. That being said, it should work fine for average size crepes, tortillas, omelets, pancakes, e.t.c. Bottom line, due to my misunderstanding of size and the quality defects noted, this one will be going back to its maker. Overall, I recommend Lodge products to the budget minded cook willing to be diligent about proper seasoning/ handling. You get what you pay for in this case.
