Best Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Chicago, IL

We love pizza and finally made the trek to Chicago to find what ‘real’ deep dish pizza tastes like. We find San Francisco’s best cannot compare..

Lou Malnati’s, Chicago

7/30/18

Why did we dine here? – Lou Malnati’s is one of the top deep dish pizzeria’s of Chicago. We had to see how good this place is. They have a bunch of locations in the Chicagoland area.

Cuisine – Pizza
Location – Chicago, IL

Verdict – Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza underwhelmed us. We later learned from a local that we should eat at their Downtown location as some of the suburbs cheat and prepare crust ahead of time. Also getting a larger than Personal Sized one will result in better pizza. Their gluten free pizza is good.

Lou Malnati’s Food Picks:
Malnati Salad ($8.95) Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms, Volpi salami bits and gorgonzola cheese with our Sweet Vinaigrette and romano cheese is a sweet salad with lots of crunchy bits. Great if you like this.

The Malnati Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza ($9.25 Personal size) Made with Lou’s lean sausage, some extra mozzarella cheese and vine-ripened tomato sauce on Buttercrust. The crust was very crisp, fairly thin, and not soggy. Crust was not very buttery. The pizza did not have much toppings. It lacked ingredients by being very skimpy on cheese and sausage. Flavors were ok. The ones we have had at Zachary’s in the San Francisco area are more impressive than this spot.

• Never order a Personal Sized Pizza!

Gluten Free Thin Crust Pizza ($10.15+toppings) was also very crispy and pretty good in gluten free pizza terms. Don’t hesitate dining here if you are gluten free.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
None

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None

Do you agree with our review? Have you found other similar restaurants that are better?

Ratings:

Overall rating (Stars) – 2
Food Rating – 2
Service Rating – 2
Atmosphere Rating – 2
Value – 2

Come Back (Y or N or Maybe) – N

Facts:

Street Address with website

Lou Malnati’s
1850 Sherman Ave
Evanston, IL
847-328-5400

Giordano’s, Chicago

7/30/18
Why did we dine here? – Giordano’s is one of the big deep dish pizza restaurants of Chicago. They have more locations than the other guys. We came to compare them to Lou’s. We dined at the location around the corner from the Wills Tower.

Cuisine – Pizza
Location – Chicago

Verdict – Giordano’s

Giordano’s Food Picks:
Starter House Salad ($5.25) was reasonable. Nothing modern, pretty typical.

Chicago Deep Dish ($23.95 small) Pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers & onions takes about 45 minutes. We have heard that some suburban locations have faster pizzas, resulting from pre-cooked crust. (Not good) This one was better than Lou’s. A lot more substantial with ingredient on the bottom and a ton of their runny cheese. Good pep. Crust is not great, with not much flavor or crispiness.

• The personal pizza is too small, we saw it at the table next to us, so even if you are ordering for 1, get the small.

Gluten Free Pizza Cheese ($15.25 small) was not as good as Lou’s. The crust was not crispy, but at least the toppings and sauce were better.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
Cheesy Garlic Bread ($8.45) was a bit too soggy and not very garlicy.

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None

Ratings:

Overall rating (Stars) – 2
Food Rating – 2
Service Rating – 2
Atmosphere Rating – 2
Value – 2

Come Back (Y or N or Maybe) – Maybe

Facts:

Street Address with website

Giordano’s
Central Business Loop
Chicago, IL
312-583-9400

https://www.giordanos.com

Pequod’s Pizza, Chicago

8/3/18

Why did we dine here? – Pequod’s Pizza was recommended by friend as well as several others, so we had to give it a try. We had previously dined at Lou’s and Giordano’s, all in a quest to find great deep dish pizza.

Cuisine – Pizza
Location – Chicago DePaul district

Verdict – Pequod’s Pizza was our best deep dish pizza so far in Chicago. Better than Lou’s or Giordano’s. The pizza had a ton of ingredients and lots of cheese. You can call in advance to place a dine-in order.

Pequod’s Pizza Food Picks:

Pan Pizza ($11.75 for small 10″) Sausage, Pepperoni, Mushroom, Green pepper, Onion ($1.85 each) had their famous caramelized crust with a dark edge. The pizza took about 35-40 minute from ordering. The pizza was chock full of ingredients to the point you could not see the crust or almost the pan.

Really good pepperoni topped this pizza. The edge was not as chewy as Giordano’s or as crispy as Lou’s. The entire pizza is easily good enough for two people.  This  was the best one so far!

We saw a personal pizza and it was not topped out like this one. Order small even if you are 1 person.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
Tossed house salad ($4.80) was pretty average and simple.

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None

Ratings:

Overall rating (Stars) – 2.5
Food Rating – 2.5
Service Rating – 2
Atmosphere Rating – 1.5
Value – 2.5

Come Back (Y or N or Maybe) – Y

Facts:

Street Address with website

Pequod’s Pizza
2207 N Clybourn Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
773-327-1512

https://pequodspizza.com

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