Old Chicago Pizza + Taproom — Restaurant in Chattanooga

(Sunday July 9th 2023 approx. 6:15pm or so) I had not been here in a few year myself, so me and my ex-wife decided to stop in (her first time here). The long and short of it was, the chicken wings were A-1 perfect! The service was also good. Buttt, they didn’t have the pizza dough crust size that I wanted (medium thin). I didn’t know that.. So I said “well can you make one up anyway, I mean it’s just pizza dough..” The waitress said she didn’t know and would get the manager if I liked. I said yes do that. When she walked away I told my ex-wife, that’s the loudest speaking waitress I’ve EVER heard lol! And she agreed. I said everyone in this restaurant including people sitting outside know what we just tried to order!🤣 Manager came along and said they didn’t make medium thin crust, only small or large (like OTHER pizza crust options on the menu, which is definitely a Chicago Pizza size CHOICE error). But, they have DEEPDISH in ALL of the sizes???🤔 Ok… Anyway, I said well it’s just dough, can you make me a medium anyway perhaps? She said they didn’t have the dough proofed etc.. (I was thinking, just put the “proofed large thin crust” in a medium pan and cut away the extra dough, Waaa-Laaa!!) But maybe that was just too difficult of a task and ask of a “pizza parlor..” ROCKET SCIENCE!!🚀😂 So I said politely, no problem but thanks, we’re leaving. So she then graciously said, we can make you a large deepdish instead and charge you for a medium. That sounded enticing but I really wanted a thin crust. And after looking, the large thin crust and large deepdish were both the same exact price anyway, so I said give me thin instead.. But this nice lady manager still would not freaking budge on giving me a large thin crust after going back & forth about it, haha!???? Which was exactly in-tune to what I actually tried to originally order.. I’m trying to cut carbs. I was still about to walk out but since we were hungry I said ok just make the large deepdish, geezzz (I’m thinking) lol.. The wings came out. Then salad (we split). Then the large deepdish came. I ordered Canadian Bacon, Beef, and Mushrooms as toppings, with mozzarella as the cheese. Then the lady manager brings us fresh grated Parmesan cheese! Okkk… She said that she liked cheese so she hooked me up with a bit extra. I was more than gracious and showed my appreciation to her. She was a newer Manager she said when I asked. She even said that she made our pizza herself.. Anyway, we both ate ONE slice each and needless to say, we were immediately full! And being that I was hungry I didn’t pay attention to the pizza as well as I should have, but it was basically pizza dough, sauce, extra cheese, but barely “ANY” of the “real deal,” which is TOPPINGS! CiCi’s pizza puts more meat on their $6 pizzas than what she gave us!!!!😳🤣 Didn’t know this until we got home because of ALL the cheese, so we basically got a SMALL in “toppings” but a LARGE in BREAD and CHEESE!😳 You🫵 “got me!”🤣 I still left a decent tip anyway like always.. But ALWAYS go with your 1st instincts, LEAVE. Still very appreciative that the manager TRIED at least! I’m just a guy on google reviews being truthful and honest about “OUR” experience.. But that pizza was not good at all! Scale of (1-10) I’ll give it a 2, I’m serious. The dough also seemed doughy and not cooked through well.. I would still probably give this place another “go at it” one day in the distant future “if” it’s still around by then.. Because not having pizzas in all sizes is definitely not a good business strategy! She (Mgr) wouldn’t give me a large thin crust for the price of the medium I wanted, NOPE, only a doughy deepdish for you Buddy!!!...

It's a mixed bag.... Here's what you need to know (and I've eaten here many times so this is not a one visit reactive review):

Atmosphere - 4.5 🌟's - It's a great place to go with friends to watch a game and hang out. On days/nights with great weather the large glass doors are opened and creates a great open experience with the outdoor seating connecting with the bar area. They have trivia nights and occasional live music. The live music is hit or miss. One night the guitarist was more noise than entertainment thus the half star knock.

Food & Drinks - 4 🌟's - No doubt there is a wide variety of food and drink options. There's always seasonal additions to the food and drink menus. Salads are very good and hardy. Burgers are good if you get the right one. I did have a hamburger one time which had a sauce that tasted less than pleasing. Pizzas are tasty with different options of crusts. However, as others have said if you are looking for real Chicago pizza it won't be here. This is Old Chicago in name only. But then again, let's be realistic folks, if you want Chicago style pizza it ain't gonna be found in Hixson, TN.

Food Service - 1.5 🌟's - I've been here enough times and one thing's consistent - the time it takes for you to get your food/drinks. Here's the deal, if I'm there watching a 2 to 3 hour game I'm not so concerned about how fast my food comes out. I'm there for the long haul. But if I'm there with my 9 year old son on a slow Monday night, I'd like for it not to take an hour from the time we sit down to the time we get our food. And we ordered quickly. We walked in and sat down at 7:15, food came at 8:15 (my order was incorrect so it had to be refixed) and we didn't get out of there until 8:50. Yet this was not the first time it took too long to get our food. It has happened on multiple occasions and has happened more times than not. And this is not dependent upon how busy they are either. So if you are in a rush or need to be somewhere after dinner avoid this place like the plague. You won't make it! You will be late! You have been warned!

Servers - 3 🌟's - Each time I've had an issue with my food (wrong order or bad tasting burger) the server or the manager have been nothing but nice and willing to make it right. I have also been nice about it too so that helps. (Don't be jerks people, we're all doing this life thing together.) Even when things have gone well (except for that danged slow food service) every server has been nice and usually on top of refills and such. They get 3 stars because we have had the wrong order put in on more than one occasion. And the servers there don't know the difference between a fresh jalapeño and a pickled jalapeño. I've asked multiple times if they had fresh jalapeños and each time I've been told yes. And each time they've been pickled jalapeños. Know your stuff people.

Bottom line is that it's nice to have something different in Hixson to choose from but those service times have got to shorten up. Enjoy and remember, life's too short to be miserable...

Our last 4 visits at Chicago Pizza in Hixson, TN. St. Patrick's day, 3/17/17, chicken instead of garlic in my pasta. I was hungry since it takes a while to get our food, as normal. Ate chicken which me, being a vegetarian, completely disgusted me and made me sick. Server was made aware. No manager came to see us, all we got was a sorry, we can take it off your check. Yeah, I'm not eating, that was assumed I would not pay for it.

My husband called the following Monday and talked to a manager at length. We were sent an email providing us our next visit was free. We went back at some point in April. Everything was perfect, I believe we had the best server at that restaurant, Carly (spelling?). Two managers came and talked to us. Truly was a great experience.

3rd experience, 9/23/17. My pizza was wrong, yes, it was remade and we were able to keep the one that was incorrect but still, order was wrong. We had Carly again as our server.

FINAL visit at Chicago Pizza, at least this location. Ever. 10/14/17. We sat at the bar, restaurant was pretty slow for a Saturday night. We ordered drinks and an appetizer. Everything was going smoothly. Order was placed. After all of this, another couple came down and sat beside us. They ordered pizza. Their food arrived. They ate, we still did not have our food--two orders of macaroni and cheese. I did not think it took over 30 minutes to make two macaroni and cheese so we asked about our food. The bartender comes back with a manager saying they are out of the white cheese sauce that was going to be used on my husband's food. Seriously? No one told us after over half an hour? What was going to happen, we just sat there all night without anyone saying a word? Manager apologized, said our food was going to be comped etc. THEN, surprise! Our food comes out. And apparently they were NOT out of the white cheese sauce because that was on my husband's food. So we waited over half an hour to be told they were out of a product that magically reappeared? Give me a break. I've served before, most likely, for whatever reason, our food was not made and then we were lied to about being out of a product. Manager gave us a card for 2 free entrees. Yeah, those will be used, but not by us. I really do love your food. It is great for me as a vegetarian, there are so many options! But this is pathetic. 75% of the time our order has been messed up.

This is unacceptable for any business to have such a...