Giordano's — Restaurant in Chicago

It had been a while since I'd had a Giordano's pie. We took the family there on a busy Tuesday night. We were seated upstairs in the middle of a cavernous, echoing space. There were a couple of large screen TVs to distract, but it was difficult to have a conversation as there was a noisy party nearby that raised the din of the space.

The waiter was a bit dismissive at first and was somewhat off-putting. We ordered drinks, the mozzarella triangles, and family Caesar salad. The soda came right away. Then we waited...

The other drinks didn't come for a while. So long that they were able to make the mozzarella triangles in the downstairs kitchen. Why there? Someone decided that it was smart to close the upstairs kitchen, so servers were running food (and evidently drinks) up and down the stairs. I'm not sure why the drinks had to also wait, but I digress.

The mozzarella triangles were very good, and the mozzarella tasted fresh with their even coating of batter fried golden brown and paired well with the marinara provided. The Caesar salad arrived soon afterward, and it was enough for 5 or 6 people (we only had 4, and only 3 of us ate the salad). It was very good, albeit a bit garlicky for my taste.

The pies take a while to cook. We knew that going in. We ordered 3 pies, a 10" The Special deep dish for 2 of us to share, a 10" pan Margherita, and a personal Fresh Spinach deep dish.

The pies came, and the 10" pan we ordered had turned into a deep dish. The waiter apologized and put the order in for the correct pie. We ate while the other pie was cooking.

All of us agreed, after ordering similar items at Pizzeria Due just two nights before, the pizza at Due was better. The crust at Giordano's, in particular, was relatively flavorless. The pies themselves were passable but just paled in comparison in terms of flavor and structure.

We finished dining as another set of tables was filled with another noisy party on the other side of us that made talking impossible without yelling.

The waiter came back to report that the pan pie that was in the oven had been burned. He redeemed himself a bit by taking the substitute pie off the ticket. Considering we only ate one slice from it, it was the least he could have done.

We probably won't be back anytime soon. There are just too many better options. It's unfortunate as I had better memories of the restaurant and its food than what reality...

Giordano's is the Best Deep Dish Pizza in the world (period). I had to show to our cousins (who just visited) from New York, the best deep dish pizza in which Chicago is famous for. So I told them, I'll bring them to the best one, and I am proud that we didn't get disappointed! (Aside from the service and bad vibes from our waiter Eddie.) If you would like to dine-in especially on Fridays and weekends, you better book your reservation in advanced. This place is always fully booked (that's how popular they are). The manager was very nice greeted us with a smile. She also assisted her team in serving the pizzas to us. (We ordered 3 Deep Dish pizzas (Special, Chicago Style, and Cheese) they're all amazingly delicious. Thank you for acknowledging my request. I really appreciate how the management responded to my reservation request.

The order taking was kinda like awkward though. The waiter came to take our orders. We are ready and I told him our orders. (Buffalo wings, and the 3 pizzas) The waiter said "it's gonna be 45 minutes, is that okay???) So I said smilingly (jokingly) :yes, that's okay, we don't have a choice do we?" I was shocked of (the waiter's) his reply: "Oh, you have a choice! You Can Leave!!" (That's what exactly he said with a tone and arrogantly.). My eyebrows went up passed my forehead (it felt like it.) ;-) (We had a quiet time there for 5 seconds..) So one of our cousins to defuse the situation, he said, "We can order some appetizers!" That's the reason why we ordered another appetizers the Garlic Cheese Bread additional to my previous orders. I also ordered a bottomless pepsi but I only had 1.5 glass because I had to tell our waiter to please refill my bottomless Pepsi many times. It took him a while before he brought the 2nd glass of pepsi and that's when we are about to leave. So I just asked for the bill, and because I appreciate the Giordano's Team for the good job they did (booking and reservation, the manager and some other staff) I gave 23% tip for the Giordano's team, that is not for the tired, and arrogant waiter Eddie in...

I'm sorry, manager, who tried to make it right, but I don't recommend it to anyone. There are many far better pizza places in Chicago. For the sake of future customers, we would like to share exactly what happened to our family during our 2-year-old's birthday celebration — without any exaggeration, only the facts. Due to the late and lukewarm pizza, we had to cancel all our remaining plans for the day.

We placed our pizza order with our server ~ 7:10 PM. We know the time as we used messengers.

By 7:50 PM, the pizza still had not arrived. Our 2-year-old, tired and bored from the long wait, began to get fussy and restless.

During this time, the server never once came to check on our table, although they continued serving other tables.

Other customers received their pizzas, finished their meals, and left. Some even gave us concerned looks.

I personally called the server to ask if the delay was normal.

The server told us that the order was entered ~ 7:30 PM and that the pizza would be ready within 15 minutes, then left.

Feeling that something was clearly wrong, I went to the counter to ask for a manager.

While I was doing so, the server suddenly brought out our pizza, which was lukewarm. We know what a properly hot and freshly made pizza with melty cheese should look and taste like — this was not it.

The manager came to our table and listened to our concerns. I made sure to stay calm and explained the situation clearly, knowing it was not the manager’s direct fault.

The manager kept apologizing and explained that the order ticket might have been reversed. The manager also mentioned that the pizza had extra sauce and cheese and was intentionally not too hot for easier eating. The manager offered a free dessert as compensation.

However, we declined the dessert because it was already too late, and we were no longer in the mood. We quickly packed the pizza, paid the bill, and left. We are not asking for compensation — instead, we are leaving this honest review.

Thank you...