Pequod's Pizza — Restaurant in Chicago

I ate at Pequod's Pizza-Chicago around 3:30pm on Christmas Day. Pequod's GM, Sean Asbra, was working the front line at the host stand coordinating guest seating and all restaurant reservations were spoken for from 11am-9pm, But, Sean was able to find me the last spot remaining at the bustling bar. He was also busy directing to-go orders brought to the front, checking those orders and sending mistakes back to be fixed immediately, as well as tending to impatient awaiting holiday guests and interacting with his employees. Did I mention that four employees called in for their evening shift? The downstairs bar rail was closed at 5:30 due to lack of servers. How could the employees not respect their GM's work ethic? Impressive leadership! Rock star stuff.

I was greeted by a sweetheart server - Jenny - that I noticed called all of her guests "love." Nice touch. The bar rail was filled with guys watching football and a local regular introduced as Paul. Jenny knew her crowd and how to accommodate. This charm and knowledge has likely grown in Jenny's 10 years working at Pequod's. She was very prompt with drink inquiries and subsequent delivery, as well as meal inquiry. She also reminded me that once I ordered my pizza it would take about 40 minutes to arrive to my seat. I ordered my large pan pizza with sausage, pepperoni, mushroom and onion. It arrived much quicker - less than 30. In that time I had a nice conversation with Paul and Jenny about founder Burt Katz and the history of Pequod's. The signature caramelized crust. Burt being an intense guy of short stature that lost his daughter to cancer at a young age. And some guests' time expectations for Pequod's more complicated pizza that takes time to make and bake.

My pizza arrived piping hot with a delicious aroma waffling off the well-constructed masterpiece. My server kindly offered to serve my first slice, a Pequod's tradition. However, I prefer to let deep dish pizza pizza rest, so when the slice is cut, the volcanic hot cheese and toppings don't slide off the sauce. That becomes a deconstructed lasagna. This pizza was out of this world! Perfect ratio of toppings, housemade hearty tomato sauce, and ohhhh that signature caramelized crust. That amazing caramelized crust - a layer of mozzarella cheese placed all the way around the well-seasoned black cast iron pan between the housemade dough, forming a crispy and crunchy cheese wall. It was even more awesome than I had remembered!

Do yourself a favor and eat your pizza at the restaurant. It makes a world of difference. Not that a boxed Pequod's pizza isn't delicious - IT IS - but you lose some magic when any pizza hits a box. The crisp. The box can can result in a soggy pizza if it sits too long. You can't blame the restaurant when you carry out or opt for delivery. This place is special! But...don't tell anyone else. I want to be able to get a pizza next time I'm in town. :)

Great Christmas memory, Pequod's!...

Soooo disappointed! The absolute worst NO CUSTOMER SERVICE experience for me ever! A complete lack of care for the customer. They don’t say it verbally but their actions are… “our pizza is really good so we don’t have to care about you” .

We had planned a late night reservation for two and Urbered over in the rain. Walked in and the place was packed with about a dozen others in line to check in at the hostess stand or milling about… waiting.

After about 15 minutes we were greeted by a semi attentive not very caring hostess. She checked us in and said we had about another 20 minute wait. Not liking the lack of customer service vibe at all, yet hungry, we decided to give it a try. The hostess confirmed my cell and said she would send a text when our table was ready.

So, we, like a group of about 10 others, stepped into reservation purgatory, crowded in the front of the restaurant. With rain coming down outside. After about 5 minutes we noticed two seats at the bar so we took them.

It took us close to 10 minutes to be acknowledged by the bartender with a greeting of. “Did the hostess sit you here?” He bounced us out of the seats saying they were for people “with reservations”! (Like us but not like us I guess?)

30 minutes in now, we decided to leave. Good food? Who knows. Horrible care for the customer in our experience? 100% YES!

Google said the bar right next store, Becks, had a 4.7 so we scampered in there through the rain.

I asked our waiter at Becks how many people come in his place because of Pequods? He laughed and said “Oh, about 78%”. They don’t care about customer service.

Well, we had a burger and wings. Good food AND good customer service! Oh, and remember we are right next store to Pequods. The text message about our table being ready? It NEVER came! Wow!

Based on our experience, I believe that Pequods secret is its crapshoot if you get a meal when you show up. We weren’t the only ones walking out the door. They have to fix or cancel their reservation system all together. I’m curious to see how this business does...

We were in town for a friends birthday and she wanted some Chicago Deep dish. We searched all over the internet and got the usual main 4 pizza places. We hit up a friend who lives in town and they recommended Pequod’s. It was a little drive north of downtown but totally worth it! We’re not from Chicago and aren’t versed when it comes to deep dish but we all enjoyed our experience and even had a person in our party who didn’t care for deep dish but even they said it was great and changed their view on deep dish.

We sat upstairs and had a reservation. Not sure how busy it can get but to be safe grab a reservation. We started with fried zucchini and the garlic cheesy bread. The zucchini reminded me of fried pickles without the tart zing of a pickle. The breading was nice and crunchy with a tender center. They were super good! The cheesy garlic bread was good as well. It came with a marinara sauce that I assumed is used for the pizza and it was some of the best marinara I’ve had. Slightly chunky with a sweet after taste, and a flavorful tomato punch! The bread was super soft with gooey mozzarella on top. We ordered 2 medium pizzas for 5 people and we had a lot of leftovers. The sauce is on the bottom with the toppings on top. Like I mentioned we’re not experts on deep dish but my goodness was it good! A crispy crust with a nice crunch, “burnt” cheese on the back of the crust that touched the pan that was an extra flavor shot! One of our pizzas was just cheese and pepperoni and the other was sausage, pepperoni, green onion, fresh garlic, mushroom and onions. Be careful when adding toppings because each additional topping is an extra charge. Veggies looked to be $2.95 per additional and meat was $3.95 per additional. Our “deluxe” pizza was $50! Well worth it but FYI. The medium pizzas have 6 slices and the large have 8 slices. Like I said we had 5 people and got 2 medium, I believe we had 5 slices left. Come hungry and you might be able to eat 2 slices, they’re super filling! Go...