Pizano's Pizza & Pasta — Restaurant in Chicago

Though this restaurant is not in New Jersey, I just had to post a review on it. My girlfriend and I were in Wisconsin for a wedding and out flight out was cancelled so we had to scramble last minute and got a flight out of Chicago early the next morning. After driving to our hotel, we decided to go into the city to see the Chicago Bean (or more correctly known as the Cloud Gate). While in the city, we decided it would be sacrilegious if we did not try a true Chicago Deep Dish pizza. After a bit of research and a desire not to walk or drive far, we settled on Pizano's, a fairly large pizzeria only a block from the park. The interior was busy with customers and waitstaff. There were photographs that adorned the walls and the seats were very comfortable. The pizzeria also housed a bar and several TVs where people could watch the latest sports games. Everything felt very authentic. The waiter informed us that the deep dish would take about 45 minutes to reach our table and, at first, I thought this was because of the high population in the restaurant. It wasn't until later that I realized that truly fantastic deep dish pizzas take a longer time to cook than the New York style I'm used to.

Now before seeing or trying the pizza, I have always joked with people that New York Style pizza is the dominant pizza style in the US. I always joked that Chicago Deep Dish was just a cheese casserole. After seeing and tasting the delicious creation brought to the table, I still think Chicago Deep Dish is a cheese casserole, but it is a delicious one at that. The cheese was so molten, it strung right off the slice as I cut it. The sauce was rich and tangy, but also slightly spicy. The crust was thick and fluffy, but crispy on the outside. This pizza was extremely filling and extremely satisfying. I was worried, at first, that we wouldn't get one of the better, authentic Deep Dish pizzas the area is known for, but after tasting this pie, I know that we made no mistake going to Pizano's. While I am not a local from the area and I don't argue that there are likely even better locations to enjoy Chicago Deep Dish, my girlfriend and I were definitely not disappointed with the pie we got. And though I'm still partial to New York Style, I definitely won't be so hard on Chicago Deep Dish...

Pizano’s Pizza is, especially the East Madison location, MY PIZZA PLACE!!! I've been living out in the middle of nowhere Texas for 10 yrs. The first thing I do when I come back to Chicago 》》》Pizano’s Pizza downtown. MY CITY, MY PEOPLE, MY PIZZA 💞💞💞

I love all the Chicago sports jerseys and photos at Pizano’s. The last time that I wore my Blackhawks jersey, in Boerne Texas, I was waiting to have new tires put on my van. I was told, in no uncertain terms, THAT I WAS NOT WELCOME THERE BECAUSE I DID NOT COME FROM 7 GENERATIONS BEHIND ME😳 soooo it makes it only that much more sweeter when I surround myself with MY BLACKHAWKS, MY PEOPLE, MY CITY, MY PIZZA!!!

On this visit, the host, a young man, made my chianti, salad and deep dish Mark's special that much more memorable. I really appreciated his positive, get-'er-done spirit. There was a hiccup in service. He cheerfully stepped in and ..... got-'er-done. He did NOT say, "That's not my job," thus I had a 5 ⭐️ experience. Thank you, sir!

On that note ("that's not my job"), I stayed at the Hampton Majestic that night before taking the Amtrak Texas Eagle back home. I usually take the emergency stairwell down after checking into hotel rooms to make sure I know how to get out in the event of an emergency and to ensure it meets safety codes. Can't tell you how many times they do NOT meet safety codes. This one was terrifying. TERRIFYING. I got to the bottom and could not get out. Body slammed the door THREE times. Went up a floor .... exit blocked and door LOCKED. Walked up to the 3rd floor. Exit blocked but was able to open that door. WHAT A PANIC!!! I stopped at CFD Engine # 1 fire house the next morning on the way to the train station to report it .... get it corrected ASAP. Too much detail but there was WAAAAAY more wrong with that EMERGENCY EXIT. What was I told by the CFD SEVERAL times??? "THAT'S NOT OUR JOB." 😲😲😲 Me: So if someone dies in that stairwell, then it's your job???" CFD RESPONSE: Yes

Do you think Pizano’s host should be...

When we met Chach, he told us that every Tuesday after 9 college students get free pizza and dessert. Obviously we took up this offer, the first time we were only charged for appetizers. The second time we were charged for appetizers and drinks and we hadn’t realized Chach charged us another about 50% tip. Third time, we got one appetizer everyone got waters, and one sprite, we came with the intent of not spending any money because we were told we’d get free pizzas and dessert. The times before we’ve had Chach as a waiter, he made us incredibly uncomfortably, calling us hotties, touching our shoulders, holding our hands, and saying weird and creepy stuff mind you we are all 18 while Chach is in his 70’s. He’s also secretly selling his own patches that say “the chach” on it for $25 which I assume is against their policy because he told us to hide the patches when he showed us them. When we received our receipt, our total was $48.56 and Chach automatically added a “20%” tip, making our total $77. If you do the math correctly 20% of $48.56 is $9.71. We were also charged for 8 drinks while we got 6 waters and one sprite. When we confronted both Chach and the manager about this we were constantly interrupted, when we mentioned Chach’s odd behavior, such as false advertising, making a weird comment about my friends race, and being very creepy and making us incredibly uncomfortable the manager said “How dare you say that about Chach” and claimed Chach wasn’t a “normal waiter”. It seems that Chach can get away with scamming and utter creepiness because of his “reputation”. We understand that we received a “good deal” but we were under the impression that we weren’t paying for anything but the appetizers and the one sprite we got or else we wouldn’t have come. Chach also put his own cinnamon in our desert the second time we went which is against health violations. I would stay farrr away from this shady establishment, there are so many better restaurants in Chicago, go...