Pizza Villa — Restaurant in DeKalb Township

A friend, his wife, and their two young kids were in from out of town. We all wanted to get some dinner and a couple of beers for Dad and me, who weren't driving. It was 8:30pm on a Monday night, a super dead spot for a meal out in DeKalb any more these days. We ended up at Pizza Villa and it was for the best - World Famous and Stanley's was a ghost town and I wasn't even sure how welcome kids would be there had the kitchen even been open (as advertised on Google Maps). It was Dad's first choice for pizza and beer (mine too).

We arrived a bit after 8:30pm at Pizza Villa, I darted in to ask the lady at the counter if they would still seat us for dine in. They noted the closing time but still welcomed us in. The balcony was closed but the small seating area beneath "the Clown" was still open. The Clown was operational and faithfully flipping away and we were warned that he may upset the small children. The 5 year old slept like a corpse the ENTIRE time we were there. The 10 month old ate heartily but was indeed both slightly terrified and mesmerized by the clown. He soon quit looking over his shoulder out of concern for the clown and became mesmerized by the garlic parmesan beer nuggets cut into 10 or more tiny pieces by Dad. I think he was jealous of me greedily dipping whole ones in steaming marinara and scarfing them, washed down with tasty Byer's Lager poured from the pitcher.

The pizza surprised me. My friends from California picked the fixings - 18" Pepperoni and (Black, at my insistence) Olives with white sauce (?!), thin crust. Crust edge was buttery and crispy, pizza was piping hot, a little greasy and floppy in the middle, but oh so good.

We took our time catching up and the friendly staff patiently let us take our time as they packed up, checking back just frequently enough to make sure we had everything we needed and wish us a good night and how to please leave through the fire exit since they were closing down for the night.

The ordering at the front and then getting your drinks from the server seems a little odd but honestly it was a perfect dinner out for 3, plus 2 kids, for around $50 with both substantial food and beer leftover (sadly I couldn't get the pitcher remnants to go but it was time to leave). It was affirming to see their system still firing on all cylinders after all these years even late on an otherwise off night for DeKalb, faithfully flipping pizzas like their motorized clown doing backwards back flips. Both seem a little odd but they haven't changed it because it just reliably works.

These selections this night may have been the best Pizza, beer nuggets and beer I have had there to date. Now, I did skip lunch, but everything just fell into place. They made us all feel very much at home on an off-night and brought their A-game at the end of the night, which I truly appreciate. I did notice several to go orders get picked up as well, so think of Pizza Villa on those lonely Monday nights, they did us right.

Oh, and my friend's keen-eyed wife pointed out the (inactive) hornet nest hanging up above the fire exit. Never noticed...

$15 for the worst chicken "alfredo" I've ever had, if you can even call it that. Very disappointing. It's basically spaghetti with some butter and garlic... should be called garlic spaghetti. The chicken itself was good so I'd imagine the chicken parm is good. Their other food is ok, the sausage pizza is some of the best in town... but to charge $15 for chicken "alfredo" is criminal.

I don't leave reviews often and feel bad giving 1 star, but people need to know to avoid their chicken "alfredo" it is awful. It shouldn't even be on the menu, it's not alfredo and they use spaghetti noodles. So if you're going to get Pizza Villa, do NOT get their chicken "alfredo", try something else.

Edit:

Response from owner:

"Alfredo is a type of sauce it doesn’t have to be the noodle. I’m sorry you didn’t like it we actually sell quite a bit of it. Glad you enjoyed the pizza."

Reply to owner:

I'm well aware that alfredo is a type of sauce and the menu doesn't explicitly state the type of noodle used. The standard is fettuccini. Using spaghetti noodles would be fine if the "sauce" was actually alfredo. Hence why I said "...it's not alfredo 'and' they use spaghetti noodles" because I differentiated between the two. Alfredo can be used with any noodle. Actually when I got the dish and saw it was spaghetti noodles I didn't mind, I thought that's interesting, but no big deal. Unfortunately it just didn't taste like alfredo... at all. The main point of my review is that I've had chicken alfredo from many restaurants and non restaurants and it is the worst I've ever had. I wouldn't even call it alfredo or "sauce" for that matter. It was more like spaghetti with some butter and garlic.

There isn't much competition for chicken alfredo in the DeKalb area. I'd be curious to know how many people get the alfredo a second time after they've tried it, I'd imagine not many. For a restaurant that rightfully should be held to a high standard they need to improve their alfredo. Just be honest and acknowledge the chicken alfredo just isn't that good (not to me, to yourselves) and improve it, seeing that it's a key menu item for $15 and doesn't compare to the standard of the other menu items available.

If you genuinely think your chicken alfredo is up to standard then by all means keep it as is. If you're getting good sales for it then keep at it. But in my opinion it isn't good, not even average. It's actually just a bad dish. Disappointing because Pizza Villa in general has really good quality food even if pricier than...

Pizza Villa for the win! Growing up out here in Dekalb County there were choices but never any questions about who's number 1. The Villa. We had Pagliais pizza, a little hole in the wall that shared a small building with a pet store. It was superb. There was like no electric in the place or something because it was lights out and tiny. We also had Sgt Pepper's, probably a bit of a trademark issue but that's ok. These were the big 3 of DeKalb IMHO. DeKalb city proper that is. I mean back in the day you could drive down to Shabbona and get some Terry's pizza but that's a hike. Good pizza, it was, with a unique perspective on ambiance; Terry would sing all night in a little kereoke booth. Now Pagliais at some point in the 90s moved into a real eating establishment and Sgt Pepper's doubled down with a second place up in Sycamore, you know, by Woodgate and that Barnaby printing place. Still Pizza Villa is unmoved. Same place. They did change the menu a bit, including the Chicago style pizza. Now here's what I think happened to the smaller two of them big 3. The beer nugget. I don't know which one thought of frying pizza dough and serving it with marinara first but it was a gold mine right next to NIU. Students would spend the sawbuck on that fried bread and still have cash left for a few beers and such. What Villa did was a brilliant business move. They stocked their delivery trucks with bags of the stuff. You could flag down a driver and buy one right out of the truck without having to order ahead. IMHO that was the killer movie that put Pags and Pepper's back on their heels. And today the king stands alone. The Villa. You can still get those tasty Villa nuggets (I still call them beer nuggets) and their pizza, we'll the thin crust, is still incredible. Oh that sausage.... My word. I could go on about their superior sausage for hours. Pizza Villa for the win. Pizza...