Hillary's Chicago Pizza St. Augustine — Restaurant in Florida

I lived in Chicago for almost 10 years, and developed quite the affinity for a deep dish pizza. I have been struggling to find a solid deep dish outside of the Chicagoland area. Everywhere I went, I would find a potential “reasonable facsimile”. In other words, it was good, but not the real thing.

Hillary’s is absolutely the real thing.

My wife and I went, and started off with a cold beverage; great wine selection, great craft beer rotation. Being a deep dish veteran, I knew that a true deep dish pizza would take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour, so we ordered an appetizer. We got the cheesy garlic bread on focaccia topped with mozzarella cheese and oodles of garlic. 10 out of 10. The tomato sauce, OMG, the tomato sauce. I never dip anything in tomato sauce because I always find the sauce by itself to be overly sweet and just not that palatable. This was delicious. I couldn’t stop.

Once I was forced to stop because there was no more to eat, the main course showed up. My wife and I went very basic this time with just a simple sausage deep dish. Our server Katie, who was amazing, recommended the sausage simply because it was also sourced from Chicago as well and absolutely delicious. (She was 100% correct.) From the first bite I was transported back to Chicago, sitting in one of my favorite pizza joints and enjoying a beer and a slice. My wife and I intentionally ordered the family size so that we would have leftovers, and boy am I glad we did. We will be enjoying this pizza for the rest...

Honestly I was pretty disappointed with the thin crust. The pics online got me excited as not many pizza places put the toppings under the cheese and let it brown. It was $18 for a 12”. I already thought was crazy expensive but I’m willing to pay for good pizza because I bleed marinara. I get home and open the box to find a sad looking pizza. It looks as though it barely had any cheese. I ordered it with pepperoni and green olives. Barely any of either on the pizza. I get that it’s a thin crust but this was basically a very expensive circular flat bread, not a pizza. For the money this thing should be loaded with toppings and cheese. I’ve been looking for a new favorite local pizza place and this was a major let down.

I also ordered a Chicago style MFW. The Chicago pizza was decent but I won’t order one to go again because the crust got a little soggy by the time I got home. I’ll eat in the next time I have one of these.

I shouldn’t have to pay for “extra toppings” for to get to a normal level of toppings when the pizza is already $18. Maybe it was an off day. I’ll give them another shot as I believe in second chances but if they don’t start putting more toppings/cheese on the pizza then it’ll be a hard pass moving forward. That’s sad for them as I’m pretty sure I’ve put a few kids through college over the years with the amount of...

Hillary & her family hail from Chi-town & have brought authentic deep-dish pizza to NE FL … working for a few years introducing deep dish to customers, they’ve now opened up a little hometown brick & mortar pub - located off of US-1 & SR 312.

She is slowly introducing more menu options monthly - like soups, salads, beef sandwiches & more. She also has added a thin-crust option - which is absolutely delicious! It’s not the NY -thin that many look for … just like the deep dish is not the Detroit -style that some crave. Her pizza stands on its own & meets your culinary needs!!

The thin pizza is crisp and cover with cheese and red sauce. The deep dish has a pie crust and filling is packed with layers of cheese sauce & pepperoni (or veggies, if you prefer).

The new app, Spinach & Artichoke dip and Meatballs are outstanding!! Highly recommend!

And remember … all pizzas are MADE TO ORDER … and cook time can vary (but expect 45 minutes to cook that deep dish up correctly!) … if your time is limited - call ahead for preorder … there’s a great bar with excellent selection of beer, wine and cider. Sit down and enjoy and relax. Only about 5 tables for 4 people … it’s a small footprint … but they have big plans!

They are all working hard and working together to serve a quality product.

Definitely...