Aurelio's Pizza Geneva — Restaurant in Geneva Township

Is it “Shrinkflation” or poor management? If you’ve been going to Aurelio’s for over 50 years (pick a location we haven’t been to,) like my family has, you know it’s all about the “sauce” and the “sausage.” Last night’s $230+ dinner at Aurelio’s Geneva was probably the most disappointing meal we’ve had from our go-to pizza place.

For context, my parents grew up on Aurelio’s , especially the original in Homewood Flossmoor, Frankfort and Mokena locations. We would get Aurelio’s no less than 1-2x/week and my Dad would collect the punch-out box tops (back when they had them) in exchange for a free pizza. To say that we are Aurelio’s super fans (particularly my Dad,) is an understatement.

My parents retired to TN 13 years ago, and ever since Aurelio’s is always part of the conversation. They come to visit 2-3x per year, and my siblings and I visit multiple times per year. No trip is complete without eating at Aurelio’s or painstakingly packing a pizza over ice to bring to them. In one of those visits to them, I had to bring multiple Aurelio’s pizzas so that they could let all their friends try it. That is how obsessed with Aurelio’s they are.

My parents are in town this weekend, which means dinner at Aurelio’s was on the agenda. Since my brother lives in Batavia, we went to the Geneva location last night. In anticipation, my parents refused to eat anything other than breakfast scrambled eggs all day because they wanted to “save up” for their pizza. Upon arrival, we chose to sit indoors (the outdoor area is lovely, but they wanted to be able to talk to the teenage grandkids without the live music distraction).

We ordered some apps and two pizzas: their favorite, a fiesta-sized sausage, green pepper and onion with extra sauce, as well as a thick crust pepperoni. We quickly found that the Geneva Aurelio’s is not like the others. The theme became “where’s the meat???” It was as if they were running low on sausage and trying to save as much as they could to get through the night. When brought to the manager’s (Tom) attention, that’s when things got weird. Tom starting picking my Dad’s piece apart on his plate saying “see, I see some under the cheese” or “I don’t know what you want me to do, it comes out of a machine and is the same for all pizzas, etc.”. It sounded very “it’s not us, it’s you” and given how many Aurelio’s our family has eaten over the years (and all the photos I have of them with the actual pizzas,) all I can say is “No Tom, it’s definitely you.”

At a minimum, Tom should have simply removed the extra cost of the sausage on the bill. Instead, he insisted that it was the “machines” fault and walked away. If Aurelio’s is now having machines make their pizzas and this is the future of what to expect, it marks the end of the Aurelio’s we know and have loved for over 50 years.

If you want your Aurelio’s fix, go to another location. Living in Chicago myself, I can confidently tell you that the downtown location does not skimp on toppings...

We decided to visit Aurelio's this past Saturday after hearing such great things about the food and the outside patio! When we arrived, we definitely waited to sit outside. It was about a half our wait for the four of us. Believe me when I say, it was absolutely worth the wait. As soon as we sat down we were very happy at the cleanliness and to see a full outside bar with a big flat screen TV. They had a nice variety to choose from on their drink menu too. Several different wines, beer, and assortments of liquor.

We were immediately greeted by our server, who was amazing and very knowledgeable of the craft beers. Between the four of us we ordered a draft of the Penrose Desirous that comes from a brewery in Geneva, a bottle of the gluten free Two Brothers Prairie Path (since one of our friends has a gluten allergy), and a couple glasses of Josh Legacy wine. For an appetizer, we ordered the Antipasto salad for all of us to share. Our one friend with the gluten allergy ordered the "lil" gluten free sausage pizza, which they said was one of the best gluten crusts they have had in a while. The rest of us ordered a large thin crust pizza (all of our friends told us that the thin crust and the sauce are the best) with half of it as "the works" and the other half with tomato and garlic. Needless to say, we were not disappointed at all!! There was not an empty seat in the whole restaurant that we could see. Being so busy, we expected to wait a little bit for our food. But, our drinks and appetizers arrived very fast. Not too long after we finished our appetizer, the server brought our pizzas! The crust, sauce, cheese and the toppings where fresh and tasted amazing!

We ended up seating for a little over an hour (since it was such a beautiful day) and we got to see the patio trees light up that surrounded the patio and, which made us not want to leave, they even turned on the heaters that where around us. Because of the prompt and friendly service, excellent food, atmosphere, and great drink selections we will absolutely be returning...

Stopped in with family on a Friday night . We had out of town guests and since Aurelias has been around since the 59s,why not treat them to traditional Chicago style pizza.

We were seated immediately. The server literally gave us no time to get situated before he was taking our drink order. I hate when a server does this. I ordered a bottled beer with a glass. The beer came but took 15 minutes to get a glass as he kept forgetting to bring it after asking 3x.

Started with the Combo Appetizer Platter which was a Choose 3 items for 17.25. We chose onion rings,chicken tenders and Cheese sticks since the kids were going to eat most of the items anyway. Food portions were extremely small and overcooked. Not a fan! Overpriced.

Also ordered a large half sausage/pepperoni pizza and a gluten free pizza. The pizza had little flavor and was over cooked. The ends of the crust would have broken a tooth!

My wife ordered the gluten free pizza which was 4 square slices covered with cheese. Basically cheese bread. Again not worth it.

The server never came by and asked how everything was or if we needed more napkins.

When I paid the bill I asked for a paper receipt and he basically disappeared.

With so many pizza places to choose from,I don't think I will be back to...