Golden Crust Pizza and Tap — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

Wow, does this place need a new owner-- one who can retain staff, run a business, and most importantly NOT BLAME EVERYONE FOR HIS POOR MANAGEMENT ABILITIES.

We came in a second time after not having a great experience. It started off fine- took about 10 minutes to be acknowledged (and they had run out of iced tea????), but it looked like there was only one waitress, so we let that slide.

Then problems started happening. We got one of our appetizers, and about 10 minutes later, and our waitress announced that there were no more ribs (????) so they would get us rib tips. Fine, we like rib tips!

Oh, but little did we know that we wouldn't see any more food for another half hour. We asked at least twice to get our rib tips (the waitress didn't offer that they were taking any longer), then my pizza came out! No apology, no nothing.

We asked for the manager, and the owner Jimmy appeared. He went on for about 10 minutes about how the waitress was new, how the chef had left, blah blah blah blah blah. And for some reason, the only waitress was new and they let the experienced one go home (???????).

My companions finally got their food (about 20 minutes later, a good half hour after the food was promised), and the salad she ordered had onions but no olives (the opposite of what she ordered). The waitress came back about 5 minutes later with about 8 little olives. Nice recovery. (sarcasm)

We got the bill, and there was NOTHING taken off! I asked for the owner, and he was said "oh, I thought you guys would stay a while!) ha! So he asked us what we wanted, and I asked him (just to see what he would say) what he thought would be appropriate. He equivocated, so I asked him to take half off. Meanwhile, he blamed everyone (and went on for about 5 minutes about the process of hiring staff, how they were taking the chicken off that one of my companion ordered, blah blah blah).

So this was a death with a thousand cuts. A lot of little irritations built up into a really unfortunate night. And to boot, the manager spent about a half an hour at our table explaining all these issues (poor guy, trying to get sympathy from wronged customers) when the answer was in front of him. Instead of blaming the waitress (who had poor communication skills and a bad attitude, and was really poorly trained), he needs to get his act together and learn how to manage his restaurant, or he's going to end up on Restaurant Impossible.

(oh, and $1.95 per topping for a SMALL pizza, are you...

I tried this place on a recommendation from a co-worker of my boyfriends, and was happily surprised. The pizza was good, the beer selection was great and the place was clean/new.

Both times I've gotten the pizza it was hot/fresh, loaded with toppings, not too much sauce, and the dough was actually cooked correctly (nothing is worse than under/over cooked pizza dough).

The beer selection is amazing, but don't fall in love with something that's unique, because it probably won't be there the next time (i.e. the Three Floyd's and some other smaller breweries beers).

The server we had the second time we went was fantastic, if he didn't know the answer to our question about the beer, he promptly went and found out instead of trying to BS his way through it. He was great about keeping beers in front of us, and our waters full. The first time we were there the server was slammed, so she was less attentive than I would've liked.. but it was understandable (we settled for only one beer even though we were planning on having a few because of it).

The only complaint I have about this place is the price, I feel like the pizza should be a few bucks cheaper. I don't mind paying the prices when I'm feeling exceptionally lazy, simply because it's a short/convenient walk to my place and the atmosphere is great.. but I can see why it wouldn't draw people in from too far away/too frequently. Also, being a big fan of St. Louis style pizza.. the thin crust isn't really THIN crust, it's more of a hand-tossed thickness (but this is just me...

I'd really like to make this my friendly neighborhood bar. They're so close to providing that laid back atmosphere paired with good food and drink. Close but not quite there... If not ordering from the daily specials selections, you'll find the price of drinks to be about right for a decent craft beer. They claim to have 40 on tap. I haven't counted but not all of those beers are "craft" and I've been told that it rotates pretty quickly so your first choice may (likely) not be on tap anymore. So that's one star down... where'd the other go? For a place that talks advertises as a pizza joint, I found the pie to be pretty good but not great. The prices are also a bit higher than an Albany Park neighborhood joint should be charging (if not ordering on a daily specials day).

They have a really nice covered / enclosed patio area but you'll find that the nearby fire station and patrolling police cars are pretty active. That accompanied by a nearby train and the option to sit inside becomes slightly more appealing. I'm set on returning to Golden Crust to give them another shot or few and put that beer menu to the test. They have a large number of beers on tap and available by bottle. Not a ton of the choices are local craft but they do have a small handful of good picks on the bottle and tap menus. For the beer alone, I'll return on a quiet weeknight to...