Lou Malnati's Pizzeria — Restaurant in Lake View Township

As a Lou customer for more than 20 years I’ve finally had enough. Sure their pizza is one of the best, but year by year their customer service and detail has diminished. You pay a premium price for their pizza , which isn’t my main complaint as it’s very good, but their delivery and customer service and errors are a common problem as of the last few years. I believe they have taken their well known brand name for granted at this point and don’t feel the need to keep the highest level of service as the 90s and 2000s. This occurs too often with companies who explode in size and profit margins, forgetting where they came from and their dedicated customer base. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had incorrect orders delivered, ridiculously delayed delivery times (2-4 hours) and even forgotten orders that never came unless you called and said “where is it?”. Certainly the pizza is good if you get in on time , warm and fresh , and accurate. But delivery and managerial style are certainly lacking as of recently. For example last time I ordered a pizza; it never came even AFTER an hour of the PROMISED time. I called and inquired and was told it was never picked up to be delivered. Assuming it was just sitting there. No quality controls ? Manager apologized and that was it. I asked if pizza would be warm by time it was delivered after 2 hours of sitting. He claimed it would be remade and hot. But it arrived in less than 25 minutes and cold. It was clearly obvious that it was never remade as promised, from the copious grease residue on cardboard bottom insert , fast delivery time , and coldness and not freshly cooked taste. Why would you lie, even after an error you caused? And on top of it not even offer a waived delivery fee , or extra appetizer for the trouble or discount code for next order ? Simple solution to make a customer feel like they ain’t screwed or appreciated. A manager let the pizza sit there for 2 hours in kitchen and didn’t question why it was sitting there that long until a customer called. What if the customer never called to inquiry where pizza was , it would sat their until close?. After more than 20 years , too many bad experiences have occurred with poor management response; I will never purchase their pizza again to be delivered nor recommend it to visitors coming to Chicago as I have countless times. For the premium price they charge you expect more. From now on I’ll go to competitors who charge less than half and get better and more responsive service. Sure….their pizza is good but not worth the headache and myriad of issues and lack of customer appreciation for 20+ years of dedicated customer support. They take their reputation for granted and have let their business profit mindset over their original good service and managerial style and old fashioned respect for a long time customer. Happens way too often when a business becomes too big for...

I don't understand all the great reviews because we had a horrible experience. Yes the deep dish pizza was great but the service was so bad and impersonal I would not go back to this location. I would definitely be willing to try another location. We got there a few minutes before they open and I was standing obviously by the door waiting. Once it was past opening time I made eye contact with someone inside and let me in, and Laurel (an employee) remarked "I opened that door five minutes ago," and I was thinking how rude and if you unlock it and see someone standing by the door you could give them a clue that they're welcome to come in! Then as the only people in the entire restaurant, employees were not there or didn't come out to take our order for like 10 minutes while we sat next to really bad, dirty plates at our table. We looked around obviously ready to order as we were trying to hurry so we could catch the Cubs game. Finally the manager came over and asked us if we'd been helped and then she was able to take our order and give us two clean plates. Our actual waitress was okay but never smiled! The whole place felt so rediculously unfriendly and again it took 10 minutes just for someone to come get my ticket and payment so I could leave. The one helpful employee of the whole place was the young Hispanic guy (who looks like Fez) who was obviously pulling the weight of slacking waiters and he was not even a waiter. He had other job duties as he was doing many other things but was able to stop and help me so I could leave! Throughout my meal I heard the two ladies behind me remarking how their wings were cold and they never got their sprite. Then when they got their sprite they said "this isn't even sprite." I was laughing at and waiting for the Pranksters to come out and explain everything because of how unprofessional this...

Decided to take my husband to eat Lou Manatis for the first time since he prefers Giordano’s.

Let me just say, he’s my dissatisfied or disappointed just will not be back for a bit.

Upon arrival the greeter did greet us right away. But the table she placed at us was very small by the sectional divider. The table was very small for my partner and mind you he’s a very tall and on the big side….

Waited 35-40 minutes for our deep dish pizza.

The problem was is the price, I’m not just noticing the price I paid today. The pizza on the menu for a classic large Chicago deep dish was $37 why was I charged $46.06

Also it was extremely chili in the restaurant, it’s already cold outside as it is. And the pizza tasted bland….. the server did bring out some salt which definitely helped the pizza a lot. Especially the hot pepper flakes and parm cheese they had on the side, but whomever is in charge of the recipe needs to add some salt. It doesn’t taste the same like it used to anymore.

Also the veggies were a little undercooked. Still crunchy but slightly sautéed or cooked a bit.

Also we ordered drinks, 2 sodas for $7.30? With an additional $7.30 charge, so I was charged for a refill? Something doesn’t seem right about this…..

I will be going in undercover to order the same thing and see if I get a different charge than what I paid for.

I feel like I was definitely up-charged And over paid.

But over all the pizza was good. Just needed more flavor and definitely I am suspicious of the pricing though than what’s advertised in the menu. Order #35926956 Table...