Aria's Brick Oven Pizzeria — Restaurant in Lincoln Park

We stopped in for lunch today on a whim - we were headed for the Cameo Restaurant next door, but I saw this new place on Facebook recently, so we decided to check it out. It was shortly after 11, and they were not yet busy with lunchtime crowd. With a brick oven, it shouldn't take too long for a pie to bake, so why not?

We're seniors who have eaten a lot of pizza in our time, and we've had several 'go-to' places over the years. We also appreciate different types of pies, with Detroit Style being among our favorite, and a special affection for local pizzerias that aren't owned by a big franchise. We're always up for trying a new place!

We ordered the 12" Aria's Choice, which is basically a meat lover's pizza. The order-taker/server was friendly and helpful and delivered our finished pie on a pizza stand, with the question: "Do you want plates?" We at first declined, but after picking up a piece and taking a bite, we quickly changed our minds, and the server picked up on the issue right away, returning with plates. In fact, even though we rarely eat pizza with a fork, we decided that this needed a fork to eat it without making too much of a mess.

The ingredients appear to back up the claim of their being top quality, especially the molten mozzarella, of which there was plenty. There's a creamy, stringy-ness of whole milk mozzarella that sets apart good pizzeria pies from the so-so, and it was here in abundance. That, combined with the very thin crust and the weight of the other toppings, is why I felt a fork would come in handy. There was simply too much flop - especially for a 12" slice - to eat without topping falling off and getting on my hands and a napkin. I checked the 'undercarriage', as Dave Portnoy refers to the bottom of the crust. And it was impressively browned to near perfection. But even perfectly-browned thin crust just isn't enough to support the weight of the toppings, even if you try to curl the slice to provide a more structured shape. Best lay this on the plate and use a fork...

The outer rim of the crust was very crisp, with a nice, approximately 5/8" diameter, and a delicate crunch. My wife and I both loved this part of it, as well as the overall taste of the toppings - especially the pepperoni and Italian sausage. We honestly didn't even notice the smokes ham or pancetta. It was there, but it blended in and was pretty anonymous, camouflaged in the satisfying taste of the pie as a whole.

If you look at my star ratings, the one for atmosphere isn't a criticism. I don't care about the atmosphere. Is it clean? I care about that. (No complaints.) There are a small number of two-seat tables, but this is mostly a carryout. As retirees with plenty of time on our hands, sitting at a two-top and waiting for a pie to bake is fine with us.

Prices are, well, what can you say about prices these days? You can pay a helluva lot of $ for a mediocre burger and be left wondering. Our 12" pizza was $20, the highest price for a 12" pie on the menu. But this would certainly reflect the cost of the toppings on the Aria's Choice, and - it was worth it to us. When something tastes good enough to justfy it's cost, we're happy.

We wish these folks well in their new venture. We'll probably return and maybe try some of the other offerings, but doubt that it will become a regular stop because we generally stick closer to home for carryout food. I think it's good enough for an occasional trip out of our neighborhood,...

I was eager to try this pizza, I went on their website and seen what they are advertising it looked great. So I ordered one Antipasto Salad, one 14 inch pepperoni pizza and one 14 inch vegetarian pizza with real mozzarella cheese. I ordered through their website which brought me to DoorDash for delivery, when my order was dropped off my vegetarian pizza had carrots and huge slices of eggplant, and all kinds of olives. If you look at their menu this pizza is supposed to have tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, creamy mushrooms, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic , red onions, carmalized onions, fresh basil, EVOO drizzle. When I called them the employee I spoke with on the phone gave me a hard time, she actually was trying to blame door dash for giving me the wrong pizza. So I told her I wanted a vegetarian pizza and I would drive there and pick it up, so I got there she gave me the pizza and her excuse was the cook tried to make it more fancy for me!!!!! That’s absurd!! So I took the vegetarian pizza home, when I opened the box to eat finally at almost 8pm the pizza had olives, it was missing the fresh basil, garlic or EVOO drizzle !!! I am beyond furious , I spent $60 on garbage!! I will not be ordering ever again from them, there’s way too many other great pizza places downriver!! I had to give one star to post this review or it would have been 0! I included pics of the pizza i got, if you go on the website beware because those are NOT their pizzas! I also put a photo of my receipt, which clearly says what pizzas I was...

Bellisimo! Prefecto! I have been to Italy several times, and I have to say there is nothing closer to having a pizza in Italy than Aria's. Period.

From the Caputo flour, brick oven, fresh toppings, marinara (that has actual small chunks of tomato)🤌🏼, you will be hard pressed to find a a better pizza.

Highlights: Old world pepperoni - no brainier The Crust - crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside Pizzas sauce - perfect. Not sweet, not acidy

One other thing that we noticed that Aria's goes the extra mile: there is a piece of thick craft paper between the pizza and the cardboard box. This soaks up a majority of the grease (barely any really, but probably depends on the pizza), so you can throw the greasy paper in the regular trash and recycle the box. (greasy pizza boxes can't be recycled) 💚

While Aria's is still new, as with any new business there are hiccups. That being said, what sets Aria's apart from all others is that they admit the mistake, learn from it, and make things right. We had a hiccup when we ordered from door dash, but they completely made it right, above and beyond, true to their word.

We will definitely be back, as this is my personal favorite style of pizza, and easily worth the 20 min one-way drive to get a genuine slice of Italy.

Thank you for opening your business close to us so we can enjoy...