Gino's East of Chicago — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Tried to come here for dinner to eat a deep dish. Made sure to call to check what time they took last call for deep dish and was told 8:15. We were trying to come here for a special dinner and were trying to ask to see if we could just put in the pizza on the phone to make sure we were able to put in our pizza by last call . Last call for regular food was at 8:30 pm so we knew that we wouldn't be keeping them or be here too late. Just wanted to eat a slice of pizza and we also were planning on ordering appetizers as well which we verbalized to them on the phone. On the way I told them that we were in the car and our arrival time was 8:17 , I was told on the phone that the cooks " clock out " the ovens right at 8:15 so that ordering the pizza at 8:17 was a complete no. We arrive at 8:16 and I asked the guy at the front if we could be seated. He was rude immediately and was nicer and more calm to my white counterparts.Of course. I I asked him nicely if we could eat our pizza that was JUST put in and also informed him that we were also going to be eating appetizers in here anyway. He said they absolutely won't do that and that we were not allowed to eat the takeout order here and they wouldn't even make it for here even though it was barely in the oven. I then tried to reason with the owner about the deep dish and he tries to go to the kitchen to get us an order of deep dish in?????? It at this point was 8:21... I thought the kitchen clocked out the "deep dish pizza ovens" at 8:15!??! So that was a lie. I then asked if we could just have the deep dish that we ordered here and he said it was a complete no. What are the rules exactly? Mind you the guy on the phone mentioned putting in a takeout order so we could guarantee a pizza. When the manager repeated this the server snarkily stated "THAT'S WHAT I SAID" ...? And stormed into the kitchen . At this point we just sat to order appetizers and wait for our take out pizza that was still in the oven. At 8:26 another server comes over and says that if we want a deep dish pizza for here we HAVE to order it NOW. What? So we can put the pizza now 11 minutes late but can't just have the one we JUST ordered for here? Mind you I work in the service industry and it's completely possible to put in food a minute after the last call. I'm from Chicago and this is not how you treat customers at all. I was the only black person in the restaurant and I definitely felt uncomfortable dealing with the staff due to this reason. You do not snarkily deal with customers that are just trying to give you business. Completely uncalled for and super rude. Out of all the pizza places I love in Chicago , Gino's east is not the best. I will just save my deep dish experience for when I'm home or wait for a better franchise to open in LA. I will not be back and when LA friends for Chicago recommendations I will not be mentioning this place . If you have rules fine but they literally do not seem to follow them depending on what mood they're in. 1/10 experience. Not how people from Chicago act at all. When you own a place that represents the Midwest you might want to also add on the...

I didn't read the reviews before calling in, I tried to place an order for pickup. Born and raised in Chicago, I just moved to the valley. The girl who answered the phone was at least polite. I have been waiting for this place to open for over six months and finally decided to see if they were any close to the one I use to get in Chicago. I see the restaurants response about not wanting the customer to have a bad experience with take out but... you bake a pizza, you put in a box, not that hard to do. Don't understand why the delay on pick up.

SECOND REVIEW...I am basing this review on their actual customer service and pizza. I received a notification on my phone today because they owner erased his first response to my post above (which was very smug and argued the integrity of the pizza as being a basis for not offering order out). I decided to give them a second chance because I honestly like Gino's. The service and the pizza was abysmal at best. I phoned my order in and was told by the lady answering the phone that next time I should order online and not through the phone. I arrived a bit after the time they told me the pizza was going to be ready expecting to wait because I imagined that they would be busy. There was no order as to who or how they were taking names. I finally told someone my name. I had to wait around 40 min to get my pizza. At one point a lady came and asked me if I had two orders or one. I had to ask one of the young gentlemen working their three times how much longer my pizza was going to take. He flat out ignored me the first time then the second time flat out told me: "They don't want to tell me how long but it should be out." I was five minutes away from asking for my money back but I got my pizza almost two hours after ordering it. I got home and the pizza was horrible. They got my order completely wrong. The pizza WASN'T EVEN CUT. No crushed pepper or parm cheese. It was under cooked, the bottom was still doughy, not soggy like Lou Malnati's but doughy, like it wasn't cooked at all. I do not recommend this place. There is no integrity in their customer service and their pizza as the owner likes to rant on his responses to...

Was driving from Yosemite to home and after 4 hours decided we needed to stop for food. I remembered that Gino’s which I loved when I went to Chicago had a location in LA and it luckily was along our route and about 1 hour left to drive to home. Put it in the navigation and it had an arrival time of 8:45, which wasn’t a problem because they closed at 10 according to Maps. Unfortunately being LA there is never not an accident, which happened right after their exit so it took us an additional 30 mins to get off the exit. Walked in the restaurant at 9:17 and was greeted with “it’s past the cutoff for deep dish” so we said “oh is that 9:00?” And the person who greeted us said “no it’s 9:15”. After asking him to check if they could squeeze another deep dish order in, he sat us and walked to the back to check. At this point I really didn’t think the literal 2 minutes would stop them from delivering on the thing they were famous for. Waiter came over and first thing out of his mouth was “no deep dish this late”. I mentioned that the other person went to ask so he walked away and came back 10 seconds later and said “that’s gonna be a hard no”. I was so frustrated at that point that I would have walked out and given them some parting comments but I was with my family and my son was hungry after such a long car ride so we just ordered tavern pizzas and soda. Food was decent but staff was almost invisible. It was such poor customer experience for a family who just got out of a car after a road trip, I will never be back, and will not frequent their other locations when traveling either. I know this won’t do anything to their business or improve customer experience at all, but I see now why a famous pizza restaurant from Chicago has one of the lower local ratings. I thought it was a fluke but now I see first hand exactly why. Quick thought….change your close tome to 9:00 so that people in before that can order what they want and not be on a limited menu…..also train your staff of customer service, not only were they inflexible but the lack of understanding or compassion...