Pizza Bella — Restaurant in Palatine Township

WORST customer service EVER. This is the the 3rd time they've messed up my order, and then give a hassle about refunding it. Not to mention, have you waiting around for hours for your food. If your order is wrong, expect to be hassled! They will NOT credit you back for the meal. I was only offered "a note on my account for a free side" which was less than half the cost of the actual meal they messed up. The owner Tony will basically blame you for the "miscommunication", and do the bare minimum to correct things if at all. I ordered my food at 1pm. It's 5pm, and I still never got my food - only a huge headache. Give your business to a place that cares about their customers & treats them with kindness. WORD ABOUT THE "GLUTEN FREE" MENU - I told Tony to be careful that he doesn't get sued because the meatballs, scallops, and who knows....probably some of the sauces too and NOT gluten free. He tried to deny that they were on the Gluten Free menu stating that they were only offered as sides to the gluten free menu. My question was #1. Why is it under the Gluten free section, also in a separate window labeled "gluten free" in big capital letters at the top? #2 Why would someone ordering off the gluten free menu want sauce or meat that has gluten in their pasta? He tried to make an excuse for this as well, but then realized that it didn't make sense. HORRIBLE SERVICE. Too bad because we have 3 different accounts with them, and my whole family orders from them regularly but not anymore. If they would only have treated us well. Since they wouldn't credit me, I had to dispute the charges with my bank. I let them rip me off last time this happened, but not again...

I just placed an online order for Pizza Bella and ordered the chopped salad as part of my order. I ordered two pizzas, a large appetizer and the salad. We have a vegetarian in our group and so we wanted to have the option of meat, but wanted it to be left off for the vegetarian. I received a call from the restaurant where they told me to put two items on the side was going to be a $7.50 upcharge (I had originally asked for four on the side, which I realize is high, so I dropped it down to two, just the meats, in what I thought was a compromise). I was shocked by this, as I've never encountered such a high upcharge for this service. The manager said they recommended ordering a garden salad instead, to avoid cross contamination. While I appreciate this, our vegetarian wanted the options on the chopped salad (as did the rest of the group). The manager and I could not reach an agreement on this, as he said this was his policy and since we were not going to agree on this, he wanted to pass me back to his associate because he was "really busy in the kitchen right now". If this is their policy, fine. They stuck to their policy and were uncompromising with it. But other pizza restaurants do not charge this high of a charge (if any) to put items on the side, and I was really put off by the fact that the manager basically told me that he had to go since I wasn't going to agree with him. I'm sorry, but another part of your job is customer service, even if the customer is unhappy. I've never written a negative review in my life...seriously....but this was an extremely unfortunate experience at one of our favorite...

GREAT DETROIT STYLE PIZZA! In case you're not familiar, Detroit-style pizza is a thick, rectangular, deep-dish pizza known for its crispy, caramelized cheese edges, light and airy crust, and a “sauce-on-top” layout. The pizza is rectangular, not round. Baked in well-oiled, high-sided steel pans (originally auto parts trays in the 40's when it was invented I learned). The crust is thick but fluffy—like focaccia—crispy on the bottom and edges due to oil frying the dough during baking. I learned that in Michigan they often use brick cheese, but that mozzarella or a blend is often used outside Michigan. I'm guessing this is a blend....it's very flavorful cheese. Not too salty either...perfectly balanced. The sauce is FRESH (ripened tomatoes you can just taste the homemade elements) I almost forgot my favorite part about the cheese....the cheese is spread edge-to-edge, so it melts down and forms a crispy, almost fried cheese perimeter. SO GREAT!

Next time I'll have to try their traditional "tavern style" Chicago thin crust pizza. However, it's quite difficult to find authentic Detroit style pizza around here. If you've never had it...give it a try..I bet you'll love it.

Note: On this pic I added some olive oil and crushed garlic to the pizza once I got it home...you may notice the garlic especially in the picture. Also, at first glance if you've never had Detroit style pizza you'd probably think it's heavy and quickly filling...like little bricks. NOPE...it's very airy and chewy.. almost "pillowy". FANTASTIC! It truly is. Excited to go back. This was...