Manhattan Chicago Pizza — Restaurant in Pinecrest

My family loves both good Chicago and NY style pizza, so we figured we had to give this a try. I'll review the service and pizza separately.

Service:

We ordered one of each pizza type for pick-up, scheduled to be ready at 5:45pm. When I arrived I was told it would take 'just five more minutes.' Twenty minutes later, I told the man who had greeted me and who seemed to be the owner/manager that my pizza was supposed to be ready 20 minutes earlier - what is going on? The man just looked at me, said "really?" and proceeded to go about his business. Meanwhile two other customers who had come in for pick-up orders after me were also waiting.

I'm not sure where this person received his customer service training, but this is NO way to talk to customers. Any self-respecting restaurant will at least apologize for a delay, but at Manhattan Chicago Pizza I was just met with a rude attitude.

When the pizza was finally ready at 6:15pm (a full half hour after I was told to arrive for my pick-up order) the NY style pizza was wrong - they had forgotten a topping that I ordered and paid for. The same manager again did not apologize, but ran over to the raw onions, grabbed a handful and was about to throw it on the pizza. I'm not sure what he then intended to do because 1) I did not pay for the restaurant to throw raw onions on my pizza and 2) if he had intended to cook them by running the pizza through the oven again, I did not pay for an overcooked pizza.

Unfortunately I did not have time to see what the plan was because I had to get the pizza home - my sister had to be somewhere by 7pm and I was already half an hour late because of these people! When I told the manager to forget the topping because I just needed to go, he tossed the onions back and threw the tray the pizza was cooked on with quite a bit of anger.

At this point I did not care how the pizza tasted, I already knew I would NEVER be giving this kind of service my business ever again.

Pizza:

The NY pizza was decent, but nothing like the real NY style pizza that the old California Pizza Kitchen used to sell on this same spot. The crust was pretty doughy and thick for NY style, though the toppings we (had to) cook at home ourselves really helped!

The Chicago style pizza was interesting...The crust was really good, especially around the tall edges. This isn't quite Chicago style though - the pizzas are cooked with an extra layer of crust on top (like a calzone or actual pie) and then the restaurant gives you a container of marinara sauce which we figured we were supposed to pour on top of that top crust before eating (that's right, no marinara sauce actually in the pizza). That top crust does pull off though, so that problem was easily resolved. This definitely isn't top notch deep dish pizza you would get in Chicago, but it is decent and will do if you're really in the mood.

Horrible service aside, I think I will continue frequenting Anthony's for thin crust pizza and the nearby Big Tomato for something closer to a pie - both are reliable restaurants who actually know to how attract and...

This was first time I’ve ever been to this place. The initial experience was awful, as we came in and were the only ones in the store, but we’re completely ignored. There was one lady who was stocking the food. She never looked up. We had 30 minutes to kill and needed to get our food, eat, and be done in those 30 minutes, so I didn’t have time to wait for someone to start to give us proper service. I spoke up and said, “Excuse me! Can I please order something?” Then a young lady, not wearing a mask, came out from the office. She must be the same one that everyone else is complaining about in other bad reviews. She didn’t smile, or say hello, or ask how I was, or apologize for sitting on her phone while we waited! I was the one who greeted her! I said “Hi. How are you?” She still didn’t smile and flatly asked “How can I help you?” I was like WOW! Ok… So we ordered 2 slices with a soda, a bruschetta, and a chicken Cesar wrap. She said it would be 20 minutes. Ugh! Great! After waiting for them to take our order and then for it to be ready, we’ll have 5 minutes to eat! Luckily, it was ready in 15 minutes. When the young lady handed it to me she didn’t say anything! Not “Have a nice day!” Or “Thank you”, Enjoy! Come back soon. Thank you for waiting.” Nothing! I said Thank you and she said “you’re welcome”. She seriously needs to look for a different job! The manger/owner needs to read these reviews and fire her. You do not want her to be the face of your company! Also, if you’re handling peoples food, wearing a mask! AND gloves! I don’t care if you’re vaccinated!

Now, on to the food..

The pizza slices were huge! My daughter said it was really good and she was actually able to finish 1.5 of the pizza slices. My other daughter had the chicken Caesar salad wrap. She said it was good but there were too many croutons in it. She ate some, but picked out at least 9! I tried one and it was stale. If you want the chicken ceaser wrap, ask for it without croutons. Otherwise it’ll be the majority of your wrap. I tried some of the bruschetta. The bread was delicious! Perfectly cooked and flavorful. The tomato topping though was pretty plain. It could have had a lot more salt, garlic, and basil.

I’m only giving this place 2 stars because of the food. If it would have been for the service,...

Where do we start. Our biggest dissappointment was the service. It was just horrible and essentially none existent. We were left to wait without at least water refills, status of order, or at least an acknowledgement of our presence. I realize that it was busy, but a courtesy visit by the service staff would have been appreciated. Only after I told one of the employees that I was going to cancel the order did they come and service us- 30 mins after our garlic bread was brought to our table. The sad part was that we came with our 3 girls and they never asked if we wanted their order first. By the time the pizza came out, the kids were falling asleep and cranky. One of my girls said, "why do people even come to this place!"

We ordered half original and half veggie, instead we got half cheese and half veggie. It was okay. By no means chicago style. The beautiful and delicious flakey pie crust used by the true chicago pizza artist is replaced by cheap pizza crust. They give chicago pizza a bad name. The New York style pizza was cold and tasted okay; nothing to brag about. There are so many great pizza places in the Kendall area..

Please look elsewhere for Chicago style pizza- like Chicago and Giordanos. Trust me it's worth the 3+ hour flight and travel expenses.. Well, I guess if you've never had true chicago style pizza, this mediocre attempt will satisfy you.

Tip: great service makes average food taste above average..

Edit: Thank you for the response. We went to the Kendall drive location. I was just expecting...