Pizza Beer Whiskey — Restaurant in Sycamore Township

I was already over this place the last time I ate here but I’ll explain my experience as a customer as well as a Door Dasher picking up a delivery.

First, let’s get to the last time I step foot into this restaurant when I had an order to pick up DoorDashing. Hands down one of the worst experiences in customer service I’ve witnessed in my life. Everything started off normal, I get a notification for a pick up at Pizza Beer & Whiskey and make my way over.

I have only picked up from here once before and all went smoothly so I didn’t think anything of it. I park up front on Main St. and start walking to the front door. I see a small chalkboard sign outside that said, “Private Party Today”. Out of respect I peak in the window to see what’s going on before heading in just in case. Completely empty. The party hasn’t started yet. Great! I walk through the front door and immediately greeted by some middle aged blond lady and before I could even say anything she says to me, “Uh…yeah? I guess you didn’t read the sign outside? We have a private party today…” in the snarkiest most condescending tone possible.

Now, at this point…she doesn’t know who I am. I could have very well been a customer that just didn’t know what was going on, a customer who could have just not seen the sign. And she treats me that way? Unreal. So I stare at her after she says this for a few seconds and I just say, “Yeah, I’m here to pick up an order for DoorDash…” and this look of shock is on her face and she doesn’t say anything at first. Then she continues to be rude about the situation and says, “oh…um…you NEED to use the back door if you are picking up delivery orders. You’re not supposed to come in the front door.”

Oh really? Maybe you should…idk…put a sign saying that in front like you did about the private party? Would be easier than having to be a complete Karen to people walking in. She starts to say something else and by that point I’m done with her and just ignore what she is saying, walk right past her, and head to the back to pick up my order as she is rambling about…idk what.

I mention to the cook in the back who gives me the order about the situation and how she treated me and told him I’ll never pick up an order or dine here ever again. But luckily…they blocked me as a pick up driver from their location anyway so luckily I’ll never have an offer to pick up from them again.

After I delivered the order I contacted customer support with Door Dash and told them about the experience. After looking at Pizza, Beer, & Whiskey’s account the customer service rep told me, “Oh yeah…there have been quite a few reports about that place from other drivers for the same issue.”

As a customer? Last time I ate here the pizza and drinks were mediocre at best and ended up leaving paying over $100 for a pizza, some appetizers and a few drinks. It became super over priced, even for 2024 standards. The pizza was floppy and just ok at best, drinks were a 2 star out of 5 and seemed watered down, appetizers were actually decent. It was understaffed as well and food took forever.

I’m a Sycamore local, have been for years, and driving for door dash I speak with hundreds of customers a month. Any friend, family member, or customer that has brought up Pizza, Beer and Whiskey I have told them about my experience.

Pro-Tip: It’s a small town, word travels fast…treat people with more respect.

Illinois Crafted needs to put this place under a microscope and restructure since all their other locations are actually pretty good. Which, is why I find all this so...

Come for the whiskey, wine and beer, cool and friendly staff but not for the food unless you don't mind paying premium prices for food made using the cheapest possible Ingredients. I'm glad they're enjoying success as I love to see small(ish) companies flourish. At the same time I'm compelled to provide an honest review in hopes that they strive to provide their customers with a quality experience at competitive pricing. They should remove the margherita from the menu. Not enough fresh mozzarella and it was undercooked. The crust, as with all of their crusts, is made with low quality all purpose flour. For the price they should be using "00" flour from Italy. The sauce tastes like a combination of Walmart quality canned tomato sauce and paste. Heavy on the tomato paste. Italian grown tomato sauce from a jar would be a great improvement. The "olive oil" drizzled on top looked and tasted more like soybean oil. May have been a blend but I didn't taste the spicy, fruity bite of olive oil I love. On the topic of olives, they only provide cheap black olives. Which I don't mind, I love all olives but a pizzeria of this price point should have greek/ italian options. We ordered a blue cheese dip with chicken and bacon for an appetizer. The chicken seemed to have been frozen, had a very off flavor and dry. Tasted well past it's prime. All that said, stick to the drinks as the food has much room for improvement. Hope sharing my experience is helpful. 🙂 For a great pizza experience I recommend Woodfire in Rockford or Osteria Trulli in Saint...

The atmosphere is nice and I've always had good service. I think my problem lies within the food and drinks. Yes, they do have good food and drinks on the menu but it seems to lack consistency. At least the times I've been going there. I usually eat and drink at PBW at least once every other week. Once I had the BLT pizza with thin crust; the next time it wasn't. I had asked if they do different types of crust to which I was told they only make one style of pizza crust. It hasn't just been the pizza either; it ranges from the bread sticks and the truffle fries with much of the similar issues. I've had nice golden bread sticks and next visit, not so much, and more doughy. The truffle fries have been well seasoned and crispy; while other times little to no seasoning and the deep fryer oil seems dirty which gives it a burned taste. The cocktail drinks are good and once again sometimes lack the consistency. Some drinks are made super strong while other times they're on point. That being said, I would recommend this place. I still keep going back despite some of the consistency issues. PBW does have some of the best selection of beers on tap and...