Bonci Pizzeria — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

We visited Rome a few years ago and missed out on the opportunity to experience the original Bonci there, but when we found out there's a location in Chicago we knew we shouldn't make the same mistake and pass it up. We had a chance to drop by recently on a vacation to the Second City, and it exceeded our expectations.

Bonci is located in the up-and-coming West Loop area, and is one of several restaurants and cafes in the area. They serve Roman-style pizza by the slice, meaning it's a thinner crust and a texture similar to focaccia: light, airy, and slightly crispy. It's only a 30 minute walk from the Millennium Park area if you need to burn some calories before indulging yourself. Despite being a very walkable city, and being absolutely famished after some morning exploring, we decided to take a quick 10 minute ride.

Ordering is pretty straightforward, simply tell the server which pizzas you would like, specify how much of it you want, and pay the price per pound. They'll warm it up prior to serving and bring it to your seat if you're dining in. With dozens upon dozens of selections to choose from, we enjoyed our selections, but especially loved the arugula with prosciutto and roasted tomato the best, we got seconds! Pricing is fair too, for a family of three it came out to around $25 including two bottled drinks, and we left very satisfied.

I encourage my fellow pizza fans to give Bonci a try. Kinda bummed that we didn't have a chance to visit the original Rome location, but we're fortunate to experience the...

We had heard a lot about Bonci and were excited to finally make the trip there. We walked in 7PM on a Saturday night. There were no customers in the restaurant and 2ppl eating outside. The 2 employees behind the counter were so deep into their phones they didn’t even notice we walked in. That probably wouldn’t have been such a big deal however, the place was so filthy it was such a dichotomy to see the crumbs, dust, dirt and fruit flies and they were oblivious to that. The counter is right at eye level so the crumbs and fruit flies on the counter are right in front of customers. I know this is fruit fly season, but if your restaurant’s model is to have food on display, there are many ways to solve that problem. If the restaurant was in my neighborhood I would have just left, but we travelled 45 minutes to try the pizza. The pizza scissors may have been separated by category (however not between pork and beef), BUT when they put the slices on sheet pan to heat up, they combined our parties choices. So some of my ricotta got on another persons slice. And then when we got to our outside table (which was also filthy), we had to pass each other the slices we ordered. The paper towel roll was a pain in the butt. You need to 2 hands to rip a piece off which means our greasy hands were all over the roll and stand. Sadly we will not be back. By the way, the pizza was...

No, we are not in Rome, and this isn't Rome style "pizza al taglio". I mean, you can have this feeling entering the place, but as soon as you give a closer look to the pizza, the difference is immediately under your eyes and nose. The smell doesn't remind me of pizza, but more fry shop, and it will badly stick on your clothes. I took 4 different types (anchovies and burrata, fried onion parmigiana, zucchini ricotta and lemon, and crostino). Honestly, the taste at a first bite is not bad, especially the zucchini-ricotta and the anchovies, but the aftertaste is terrible and leaves in the mouth a feeling of low quality poorly cooked food. Also, the base of the pizza is too "biscuity" and, in some of the slice, it was overcooked. Despite the four people working there, the service is slow, and once you ordered the pizza, you also have to wait 5-10 minutes before you actually get it. Wrapping up, it was a disappointing experience, and it bothers me that they claim this as Rome style pizza! There is no respect for the pizza here. I mean, I have seen them warming up a pizza with a fresh Buffalo mozzarella! In Rome, they would last one day before...