Lou Malnati's Pizzeria — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Visited this location while in Chicago with a lot of anticipation. My husband and I had seen the Lou Malnati restaurant chain on TV and were eager to gain the experience. We'd also just went on a helicopter ride so we were hype!

Once we pulled up and went inside our anticipation quickly turned to disappointment. The hostess was short, crass and borderline rude. She didn't smile or welcome us in even after we told her it was our first visit. The restaurant wasn't busy at all but we sat for a lengthy amount of time waiting to be seated, without explanation.

Once seated our waitress came to greet us and she was a HUGE contrast to the hostess - thankfully! This review is long overdue so I don't remember her name. I believe it began with an "L". I'd also went and spoke to a gentleman about our initial experience and impression and he "tag teamed" with our waitress to make sure the rest of our visit was the best it could possibly be. They turned the experience around for us and we were very grateful.

My husband and I were starving so we jumped in for an appetizer. We ordered the chicken wings plain and got the sauces on the side. We chose ranch, blue cheese, gorgonzola, garlic parmesan and buffalo. Hey I love my sauces and dipping. Y'all know that and we wanted to try a variety of them. Let me tell you what that garlic parmesan sauce was so DANG good that you could put that on a leather shoe and eat it - do you hear me?!? Straight 🔥. To say we enjoyed ourselves with this appetizer is an understatement.

Next we ordered our pizza. I'd never really had deep dish and this place is known for it so I was excited. We both ordered the personal size Deep Dish Malnati Chicago Classic and added pepperoni, basil and garlic as extra toppings. You talkin bout good - that thing was AMAZING! The "buttercrust" which is their trademark was EVERYTHING!!!!

We also got Long Island Teas and they "slayed". There's nothing worse in a Long Island Tea then for one liquor to overpower another. That didn't happen here - everything was perfectly balanced. Shout out to the bartender!

The decor is beautiful and full of old world class and charm. The restaurant was clean and well maintained. Bathrooms were spotless. The prices are, well let's just say they think a lot of their product. However, it was quality ingredients and not your "fast food" pizza experience - so there's that.

Although our initial first impression wasn't very good our wait staff saved the day and the experience. I'd return because of that and the fact that the food was very good.

Next time you're in Chicago or if you live there and are in the neighborhood you should go and check out Lou Malnati's Pizzeria. They're a cut above and served us a great first deep dish pizza 🍕 experience. Happy eating and you're...

My daughter and I were in town last week for The Mayhem Ball. Trying to find a place to eat close to the venue where we didn't have to worry about paid parking was our goal, and pizza was our first choice. There are a LOT of pizza places in Chicago. After doing a search of pizza nearby United Center, Lou Malnati's looked great. I made a reservation online and then called to ask about parking. They have their own lot that is first available and then metered street parking. We were able to get a space in the lot with no problem.

The outside aesthetic is fairly nondescript yet inviting. We were greeted by three lovely hostesses who were kind and got us to our table quickly. The place was very quiet, with the majority of diners choosing the patio. Inside was lovely. Warm, spacious, relaxed rustic-lounge atmosphere.

Armando was our server and I do not exaggerate when I tell you he is one of the most wonderful human beings I have ever met! Cheerful, kind and such a sweetie. I asked for a rum and coke and he asked if I'd like lemon or lime with it. I kinda sat undecided for a beat and he said with a chuckle, "Just the rum and coke," like he knew my decision before I did, thank you Sir! Haha! We are not thick crust people so we opted for their thin crust personal pizzas. He was attentive to our orders, told us they were great choices and even asked how crisp of crust we'd like. While we waited, he delightfully chatted us up about our day and Lady Gaga.

The pizzas took a little while but that is something I appreciate, and we were not in any rush. The pizza was off the charts! My daughter ordered their Margherita pizza and I had pepperoni, mushrooms and olives. The crisp of the crust was perfection and exactly to our liking. How they nailed it for us so perfectly, was magic.

Armando sent us on our way with a to-go box and well wishes for safe travels and a great time at Mayhem. Once we got back to the hotel after the concert, I'm not ashamed to admit, I ate the rest of my pizza and it was still phenomenal, even cold.

We highly recommend Lou Malnatis West Loop and you must absolutely ask...

Update. Thank you so much Jorge, I appreciate you reaching out to me to talk about the experience we had. True leadership starts from the top, you're a great example of this for your team. Thank you. We were excited to try Lou Malnati's since they were highly recommended. There were four of us. There was a party of around 10 that arrived a bit before us and their order taken right before us. We were told the kitchen was a bit backed up so pizza would take about 30 minutes. No problem. The table of 10 got their drinks, we got ours, they got their salads, we got ours, they got there 3 pizzas. We sat and waited. After 30 minutes or so had passed, our server said there was a mix up in the kitchen and our pizza was given to another table. They were working on getting our pizza, she offered us dessert after and if we needed anything else. We got more drinks and waited, another 20 or so minutes, our server brought us bruschetta which was nice but we didn't want to fill up on bread. We finally got our pizza which was delicious. But we were confused how it took so long to discover the mix up and still took more time to correct it. I've worked in a pizza restaurant before, if there's a mix up, it tends to be pretty easy to fix, but shouldn't take really an hour when all was said and done. When we got the check, we pointed this out and the pizza was taken off the check. We appreciated it. We don't know what really happened and I know it's none of our business, but I would suggest when there is an issue, communication is always important, bringing the appetizer was nice but we would have liked being told how much longer it would be. The bread made it seem like it was going to take much longer...