Paulie Gee's Logan Square — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Let me begin that i really wanted to like Paulie Gee's. It had an excellent reputation and a well established boutique national brand. However for every positive foot forward, I experienced a foot or two back.

I happened across it last night as had an appt in the area. I looked at the generous pizza choices, styles, etc and asked if they had take out pizza. They did, but the host/server stated there was a 20% service charge. I had to ask again, they had a 20% service charge for carryout? Yes, the host stated on all orders whether you dine in or take away. I didn't think a service charge imposed on carryout for your obviously good/loyal customer base is a good idea in any city, but in Chicago, a notoriously competitive pizza one? Good luck to them!

So I thought okay, I'll eat in, since I have no problem paying 20% service charge on a good meal experience.

The restaurant is stunning in its simplicity a reclaimed early 20th century space with great bones, tin panel roof, open space, nice features and gorgeous Italian wood ovens, with dramatic ventilation and wood staves at the ready.

The waitstaff, bartender, line cooks all looked happy, there is great comraderie here, which is also a bonus. These people like to work here.

I asked the waiter about specials, was told about a $17 wood fired pizza option (Mondays only) that includes a pint of beer and a shot of whiskey. That is generous and got my attention.

The base prices of the wood fired options more or less are about $17 with several more than $17. The beer and shot giveaway is $10. Good deal for sure!

When my pizza arrived, the magic started to end. I got a beautiful and tasty pizza pie, however it was very lacking in the toppings I was to receive. Scant amounts of red onion, basil, peppers. (Id probably say my pizza had 1/8 of a red onion, slivers of basil, one or two pepperoncini peppers sliced in thin strips. Small (quarter sized) dollops of mozzarella cheese and some sliced mushrooms, maybe 4 to 6 of them. A ladle of sauce so thin, you could see most of the pie crust under it.

Maybe I thought you get 'less of' for this special. I looked at my neighbor tables and only noticed Detroit pans (which were generously appointed with toppings, i might add).

I noticed near me were some employees who weren't working, but enjoying a pie like mine and socializing with patrons. Their pies were generously appointed with sausage, arugula, cheese, etc..

So maybe it was just mine. That happens. At any rate, even though I liked almost everything about Paulie Gee's, my meal experience was not up to par. I don't think I'll go back, given the competition. I wish them well, but if they are open for suggestions, I'd recommend removing that 20% carryout fee. There are too many great pizza companies in this city that will take otherwise good customers...

Is it this is an updated review I wanted to make sure it to acknowledge that the manager of this location reached out to me after hearing about my poor experience. that made all the difference in the world. I came back in try the exact same Pizza. The keep it simple stup KISS

This spot serves the BEST pizza and cake while simultaneously having the WORST service I’ve ever experienced. To make matters worse, they automatically force you to pay a 20% tip. It is because of this that staff can treat you however they want because they know they’re getting paid.

Let’s start with the good. The Logan Squares (Detroit-style pizza) is out of this world. The pizzas are on the expensive side for the quantity, but the flavor is excellent. I got the funghi pizza that was a lot of different cheese and mushroom. I added a side of Mike’s hot honey to drizzle on the pizza. The flavors were incredible with heavy umami from the mushrooms and cheeses. The hot honey added a much needed sweetness and subtle heat to cut through the rich, heavy flavors of the pizza.

Paired with a non-alcoholic beer, this was excellent.

They also had a dense strawberry shortcake with an incredible buttercream frosting that was mind blowing! It was so so delicious, sweet, and tasted surprisingly fresh with real strawberries.

Now for the bad. Like I mentioned at the start, service is abysmal. It first took 15 minutes for a waiter to come to the table to take drink orders. The drinks are just canned, but it took another 15 minutes to bring that out with a relatively empty restaurant.

Then, the waiters never checked on me to bring more water or anything. They even brought a wrong pizza, put it on my table, and then I had to tell them it was not mine. They then went and took it to another table. This is an issue as a restaurant should immediately take it back and bring out a new pizza to the correct table instead of taking it off of ours to give to someone else.

Also FYI, they can’t modify any toppings on the Detroit style pizzas as those come premade (the restaurant just bakes them).

Service was just poor throughout the meal with no one checking to refill drinks or anything. At this point I was frankly offended that they force a 20% tip for this service. I would normally be happy with giving 20-25% for good service, but this spot did not come anywhere close to that.

If you’re looking for good food but to be treated horribly by staff and forced to pay a large...