!!!!!!!!!!!BAD CHEESE!!!!!!!! Â Â Now that I have your attention: So sad :( as a girl born and raised in New York and missing REAL pizza I wanted this place to be awesome but it's not. The first time I ordered was on a Friday night and waited 2 hours for cold pizza. But when I warmed it up it was really good New York pizza. I wanted to give it another shot so I order again on a Tuesday night and still waited an hour an a half, I live around the corner. I was so looking forward to my pizza but as soon as I open the box there was a smell. That moldy sponge smell... The cheese was bad. I ordered from Grub Hub so I called and asked them for a refund but when they contacted Cafe Luigi they refused to give me a refund... I could have gotten really sick. Grub Hub gave me my money back because they have good costumer service...can't say the same for Cafe Luigi... Still thinking about calling the health department, it was very obvious to me that the cheese was bad, it had to be clear to them as well. Not going to order again. :/
Review Source:After a solid week of New Year's resolution healthy eating, I was starving for some real food. Â Cafe Luigi caught my attention.
We ordered a large thin crust pizza and a handful of garlic knots.
The pizza was amazing. Â Amazing! Â Thin, but chewy crust, plenty of cheese and enough sauce to meld the pie into a work of art. Â The slices were huge, requiring appropriate NY-style folding.
The garlic knots weren't all that big, nor were they all that garlicky. Â They were a nice side dish, but I don't know if I'd order them again.
Garlic bread was a straight disaster. Â Dry chunks of bread with one slice of melted, but now-cold cheese on top. Â Tasted frozen. Â Avoid these.
But that pizza definitely hit the spot. Â And as a bonus, it reheated to 95% of its original greatness. Â Leftover score!
I'm a deep dish lover, but if I ever find myself craving thin crust again, this will be my first choice.
New York Style Pizza at it's finest!
A huge slice of chewy, foldable goodness with the perfect
amounts of cheese, meats and sauce.
I should have quit while I was ahead..
Because I ordered Cafe Luigi's baked mostacciolli and
I have to say it was not very tasty/good,and it was not covered
in a meat sauce but in some very funky runny tomato sauce
And.. my baked mostacciolli did not seem baked at all..:(
So I was majorly disappointed!
I also ordered their garlic knots which were just okay
for the most part, they were very small and there seemed to be only a
trace of garlic in them and they were accompanied by that tomato sauce
that I pretty much hated!
So.. I am giving Cafe Luigi 4 stars for the pizza and the great
gal who was working behind the counter, she was really very nice!
And.. even for the not quite there garlic knots cause they
were warm, chewy and soft.
But.. I would recommend staying away from the pasta dishes
because of the funky tasting sauce..
That sauce pretty much ruined it for me..
So go for the pizza.. but not much else..
A long overdue review. Just one of the best pizzas in Chicago. It's NY style and simply amazing. Perfect "sweetish" sauce, and as important, perfect crust: in texture and flavor. It's actually better when you go there for a slice (or 2) because they crisp it up, so obv. the bottom of the crust gets crispy. When it's delivered, of course it sits in the box for awhile so it tends to be more floppy, but still great. Of course, an issue with any pizza. The fact that I'm even analyzing all this proves how much I love it. Crave this all the time. So good I will even eat it cold the next day, and I normally am not a cold pizza eater. Thank god it's not closer as it would affect my waistline bigtime.
Review Source:The people here are so nice. I came in for second time today, and they remembered me.
The food, equally great. I am a HUGE fan of pineapple and Canadian bacon pizza, and I was impressed when I picked up my pizza and there was FRESH pineapple chunks (The canned pineapple gets soggy).
I got the spaghetti today and the pasta was cooked perfectly. The sauce, rich, thick, and has tomato chucks--definitely not Prego-ish. It's quick and delicious!
I thought I found a nice pizza place on Chicago Avenue but those days are over.
This is clearly the best NY style pizza that I've run across in Chicago. I was seriously taking vacations away from the state just to find a real NY style pie.
Not anymore! Although I live on the far West side, It's worth the hectic trip through traffic to get up to this place. Yes they are rude but I guess when you have THE ONLY real (thin crust) pizza in the city of Chicago you can have an attitude like they have. Flavorful ingredients, tasty thin crust that sags and quality cheese! Plus garlic knots!
They did burn my slice once but I let it slide because she got into an argument with a customer and let it stay in the oven too long.
Can't wait for my next trip!
OHMYGOD!
I hate hate hate their customer service, I got chewed out by the person answering phones tonight because she didn't understand me!! Delivered me the wrong order!!
I love love love their pizza!! It's the best in Chicago!
P.S. Cafe Luigi -- please, at a minimum, try to be a bit more courteous and lose the abrasive phone girl you have. In the meantime, I'll order your pizza from Grub Hub so you don't screw up my order again.
As a Garden Stater, this is a little slice of home for me. Pun intended.
Chicago has hot dog stands. NY/NJ has pizza by the slice on every corner. Notice I said slice not square.
That's another topic unto itself.
If you're looking for authentic NY style pizza, this is the place.
Chicago "thin crust" is not to be confused with NY style.
The difference being the crust, choice of sauces and cheeses. Â Traditional pizza dough is meant to be hand tossed, not run through a sheeter. It gives it a taste and texture far superior to Chicago "thin crust" pizza. Â
But as with any review, this is subjective. So go try for yourself.
4 out of 5 stars because I prefer Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi, they can be heavy handed with the cheese at times, and because there is always room for improvement.
5 out of 5 stars is a myth. :)
THE BEST! Â Are you like Kevin McAlister, and want nothing more than to have your very own cheese pizza? Â Do you like Sbarro's but understand it could be better? Â Do you have a soul? Â If you answered yes to any of these, you will love Cafe Luigi. Â This is the best NY style pizza i have ever had. Â Just get plain cheese and enjoy.
Review Source:I'm long overdue for a yelp review of cafe luigi. I live in the area and whenever I have a craving for pizza, this is the first and only place that comes to mind.
They do a great thin crust (NY-style?) pizza here. Slices are big and the flavor & texture is superb. But if you want their pizza, do yourself a favor and eat it there, it tastes much better.
I'm an east coaster so thank God for Cafe Luigi's. Â It's the best slice you can find in Chicago. Â Â To best replicate the NYC taste ask for your pizza "well done" or "crispy". Â Â They'll throw it back in the oven a few extra minutes. Â Â And don't be slighted if the two 'old guys' initially come across as rude. Â They are nothing but pizza angels. Â Â Pizza is their first language. Â Â If you go there as much as I do you'll see. Â Â I'm the guy eating the folded slice.
If you have no idea what i'm talking about - good.  All the more reason to believe me when I say  this place is a hidden NYC pizza treasure.   .
.
I am a Jersey girl. I moved to Chicago about 2.5 years ago and for the first year and a half gorged myself eating deep dish pizza from all sorts of places around the city, especially because so many people would come into town to visit me from back home and EVERYONE has to have Chicago-style pizza. After awhile, I started to REALLY miss a good old New York slice. I searched Google, Yelp, Urbanspoon, you name it, to find a place with a quality slice and I was constantly disappointed. How could a city with such great variety of food not have a SINGLE place with decent New York style pizza!? Then I discovered Cafe Luigi (thanks to the Yelpers below me, you guys are awesome). This is the absolute closest you can get to a real life NY slice in Chicago. It oozes, melts in your mouth, and takes you right back home to the good old northeast.
If you are a huge NYC pizza lover like myself, you MUST check this place out.
Was craving a slice a pizza late at night while staying at the old Children's hospital. Â Walked here by chance and got a slice and boom.... satisfied. Â I got a thin slice and the bottom had a little crunch to it which was nice and the sauce and cheese was decent. Â I really wanted a NY style pizza, but being in Chicago, I've yet to find one anything close to the real thing! Â But this did the trick (for the time being).
Review Source:Where I grew up, in a historic and suburban town on Long Island, I used to be able stop by the pizzeria  on the main street while walking home from school. It was called Gino's and for $1.25 you could get a slice that you instinctively picked up, folded, funneled the grease off on to the wax paper covered paper plate, and then eat too quickly. Sometimes it would scold the roof of your mouth, sometimes it would be just right.
Luigi's pizza is that. It's childhood pizza done correctly. Â Thin, tasty crust which is the right combination of crisp when you first bite in to it, and the chewyness you DESERVE right after. In this context, crust is that ring of awesomeness on the outside, not the underbelly of the beast.
TL;DR: You want real NY pizza, this is it.
This pizza is awesome. Â True NY-style pizza... finally! Â I've been searching for a place like this in Chicago for so long. Â At long last, my thin-crust, giant pizza slice dreams have been realized. Â Oh, and it's super cheap too.
My only complaint would be that the side options aren't particularly great... but when the pizza is this good, who really cares??
Wow NEVER order delivery from this placed. Â Placed my pizza order on a busy Saturday night. For one cheese pizza they said it'd be an hour. An hour later, no pizza. An hour and a half later, no pizza. I called Luigis and they said the driver had left 20 min ago. Almost 2 hours later the driver shows up, no apology. When asked why the pizza was late he responded "Clearly we are busy tonight" Wow. Not apologetic, nothing. Â Then he then demanded proof of an online coupon that was accepted when I called in the order. Left in a hissy fit.
Amazing how complicated this place makes ordering one cheese pizza!
My go to for pizza delivery now...nothing better than a slice of mushroom pizza sprinkled with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.
The cheese, tomato sauce, and crust all pass my NYC style standards. Â It needs more grease though (this is the only food for which I will say, the greasier the better).
This is the closest...I mean CLOSEST I've gotten to obtaining the often imitated, never replicated NYC slice in this fine city.
It ain't the real thing but it's close, and I'll take what I can get.
OK, it's a dive, and the pizza is not 100% legit NY Style, but to me, pizza is not pizza unless you can pick it up and fold it, so points to Luigi for that. Â Plus...slices? You never see that in Chicago and it is so great to not have to buy a whole pie!
Plus, depending on what time you go, you will get Maury on the TV and so you will get the added bonus of a "DNA Baby Daddy" drama. Â girrrrllll, you don't NEED any extra spice with dat!
I work in the area, so I'm always walking around on my break trying to find  somewhere new to eat.  I walked by and after checking out the reasonable prices in their window menu decided to check it out.  I got a thin slice spinach-tomato-feta slice and a thick cheese slice.  The first was delicious, and but the thick cheese was very meh.  I mean, I didn't expect fireworks for a thick cheese slice of pizza but I dunno.  My total was about $7.50.
The place is very small and hole-in-the wall with a lot of Italian options outside of pizza (I'm talking calzones and the like, not pasta or anything). Â I might go back for the spinach or broccoli puff.
It was a Sunday, so only two people were inside eating, but the owner (?) was pretty short and definitely not customer-oriented. Â Kind of an Old Italy type guy, but I wasn't seriously offended because I have definitely had far worse.
Overall, the pizza is good for the price, but don't expect anything out of this world. Â I'll definitely be back!
Called at 9:40 and said I would like to place an order for delivery. Â The response on the other line yelled back "TOO LATE" and abruptly hung up the phone before I could get a word out. Â Honestly, my mouth was still open as I looked at my boyfriend bewildered by the rudeness I just experienced. Â Pretty disappointed with the customer service. Â Is this how they treat their regular customers? Â Looks like I will be trying some other NY style pizza restaurants from here on out.
Ciao, Luigi!
Thank you pizza gods for introducing me to Cafe Luigi which has been in my backyard for 3 years, yet has gone unnoticed until now. Â This is some ridiculously good NY style pizza.
First of all, you can get an 18" cheese pizza from here for $16, which is really good for its location. Â The best part is that the pizza itself is downright delicious. Â The crust, cheese and sauce are all top notch. Â The crust is thin and has a great chewiness to it, and it doesn't get all soggy from the sauce and grease, which can be a problem with some NY style pizza. Â The sauce is thin with a bit of sweetness and just the right amount of pop.
We ordered take out and walked to pick up the pizza since it is so close. It was done on time, and the perfect temperature by the time we got home. Â This will definitely become one of our pizza staples when we want take out.
Let me tell you a story about a very lazy night where my boyfriend and I were craving some pizza but didn't want to budge because the weather was terrible. Standard Chicago, I know. Anyway... off to <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FGrubHub.com&s=f593eaab003cd19889a720326b2f211d5de3ba2dc932c7460208b2fc52110c66" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://GrubHub.com</a> we go...
Let me tell you what's NOT standard, the veggie stuffed pizza from Cafe Luigis. It was VERY awesome. One, there were so many freaking veggies on the pizza that it was amazing. The top layer was also bread, as in, it was a huge (yet surprisingly thin) pie.  Like it should be. We also got some really good garlic bread and a nice mixed salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. Little did we know the pizzas would be monstrous and we could've probably  just ordered by the slice. But hey, I'm totally okay with having leftovers for the next couple days!
So why not 5 stars? One, I feel guilty giving a place 5 stars without actually setting foot in it. Two, I was reallllllyyy craving more sauce/cheese and wishing they would've put more on there, especially the next day when everything was a bit more dry.
BUT, that being said, if you love pizza and want to try something new, I'd definitely say go for this place. It's worth i!
I had posted a question on the Yelp board a while back, asking for suggestions on where to go in Chicago for NYC-style thin crust pizza. Â Cafe Luigi was one of the 'za joints suggested by a number of folks. Â Meanwhile I got busy, ended up eating a bunch of Pizza in Rehoboth Beach, DE that satisfied my craving, and made vague plans to try this place Cafe Luigi place at some point before Xmas.
Finally, I called over, ordered a 16" pepperoni & mushroom pizza, and picked it up yesterday.  It was torture to smell the aroma of freshly-cooked pizza as I fought my way through post-Cubs traffic, but after 30 minutes, I drove the four miles to my house.  I ran past my wife and barked out  "The pizza is here I'll be down in one minute I have to change into my pizza-eating cargo shorts!"
I liked it. Â The crust was definitely in the zone. Â I thought the cheese, which was now warm, was decent enough that I'd suffer the drive on a routine basis. Â My wife admitted through a mouthful of cheese and tomato sauce that the 'za was better than Dags... validation. Â Even my three and five year old boys asked for three/four bites... It was if they had been missing East coast style pizza too. Â Now had I only ordered the pizza just for me, I would ask them to make it super hot, pepperoni only, and no mushrooms because they take away from my experience. Â I might go for extra oregano and basil too... I might have to experiment with how I can customize the order to make it perfect.
Don't get me wrong, it still was not as good as the pizza from NYC, Boston, Baltimore, Rehoboth, Atlantic City etc... But it's now on top of my thin-crust, East coast pizza joint list for Chicago. Â Pizzaco had been number one, but now it's a distant #2.
I thought about saving the box, kind of a momento, but the wife thought that was mental.  So I trudged to the alley and the trash cans.  Now I might be lying if I said that I didn't re-open the box, and just once, look for little bits of cheese that I might have missed.  I might have licked the bottom of the box to recapture the memory of the pizza that I barely chewed  a scant 15 minutes before too but I'll never tell.
I decided to try Cafe Luigi after a few Yelpers recommended it as being the best New York style pizza in the city. Â As far as I can tell, from a Midwestern boy's point of view, New York style pizza is simply thin crust pizza cut into triangles that tend to sag such that you have to fold it to eat it. Â
I went in and ordered a couple slices around 8 p.m. on a weeknight. Â They took the pre-cooked slices from the display case and re-heated them. Â Sometimes, this works. Â Sometimes, it doesn't. Â The damages were something just south of seven bucks. Â Very reasonable.
As for taste, I'd say these were relatively average slices. Â They're definitely big and cheesy, but it seemed from the taste and dryness that there was almost no sauce on them. Â That's the shortfall of Luigi's slices, in my opinion.
I've had better slices at Aurelio's and Whole Foods, to name a few. Â Luigi's slices are only okay. Â They'd be great to have next door when coming home hammered or when stumbling out of Frank's late night. Â But they're not worth much of a trip.
Two and one-half stars. Â Bada-bing.
Luigi, ho avuto il tuo prossimo per tanto tempo, ma non ho mai smesso di dire ciao. Mi perdoni il mio amico. Sono venuto oggi e gustare una fetta di pizza e un tuo sorriso attraversato il mio viso. Forse non potrà mai andare a casa di nuovo, ma ho finalmente trovato un sapore di casa. NY pizza è l'unica buona pizza nel mio mondo, e ora ho un posto in Chicago a godere.
Grazie per aver scelto di illuminare la mia giornata (e riempire il mio stomaco), Luigi Signore. Vorrei visitare nuovamente al più presto.
Grazie.
Lauren
**disclaimer, I don't speak Italian, so if any of the above is not translated correctly, perdoni mi. Â Basically, the pizza is really good!
Ok Luigi I kept my word and gave you a second shot and you didn't let me down.
Your NY-style thin was pretty darn good and my spinach calzone to-go, heated up for lunch the following day, was pretty kick ass too.
However, while I was there I again saw someone nuke some pizza for a customer! Can we 86 this microwave business, you're bringing down the quality of your product! Capice?
~Mary
Holy hell, this pizza is damn near perfect: Â crust very slightly underdone, SLIGHTLY too much cheese...but goddamn good. Â A-, absolutely the best NY pizza in Chicago. Â It is true that the stuff is better if you get a whole pie baked just for you rather than buying the slices. Â But the slice that I had Saturday was pretty good too, if slightly too crisp in the crust department.
Unfortunately their calzone leaves much to be desired. Â This is New York style also, which means that you can't build your own. Â It comes with either ham or broccoli and the cheese is mozzarella and ricotta. Â I happen to dislike ricotta but that wasn't the problem. Â This thing had one razor-thin slice of ham in it and about two-thirds of the total volume was ricotta, which strangely had the exact appearance and consistency of tofu. Â And the little cup of accompanying sauce is that watery nothing-but-tomato kind.
They also have sausage rolls! Â Now, New York pizza is common enough to find everywhere across the U.S., but I have never seen a sausage roll anywhere west of the Alleghenies. Â It was really good--same crust as the calzone, good size, nice ingredients, perfect amount of cheese. Â It was a bit imbalanced in favor of the sausage; I wanted less of that and more peppers and onions. Â But overall a solid B+. Â Hooray for sausage roll in Chicago!
If I were a "Saved by the Bell" character, I would've ditched the Max for Luigi's.
Did you ever notice how no one at the Max ate anything? What was that all about? Maybe it had something to do with having to fit in all that neon spandex. This would not be the case at Luigi's. I had the deep dish with spinach and mushrooms, despite the raves about the thin crust. It was light and crusty, as opposed to the dense, doughy, Giardano's-style pizza Chicagoans typically call deep dish. I also had a taste of the New York style thin crust, which was topped with just the right amount of sweet sauce and melty cheese. Great variety of toppings to choose from, as well as different pizza styles -- calzones, stromboli, breadsticks.
I stopped in there with a friend today just for a slice pizza. Â It was a tough decision between the deep dish or New York Style thin crust. Â I went with the NY Style partly partly because it seemed like too much crust with a thin layer of toppings. Â
Hmmmm, it was good. Â I loved the crust. Â The pizza was had right amount of cheese and a decent amount of crumbled sausage, which is perfect for folding pizza in half...the way NY style pizza should be eaten. Â
They have calzones and rolls that looked really good, which I was tempted to get on top of the pizza. Â However, I wasn't that hungry but will try next time.
Luigi's, you lose a star for having a $7.00 min charge for credit purchase, which is a violation of your merchant agreement with Mastercard and Visa. Â Tisk tisk... Â I don't carry cash on me and won't be back as much as I like. Â You should however, thank my friend for having cash on her. Â If not, I would have kept on walking.
Depending, of course, on the kind of pizza you like -- Luigi's is the best pizza in the city of Chicago. How I lament its loss from my life. (I lost custody in a breakup since he lives closer -- URGH!)
No Delivery is a huge bummer. And so is the fact that it closes at 10pm?!?! I mean seriously?? I always want pizza after ten.
A note on the employee and owner before I get down to how amazing the pizza is -- I am pretty sure it is a Russian father daughter team since I have only ever seen the two of them working behind the counter and he is always reading Russian newspapers when I come in. They can be a little gruff when they are busy, but the rest of the time they are pretty awesome and make an effort to get to know their regulars. They definitely enhance the experience.
But on to the more important part: the FOOD!
The whole pies are much better than the slices but they are both great. They are very New York style -- big slices with lots of cheese and plenty of GREASE! hehehe. They still manage to make the crust crispy and delicious though. Man, I have to stop writing this review before I start unconsciously heading there after work.
ok, so the yelper's have praised this place for serving up authentic NY syle pizza...hmm, it was ok but to me, it fell a bit short. Â The crust was a little too hard to be 'foldable' and the sausage, which was actually pretty tasty, looked more like diced up hamburger; again, i found this to be a plus and it was good. Â The sauce was good but severely lacking, essentially it made for a fairly "dry" slice of pizza. Â
I also ordered a side salad w. italian dressing. Â If you happen to love, and I mean *love*, green olives (tons of them), sliced cucumbers, a massive amount of jalapeo peppers, fair amount of green peppers, onions, onions and more onions, cold mozz cheese, mozz cheese and did I mention, mozz cheese, then you'll really like this "salad". Â I did eventually find the lettuce underneath the mad cornucopia of garden veggies and it was decent, just not my cuppa, if you will.
Will I be back ?...it's possible but not probable.
I've been here a little over 6 months. Â It is the closest thing to NY style pizza around and sure beats anything on Taylor Street with the exception of Tuscany authentic Neopolitans. Â
I just ordered a cheese slice for a bite late in the afternoon since I skipped out on lunch. Â It did the trick! Â The best pizza though if you should ever go to NY is a place in Hoboken, NJ across from Manhattan called Pete Tudino's "Home of the Biggest Slice". Â It rocks!
Any pizza place that advertises "by the slice" is already up there in my book because this implies I can eat my favorite food in America in its non-party-slice form. After hoofin' it by this place on numerous occasions, I just HAD to kill the mystery once and for all. Â I ordered an entire pie (risky, yes but I was up for it) for delivery. Â Important to note, they accept cash only (which posed a problem when my boyfriend couldn't find his wallet and I was cash-less. Â The delivery guy was very patient while we looked). Â
On to the pizza - definitely some good stuff going on there. Â Big and cheesy slices closer to NY style than I have seen in Chicago. Â Definitely some foldable slices going on. Â I always order mine with ronis and they were divine. Â Hooray for Cafe Luigi - don't overlook it!
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