de Carlucci's Pizza & Mexican Grill

Reviews & Tips

• 0

  I ordered an Italian beef from them and thought it was a decent sandwich, that was pretty well made. The delivery driver mentioned their loyalty club so I signed up, since it didn't seem like a bad idea, since it was a 20% discount on any order over 20 bucks. A few days later, I ended up ordering the same thing again, times two for an Italian beef brunch with my sister and on top of it got the potato skins, gave my loyalty number and then took my credit card info, but got no total before he hung up.
  
  I don't know what happened, but the beef wasn't as good, with not a lot of flavor in the meat of the gravy. The skins were pretty plain, and even with bacon and cheese weren't very good. I kept my loyalty card because I'm on the fence, but I'm not sure if I'll be calling them again soon.

  Review Source:

  Posted on 02.24.13 Ted C.

  • Report
• 0

  Yeaaahhhhhhhh........  ......NOOOOOOOOOOO!
  
  I've been holding off reviewing (de) Carlucci's because of my first experience with the place.  That was only about a week or so after they re-opened, and it wasn't a positive experience.  But I'm willing to spot that opening a restaurant is a tough business, and it's possible that with only a week under their belt that they might not have everything buttoned down at that point.  I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to going to Carlucci's again.  Since I live nearby I decided that I had to give the neighborhood pizza place a second shake; maybe they'd turned things around in the interim.
  
  Unfortunately, things haven't changed much.  This is not good pizza.  A better description would be, "Would you like some pizza with your salt?"  This pizza is so ridiculously over salted that your blood pressure goes up just walking in the door.  It's not inedible, but it's not a particularly enjoyable experience eating it, either.
  
  The decor has also gone far downhill since its days as Caputo's.  It's bare walls and a (mostly empty) pop refrigerator, that's it.  Go in there during the day, and it's dead quiet.  You'll be the only person in there, no TV, no radio, just you and the wind from the compressor on the cooler.  It also doesn't smell particularly appetizing walking in.  I'm really not sure how they pulled that one off; one normally gets pleasantly blown over walking into a pizza place by the smells of *pizza*.  Carlucci's smells like hospital disinfectant.  I guess that's good because it means they're cleaning things, but it's not exactly an appetizing smell, either.  No aroma of sauce, no heady smells of dough baking, just...  disinfectant.  Yuck.
  
  Carlucci's is also not a particularly good value for your money, either.  Restaurants can get by with substandard food if they pile it on, but such is not the case here.  I ordered a 16" *thin* pepperoni, and the total was over $17.  For $3 more down the road you can have the royal badass of deep dish pizzas at Pequod's.  For $3 less you can have much better tasting (even though it's a chain!) Jet's pizza over on Dempster.  And I'd dare say that the Pequod's has 1/4 the salt and 80X the flavor!
  
  So when the taste is struggling to reach "just OK", the pizza is drowning in salt, the place's aroma isn't all that pleasant, and it's overpriced to boot then there really isn't a single redeeming feature to recommend this place.  I guess if you don't have a car and are within walking distance and are deficient in electrolytes then it'd be passable, but otherwise stay far, far away.  It's just not good.

  Review Source:

  Posted on 12.12.12 George V.

  • Report
• 0

  The first couple times my family ordered from here it was good. We usually have their pizza and cheese sticks. However, the last time we ordered was one of the worst meals my family has had. One of the pasta dishes had a piece of metal wire in it....the cheese for my fries was simply inedible it was so bad, and a few of the cheese sticks had no cheese in them. We haven't ordered since. I'm pretty disappointed because I wanted to like this place but there are better places to order pizza and pasta from in Skokie. Stay away.

  Review Source:

  Posted on 11.10.12 Aria S.

  • Report
• 0

  I love cold pizza - the day after I order it, not the moment the delivery driver hands it to me. I waited 85 minutes for my pizza to be delivered. The delivery driver did apologize, but didn't offer an explanation. After heating it back up in the oven, the pizza was great: thin, crispy, with just the right balance of sauce, cheese and carefully placed toppings.
  If you like a deal (foodler, yelp deal, etc.) and don't mind having to reheat your pizza before enjoying it, this is a good choice.

  Review Source:

  Posted on 11.09.12 Mary P.

  • Report