I live around the corner and purchase food from here weekly. I'm here to show it some love because I love. It's the perfect "Cook tonight? No, fuck that shit" type of option.
Highlights: Â
Cheap walk in meal specials
$6 medium pizza.
Delicious hot wings (best blue cheese dressing, ever).
An exquisite pop selection (Hawaiian Punch? You bet your ass)
Staff isn't the nicest, but they aren't waiters. Get in, pay, get your food, and leave. Or hang out, they have tables and chairs. Fuck it, life's about spontaneity, right? Live a little, don't be an entitled asshole and complain about the "sauce being thin" or "the cheese being not cheesy enough."
Motherfucker, $6 medium pizza.
Can you hear me? $6.
You pay more on laundry costs, or a shitty beer at a high priced bar, while this place is like "HEY YO, HERE'S A MEDIUM PIZZA ON THE CHEAP, WE LOVE YOU AND CARE ABOUT YOU, THANKS." Â
You want fancy? Invest in fancy pizza pills or oxygen pizza bars or some shit like that. This place makes it affordable, and I can respect that. Much love, Fest Pizza, much love.
So I've been reading all these one star reviews based solely upon the quality of pizza under the heat lamp, and it's all a simple misunderstanding
People, this is Chicago and even though it's the most segregated city in America, Â
it's still ILLEGAL to actually post a sign in the window that says  "White Privilege Badges Honored Here",  So next time just show your White Privilege Badge to the counter guy and maybe he will make a whole new pizza just so YOU can get a fresh slice or two. Because as you know it's all about keeping you happy as oppose to running a successful small business.
Personally this Pizza is better than Pete's Pizza which is legendary on the north side. And the prices are cheap two slices and a coke or RC, which tastes exactly the same for 4.50, which is a deal. Since I don't have the White Privilege badge, I take the slices home and put them in the oven. The quality of the pizza is such that it's basically the same as if it was right out the oven. After all it's not like it sits out there for a day. Â I know actually order delivery as well and the delivery guys are cool and the pizza arrives quickly.
The folks who work here are super cool, the main guy looks like a young Macho Camacho and he brings his son and daughter in to work with him at times. Because I'm nice he often gives me an extra slice that's been there for a while. Lot's of local families bring their children in here to eat and unlike the children of the entitled Privileged Badge holders, these kids are respectful.
I'm happy to have  and support this local business.
Okay y'all. Â I've been living in Chicago only six months and I've already learned that this is not a city to get pizza by the slice. Â This is not New York. Â The utility slice is not a respected institution here but rather a grudging courtesy. Â I have learned to deal with that. Â
So I get a medium pizza for six bucks + tip and carry it home to put in the toaster oven when I'm feeling like a slob. Â It's salty and tastes fine. Â The crust is the cracker kind, which I'm also learning to cope with. Â It is at the very least (unlike so so so many of its competitors this far west) recognizable as a pizza-like substance. Â I'm content with that much, so Festa is my local joint of choice. Â But you have to order these pizzas fresh to carry home y'all. Â Really. Â It makes all the difference between edible pizza and the nuclear waste sitting under the heat lamp since god-knows when.
Pizza by the slice, my ass. They had 1 slice of pepperoni and 3 slices of sausage left on a Saturday night. Let's talk about this pizza. Â It was served to me at almost room temperature (which I think is just offensive!); the crust split in two, like they took a knife and sliced it like a piece of pita bread, which I thought was kind of strange; and the sauce was sparse. Good thing I brought my dog with because he sure liked the leftovers!
Review Source:The only thing here that's good are the Calzones. Their pizza is HORRIBLE! It's never ready when I've gone in to buy a slice. Sometimes I've tried to order a couple slices of cheese pizza when there was only pepperoni. Instead of telling me they could make another, they just said they are out and won't have anymore! It was 5pm on a Saturday! If you are going to advertise all over your windows 'PIZZA BY THE SLICE' then you should be prepared to make more when someone orders it! It's sad because I live like 5 doors away and LOVE pizza.
OH and add 15 - 20 minutes to their wait time. If they tell you 20 minutes, it will actually be ready in 35 - 40 minutes. I'm only rating this more than one star because the Calzones are good.
Hate to say this and risk losing all credibility for my taste in anything....but Festa was one of the better slices of pizza that I've had in Chicago. Â It was also one of the greasiest slices I've ever had...but pizza is pizza, so what do you expect.
I've kind of given up on pizza in Chicago with the consistenly bland cracker crusts and the rubbery cheese layered on to disproportion that I keep coming across...but the slice at Festa was not like this. Â Also, the sauce actually had flavor...and the fact that it was not square-cut probabaly helped, too. Â And that it was $5 for 3 slices.
This is definitely serviceable, cheap pizza. As I've said in previous posts, I love pizza slices. And I am all for two-slices-and-a-soda combos. And for $4!
The pizza is not gourmet or fancy. You can't not know this as you walk into the small storefront. It's actually a cute little exposed-brick space that feels like it's been a pizza place forever. There are a couple of tables to sit if you'd like, and during the day I frequently see workers or families having lunch together. The slices are kept in a warming case, so they are appropriately lukewarm and slightly congealed. They have what they have and you have to choose from it unless you order a whole pie.
The crust is thin and crispy and it tastes like dough. This is an improvement from some thin crust pizzas I've eaten in this part of the country. The cheese is not flavorful, but it held the challenge of a generous dash of cracked red pepper and oregano and parmesan cheese.
The best part is the sauce. The sauce is oregano-heavy and sweet, something I haven't tasted in years. It brought me back to all the dirty little pizza places in central Massachusetts where I ate as a child. Yeah! With my Grape Crush, I felt like I was 7 years old again and it was Pizza Friday. They get an extra star just for giving me an awesome flashback.
I can't say I'll eat this pizza exclusively, but when strapped for cash and in need of a full belly, I will not hesitate to walk down the block for Festa.
I just ordered this tonight as I am dog sitting and there was no food in the house. I was not really impressed, it doesn't take much to make a decent pepperoni pizza (trust me, I delivered pizzas for 3 years in college) and Festa is no where near that. This is pizza, but I didn't really want to eat more than one slice.... I mean come on. I love pizza and eating and eating crap tons of pizza.
I will not be doing this again.
At $17+ for a 16 inch with one topping, one would hope that this pizza would be a cut above the average. Â Alas, the pizza was nearly indistinguishable from it's more well-known neighbor, Little Clown. Â At least there you get what you pay for.
Making a good crust is indeed difficult, but making one this bad seems like it should be impossible. Â Well, Festa has done the impossible.
I should have known when I heard the mariachi music blaring from behind the counter that Festa was no longer operated by Italians, as the sign indicated.
The pizza I received was about the quality you'd get from a cafeteria, and they only carried RC Cola. ("Family Guy" jokes aside)
While I was eating, a guy kept spraying vinegar and wiping down tables, the scent of which made my pizza taste even worse.
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