Gino's East

Where do I start?

First off, we waited about an hour and a half on a Saturday evening. Granted Saturdays can be a busy day but I've had less of a wait at the Cheesecake Factory! The place was about the size of my thumb and OVERFLOWING with people. The hostesses/waitresses kept assuring us that we would have only "a few more minutes'" wait and justifying their snail's speed service with "we only have four ovens".

When we were finally seated, and the waitress/hosts were free to take our order, we had the WORST dining experience ever. The "silverware" we were provided was plastic as were the drinking cups. We ordered a simple appetizer of Caesar salad and breadsticks. HOLY CRAP I don't know how in the world you can screw up a Caesar salad but they definitely did. It was absolutely horrible. The breadsticks were drenched in this disgusting oil that had no taste. The appetizer should really have tipped us off that the rest of the meal was going to be an awful, awful bust.

When we finally got our pizza about half an hour later (keep in mind that we had a thin crust pizza- BBQ chicken- and the waitress assured us that she "fired it" no later than 2 minutes after we sat down), it was the ABSOLUTE WORST RESTAURANT PIZZA I HAVE EVER TASTED. The cheese seemed fake and the crust was hard (not the crunchy, delicious kind that a thin-crust is supposed to be either). When we informed our waitress of how dissatisfied we were with the food, she assured us that their crust was "homemade" and "different than other restaurant thin-crust styles". What does that even mean? Different as in crappy??

The ONLY good thing about the pizza was that it had a sweet BBQ sauce on it. But that didn't save this meal. We ended up sending the pizza back because it was utterly inedible. I've seriously had frozen pizzas that tasted better than that garbage- no joke, CPK's frozen BBQ chicken pizza (which I had a few weeks earlier) is better than the swill he were presented with at this establishment.

Bottom line, if you want a RIDICULOUS wait time, crappy service, plastic dinnerware, and horrible pizza, then this is the place for you. Otherwise, be smart and go down the street to Lou Malnati's where the thin crust is everything a thin crust should be- crunchy, buttery, saucy, and delicious.

Also, there is basically no parking at this location. They have a TINY lot in front that holds about 6 cars but good luck getting a spot there!

They do not deliver to my address i went to pick up a large thin crust 3-3-13 It took 30 minutes then it was burn when I go home if they were close to me I will have return but I eat the part that was not burn. NEVER THERE AGAIN I will go to there near north location were they knoe how to cook pizza with out burning iy

Gino's Pizza opens at 11:00am. And apparently they are very serious about this. I showed up today at 10:58 (in a hurry and just wanting to grab a quick slice to go). The door was unlocked, and there was an employee behind the counter, so I walked right in. The woman tells me "Sorry we're not quite open yet." It's 10:58am. That's just fine, I get it. I ask, "Do you mind if I just sit on this bench until you're ready? I just want a slice to go." She replies, "Actually you will need to wait outside." It's 10:59 by now, and it's also 26 degrees and the middle of February. I have had their pizza before, and it is definitely not my favorite Chicago deep dish. I was just in the area and in a hurry. But after being told to turn around and go back outside for 1 minute, I left and I won't be back. There's a lot of competition in the Chicago pizza world. BYE GINOS!