To be fair, we ordered an unique pizza: The Taco Pizza. To be honest, it was terrible. To be judgmental, it was the same pizza they use on their advertisement flyer that comes with your delivery.
Do you like shredded lettuce on your pizza? Probably not. Even if you haven't tried it, you probably don't like it. I did not expect this, since I was asked by my bf, "Do you want to try the Taco Pizza?" "Yes", I replied. Never again. The seasoning seemed to miss the shredded beef chunks and was found on the tomato paste. There was no cheddar cheese. It was a mozzarella cheese pizza with hamburger meat and hamburger toppings. It tasted like a hamburger. I've had nacho/taco themed pizza from Dimo's, they use cheddar, sour cream, steak/chicken, chives, jalapenos.... things you would think of when you want to taste a taco. This Taco Pizza from John's was just not a taco. Period.
Two stars for the business itself, because the pizza was on time and they got the order right. I don't want to punish the establishment for something that is wrong with the menu in the first place. I'm sorry I didn't read before ordering that the pizza comes with a terrible amount of shredded lettuce. But that was a gross $30 pizza.
This past weekend, I ordered a pizza. Â Initially I waited an hour and a half. Â When the pizza man called my cell, I freaked out in excitement to finally get my greasy goodness. Â
When I answered my door, the pizza man reached in his box to grab my feast and almost in slow motion, butterfingered the pizza out of his grasp, ending with my pizza crashing to the ground. Â It was like watching someone shake a baby. Â
The delivery man said they would make me a new pizza since mine was a mess. Â I had waited over an hour for the new pizza and was pretty upset that no one even courtesy called me to give me a time estimate. Â The girl who answered didn't even apologize that I had now been waiting THREE HOURS to get a thin crust pizza that ended up being COLD when it finally arrived. Â
The pizza man dropped the pizza. Â Mistakes happen and I couldn't get mad at him for that. Â I was a sad panda when it happened but the poor service that followed was really why I will never order from John's ever again or recommend their pizza to any of my friends. Â When you work in the service industry, you should be able to make it up to your customers when they have a terrible experience or AT LEAST APOLOGIZE. Â Three hours is a really long time to wait for delivery.
JOHN'S, YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO THE PIZZA INDUSTRY.
John's Pizzeria gives me everything I want in a pizza:
1. The crust - not too thick, not too thin. It's just perfect.
2. The ingredients - fresh. The sausage has a perfect flavor. They don't skimp on the veggies. The cheese is stringy.
3. The sauce - not sweet, not overloaded with spices. A gentle flavor in the mouth.
4. Fast Delivery - always an accurate estimate, but on more than one occasion they've been early.
When my mom was visiting, we took a drive around to see the house she grew up in. We passed John's and she got excited. Apparently ordered pizza from here as a kid. Said it was such a treat and they looked forward to it once a month. Guess what we had for dinner that night?
John's really is a treat. This isn't a crappy pizza that will disappoint.
I really like the pizza here and this place has been around for decades.  What is disappointing is that the last time I was there, I noticed how the place appears to be falling apart.  It looked dirty.  As we were leaving, I can see garbage on the floor by the register's.  Trash can practically over floated.  Some seats looked as if they can use some upholstery work........ The place can use a make-over.  That makes me wonder if what customers can see is that unpleasant, what about what kitchen must  look like.  I would be terrified to find out.  I don't think I'll be coming here for dine-in again.
Review Source:The thin crust pizza here is really good.   The first time I ordered though I got the wings.  Some people here complain about them,  but they are very very good.  They are just small and greasy so make sure you order a lot of them.  They are not little preppy boy or girly girl wings. They are  " I want to pig out and be a slob today" wings.  A tad on the higher priced side.
Review Source:We just picked up a couple thin crust pizzas to take home. Â Decided to try this place out for the first time. Just based on the pizza alone, I was happy with the quality and taste, and the price was a couple bucks cheaper than most pizza places.
Good for thin crust. The place looks like a total dive, but I'd be willing to go there and eat sometime. Looks like a classic.
I use to live adjacent to this place and when I first went inside the building, I had some low expectations because it reminded me of a "dive" pizza place. However, I was pretty impressed with the quality and delivery of the food. For the most part, for Sunday football, we would order the "Football Size" pizzas and they were pretty good and filling when we shared it between 5 people.. It's not somewhere that I would have an urge to have delivered to me now being further away from it----but if I was in the neighborhood I'd stop in for some of their Za again.
Review Source:I've been a customer since 2001. And fiercely loyal. But the past 3 times I've ordered delivery it has been messed up! What's going on Johns? Last week I didn't get part of my order and received wrong soda. But we were still hungry!!! No apologies either. I complained once and received $3 off next order. Big deal. Not worth the trouble. I'm sad to be taking my pizza biz elsewhere as they were my favorite for over 10 years. this place went from 4 stars to 2 IMHO, and it's really a shame.
Review Source:If you are from New York City (as I am), this is the place to get your take-out. Â I have not dined in, so will not comment on service. Â The pizza (if you order L or XL) may be oblong rather than a circle, but ignore that and revel in the flavor. Â Yes, they use all the correct herbs and spices that are missing from Chicago-style pizza, so get over the shape and enjoy. Â They get extra credit for understanding and properly executing a request for "well done", meaning I want the crust and cheese to be a little brown.
Review Source:Knowing full well of the quality of service I was going to receive from John's, I went in with very low expectations and came out fully satisfied by their deliciously thin pizza and with some good chuckles about how bad the service actually is. If you go in without the normal expectations for restaurant service, you can really have a great time. It's a bit of a dive but it's a fun dive. Make sure to stay away from the garlic bread and salad. Your best bet is straight up pepperoni pizza. The nachos are real good too and the pasta is satisfying.
Keep your expectations in line with the experiences here and I'm sure you'll have a good time.
Underwhelming side salad & just ok pizza. Prices were reasonable but service very slow especially when we were one table of only three that had customers. Â Wasn't our waitress' fault since she was handling all the tables & all the take out orders while other employees were outside smoking, sitting at a table reading a magazine etc.
Review Source:I used to LOVE this place, I just ordered delivery... john's special- THERE WAS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT IT. Â It arrived COLD & maybe had 8 tiny pieces of sausage on it. Â Their sausge is normally whats MAKES their pizza. tonight i got a whole pie of peppers and onions -yuck! Â Truly awful. Â Don't think I will be ordering here again
Review Source:I've had pizza here twice and both times I was NOT dissapointed my best friend loves this place and swore I would too. And well he didn't lie lol..
I remember the first time coming here and was a bit skeptical since it's not your most fancy cozy type place to eat but the food lacks for everything you see from the outside. Â The pizza is cooked to a perfection!!.. YEP I said PERECTION well at least for me since I LOVE my pizza to be crunchy!! and this place delivers that!
Since that first visit about 3 years ago he and I been dying to have it but since we leave onthe other side of the world! lol it makes it hard sometimes to get it. We recently had it the other day and it was just as good as I remember!!!
If you love good Chicago style pizza this is def a must go to spot!
This restaurant screwed up my order twice and I've ordered twice from there. After the first screw up, I decided to give them a second chance and they blew it. Â
Sorry, but this place is a rip off. They may be good for the pizza (according to others), but for everything else (pasta, dessert, service, etc.)... they suck.
I've ordered from these guys a bazillion times, so many so that I've lost count, but I can safely say I've only had a truly 'meh' pizza from them once, or twice, out of at least 12-15 times ordering.
Their thin crust is awesome, they don't skimp on toppings, and the pizza is usually there in less time than they quote you.
TIP: If you order on grubhub, you can pay w a credit card, if you order over the phone, be prepared to hear "CASH ONLY." While this makes no sense, if you want to pay w a card, order on grubhub. If you don't order on grubhub, don't complain about the cash policy.
They always give you free soda, err if you order over maybe $15, but it's always more than $15, so that free liter is always present.
Prices seem fair, enough.
I love pizza. Â If you read my other reviews you will see that more than half are for pizza joints. Â I will make this quick.
John's has good cracker thin pizza. Â It tastes great but is a little costly for how much you have to eat to get full. Â The real secret to this place is their baked panzerotis. Â Basically the same as a calzone but baked and wonderful. Â They are cheaper than usual too!
This is more of a carry out/delivery place, as the restaurant itself has seen better days.
BLEH.
THE SUMMARY: The wings were terrible; amongst the worst I have EVER had. Â The chicken sandwich was so greasy that I couldn't even hold it. Â The DIET Mt. Dew I ordered was instead replaced with regular Mt. Dew. Â And, the chocolate malt I ordered didn't come. Â I had to call them and they had to send out a second driver to deliver it. Â So, I had to wait almost 2 hours to get my fucking malt. Â Jiminy Christmas!
THE DETAILS: Â I had only eaten a banana and a small hummus plate thus far, so I wanted a large dinner. Â Wings-sub-malt big. Â John's had decent reviews. Â I bit the bullet and ordered from John's. The funny thing is that the actual phrase "bite the bullet" resulted from doing so as a means to quiet yourself/stifle the pain of having limbs sawed off in the Civil War, and would have been less painful than eating at John's. Â That is correct, I would rather be a crippled monster than eat here again. Â Ordering here was a poor choice, if you didn't get that yet.
First, the "breaded devil wings" are 5.95 for 5 EXTREMELY small, non-sauced, overly breaded, unspicy wings. Â I love wings. Â Love 'em. Â So, I felt especially betrayed by their lack of spiciness (fricking "devil" wings implies spiciness!) Â Gah! Â When I die and undoubtedly go to hell for all of my offensive reviews, and if I were to encounter Lucifer in said hell and if ol' Lou were in any way similar to the wings from John's for which he is named, he would look and act like Andy Dick. Â THAT is the depth of the shittiness of these wings.
The chicken sandwich was okay tasting, but the taste was completely overshadowed by the yuck-factor of the greasiness. Â I got the grilled chicken sandwich as a compensatory item to make me not feel as bad for eating fried wings (same f'ing reason I ordered DIET Mt. Dew. Â For fuck's sake, John.)
The malt tasted fine. Â Thought it wasn't very large and costed about $5.00. Â
The wings alone are worthy of 1 star, and I HATE giving places a single star; seriously, look at all my reviews, I'm not *that* guy.
I don't know exactly who John is, but I want to punch him in his f'ing face.
I do not understand why everyone on here has given this 'restaurant' anything other then one star. It is not a restaurant but more like a bad soup kitchen. I wouldn't give this food to a homeless person.
One review compared this place to Piece in Wicker Park. Not even close.
I paid extra for a crust that was clearly not home made, extra for them to cake powdered garlic instead of freshly peeled garlic and extra for dried basil they probably purchased at a dollar store.
Unbelievable. I'm all for supporting local business but I wouldn't wish my worse enemy to hand this restaurant money.
Oh, and by the way.. didn't want to touch the salad I ordered. Brown, water logged and clearly sitting out all day, safe to assume it wasn't made same day either.
My husband used to eat at John's growing up so we made an order for pick up. Large pizza with 3 toppings and ready in 20 minutes? Sounds great! $17 for a large pizza? Sounds great! Oh, you want to give me a free liter of RC Cola for ordering a pizza? You are my new bestie. They must have known that pizza spots with RC Cola have a big spot in my heart.
Once we ate the pizza, both of us determined that it was great! Good thin crust, great cheese, good proportion of toppings to cheese. Can't figure out another pizza to compare it to but give it a shot. We will definitely be ordering from here again.
Honestly, I can't find anything wrong with this place although the inside probably hasn't been updated since my husband went there as a kid!
John's pizza is ok. Not my favorite thin crust, but not terrible. Seems overpriced, though. I want to try their Taco Pizza, but $18.35 for a 12" medium??? A bit outrageous.
But their fried chicken of all things? Unbelievable! I don't even like fried chicken, really. But John's is something special. Forget KFC, Popeye's, or any other so-called chicken joint. Even puts Harold's to shame, in my humble opinion. For anybody who likes fried chicken, this is a must try. It's the real deal.
I like John's huge menu. There is something for everybody. My one major complaint is that they deliver salads with the dressing tossed on them. I've never seen this odd practice anyplace else. Need to remember to ask for dressing on the side. On a recent order I paid $1 for a side of cheese sauce, and it was forgotten. Not the first mistake from them. Their chili is pretty good, too. Burgers are just ok. Pass on the onion rings. Free 2 litre of soda whether you want it or not, it seems. I think I dined in there once, but it was about 13 years ago, so I don't remember the experience. Delivery has always been within estimated time.
When my husband & I moved into this neighborhood we visited John's often. Not so much because the pizza is great, but we were busy unpacking and didn't have time or food to cook. The decor is dated, cheesy and looks like a low-level mobster hang out from the early 80s.
We will be moving out of the area next month and decided to give John's a try again. The pizza is  the same as we remember: tasty, salty, a little greasy, etc. It's what you expect cheap pizza to taste like. The front of their menu boasts "voted top 5 pizza in Chicago". I wouldn't go that far.
I've read some of the previous reviews where people mentioned rude staff, creepy management, etc. It's a pizza joint on Western Avenue...what do you expect?
After the many fliers left on the front gate, I finally decided to try John's Pizzeria out. Â Opted for the delivery service, which the person that answered was nice and friendly. Â I ordered the Panzerotti Pizza Turnover and Mozzarella bread sticks. Â She quoted me about an hour for arrival, which it actually showed up around 40-45 minutes later. Â
The Panzerotti was really good. Â Panzerotti is a similar to Calzone, except that it baked instead of fried. Â Their menu states that they fry their Calzones, which does sound interesting. The crust was rather interesting. Â Instead of being crunch or hard to rip through, it was toasted enough to not be crunchy....somewhat chewey in a good way. Â Great amount of cheese, sauce and sausage. Â Definitely worth getting again.
I'd recommend staying away from the breaded mozzarella cheese sticks, which were probably the worst mozzarella cheese sticks I've ever had. Â I had actually intended on getting cheese covered bread sticks, but ordered these on accident. Â The cheese sticks were not cooked enough and had to microwave them to actually get the cheese melted. Â While microwaving them helped a little bit, they still were awful. Â
Like any other delivery, you end up paying several more dollars for delivery charge and tip. Â Delivery is $2.75. Â However, the fliers to have coupons that make a difference on your bill. Â You do get a 1 litre RC for spending $13.50 and a 2 litre for $25.00 or more. Â
Next time, I'll try the pizza and bread sticks with cheese...not their mozzarella cheese sticks! Â However, I'll have to get the bread sticks with cheese since they do not sell them.
Man-o-man! This thin crust pizza rival's Pat's in Lincoln Park for thin crust supremacy. The interior (I had takeout) reminds you that that this place hasn't changed a bit since when it opened in the 50s.
The spinach-cheese garlic bread was pretty good too. Four your info: A medium is a BIG meal for two.
What can I say, I love all pizza's creatures, great and small. Veggie? Fine. White pizza? Bring it! Heavy on the anchovy? Sure, why not, I'm an adventurous gal. Smothered and slathered in greasy oil? Errrrrr maybe not so much.
John's Pizza was some of the oiliest I've ever eaten, Exxon Valdez has nothing on you guys!! However, on the plus side, might this be a new sustainable oil option... Can you power my car on this stuff?? Run a generator?? Will it kill the animals?? I'm sure it will kill me if I eat enough of it. The makings for a good pizza were certainly there underneath the slick, but boy was that pool of oil off-putting. Fortunately, our garlic bread (Mmmm Yum!) and fresh green salad both arrived in normal, dry condition! Â
A high note is delivery to the Logan Square 'hood is rocket boots fast. We got our zzah in under 40 minutes. Huzzah!! If desperate times call for desperate, cheesy measures then John's might be a viable option provided you have plenty of blotting material at hand.
Just ordered a pizza from here tonight. Â Thin crust, sausage and extra cheese. Â It tasted okay, but holy shit, never in my life have I seen such a ridiculously greasy pizza. Â I generally like my pizzas tasty and greasy, but this was to a point of absolute ridiculousness of grease. Â Never before John's have I seen grease soak through the cardboard, bleed through the foil, and soak the bottom of the wrapper. Â 9/12 never forget.
On the plus side, they quoted me an hour to deliver, and they were here in about half that. Â So at least we got our grease with a side of pizza fast, I guess.
I have not yet been to John's Pizza, but I just heard that they have Joe Dolce's "Shaddap Your Face" on the jukebox, and for that, they deserve five stars already.
Don't you dare mark "useful" on this review. This is not a useful review.
UPDATE: I went! The pizza was good, the garlic bread had 5 sticks of butter per slice (heaven), we were treated to 1983 style place mats with puzzles and mazes on them like we used to get at Pizza Hut, AND, as promised. Joe Dolce was on the jukebox! OK, you can mark "useful" now!
Excuse me while I change my pants. Â Really, I think I just had a foodgasm. Â
Once again, I hate pizza, (for many reasons) and well John's is still f'n amazing.  For myself, I ordered  the spinach garlic bread and shared the apple turnover.  First of all, the spinach garlic bread was AMAZING.  It had the perfect amount of garlic, spinach, and cheese.  It literally was like a pizza minus the sauce, and oh my, I couldn't be happier.  K, now hold your breathe, b/c the apple turnover was just sinful.  It was warm dough that's been fried and had a yummy apple center.  I'll be dreaming about it for awhile. Â
As for others in my group, they ordered baked mostaccioli and loved it. Â I was told the sauce was perfect and they had a big layer of gooey cheese that made the mixture wonderful. Â Someone else had ordered a small pepperoni pizza and was in heaven also. Â They loved the thin crust, sauce, and overall tastiness of it all.
Even if their meals had been awful, I don't think I would've minded. Â Why? Â Well because my meal was perfect. Â I'll definitely be ordering more of this sinful spinach garlic bread.
PS, if you order delivery and your order is over 50 you need to have cash.
Ok, this review is based solely on the pizza, and the pizza alone. Â I can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet!
This is the best thin crust pizza I've had in Chicago in about ten years (I used to love Calo but live too far away from it now). Â The crust is everything you want in Chicago thin crust--thin and crisp, not too doughy, not a cracker, good flavor. Â The sauce is sweet but not overly so. Â Good amount of cheese, good proportion of toppings.
We usually get the "football" size to have leftovers, and to maximize the area of outer crust and corner pieces (which are the best), you know, how the sauce thickens towards the edge and the pieces are extra crispy. Â It's a good value for the price as well. Â We've never been in the restaurant proper, so I can't judge service, but for the most part, the phone service is pretty decent (although there is one girl who can be bitchy). Â
Other info: Â they don't take credit cards for delivery, they don't accept orders from cell phones near closing, and they give you a free liter of soda with most orders--if you don't want RC, ask if they can give you something else because they do carry things like Diet 7Up.
John's is our default place for ordering pizza since we moved here because it's just that good. Â You can trust me because I eat a lot of effing pizza. Â Cheers.
Four star food but the decor puts it over the top. Â I love places that don't have windows! Â Ok John's has a couple but only by the front door. Â There are three rooms, the best of which being the back one by the bar and the tv--you're surrounded by paneling and cool paintings.
They have a color-able kids' menu too! Â And there's booze!
Oh, I forgot to mention--the waitresses here are super-sweet. Â One of them went through (literally!) 600 DirecTV channels to find the Cubs game for me, which I only wanted to watch to root against them. Â I felt bad, but she was so nice about it.
John's Pizza is very good. The red sauce on this pizza is robust, lively and tastes authentic. This sauce makes this pizza a success.
The very thin crust has the consistency of a matzo cracker especially along the outer limits. Â
One thing I am extremely critical of is "Shrunken Pizza Syndrome"....Yes folks!... It's a phenomenon that sometimes goes undetected at most pizza joints......! Â It's where the pizza toppings do not properly extend to the end of your pizza.... to it's twilight zone....Just as you're romantically looking into your girlfriend's eyes, ready to take that last bite of pizza and.........what happened to the rest my pizza!?!!? Â ...It's as if somebody tossed it into a HOT dryer, shrunk it and now the toppings do not fit on the pizza correctly.......You now have "Shrunken Pizza Syndrome." or SPS.....Where more than one (1) inch of the outer edges of your pizza is without vegetation and is desert dry....Folks, it's "SHRUNKEN PIZZA SYNDROME!" ...Beware!
The shrimp I also ordered was ridiculously small and was surrounded in a cocoons worth of wonderful breading. Â Tasty as it was, seemed like way too much breading to be covering something so insignificant. Â ...But for only $6.95, I guess I shouldn't have expected the Chicago River to part.
I will try John's again! Â I really want to give this place a higher star but, at this time I just can't do it. Â I mean I want too! Â They seemed like real nice people on the phone and all and very helpful.
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