Finding gems like this is why I keep the yelp application on my phone home screen. It's simply awesome. But you need to know the special Lou's eating method to maximize it's awesomeness.
First: Why the scraper method,and what does it do for you?
Lou's serves deep dish pizza in a delightfully flaky buttery crust that isn't completely overwhelming or ridiculously large like Papa Murphy's or other related national chain embarrassments. Pizza here is served molten hot with cheese so fresh you'll want to slap it. The food is so good and flavorful that one bite is so overwhelmingly delicious your palette cannot process it all at once. It has to be taken in separately to really enjoy it, thus the scraper method.
Next, what's the method?
With a knife and fork in hand, cut a 1" square piece from a pizza, then scrape the toppings off of the pie crust. Then, using the knife, stretch the cheese several times around your fork until it breaks. Doing this will release the hidden flavor oils in the cheese that will simply melt in your mouth with sheer delicious awesomeness. Then, eat the crust portion. This will again release the same flavors with an unexpected buttery note that will just rock your world. It really is a great combination but I find eating both in one bite is just too much to handle.
Be sure to save room for the pizza cookie a'la' mode. I ask for cherries on top and it caps the experience off with a great note!
This restaurant should be on every street corner in the country.
BEST deep dish. Â But I'm not here to talk about that....it's also the BEST THIN CRUST in the area as well. Â And for the quality of ingredients, the price isn't half bad either, about $16 for a 16" (XL) pizza. I also got the malnati's salad, which was big and fresh. Â
they also donate ALL of their profits to the community.
One of my absolute FAAAAAAAAAAAAVORITE places in Chicago. Â Love the ambience, the decorations, the people :-) They're a light in Lawndale. Â I do believe they should bring more hosts on board to greet people as they come to the door. Often there isn't anyone there to tell people to seat themselves or take an order. Â Great folks and great menu though!
I'm a huge fan of those candied yams!! ;-) YUMMY! This is probably the only spot in Chicago where you can get top-knotch deep dish Chicago pizza and soul food sides! YOU HAVE TO STOP AND EAT HERE BEFORE YOU DIE. PERIOD.
BEST PIZZA EVER!!!!! Love, Love, Love this pizza. I have yet to have gross pizza in Chicago and I love ALL pizza, deep, stuffed, thin, brick oven. I had this pizza twice at the Taste of Chicago, but I wish they would have had pepperoni, but the sausage and the cheese was excellent. The crust, the sauce, the cheese, the pepperoni, OMG is it AWSOME! Parking is hard to find, if you go on a Friday around 4:30-6pm, so bring a friend to drive around while you run in to get the pie. Keep up the good work, guys!
Review Source:I give them 5 stars because:
- It is the best deep dish Chicago pizza in my opinion
- The staff was very upbeat and friendly
- I like the Chicago decor inside and it's in an old brick building, which I love
Yes, the neighborhood isn't much to look at, but the bonus was street parking was not metered in this area. Â Normally we wouldn't be dining at this location but we were meeting friends from Vegas who were flying out of Midway later that day. Â I scoured Yelp to find the perfect place somewhat near the airport and which had some Chicago flair for my friends. Â So they got to roll through Cicero & have some awesome Chicago pizza before their trip back home.
I'm surprised they don't open until 12:30 on Sundays (and close at 4pm) but luckily that was the designated time we were meeting my friends there. Â As we sat & waited for them our server, Crystal, was very nice & got us our beverages. Â Our friends were running late & she checked in on us to see if we wanted to order an appetizer or salads. Â We had the deep dish, of course, with sausage, green peppers & mushrooms. Â It was ooey gooey cheesy perfection. Â Our Vegas friends were impressed.
Since we were the first customers in for the day I think we spoke to just about everyone who was working at the time as they moved out & about the restaurant. Â They all had big smiles & great attitudes...something pretty special when you are in the middle of a heat wave & you work in a pizza place!
I'm a NY'er by birth so I came into the whole deep-dish thing a bit of a skeptic. Â I still think it's almost more pasta than pizza, but whatever, if they want to call it pizza - it's pizza.
I thought Lou's was good, this wasn't the location I went to tbh, but I'm too lazy to find the right one at the moment. Â It was definitely good, the crust seemed a bit too greasy to me, but everyone else enjoyed.
I don't like deep dish pizza. Â But I like Lou Malnati's. Â What can I say, I am a complex human being.
Whenever out-of-towners are visiting and insist on eating "chicago pizza" and refuse to go to Dimo's with me because it's not "real chicago pizza" I take them to Lou's and everyone is very very happy. Â
I have only eaten in, at the northwest location and Fullerton location. Â I have also gone in just for that cookie sundae. Â It's delicious; way over the top.
I know this is an 'institution' Â in Chicago, but I'd seriously rather have Papa John's. Our sausage and cheese pie was nothing more than a thick crust full of grease. It was like a meat and cheese grease swimming pool. I could not even finish one slice and even then I felt sick to my stomach.
And we wonder why there is an obesity epidemic in this country?
Lou's is awesome. I live in Arizona and had Lou's delivered for my place of business this past weekend. Everyone loved the pizzas (sppinach, cheese, pepperoni and sausage). I can't wait to get up there for a visit and head to Lou's and chow down. Love you guys and gals at Lou's! Your service is incredible and food is amazing!
Review Source:I absolutely love their pizza!!! It is among my top three favorite pizzas and I am a huge pizza lover (I have it at least twice a week).... Anyway the crust is amazing and the sauce is heaven!!! They deliver to my house which is surprising because I live pretty far from the location... I have eaten there once and the waitress was attentive and friendly!!
Review Source:I wouldn't usually review my late night pizza order, but had to put a good word in for the Lawndale Lou Malnati's location. When I went to pick up my deep dish pizza last night, somewhere along the line there was a mix up, and it was thin crust. I said something to the hostess, and a woman (who I think was the manager) came out. She was EXTREMELY nice, bought us some drinks, and had our pizza remade. Not only did she do this, but she gave us the thin crust one as well (which was just as good as the deep dish). Good food, good service...
Review Source:I really wanted to fall in love with deep dish pizza and from all the reviews it looked like Malnati's was the way to go. Â When we got there it was kinda late so I guess that's why they told us what we wanted to order wasn't available. Â We ordered the bbq salad and it was good. Â The pizza was next and we had the classic. Â One slice was enough to stuff my belly. Â I didn't notice it at the moment but it was incredibly salty. Â I was chugging water to get hydrated endlessly for the next hour or so. Â Also the neighborhood this restaurant was in scared me. Â The manager was stellar though and friendly. Â I feel really bad giving it 2 stars but really my first return experience to Chicago started off with a disappointment.
Review Source:Amazing chicago pizza. I traveled from Lawndale, California and 5,000 miles later this was my final stop before the plane ride back home, and I'm glad I made it.
The pizza here, phenominal. Deep dish pizza at it's finest. The buttercrust was just plan bomb, the ingredients themselves all tasted fresh and good, and overall the pizza was just fantastic. The service was great as well, the woman who served us was very friendly and attentive. Made sure we had everything we needed the entire time we were there.
The people here were so friendly that they even brought us out a peach cobbler, and I'll be damned if it wasn't the best peach cobbler I've ever had. I'd come back next time just to get a big portion of that! This place was nothing but fantastic.
Entirely bummed by my latest experience. Lou Malnati's use to be my favorite but I'm now officially over it. I called and they told me they wouldn't deliver to me anymore. So they gave me another Lou's to call. I called them and they said they wouldn't that the original place would. Finally I called back and they said that they had the wrong address.
Finally it gets here 1:45 minutes from when I called. About 30 minutes late. The bruchetta was disgusting. There was some huge glob of melted cheese in there. Random because it totally didn't belong.
The pizza was suppose to be deep dish but it wasn't. There was barely any cheese on there it was really thick crust. Not good at all.
There are so many other pizza places in the city I will not be getting Lou's again!!
Maybe I'm just not a deep dish pizza kinda gal.
I had the "Lou" which was the vegetarian pizza. It came with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and I think onions on a butter crust. I also tried the chicken cobb salad which was pretty good but I think it had Fritos on top (?_?). The pizza came out piping hot but because they make it fresh and its deep dish it took about 30-40 minutes, so be prepared to wait. The pizza was okay but I've had better and it may just be that I prefer thin crust. I was however very pleased with the service, the girl that helped us (Gloria) was super friendly and gave us really good service. I don't know if I would come back but it was still a good experience.
I'm from CT, USA, and love Italian food, especially pizza.  I've had all kinds of pizza, from the delicious street vendors in Rome, the yummy NY slice,  with sweet corn in England, to homemade - crisped on the grill in the summer time ...  and I was blown away Lou Malnati's deep dish butter crust!  Yum, this is the most delicious  pizza I have ever had.  Honestly, it's amazing that this pizza really is that yummy!!
Review Source:The wait for this place was ridiculous. Â We were told the wait would be about an hour, but it ended up being more like two hours. Â Very few restaurants are worth a 2-hour wait and this is one of them. Â Sure, the pizza is pretty good, and they've got a nice buttery, cornmeal-ish type crust, but it's certainly not out of this world. Â In fact, I prefer Zachary's in the Bay Area for Chicago-style pizza than this place. Â Roast beef sandwich was tender and juicy, but seriously, the absurd wait for this place just totally marred the experience. Â Worth maybe a 30-45 min wait.
Review Source:This Lou Malnati's Pizza location recently catered a lunch for us at one of our sites. Â I have not dined in, so my review is only for delivery.
Food: We ordered several thin crust pizzas & each and every one of them was excellent! The pizzas had a crispy crust, and the toppings were plentiful. Â These are their largest pizzas and serve 3-4 people. Â We also ordered a small tray of garden salad (serves 10) which was also very fresh, had plenty of veggies, and came with several different containers of dressing.
Easy ordering: The manager on the phone was very friendly and knowledgeable. I called the day before since I wanted to give them a heads up on a large order. Â She had no problems processing my tax exempt order, we were able to pay over the phone, and were set to go. We were also able to order soft drinks from them - good selection of Coke products.
Delivery: Fast and reliable! The food got there on time & was very fresh! The pizzas were fresh out of the oven & the driver was very friendly and was on time despite a snow storm. Also - they provided us with plenty of plates and utensils at no additional cost.
However, here is the absolute BEST part: this location which is located on the West Side in a neighborhood that many consider blighted gives ALL of its profits back to the community to benefit children's educational and recreational programs! How awesome is that?
On top of that, it provides jobs to many area residents. This was the main reason I chose this place to order from.
If you are nearby - stop by for some great pizza! Or if you need pizza delivered at home or for an event, call this Lou Malnati's location! I will definitely try and cater more events through them. I wish more businesses would follow their example in giving back to the community.
When I almost burst into tears upon learning I am literally less than a quarter block outside the South Loop location's delivery zone, I was dying for someone to save me from trying to get pizza delivered to a street corner. Â
This Lou's did the trick. Â I've gotten delivery several times, and they've always come earlier than the estimated time, the food is always hot, the order is always right, and the delivery guys are always friendly. Â Even in the horrible snow and cold that is this barren, frozen tundra. Â Especially since plows and Pilsen apparently don't mix. Â
This location is one of the ones with a fryer, so add some cheddar cubes to your order, and make sure you get the Buttercrust. Â You wouldn't want to spare a single calorie or fat gram, would you? Â The included paper plates and plasticware are a nice touch. Â
I'll go die from pizza coma now.
So, after watching Throwdown and Food Wars, I decided I would finally give Lou a try. Â We have always been Gino's fans. Â I have to say it was really good. Â We had a fantastic chopped salad, appetizer and Chicago Combo pizza all for $42.00 (for 4 people). Â Â This location is not in the best neighborhood but I can't imagine you could get better service at another location. Â Â Not only was the waitress on top of everything, she mentioned to the kids that had a bunch of pumpkins and would they like some to take home and carve. Â Â
I still cannot say I have a favorite deep dish but this one is right up there with the others. Â Their sausage is fantastic and I love that it does not have fennel, which can sometimes taste like a bad piece of licorice. Â Â Their tomatoes are sweet and perfect. Â Their cheese is gooey and rich and the butter crust is so good you could eat it without any ingredients.
I think I was Italian in my Past Life! It's my Ultimate favorite food EVER so I really wanted to like this place. I've had it delivered twice.. the second time was to make sure that I wasn't just thinking that I didn't like this place. The pizza crust was hard. the sauce for me was way to tart and it just didn't taste like the best pizza ever! truth be told, i'd rather go to Leona's than here :( .. or Damenzo's.. than here. I haven't had a 3rd go around .. it's unfortunate .
Review Source:I took a few friends from out of town to this location because they both wanted to eat at a Lou Malnatti's that was closer to where I lived.
So, lets first talk about location. My two friends are rather "bougie" as we sometimes say and thats fine by me because I know I have that element in myself too.
Anyway, I think they were a bit taken aback with the location which is westside and not close to much hustle and bustle or trend.
It's on a corner across from a community clinic and on the same block as come churches. What's great about its location is that its a place for the doctors and other medical staff to have a healthy lunch. This particular establishment is also there to give back to the community and help those wanting to turn their lives around. This location is really at the core of positivity for the Lawndale community.
Inside, you will find ample seating. More than enough room for a large group. On the walls are plenty of M. Jordan art and its all so very 'Chicago'.
Lastly but most importantly the food. The salad was eh. We all ordered a salad big enough for 3 adults and 2 children. It came to us i a big huge bowl swimming in Italian dressing. I have a thing against iceberg lettuce and the salad was mostly full of this leaf.
The pizza was was good. We ordered a deep dish with sausage and mushroom although a couple of us didn't eat pork. We were told that we could not order half and half.
Honestly, you can't really go too wrong with Lou Malnati's. The tomatoes were sweet and chunky, sauce was good. My only problem with the pizza is that it wasn't piping hot. It didn't seem like it was freshly made but instead freshly thawed and cooked. I'm sure the pizza is flash frozen and then cooked to serve. Despite that, I will go back and I recommend this place for lunch or dinner for a large family.
I am a NY pizza gal! So deep dish pizzas aint my thing...but my bf (a true chicagoan) took me here right after i got into town last weekend. Its a family place where you can go either with friends or just perhaps a 5th date (cutting the pizza can be a challenge :P ). Anyway, the pizza was awesome!! you can put anything you want as a topping (from the menu ofcourse). The waitress was super excited (it was kinda funny) and gave us heads up about the wait. So we ordered the clam chowder (nothing like the pikes place famous clam chowder) BUT it was a good appetizer when shared by two. I wanted to leave ENOUGH room for the pizza.
It fills you up for sure! I liked the fact that the it was not like the other deep dish pizzas where all you can taste is the CHEESE.
If you are new to chicago - def try this spot.
Oh FYI street parking has opened now in front and might want to try a couple blocks around - thats what we did.
They deliver their butter crust deep dish goodness to me in a flash. I ordered at 5:35 and they had it to me by 6:17. The driver even called first to let me know he was downstairs instead of just ringing the bell. Any time I call for pickup or delivery they are polite and always get the order correct. This location is a gem!
Review Source:My favorite of the classic Chicago deep dish pizzas. Â Get the Butter Crust, you won't regret it. Â Like Patrick F. said before, it's not going to change your thoughts on God, but it just might make you think again about eating plain old cornmeal crust.
The Malnati's are also good philanthropists, and this location is very special to me. Â The impact this one pizza spot has had on the community is inspiring.
True, the neighborhood isn't much to look at but the pizza here is fantastic. Everything tastes fresh and delicious, and your insides don't feel weighted down afterwards. We had our pizza with the butter crust and it's so good, light and crispy.
The server was really nice and friendly and warmed up the spartan interior considerably.
Lou Malnati's is always great, but this particular location is especially awesome. Â Opening a restaurant in Lawndale may not be the best business decision, but you can't put a price on what this place does for the Lawndale community. Â Though the restaurant struggles to turn a profit, it stays open to provide a place to work for those who are trying to turn their lives around. Â Any money they do make is donated to the community.
The people who work here are always very professional and friendly -- you won't find better service anywhere else. Â The pizza is great, and there are a few extra items that I haven't seen at other Lou Malnati's locations. Â The "West Side" BBQ chicken burger is amazing. Â Man, two huge juicy chicken breasts slathered in BBQ sauce...
Do something good today and eat here!
We all know that Lou Malnati's makes delicious pizza, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they had a restaurant five minutes from my school. Â
My brother and I came for lunch after spending the morning working in my classroom. Â We were the first table in the place, and the staff were pretty friendly with us. Â I also really appreciated the fact that our waitress labeled our leftovers for us so we didn't have to fight over them. Â
This branch delivers too, which was a first for me.
I've eaten at the Lou's on Wells and that was great!
This time I came with my guy and we ordered the chicken wings and the "Deluxe" deep dish pizza - Cheese, sausage, mushrooms, onions and green peppers.
I did not care for it too much. It wasn't bad, but just wasn't great.
The neighborhood seems sketchy, but it was ok.
I read about Lou's on my flight from LAX to ORD, Chicago. Â I thought to myself, "Ya, right. Â Why should I trust some ad on the in-flight magazine?" Â But, when I arrived, I did want to go somewhere to experience the Chicago Pizza phenomenon. Â So, I went here. Â What the heck, right?
OH MY LORD! Â (I know I say this in my other 5-star reviews. Â But, I'm honest! Â I mean it! Â Not every restaurant deserves this response or these stars, but this one does). Â Deep dish, full of cheese, tasty sauce. Â Wow. Â This has destroyed my tolerance for mediocre pizza. Â Not only is the pizza FANTABULOUSERRIFICMOSTAWESOME, but they know it! Â They know it and have a way to ship the pizza to you via Fed Ex or something. Â Is that not unusual?
Why not order in a REAL SPECIAL delivery... all the way from Chicago.  Visit their website and you'll see!  <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.loumalnatis.com&s=5b90719285cb0c2cfe45f9fe1932cc5af842bee6cc32593e3e94f7e15b13c57b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.loumalnatis.c…</a>.
HEAVEN ON A PLATE. Â Best pizza in Chicagoland, hands down (and yes I AM a pizza expert, thank you very much, read to the end and you'll see why).
I was once on the architectural cruise and met a 70 year old CEO from China who had never been here before. Â My Mandarin: not so good but his English: understandable. Â I convinced him to go with me to Lou Malnati's after this cruise b/c HOW in God's name can you POSSIBLY go to Chicago and not have this pizza??? Seriously I believe it should be illegal to do that. Â He was a sweet old guy and I think he really truly appreciated it. Â
Get the plain crust, deep dish, cheese. Â You can thank me later.
ps - The lack of Malnati's and for that matter Pizza as we know it sublimely here in Chicago is one of the reasons we actually moved OUT of L.A. Â Yeah I'm serious.
I think the more I have pizza at Lou's, the more it becomes my favorite of the big three. Â The butter crust may be extra calories, but it is worth it. Â I'm a big fan of their pepperoni too.
I really like this specific Lou's - it's the first sit-down restaurant in the Lawndale neighborhood and really supports the Lawndale Community Center. Â Any profit that they make, and right now it's not much, goes directly to the Center. Â Most of the people who are cooking and serving are volunteering their time, so be patient and enjoy the friendly and welcoming staff.
Parking is usually not a problem and they've always been great about accommodating big groups.
I love this pizza so much that I think I'd literally give my right arm for one right now. Â Lou, oh Lou, why can't you bring your perfection of all pizza recipies to the west coast??? Â They don't understand what "Chicago-style" means out here.
(They do have a pretty cool service where they'll FedEx you a pizza anywhere in the U.S.... yes, I've tried it and no, it's not quite the same. Â Guess that just means that someday I have to move back to Chicago).
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