I felt compelled to try deep dish pizza while within less than 100 miles of Chicago. According to everyone encountered we should try Gino's East. When that was unavailable we told to try Lou Malnati's. After reading all of the awesome reviews I think perhaps my east coast pallet is to blame. I just didn't understand the combination of wet dough and stewed tomatoes. Keep in mind that I have literally salivated watching Chicago style deep dish pizza on television shows! You can imagine my great disappointment to FINALLY have the opportunity and feel very let down. As I previously mentioned the dough was, for lack of a better adjective, doughy. The sauce was bland and saturated the pizza. I did like the way in which the sausage patty was evenly distributed around the whole pie. The restaurant was neat and decent it had that "we've been here a while but we take pride in our establishment feel". The server was efficient and courteous. Without that this would've easily been a two star review based on food alone. Again let me reiterate I believe that this was a matter of personal taste. So with that in mind, if YOU are familiar with Chicago style pizza then by all means try it.
Review Source:This place is GREAT for lunch. The restaurant filled up quickly with people that looked as though they were headed back to work. I was apprehensive about being able to get in and out quickly, but it was not an issue at all. Â They also had very good lunch specials. Our pizza was out quicker than we thought possible. We ordered a small sausage and an appetizer. It was perfect for our party of two.
Our server seemed like she had the whole place to herself. She was on top of everything. I was very impressed by her service especially with how busy she was. We will be back for sure.
O.M.G. This my friend is the MID WEST for you!!!!
I knew my friends and I needed to experience Lou Malnati's since we were flying into the Chicago area, however we were attending meetings in the suburbs so I figured this location would be a great opportunity for us to escape and grab some authentic deep dish pizza.
We arrived around 7P on a Tuesday and had a table immediately.
The serving sizes here are insane - we could have fed a small army.
The stuffed spinach bread is AMAZING! The calamari was ok. The garlic bread was ok.
The Malnati Salad was fantastic.
By the time are two large pizzas arrived... The Lou and the Chicago Classic I wondered how we'd ever be able to eat them. Well, we did - at least one or two slices each and had SOOO many leftover containers.
The Chicago Classic was my fav!
The chocolate chop pizza dessert cookie was good and they serve Intelligentsia coffee - fabulous!
I'd highly suggest the Malnati Salad, Stuffed Spinach Bread and Chicago Classic.
Pizzas take around 35min to bake.
Great staff - awesome place - glad we ventured out to experience it together.
I just came back from dinner at Lou Malnati's. It was a Saturday night. It's Schaumburg. It's also spring break in Schaumburg. Lou Malnati's was definitely over-crowded.
When my husband and I arrived, we hoped the friends we were meeting had a reservation. They didn't. So we put our name in, got one of those buzzers, and was quoted an an hour wait for a table of eight. When everyone arrived, we spent a half hour standing around in the outer lobby. We found out we could place our pizza order early, so we placed the order half way through our wait. At this time, we discovered some room in the bar area, so we moved over there for a couple drinks. I felt bad for the diners that got one of the tables in the bar area -- definitely not the best place to sit down and eat.
An hour and fifteen minutes after we put our names on the list, our buzzer went off. FINALLY. The table we were brought to was very cramped. It was actually two tables pushed together (one was a table for four, another a table for two) and somehow, they managed to get eight chairs around it. Cool -- but they didn't account for the elbow room that everyone would need as well as space on the tables for the food! I sat through my entire meal with my elbows pinned to my side. Not cool.
So, as we were seated, we were told our pizza would take another 20 minutes. No problem. We ordered a family-style Malnati salad (with bacon on the side -- I don't eat adorable, intelligent animals). The salad was pretty good. It was almost amazing. Definitely unexpected. I had three helpings. When the waiter came around to take my plate, I was like, "Um, I'm not really done.... I want more salad." My plate stayed and I helped myself to more. Yumm. When the pizza arrived, we had to keep it next to us on one of those folding serving trays since there was no room on the table! I just opted for a basic cheese deep dish pizza. It was delicious -- as expected. I was stuffed after eating one slice! (I credit the salad for filling me up, though.)
I understand why people want to come here -- they have excellent food. It's true. And the building itself is kind of cute and unique. I wish I saw what the upstairs was like. However, they really need to step up with their service/seating arrangements. And the parking is crazy! This isn't the only place to get pizza in the area. I'll come back if a group of people I'm meeting want to come here; otherwise, I have other places I'd rather go to.
Lou's is solid when it comes to deep dish. This location is pretty good and was hopping even at 9pm at night. If you go to this one I highly recommend calling in your order ahead of time. My cousin had that brilliant idea and it really worked well for us when we checked in, waited 20 minutes for our food instead of the customary 45 to an hour.
I couldn't believe how packed this place was at 9pm! But they did a great job seating us within 25 minutes. There is a carryout section with ample parking dedicated just for that, but their regular lot is still a bit cramped.
Servers were super friendly and treated our rather rambunctious group with some sass of her own. I remember this location being around for a while, but our waitress mentioned the recent remodel. I believe the newest parts are the carryout section and she mentioned that some of the seating has also been expanded with the addition. Great staff and handled large parties well.
You already know they have good Chi-style pizza. You don't need me to tell you that.
What I do want to talk about is their Malnati salad. My SO had it in the restaurant awhile ago, and loved it. It's a perfect mix of things -- sort of similar to an antipasto salad, but with a delicious house-made vinaigrette. I got a family-sized one of these for takeout yesterday, along with a side of garlic bread with marinara.
The salad is fantastic. We both had plenty to eat as a meal with that family-sized one. I see where it could feed 4 or 5 people as a side salad, like their menu suggests.
The problem is how they pack it. They cram the entire salad (for 4 or 5 people; generous side-salad portions) into one of those to-go trays like they stick an entree or even the garlic bread with a mini bowl of marinara into.
The salad is unmixed. This means that you have your mushrooms/black olives/tomatoes/blue cheese crumbles/romano/crispy pancetta bits/salami shreds all stacked in neat piles on top of your gigantic bed of lettuce. That's all well and good, but this salad apparently assumes that you're going to have a big enough salad bowl to do all that mixing in. I know it wouldn't be very classy, but even a big foodservice plastic bag that you could toss all the dry salad ingredients into to mix around would be better than this. And then you could pour the mixed salad out into bowls and dress each salad individually.
It's a tasty salad, but the packing for to-go orders could be improved.
The garlic bread, OTOH, was perfect. Exactly what I was looking for in a garlic bread. I really, really wanted a nice marinara, and it totally delivered. Perfect amount of marinara for all that bread, too. And the garlic bread itself was not overpowering. Good balance in general, and great accompaniment to the salad.
Had a party of 15ish on a very busy Saturday night. Â Laura was our server and she took exceptional care of us. Â Even personally served our entire party our slices of pizza! Â And our drinks never went dry. Â Little loud of an atmosphere but thats expected from such a popular spot as Malnatis.
Review Source:I'm usually a big fan of Lou's thin crust - it's the only place I actually like crust - but needed to find a place near Woodfield to take a visiting friend for some deep dish. This location is quaint because it's in an old house. There is an elevator for disabled patrons to not have to go up the old staircase, but there's also an abundance of seating in different rooms on the main level.
How does the deep dish compare? It's not as quite a thick layer of toppings (cheeeeese) as Giordano's or Gino's East. But it's still plenty filling, and just as delicious.
First off this is not the original location like some people will say. Â The first is in Lincolnwood. Â Why they have different pages for different locations I'm not sure.
This is my favorite deep dish in Chicago so therefore the world. Â All you really need to know is that out of all the big deep dish selections their crust and homemade sausage is the best. Â Oh and go with the butter crust its maybe a dollar more and so much better. Â I guess you don't have to if you like softer crust. Â God knows you're not worried about calories if you're eating deep dish. Â Get ready to be full after 2 slices of pizza. Â Also, be patient and grab a pitcher of beer (not appetizers) while you wait unless you want to take some pizza home.
Whatever you do get sausage (its a full layer, not bits and pieces) on your pizza and butter crust. Â Other then that pick what you like.
This was my second time in 4 days experiencing Lou Malnati's pizza. Â My husband ate my leftovers from a different location and liked it so much that he insisted we return for dinner a couple days later. Â
He wanted to go to this location because he thought it "looked cool." Â
We arrived at about 7 on a Saturday night. Â We called on the way there to see if they took reservations. Â For some reason, we hadn't eaten lunch and we both starving and were hoping not to have to wait too long. Â It was kind of a last minute decision to go. Â
The guy on the phone told us they only took reservations for groups of 20 or more but that the wait for two wouldn't be long at all. Â
By the time we got there, the wait for two was 45 minutes. Â It was pretty packed and I was feeling super lightheaded from not having any food for hours. Â I grabbed a stool to sit in as soon as I saw one abandoned. Â What was awesome was that they let us go ahead and order our pizza while we waited for our table, thus greatly decreasing my starvation time. Â
Once we were seated, we both ordered house salads, his with lemon garlic dressing (he said he couldn't really taste it) and mine with the house which was good. Â The croutons were my favorite part. Â
Our pizza came in no time since it'd been cooking before we'd been seated. Â We got a small cheese and an individual "The Lou" so my meat eating husband could satisfy his carnivorous tendencies - he did say that he wished he'd gotten pepperoni instead of sausage, apparently he's not a huge lover of sausage. Â
At first, he didn't think we'd have enough and that we should've ordered a medium but we ended up taking two pieces home with us. Â
As for the parking, yeah, that was kind of a pain. Â We had to follow somewhat of a maze of signs. Â I don't really mind walking (I'll gladly burn any calories I can when eating pizza) but it was cold that night (colder than any night we've had so far this fall/winter I think). Â
The location is really cool. Â I dig the whole old house thing. Â Our waitress was a really sweet middle aged lady. Â Good times, good times.
I have come to the conclusion that my favorite Chicago-style deep dish pizza hails from Lou Malnati's. I've been to several different locations before, but I think I've been to this Schaumburg location the most so I'll review this one.
Even though this location seems like it's always pretty busy, I'm impressed that, during the times I've been here, the staff would be able generate a complete, finished, and satisfying product within approximately 30 minutes. I love the fact that the pizza here has solid crusts with thick, cheesy innards.
For people who have bottomless stomachs, let Lou Malnati's take a stab at filling it up.
This is my favorite Lou's location. It's in an old huge house, two stories with tons of tables and booths and a great old bar downstairs. This joint is super casual but a staple of locals-- most tourists think Uno's and Giordano's is the pizza native Chicagoans eat, but I think most of us would point them to Lou's. Sweet sweet Lou's. They ship overnight anywhere in the country btw-- try 'em!
Anyway, I love this location because they have cheap pitchers of beer, they have a full appetizer menu that includes the incredible deep-fried cheddar cubes with marinara (so so good). Every Lou's offers some of the appetizers, but this one offers all of them.
Finally, the pizza. You cannot go wrong here, from the sweet marinara to the buttery crust. It tastes like no other pizza. It is distinctly "Lou's" instantly recognizable from fist bite. I fully support any Lou's location and would kill for one where I live now, but this location has a special place in my heart always.
Having moved to AZ earlier this year, I was really looking forward to having good pizza again while visiting in the Chicago area. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting.
We ordered a thin crust with sausage and green peppers. Â The crust was tasteless and did not seem fresh, almost like it had been frozen. Â The sauce was very bland, no spices other than garlic. Â The toppings were very sparse. Â It seemed like the sausage was meted out so that each square of pizza got only 1 piece of sausage. Â The peppers weren't much more plentiful.
It wasn't an awful pizza, just OK. Â Certainly not what I expected from Malnati's.
The service was 4 stars, food only 2, so we'll settle on a 3 spot. Â This is a nice restaurant in a cute location. Â
I came here for a birthday lunch on a Sunday afternoon. Â We ordered some fried appetizers, a large house salad, a thin crust cheese pizza, and a deep dish with some veggies and sausage. Â The fried stuff...awesome. Â The house salad was just your cheap head lettuce with a few tomatoes and cukes thrown in. Â Nothing special. Â The pizza left a lot to be desired. Â I was surprised because I thought LM's was pretty good. Â The thin crust pizza was completely white on top. Â There was no golden finish to the cheese on top. Â The taste was ok though. Â The deep dish looked good, but tasted kinda gross. Â The top was very watery, and the peppers were not cooked very well. Â This is not something I'd order again.
The parking lot seems small and cramped, so going when it's less crowded is advised.
What can I say. I favor Lou's over any other stuffed crust chicago style pizza. The crust is buttery and delicious and best thing ever, is they premake and freeze these suckers and sell them to take home and cook yourself.
I recommend "The Lou". Amazing combo on a really solid slice of pie.
Can't speak to anything but the pizza.
This is only a review for carry-out so I don't know if this is real.
We got a medium pizza and I added a Lou Malnati's medium salad when I got there. The Pizza was almost ready when I arrived and they got my salad ready in a jiffy.
I think overall, stuffed pizza here is just OK, but I am a fan of their salad! I would get that again in a heartbeat.
Price was not bad for a dinner for 3. I'd do it again.
Great restaurant that you shouldn't miss. Â We started off with the 312 draft beer - don't miss it! Â Then jumped into a Malnati salad that was not only huge, but addictive as they come. Â Then we moved into had their Chicago Classic deep dish pizza and it was fantastic..
Also want to shout out to Brittany for quick and efficient service!
What a wonderful find!
Went here during a lunch while in a class for work. Â We arrived about 1230 and were sat very quickly so no worries there.. but the menu said it would take 30 minutes for the pizza.. yikes during lunch! Â then we saw the lunch "express" menu and were like sweet! Â so we ordered the personal deep dish.... and it still took almost 30 minutes to arrive.. probably about 25.. so we were late getting back to class but whatever, it was pretty good for a deep dish, but I don't know whether I can say its my favorite. Â But was fun to experience what is supposed to be a Chicago original and if we weren't rushed to get back to class would have probably been fine.
Review Source:I grew up in Schaumburg and have been going to this Lou's since they opened when I was a kid. Â I moved away for 15 years and recently moved home with my wife from Denver, CO. Â I have started taking my wife on a tour of the places I loved growing up, and one of the first places we went was this Lou Malnati's. Â We had a medium with the sausage patty, onions, and pepperoni - as good as I remember, and this is still my favorite pizza place. Â My wife likes it a lot too, but she claims Gino's East is a little better pizza, but she loves Lou's antipasto salad.
Review Source:We found this restaurant after checking out the great Yelp reviews!
It was a Monday night, and the parking lot was pretty full. Â We went inside and got seated right away.
Our server was very friendly and attentive. Â The wife and I both ordered personal deep dish pizzas. Â They were both excellent!
The kids enjoyed their meals also.
Price was very reasonable. Â I will definitely be back on the next trip to Chicago!!
Whenever we have out of town guests, we take them to Lou's. Â When I was trying to convince my then-fiance (now husband) to move to Chicago, I took him to Lou's.
Love the Malnati salad while we're waiting, but of course the moment that pizza arrives compares to none other. Â We always get deep dish/butter crust sausage, spinach, and garlic. Â My mouth is watering just thinking of it.
Cups of water and sodas are huge, so you rarely have to ask for a refill. Â That is a great thing considering how much water we drink.
Love that they have 312 on tap. Â 312 draft with Lou's is my idea of Chicago Heaven.
This is my favorite pizza and I always go back whenever visiting Chicago. Â Their sausage is the best. Live in St. Louis where so I've gotten used to the cracker and provel pizzas. Once in a while will order Lou's and have it delivered next-day. Â Pretty expensive but worth it once a year or so as a gift or treat. Â
By the way, the last time I was at Lou's tried the fried calamari and it was the best I've had in a restaurant!
Living in Chicago you cannot miss to have the Chicago style deep dish pizza at Lou's. Apart from lot of other pizza places Lou beats all of them.
I have always been having the Chicago style deep dish pizza but on a recent visit to Lou's I tried the thin crust and it exceeded all my expectations. Also, try their garlic bread.
Highly recommend for anyone who is visiting Chicago.
I had never heard of Lou Malnati's before visiting Chicago. Kind of understand why. For a place that's supposed to be famous for its deep dish pizza, their deep dish pizza kind of stunk. I ordered an individual cheese. There was an overload of tomato chunks (so much I had to scrape it off) and very little cheese. At first I wasn't sure if there even was any cheese on it. Apparently you can have a regular deep dish pizza for one price, or you can get the Lou Malnati's signature buttery flaky crust. After paying extra for a buttery flaky crust, I got a crust that tasted more like layers of wet and dry cardboard.
I didn't have any desire for dessert, but I did notice they had pretty much copied UNO's idea for a deep dish cookie sundae. Really guys? I understand that there are claims that the Malnati's, not Ike Sewell, came up with the idea/recipe for deep dish pizzas. But this chain opened more than a decade after UNO's, couldn't they at least have come up with a dessert that was their own?
Not impressed.
Loved this place.
We stopped in on a busy Saturday night. Â You expect a wait at a time like that, but what I really enjoyed was that they let us put our pizza in while we waited so that it didn't feel like the time was wasted.
The pizza was awesome Chicago deep dish. Â We went with the Classic. The salads are huge and the soda cups are huge so there was no need to ask for refills. Â
My only complaint is that I live in Detroit, so I probably won't be going back any time soon.
I'll be honest. I'm not a pizza girl. I think I ate so much of it as a kid that the novelty wore off in my later years ((Yes, I know it's bizarre given I was born and raised in Chicago)). However, when I'm in the mood for a really good pizza, Lou's is almost always the number one option.
Whether you dine-in, carry-out, or opt for delivery, I've always received a piping hot 'za! There's nothing better than the deep dish Lou's pizza ((spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes covered with a blend of mozzarella, romano and cheddar cheese)). Between the fresh ingredients and buttery crust, there's not much more one could ask for. I'm also a fan of the thin crust - especially with mushrooms and sausage. Yumz. As for the rest of the menu, I love their breaded zucchini slices, Malnati salad, and minestrone soup.
If you're planning on dining in, get there early or expect a looooong wait. LM is a hot spot in the Schaumburg area, and many are always looking to get their pizza fix. After all, the best way to gorge on a Lou Malnati's pizza is to dine in where you get it hot and fresh, right out of the oven.
Typical excellent Lou Malnati's pizza.
We've been stopping in here since our son and his family lived in Schaumburg ten years ago. Â It's an old two story building, so it has much more character than the typically pizza parlor. Â And, as always, great pizza. Â
Good service and good attitude, from the greeters to the bartender to the wait staff. Â If you want to show out-of-towners a great pizza experience and you're in this area, I fully recommend this Malnati's.
I had dinner with a friend here on Friday around 7pm. By the time we got there, the parking lot was mostly full (we easily found parking by following the signs to "additional parking" and then got a nice walk to the restaurant). We were told the wait would be around 45 mins, and I think that was accurate.
I'm a Chicago girl, but I've since moved to California where the pizza just isn't the same, so this was a very fun and comforting dinner. While we were waiting, we decided what we'd order so when we were seated we quickly put in our order for stuffed spinach bread appetizer and deep dish pizzas (since the menu clearly says deep dish pizzas can take up to 30 mins to cook). I ordered a small Malnati Chicago classic with sausage, and my friend got an individual half cheese, half sausage.
When the stuffed spinach bread came out, we were surprised it looked more like a loaf of bread than breadsticks or whatever we'd been expecting. It was really filling for its size and we were both really pleased with how it tasted. It was a little difficult to cut, but it wasn't an issue. The pizza came out right as we were finishing that (perfect timing).
We both ate about half our pizzas. I'd expected to be able to eat more of the 6" individual size but I was full from the appetizer and happy to have leftovers. My friend had intentionally ordered a little too much since she'd promised her boyfriend leftovers.
We were seated upstairs in a booth. There were enough tvs around that we easily could have watched the march madness games, but neither of us were really interested. I wish the restrooms were a little cleaner, but it wasn't anything horrible or surprising. There also wasn't very much room to sit or stand while waiting for a table, but fortunately it wasn't raining, and I shouldn't be surprised it was crowded on a Friday night.
I've generally considered myself more of a Giordano's fan, but I had a really great experience here, and the food certainly did not disappoint! The rest of my family prefers Lou Malnati's and based on this visit, maybe my parents are smarter than I'd given them credit for... :)
I'm a thin crust kinda girl but my boyfriend was craving deep dish so off to Lou Malnati's we went. We went on a Sunday night and this place was packed. We were seated right away in the up stairs area. I really wasn't thrilled with the seating up there. It was extremely loud and just the idea of being up stairs with no real exit freaked me out. And did I mention it was LOUD? God it was loud.
We both wanted salad so we ordered 1 side salad. Our server never asked if we were sharing so we assumed she put the order in for the larger size (I'm pretty sure the menu specified individual portion and larger portions). When the salad came it was an individual portion. We still shared it but wish she would have asked or mentioned that the salad wouldn't be that large. We also ordered a deep dish pizza with sausage, green pepper, onion and mushroom and it was delish. Again, I'm not a fan of deep dish but this was pretty darn tasty. We even had enough left to take home.
Just an odd observation, but you will stink when you leave. I reaked like pizza and onions after leaving this place.
Will visit again but next time I will request seating that overlooks Roselle Road...no attic seating for this girl.
The BEST place for deep dish pizza in the world. At least, in my opinion.
I've loved Lou's for quite some time now and it's the only place I'll go for deep dish. I personally love the sausage deep dish and the "Malnati Chicago Classic". Their buttercrust is absolutely perfect and delicious. It's light and almost crispy. I don't know what kind of sausage they use, but it's cooked to the perfect texture.
I love eating in the restaurant because of the atmosphere. It's very family friendly and the service is great. I love how the place is decorated. All Chicago themed with pictures of former athletes, baseball cards and team photos all over the restaurant. It's got a very home-y feeling to it. I love coming home from college and sitting in one of the booths!
The only thing that I do not like is the wait time for the pizza. Now, being deep dish pizza, it takes a lot longer to cook.
Ideally, if you can, try calling ahead of time and putting in your order so you don't have to wait as long when you arrive at the restaurant. Especially on Saturday nights, it's CRUCIAL to either put in a reservation or call hours in advance to have them prepare your order for pickup.
Lou's definitely makes a lot of business on the weekends and it gets packed before you know it! Aside from the wait, I definitely recommend this spot for deep dish. As good as it gets! Woohooo!
Pizza was good - not the best that I have had. It depends on your taste. Lou's offers a pizza with less sauce and 'butter crust' where I'm a fan of Georgios sweeter sauce and thicker crust (try the crust with a bit of honey! it's fantastic!)
The salad and drinks were good and well priced, but the reason that I give such a low rating is because of service. I ate here on a tuesday around 8 PM and it was generally slow but the waitress treated our table like she was swamped and then proceeded to eat, take down her hair, and look at her phone in a booth about 10 feet away from us. We were rushed through our meal, we never knew her name, and she had ZERO knowledge of the bar products they carried.
I have been a waitress for four years and I know the etiquette that should be presented in a restaurant and that was certainly not it. It's doubtful that I will be eating here again - I want to be treated like a customer, not a person you have to deal with.
This is my Lou Malnati's.
All Lou Malnatis have the best deep dish pizza in the chicago area. If you disagree with me you hate America - sorry, but its true.
That being said, this is the coolest one. No, not because I grew up nearby and it was my first. But because unlike the other ones it is inside an old and rustic building. They have added on in recent years but the original building is really cool. They have a really great layout and location.
One downside, not enough parking in the winter!
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