Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

When in Chicago, you have to try deep dish pizza! Lou's was nearby and well known. Luckily I ordered in advance because there was a 1:20 hour wait for a table on a Friday night. People were even eating takeout outside on the stone garden ledge.However, I was a little disappointed. I knew it was going to be heavy, but it was dough heavy. There wasn't a ton of tomato sauce or meat. Out of the two pies I had, one had very little meat.

3.5 STARS* Stopped by Lou Malnati's after seeing people recommend it as their favorite deep dish in the city. We got here around 2pm on a weekday and unfortunately it was still pretty busy. We waited around 30 minutes to get seated for two. We decided to order some Garlic Parmesan Boneless Wings to eat first since their deep dish pizza does take a while to cook. We went with the Malnati's Chicago Classic for our deep dish. The wings were pretty good and we were actually given the large size of 12 instead of the 8 we ordered. Now for the pizza, we liked it but can't say it's our favorite. The sauce and crust were delicious, great buttery crust that was nice and crisp. We just thought the sausage and cheese were too thick and overpowered the crust, but that's personal preference. Definitely still worth trying if you're coming to Chicago!

I absolutely do not get the hype. First off it was lollapalooza weekend so taking this into consideration we arrived and we were told it would be an hour and a half wait which we were expecting. Thankfully we got seated within 20 minutes and that's about the extent of our experience being a good one. We were seated and ordered two medium pizzas, a salad to share and one of their lunch specials which was half a pasta. We chose the ravioli with marinara. Our salad came out and it was great. Shortly after the ravioli did which by the way if you get the half it's literally four pieces of ravioli. I was confused when there was no sauce even though I checked the menu to confirm it wasn't just ravioli on a plate. I am looking for our server and she's no where to be found and eventually talk to the runner and he says that he'll get it out. We're waiting and see him deliver to other tables. By this point our food is getting cold and end up getting a different server to ask our server to assist us. We let her know and she says that she'll check the kitchen she comes back with the sauce and apologizes. We ask and she mentions they just forgot to put it on? Twenty minutes pass and we get our pizzas and they were both super soggy and undercooked. It was overall a pretty bad experience from the lack of customer service, even the timing of the food coming out to the overall taste. I'm not sure why people are recommending this place or if it's the location that's terrible. Needless to say there's a lot that they can improve on from customer service to the actual food timing.

During my recent visit to Chicago (a couple of days ago) for a weekend-long stay, my friend wanted to have a Chicago deep-dish pizza. I searched online, and this place came up top of my research, so my friend and I came here to try it out. What my friend and I ordered were: -Chicken Louie (this is what I ordered myself, and it was so creamy and cheesy! So delicious. I would not recommend this for those who are lactose intolerant like myself ) -The Malnati Chicago Classic (is what my friend ordered, and he did a personal size, which is a plate size deep dish pizza--enough for my friend to enjoy traditional Chicago pizza) When my friend came to this place, we missed the early dinner rush! Plenty of people followed us after we sat down at the bar. Mind you, this past weekend was a busy one with the Cubs game and the Lollapalooza festival. The bartender was so attentive, and he was an entertainer. He is a great bartender and attentive to his bar guests! The restaurant is on two levels, and the dining area is on the bottom floor after entering the establishment.

Came for a weekday lunchPros:-I do like their buttery crusted thin crust deep dish pizza-food came out quickly-conveniently located on the Mag Mile-several other options besides deep dish including gluten free options and crustless options-interior décor is straight our of the 80s-pizza packed with ingredients evenlyCons:-didn't come out piping hot as if it was possibly reheated - though we did come at a slow time-felt like I enjoyed the Giordano's near Millenium Park much more

Awful and expensive. We paid $50 for two small to-go pizzas. The wait on a Friday evening was 2 hours and the employee taking orders sounded and looked pissed at all the customers. Deep dish can be alright, but Lou Malnati's doesn't attempt to do it well. The crust was bland, too chewy and thick on the bottom, and too hard and grainy on the edges. The layer of cheese with the chewy dough made a dry, unseasoned ball of goop in my mouth. The tomato sauce tasted like the kind you'd find on a public school lunch pizza, a bit too sweet.

It was my first time having a real ( Chicago deep dish pizza my expectations were high and to be honest I must live in a pizza paradise because this pizza was good it wasn't as good as brents pizza in Williamson Michigan or even a good jets pizza (it's a Detroit pizza franchise) I expected it to be deeper and more meats fyi I had double sausage double cheese and pepperoni unless they screwed up it was definitely lacking.next time in Chicago I will try a Ginos meaty legend Also the bathrooms had a big line and needed a good cleaning

Visited chicago and was a little nervous to try deep dish considering how heavy it is. Tried to walk in and the wait was almost two hours, so we made a reservation for the next day and it went smoothly. We also preordered the pizza prior to our reservation to cut down on our wait time as I believe it takes a while to cook. It was so hot downstairs in the restaurant, but service was great. We got the caesar salad which was so delicious! We got a classic pizza and a lous. I thought I would love the veggie pizza due to the garlic concoction listed on the menu, but it seemed to lack flavor and dimension. It felt like i was eating cheese and a few vegetables. That was my first bite and I was disappointed as I thought it'd be full of sauce. Luckily, the classic was so delicious with the sausage on top! It was flavorful, saucy, cheesy, exactly what we needed!! Don't doubt the classic, it was the star!!!

Came here because it's one of the places one goes in Chicago for deep dish pizza. We say that the bar because the wait was about an hour. This location is close to the Miracle Mile so it's going to be super busy, but we got a couple of seats at the bar right away.The service was good. The garlic bread with marinara sauce was really good. The pizza was good. If you are in the area and don't want to travel too far, this location is good.

First time trying deep dish and it was amazing and the brushetta was one of the best i've ever had and the service was amazing by Morgan!