Lou Malnati's Pizzeria - North Center/Lincoln Square

In all honesty, I have nothing to complain about when coming here. World famous pizza is great, their bruschetta is to die for, their salads are great but maybe a bit too large. Prices are fair. My server was super kind and always apologetic when he got held up at other tables. Never super packed which I like.

Love Lou Malnatis pizza! Don't get the padta with chicken and alfredo it tastes like it came out of a can, yes a can! Stick to the pizza, never fails. Kid-friendliness: Super kid friendly

The food, while delicious was overshadowed by the ignorance, incapable, slow, and careless staff

Todo estuvo muy bien exelente atención gracias Emily S. Ella fue nuestra mesera.

As a Lou customer for more than 20 years I’ve finally had enough. Sure their pizza is one of the best, but year by year their customer service and detail has diminished. You pay a premium price for their pizza , which isn’t my main complaint as it’s very good, but their delivery and customer service and errors are a common problem as of the last few years. I believe they have taken their well known brand name for granted at this point and don’t feel the need to keep the highest level of service as the 90s and 2000s. This occurs too often with companies who explode in size and profit margins, forgetting where they came from and their dedicated customer base. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had incorrect orders delivered, ridiculously delayed delivery times (2-4 hours) and even forgotten orders that never came unless you called and said “where is it?”. Certainly the pizza is good if you get in on time , warm and fresh , and accurate. But delivery and managerial style are certainly lacking as of recently. For example last time I ordered a pizza; it never came even AFTER an hour of the PROMISED time. I called and inquired and was told it was never picked up to be delivered. Assuming it was just sitting there. No quality controls ? Manager apologized and that was it. I asked if pizza would be warm by time it was delivered after 2 hours of sitting. He claimed it would be remade and hot. But it arrived in less than 25 minutes and cold. It was clearly obvious that it was never remade as promised, from the copious grease residue on cardboard bottom insert , fast delivery time , and coldness and not freshly cooked taste. Why would you lie, even after an error you caused? And on top of it not even offer a waived delivery fee , or extra appetizer for the trouble or discount code for next order ? Simple solution to make a customer feel like they ain’t screwed or appreciated. A manager let the pizza sit there for 2 hours in kitchen and didn’t question why it was sitting there that long until a customer called. What if the customer never called to inquiry where pizza was , it would sat their until close?. After more than 20 years , too many bad experiences have occurred with poor management response; I will never purchase their pizza again to be delivered nor recommend it to visitors coming to Chicago as I have countless times. For the premium price they charge you expect more. From now on I’ll go to competitors who charge less than half and get better and more responsive service. Sure….their pizza is good but not worth the headache and myriad of issues and lack of customer appreciation for 20+ years of dedicated customer support. They take their reputation for granted and have let their business profit mindset over their original good service and managerial style and old fashioned respect for a long time customer. Happens way too often when a business becomes too big for their britches.

Always a guaranteed great pizza pie in my opinion! I would say I liked the pizza better at the Lou Malnatis on Irving in Old Irving Park, however. The thick butter crust ‘Lou’ special is our go to, we got the large for a group of 4 of us plus a family size Cesar salad. It was a TON of salad, so I would recommend getting the large portion for a group of 4. Definitely keep room for the baked chocolate chip pizza with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge on top our server was super nice. He seemed swamped, though, and he did mention it was super busy for 6pm and that usually it gets really busy about 7pm on a Saturday. He didn’t refill our drinks and forgot to put in the thin pizza we ordered, but that actually worked out for the best since we were so full from what food did come out! The place is definitely “kid-friendly” so do go in expecting a lot of families and kid noise. Tables are spaced out though so it’s not congested or too loud. There’s a cool wall of real plants. Kid-friendliness: Lots of tables with families!