Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

Great location, atmosphere, staff, and food! I can easily see why this location is so popular. My fiance and I ordered a small deep dish pizza and it was enough for the two of us. We also ordered the cookie "pizza" for dessert and it was delicious!

One tip for customers is to get on the reservation list early. From the time we joined the reservation list until we were seated was almost an hour on a Friday night. The food was worth the wait tho.

5/5 (4.9/5 if I hadn't taken the hour long walk in the cold)

This pizza absolutely slaps. I mean how do you do a deep dish pizza wrong?

We ordered "The Lou" and made it veggie. The restaurant layers on mushrooms, spinach, seasonings of oregano and basil, with a coat of cheese and perfectly cut tomatoes. The medium pizza was a perfect split between 3 people, 2 slices each. If I hadn't taken the walk around Chicago, through the biting cold winds just to get a sight of the Bean before eating pizza, I would've wanted more cheese in the deep dish and more veggies since it was a veggie pizza (reason for the docked 0.1). Felt like the mushrooms were skimped out on, even though the bites with it were so flavorful.

VIBES: Didn't eat in, but the location was perfect for pizza in the North Loop. Traffic's bad in Chicago, but not so terrible on the street that this restaurant's on.

SERVICE: Super patient with the indecisiveness, but helped us out with finding our way around town and talking us through the most popular pizza dishes at Lou Malnati's. Warning: the wait time is exactly 30 minutes, so plan on either coming back, chatting with company, or keeping yourself busy.

Came for the best deep dish in Chicago and ngl, Lou Malnati's Pizzeria in the North Loop served.

Usually this place is pretty crowded, but thankfully I got there a bit earlier so I was able to be seated right away at one of the tables. They were pretty busy still, so it did take some time to order but otherwise the service was good. While the space isn't super large, there are a good amount of tables inside.

While I know some people might not be a big fan of deep dish pizza, if you are then Lou Malnati's is definitely the place for you! I got a personal portion pizza of the Malnati's Chicago classic, which I do think is a pretty good size for one person. This pizza is definitely thick, with flavor bursting with every bite. The crust is flaky and thick, which I think enhanced the overall meal.

Definitely recommend checking out if you come to Chicago!

Pizza is fine. The wings are the heroes!
I came to Chicago to try the deep dish. It's fine... it's just a soggy, overloaded pizza with unbalanced flavors, in general. I love anything tomato, but the amount of sauce was just so overwhelming.

The chicken wings thoughhhh. They were delicious!!!!

I also just love soup, so I had the minestrone, and that was a nice base after being tired.

This was our first time visiting Chicago and we wanted to find some Chicago style deep-dish pizza. We came to Lou Malnati's and were not disappointed! They were pretty busy on a Saturday around 3pm with a wait that was at least 20 mins without a reservation. We opted to sit at the bar instead where there was no wait! My husband got some beers while we waited, the bartender was quick and attentive. The food took a while to come out, it made us glad that we sat at the bar instead of waiting for a table since that would've added even more time. We went with the Malnati Chicago Classic with pepperonis added as our entree. We ordered a size small which was perfect for 2 people! We actually liked the deep-dish pizza more than we expected! It was layered with red sauce, cheese, sausage, and pepperonis. The crust was thick but still easy enough to cut through. This type of pizza was easier to eat by cutting instead of picking it up. It was quite filling, 2 pieces was enough for me. If deep-dish pizza isn't your thing, they also have thin crust pizza, pastas, and other types of foods. We really enjoyed our food but am giving it a 4 instead of 5 because of how long it took for our food to come out, we ended up spending over an hour here which was not what we expected.

Never been to Chicago so had to try the deep dish. The bar was a cool downtown neighborhood vibe. The pizza was really Good but holy cow that's a lotta cheese. You feel like you ate a brick the next day. The bar tender was really good but is there a reason no service people smile in Chicago? Does everyone have a stick up there A-- up there or something.

Wait time one hour food was delicious service was outstanding we had a great lunch in a booth by a window. Loved the place was referred by worker in Starbucks reserve we loved the surroundings we don't have places like this in Florida.

The hot and ready pizza might be the worst pizza I've ever ate. It's cold it's hard and over priced is an understatement! Yuck!

Nice to try but I think I've come to the conclusion that I don't really care for deep dish.

The veggie pizza tasted a bit watery and it's the first time in awhile I've had to use some salt and pepper.

We sat at the bar and had prompt service.

The personal size was a nice little snack for me but if you're hungry I'd recommend much larger or pair with an appetizer.

Lou Malnati's stands as an iconic Chicago institution, renowned for delivering deep-dish pizza perfection. The culinary masterpiece features an abundance of cheese nestled with a luscious tomato sauce, epitomizing the essence of what exceptional deep-dish pizza should be. The menu extends beyond pizza excellence, offering a scrumptious selection of salads. For those with a penchant for thin crust, it's a delightful alternative that doesn't disappoint.

Navigating the ordering process is a breeze with their efficient online system and a dedicated carry-out desk for a seamless experience. A helpful tip for those taking their delectable creations beyond the comfort of home: remember to request your pizza to be cut, and don't forget to ask for utensils. The staff at Lou Malnati's deserves applause for their friendly and helpful demeanor, enhancing the overall enjoyment of this Chicago culinary gem.

Giving this place 2 stars instead of 1 because the manager was very nice and handled our concerns very respectfully and professionally.
First, our server was very rude and gave me and my family attitude the entire time we were there. Right in the beginning, she seemed impatient with us when we were still deciding what we wanted (we had just sat down for a few minutes). And then when we ordered, I was ordering BBQ chicken wings and she couldn't understand what flavor I was asking for even though I clearly said BBQ. When she finally did, she said "BBQ, that's how you say it" in a passive aggressive tone. I'm American and speak perfect English btw, I am Asian though and my family was speaking Cantonese so I don't know what she was trying to insinuate with that comment but I'm not gonna assume things. I decided to not respond because I didn't want to be rude.

Next, we ordered the calamari which was cold. The pizza was also extremely underwhelming, with the dough being undercooked and the crust very hard.
When we brought these concerns to our server, she told us she would take care of it, but instead of doing so, continued to ignore us all night. We were finally able to speak to the manager about the quality of the food after our server was clearly trying to avoid us, and the manager apologized and gave us complimentary dessert.

I don't usually write Yelp reviews even if I don't have the best experience because I like to give places the benefit of the doubt, but this one was too bad to not say anything. It was my first time being in Chicago and I was very excited to try the deep dish pizza, especially at such a highly rated/praised place. I am very disappointed about the quality of the service and food, although I am appreciative for how the manager handled things.