Old Chicago Pizza + Taproom

The wait for a table was reasonable (15 minutes on Friday afternoon at 5:30pm) until I found out that there were many tables but not enough servers. The wait for the food was reasonable until I had my first bite, the pizza was cold. (How long had it been sitting there?) Waiter never checked on us to see if everything was okay.

The service was fine - our server was nice, we were seated quickly, etc. it was a wan restaurant, the restroom was stocked and tidy. The food was another story. I’d ordered the individual, thick crust veggie pizza and it was good. I’d also ordered a kid’s spaghetti with meatball with the broccoli and cheese as the side. When that dish came, I had a hard time cutting through the meatball. It was extremely dry and hard, like it had been microwaved too long. The noodles had the texture that made me think of cooked pasta that had been left out too long and had dried up a little before being stored away and then reheated. The broccoli looked dry and had been topped with shredded cheddar cheese…the cheese was hard, as though it, also, had been overcooked in the microwave. After letting my server

Slow service, burnt food, people yelling at sports games. My deep dish pizza/ pan pizza tasted like burnt toast, they said this was how it’s normally made there or else the dough doesn’t cook. They no longer serve a Chicago style deep dish pizza with cheese on the bottom and the sauce on top as is traditional for chicago deep dish. Mine was a thick crust pan pizza. We nearly left before being seated, no one was covering the front to watch for people waiting at the “please wait to be seated sign”. I kept making eye contact with the various waitresses and kept getting ignored. Once seated service was prompt. The did offer to let me order something else but I didn’t want to bother. They did provide a discount after my dining guest pointed out my disappointment with the food.

Service was good and they were able to sit our party of 7 together. Our food came out quick and hot. They had many different pizzas to pick form and I found mine tasty, although on the small side. The side Caesar salad was also good.

Update 4.6.24 Arrived before a rush and we're sat immediately. Server was initially attentive; however, the busier it got the more she lacked the skill to keep up. Food was fresh and hot and overall tasty. Love the won ton chips you get at Old Chicago. Prices are reasonable. Overall a good visit. Slow. Oh so very slow. I'm not real sure what was going on but it wasn't busy when we were there. Half the party's food came out (2 pizzas) then about 7 minutes later a burger and then 10 minutes later my blackened chicken Caesar salad. The waiter was attentive and gave updates throughout the wait but the wait for the salad was excessive. I would've expected a full chicken breast for as long as it took too but it seemed more like half of one. Overall it was what you'd expect from Old Chicago's.