Lou Malnati's - Lincoln Park - Chicago

Hate to complain but horrible service here. Have eaten at Lou Malnati 's in other locations before, and get take out from a different location somewhat regularly. Last night we went to the DePaul location after a lovely nearby event. It was a beautiful, warm night out and they had outdoor tables. Hostess or front counter person was friendly enough, though because we would have been the only table outside told us it was better, service wise, to eat indoors. In retrospect I wonder if she was possibly worried of the wrath of the server. That server who we got ten minutes in seemed unhappy from the moment she walked up and was not very amenable to questions. We ordered a beer and a cider (both in bottles , caesar salad to share, and medium pizza.A few minutes later, bottles were flung down on our table, no glasses or here you go just flung by server who was gone in less than a flash.Caesar came about 10 15 mins later, by a food runner. There were no plates or silverware on the table and as she walked away we asked for them and fresh ground pepper, and if we could get another beer. But no one brought us plates or silverware. We asked again to no avail and we eventually got up and found some ourselves. Maybe they had a big takeout business but there weren 't that many tables. When the server did come by we asked again for fresh ground pepper (which most places with entree salads provide and the one beer. She seemed unaware of what a pepper grinder was. She came back with the wrong drink, not the beer we had ordered, rushed off (so we had to flag her down and then blamed us for the error. Wow. No one took the dirty salad plates away, until we asked, no one took the empty bottles away ever. It was down to maybe two other tables at this point. We had just come from an amazing event so we still had a great time with each other, and were pretty successful at ignoring how rude the server was. But never again will we go to this location. The pizza was decent enough (if small they don 't tell you the size in inches on the menu and no one seems to know the dimensions . The caesar had too much dressing but we were starving and ate it all and it tasted good do not understand why they add tomatoes to it though. Would still get the food again to go or delivery but the rude server (we 're sure she was having a bad day but no need to take it out on guests! and just bad overall service experience in a restaurant without much ambiance (except for those outside tables is a no go.

Went here last night with some friends and while the atmosphere is kind of lacking, especially with the outdated mirrors that are there to try and make the restaurant bigger, the food tasted good and our server was really nice and helpful. Sierra recommended trying one of the specialty pizzas and while it did take 40ish minutes, it was definitely worth the wait.

We were in the mood for pizza and walked to Malnati's and ordered the large Chicago classic. The server brought it to the table in about 20 minutes and cut and placed it on plates and served it. I looked at it and thought to myself that something was off and when I tasted it my suspicions were confirmed that it was undercooked. The sausage was pale, the cheese not melted enough to hold the ingredients together and the famous crust was not crispy. I kept it to myself as my partner seemed to be enjoying it. Only after we left, he made a comment. We agreed that it was the worst pizza that we had ever had at Malnati's and we had been there multiple times before. We arrived early and were the only people seated in the dining room so can't say that it was so busy that the kitchen staff was rushed. No excuse for this sad pizza.

Stopped by for lunch as soon as I arrived in Chicago for the first time. The place came highly recommended as a wonderful spot to try the city's infamous deep dish pizza and I was not disappointed at all. Everything we tried was wonderful! Highly recommend their chicken Alfredo as well.

Called to place an order using a giftcard and waited 10 minutes until someone answered. I was asked to go on a brief hold so she could switch to the machine that processed giftcards. I waited another 10 minutes and then the call was ended. I called back and the same woman answered who, once again, asked to put me on a brief hold. Once again, I waited and the call was never picked back up. Shockingly poor service and I'm wondering if she ever had any intention of fulfilling my order whatsoever.