Sarpino's

I've been getting flyers from Sarpino's lately. Looks like a pizza chain. Has anyone tried them? Any good, or just another Dominos, Papa Johns, etc.?

Cogito wrote:I've been getting flyers from Sarpino's lately. Looks like a pizza chain. Has anyone tried them? Any good, or just another Dominos, Papa Johns, etc.?

I'd sooner order from Dominos, Papa Johns, or Pizza Hut, with an Italian beef from Wendy's on the side and some Burger King funnel cake for dessert, than give Sarpino's another chance.

Terrible overly doughy pizza that was severely lacking in sauce. Wings were so reminiscent of the awful frozen variety heated up in the oven that I had once bought from either Market Day or Jewel, that I am convinced they came from the same supplier.

I warn you away from Sarpino's. Someone at work ordered in one day and had leftovers -- it was so bad that I decided not to indulge in free pizza. Contrary to popular belief -- free is NOT always good.

It was totally yucky. Bad crust. Bad sauce. Bad toppings. Lukewarm. LOUSY portions. <grin>

Wow, thanks for the heads up. And they have such a nice menu, I was thinking about giving them a shot. Do they have locations in other parts of the US?

Cogito wrote:Wow, thanks for the heads up. And they have such a nice menu, I was thinking about giving them a shot. Do they have locations in other parts of the US?

Pick your poison - http://www.sarpinos.com/pages/store-finder/

I don't think it's as bad as described. On the plus side, it's cheap, fast, and they have online ordering. (I always check off "heavy sauce" and "well done.") I like some of their "gourmet" pizzas, such as the Tuscany (roasted red peppers, chicken breast, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, fresh garlic, green bell peppers, and green olives) and Mediterranean (zucchini, roasted eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, fresh garlic, and cilantro).

Yes, there are much better pizza options, but when Sarpino's has on online specials like three large pizzas for $25 (minus 15% for online ordering, and with free delivery), it's hard to resist.

my lady and i are not a fan of their pizza; we do like their cheesy bread however

Try it for yourself before listening to others. It's delivery pizza, so don't get your hopes up. When our household just want something easy and is in the mood for pizza, we use their website (10% OFF for ordering online) and get two mediums with two toppings on each half, total of 8 toppings for a good varieties of toppings, all for ~20$ delivered, we enjoy it. That is, as much as you can enjoy delivery-fast-food-pizza.

Not sure if location matters, but we use the one in the loop on Lake.

eelton wrote:I don't think it's as bad as described. On the plus side, it's cheap, fast, and they have online ordering. (I always check off "heavy sauce" and "well done.") I like some of their "gourmet" pizzas, such as the Tuscany (roasted red peppers, chicken breast, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, fresh garlic, green bell peppers, and green olives) and Mediterranean (zucchini, roasted eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, fresh garlic, and cilantro).

Yes, there are much better pizza options, but when Sarpino's has on online specials like three large pizzas for $25 (minus 15% for online ordering, and with free delivery), it's hard to resist.

"It's not very good but it's cheap and fast" is not a strong selling point. As I say over and over again, it's unlikely that anyone in Chicago is very far from a decent neigborhood spot that blows away any mediocre chain pizza. If I were in college in a town with no other viable options then a Domino's or Sarpino's might be worth a shot, otherwise, why bother?

Wow, they list Chicken Tenders as a topping. I don't know what else to say.

I've had it once... I'd basically call them Domino's with delusions of grandeur.
But delusions aren't half bad. They've got an interesting set of toppings, making for some tastiiness...

But the crust. Ugh. Your basic Domino's/Papa John's spongy white bread.

I've only seen the subway ads, and the photos alone would send me screaming in the opposite direction.
The food (and the people) in the ads looks like what you'd expect if Mattel came out with "Pizza Chain Barbie."

Two reasons I occasionally order from Sarpino's:
1) They're open till 3 am on the weekends, supporting my craving for bad food after hitting the bars.
2) Their cheesy garlic breadsticks, with ranch and marinara sides, resemble Pokey Sticks, which I had many times visiting my sister at the U of I.

One reason I often avoid Sarpino's:
1) Their pizza is awful.

mike

With all of the Chicago pizza options out there, I've always wondered who actually orders crap like Sarpino's or Dominos. It's disturbing to see actual LTH memember doing so!!

rmtraut wrote:With all of the Chicago pizza options out there, I've always wondered who actually orders crap like Sarpino's or Dominos. It's disturbing to see actual LTH memember doing so!!

The day Great Lake, Coalfire, etc. start offering free delivery to slurring idiots in the Gold Coast at 3am is the day I never order crappy pizza again

Mikelipino wrote:Two reasons I occasionally order from Sarpino's:
1) They're open till 3 am on the weekends, supporting my craving for bad food after hitting the bars.
2) Their cheesy garlic breadsticks, with ranch and marinara sides, resemble Pokey Sticks, which I had many times visiting my sister at the U of I.

One reason I often avoid Sarpino's:
1) Their pizza is awful.

mike

exactly mike. their cheesy garlic breadsticks are good, not gourmet in the slightest, but a good pokey stick type snack that definetely works after a few. i like their marinara and jalepeno ranch with them.

otherwise, sarpino's is no pizza replacement, not even imo for late night pizza eating. if i want a "decent" late night pizza, i go with rosati's rosemont branch.

I went to Sarpino's once a few months ago.. at about 2 am, after a LONG night at the bar... Got a slice of pizza fresh out of the oven... couldn't even finish it it tasted so bad... and this was when I was starving and slightly inebriated...

I am a pizza snob and very picky, but even so, I generally go by the phrase "Pizza is like sex, even when its bad its good."

Well in that case, Sarpino's is like a 600 pound woman that hasn't bathed in two years...

Somewhere there must be a vast audience for pizza that looks the part but has no discernible flavor, because I've had-- never in Chicago-- three pizzas in recent times that tasted, for all the world, like a glass of water. All were chains, though interestingly, they were three completely different kinds of chains. One was Papa Murphy's in Wichita, your basic Domino's type fill-you-on-puffy-bread delivery chain. But the other two were seemingly more upscale— one was a big bustling sports bar-y place called Boston Pizza (which, as the name suggests, I tried in Rapid City, South Dakota), and the other was a pseudo-Italian-wine-bar and restauranty place called Il Vicino serving vaguely Neapolitan style pizzas (again in Wichita, which is apparently doing a lot of penance for being the home of Pizza Hut). What all three had in common, though, was the complete lack of flavor of every ingredient; the crust tasted like flour, the tomato sauce just had the slightest hint of tomatoey flavor, the cheese was utterly devoid of even the slightest cheesy funk.

I don't mean that the average pizza place on the corner in Chicago puts out a better, more memorable product; I mean the pizza at Costco has more flavor than any of these. It was really kind of amazing, like eating a hologram of pizza. But apparently there's a lot of it out there.

Mikelipino wrote:2) Their cheesy garlic breadsticks, with ranch and marinara sides, resemble Pokey Sticks, which I had many times visiting my sister at the U of I.

Oh god... memories. I delivered pizza for a Gumby's Pizza for a few months, until they found out I wasn't 18 and so couldn't be covered by their insurance. Crappy job, terrible pizza.

-Dan

JoelF wrote:I've had it once... I'd basically call them Domino's with delusions of grandeur.
But delusions aren't half bad. They've got an interesting set of toppings, making for some tastiness...

But the crust. Ugh. Your basic Domino's/Papa John's spongy white bread.

When I went through the phase where the kids practically demanded Domino's for birthday parties (Domino's practically gave it away to the schools) I tried almost all of their 'other' toppings.

The bacon and green pepper was almost edible. All the toppings were washed out and bland.

I once tried to order one with all of the toppings and they could only apply 10.

On very rare occasions I've stooped to Sarpino's. I live in an area with no walkable 24 hour stores at all. Sarpino's will bring me a 2-liter of Coke Zero, along with a couple of calzones for under $15 full delivered price. Without a car, that has a small measure of value. The calzones are edible, IMO. In fact the crust is kind of ok compared to the pizza. It is salty in a good way, pretzel salty. You can pick 3 items and the meatball is not any worse than Subway. 3am, there is nothing else open, and this is like a Subway/7-11 that delivers---an awful sign of 21st century decline.

rmtraut wrote:With all of the Chicago pizza options out there, I've always wondered who actually orders crap like Sarpino's or Dominos. It's disturbing to see actual LTH memember doing so!!

As you should be, it is disturbing. My wife and I ordered Sarpino's last night after getting yet another menu stuffed in our mailbox.

Worst pizza ever, and I don't say that lightly. Horrible crust which tasted freezer burned. Non existent toppings, thin fake tasting cheese.

Yuck

When my High School age kids who will eat just about any Pizza you put in front of them (including Dominos, Pizza Hut, etc.) tell me that Sarpino's is horrible and they will never eat it again, that is enough for me to never try it.

Kind of on the same topic...

Up here in far northern suburbia, we have Jimano's, two minutes from my house. I don't know what the heck it is about these chains, but even though their ingredients may be OK, they insist on glopping on way too much cheese, & don't cook it nearly enough. So...I order easy cheese, well done, and utilizing the endless amounts of mailer coupons, I can get a pretty good pizza at a reasonable price. It ain't Slyce in Wauconda, but it's not bad at all.

Had Sarpino's once, a friend ordered it. The Ms. and I found it quite disgusting. And found the tiny hockey puck sausages hilarious.

Khaopaat wrote:

rmtraut wrote:With all of the Chicago pizza options out there, I've always wondered who actually orders crap like Sarpino's or Dominos. It's disturbing to see actual LTH memember doing so!!

The day Great Lake, Coalfire, etc. start offering free delivery to slurring idiots in the Gold Coast at 3am is the day I never order crappy pizza again

It might not be Great Lakes or Coalfire, but when we lived downtown, these guys always delivered a stellar pizza - until 5am!! and they even delivered to the loop!

http://www.chicagos-pizza.com/

Now if we only had a place like this near Elmhurst!

John