itshissong wrote: Mista – Hate, hate, hate this place. Crust is a joke as matzoh is tastier and has more flavor than their crust. Claims to have high quality ingredients, but "fresh" mozzarella does not make a good pizza if it's of poor quality. I'd take an aged low-moisture mozz over whatever Mista uses any day of the week. They don't really have a "sauce" so to speak, they seem to just marinate their tomatoes in some balsamic-based concoction. I know I'm an outlier here, but I can't figure out what is good about this place.

We had dinner here last night because they had outside seating and are BYO - unfortunately you can't drink on their outside seating area, so we ate inside. The House salad was a big plate of greens with one pepperoncini, one grape tomato, some onion and chickpeas. The balsamic was good. My husband said his wrap was fresh, but nothing special. I think they use the same lavosh wraps to make the pizza crust. The pizza was indeed very bland. There was a sauce on the one we had, but still very bland. And they use soft plastic solo cups for wine and water. I don't see a reason to go back - the only reason would be if you had to go somewhere with someone who is gluten-free, as they do offer that.

I went back to Pat's for the first time in at least 10 years tonight. It was basically empty the entire time we were in there save for one table that came in (between 7-8). While it's in my brother's starting five for Chicago thin crust, I though Pat's was a big letdown and reminded me why I never really came back to it. The only thing I like was the cracker thin, paper thin crust. But the cheese was bland, the sauce was sweet and nothing special and the sausage was just meh. For a place that supposedly is one of the best of it's kind, I'm surprised there isn't a dedicated thread for it on here (I just searched, couldn't find one). My brother took a friend of his from Pennsylvania there tonight and I wished we had gone to a bunch of other pizza joints. At least we took the guy to Pequod's in Morton Grove yesterday which he loved.

Ram4 wrote:I went back to Pat's for the first time in at least 10 years tonight. It was basically empty the entire time we were in there save for one table that came in (between 7-8). While it's in my brother's starting five for Chicago thin crust, I though Pat's was a big letdown and reminded me why I never really came back to it. The only thing I like was the cracker thin, paper thin crust. But the cheese was bland, the sauce was sweet and nothing special and the sausage was just meh. For a place that supposedly is one of the best of it's kind, I'm surprised there isn't a dedicated thread for it on here (I just searched, couldn't find one). My brother took a friend of his from Pennsylvania there tonight and I wished we had gone to a bunch of other pizza joints. At least we took the guy to Pequod's in Morton Grove yesterday which he loved.

Totally agree with everything in the above post. Went to Pat's a couple of times when I first moved to Chicago, about five years ago, after hearing raves and seeing it on "best of" lists. Cannot understand what's special about it in any way and haven't been back, as a result.

Ram4 wrote:I went back to Pat's for the first time in at least 10 years tonight. It was basically empty the entire time we were in there save for one table that came in (between 7-8).

I won't argue subjective matters like taste, but on the relatively objective metric of "how empty or full is the place," I'll contribute the data point that your experience doesn't match up with ours on a number of recent visits. They are fuller on weekend nights than weekday nights (pretty much completely full, in fact), but even on weeknight visits we've found them to be doing enough business that "basically empty" wouldn't be an apt description. (25-33% occupied might be close.) Of course, our experiences could be "outlier" ones as easily as yours.

Oof. Tried Pat’s Pizza for delivery. I do not recommend. We got a thin crust pizza, pan pizza, French fries and mozzarella sticks. Not a single dish was enjoyable. Plus it took 1 hour and 45 minutes for delivery. And it was pretty pricey - $60+ all in. I really have nothing good to say about the whole experience.

Not exactly Lakeview, but our favorite is Pete's Pizza on Western. I'm sure they deliver to Lakeview.

Address: 3737 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
Phone: (773) 463-7770
Menu: pizzapetes.com

Just south of Fullerton on Lincoln are two great pizza places.

One is La Crosta, which is more of a traditional Italian pizzeria, serving Neapolitan style pizza.

The other, The Little Meatball, just opened, but they make a good traditional thin crust.

La Crosta
2360 N Lincoln
Chicago, IL 60614
773-649-1000
http://lacrostachicago.com/

The Little Meatball
2365 N Lincoln
Chicago, IL 60614
773-360-8469
https://thelittlemeatball.com

cleanplateclub wrote:Oof. Tried Pat’s Pizza for delivery. I do not recommend. We got a thin crust pizza, pan pizza, French fries and mozzarella sticks. Not a single dish was enjoyable. Plus it took 1 hour and 45 minutes for delivery. And it was pretty pricey - $60+ all in. I really have nothing good to say about the whole experience.

I live in Uptown and get delivery from Pat's about once a month. Everything is usually top notch, although I pretty much only order thin crust well done and some appetizers. It's not cheap, but it's the best cracker crust I've found that in the area.

lodasi wrote: I live in Uptown and get delivery from Pat's about once a month. Everything is usually top notch, although I pretty much only order thin crust well done and some appetizers. It's not cheap, but it's the best cracker crust I've found that in the area.

lodasi-

Have you ever ordered from Aroma (fka Pizzeria Aroma)? We like their pizza a lot. Some variability when they're slammed, but still a reliable neighborhood joint. The new space is nice too.

Aroma
5350 N Broadway
Chicago, IL 606407
773-769-4900
https://www.pizzeriaaroma.com/

Yeah, Pete's does deliver to Lakeview. I was a Pat's fan for almost 20 years, the last several times I've ordered have been extremely hit and miss. I got a few pizzas that seemed to have absolutely no sauce on them, so now I basically have to ask for extra sauce. Which sometimes results in normal sauce application, others results in well, extra sauce. When it's done right, it's great pizza...and excellent cold the next day. Bartoli's thin (well done) has made it into my regular rotation, I'm not a huge fan of their sauce, but it is consistent and the delivery folks are great. La Gondola's extra-thin is also a solid choice, haven't eaten there in awhile since now their online delivery minimum is a little high.

My post inspired me to order La Gondola for the first time in years, website said $20 minimum order and enforced it. A few minutes later I get a phone call telling me that I have to order $25 worth, had a back and forth with whoever called telling him that's not what their website says. They agreed to do a "special delivery" for me after I said to cancel. I guess this will be my last order, I'm not spending close to $40 with tip on pizza delivery.

cleanplateclub wrote:Oof. Tried Pat’s Pizza for delivery. I do not recommend. We got a thin crust pizza, pan pizza, French fries and mozzarella sticks. Not a single dish was enjoyable. Plus it took 1 hour and 45 minutes for delivery. And it was pretty pricey - $60+ all in. I really have nothing good to say about the whole experience.

Honestly, this is a post I would've expected to read in the mid 90's if the internet existed back then. What you described has been Pat's MO for over 20 years now. I stopped ordering from them mid 90's and haven't been back.

Very overrated pizza, sauce way too sweet and WAY overpriced and epic long delivery times. EZPASS