Aurelio's Pizza

What do you all think about it? I've read a bunch of reviews saying this is one of the best thin crust pizzas around. Some people even have it shipped to them. Hmmm...

I tried it at the end of this chowventure.

I think it depends on location, because the Aurelios near the west loop on Harrison is not very good. The sauce is very bland, and the ingredient quality is so so. Also, their delivery and phone demeanor is less than stellar. I have been hung up on and had to wait almost 2 hrs for a delivery from them in the 3 times we have ordered from them.

I happen to have a half of an Aurelio's pizza in my refrig right now. While it's not really "fantastic" pizza, it's okay, & I actually enjoyed the few pieces I snarfed up last night. (Mine was from the Aurelio's in south suburban Crete.)

The crust was nice & crunchy around the edges, and they use lots of mozzarella cheese flavored with oregano & basil, but the damn sauce is too sweet! Good sausage, though, with lots of fennel.

All in all, I give it about a 7.5/10.

Ive eaten at the one in Addison and Oakbrook..pretty blah..sauce tastes like spaghetti-o's sauce

Thanks everyone. I haven't found a place that has consistently knocked me off my feet. We had the pizza from their Oakbrook location. The crust was good, but my hubby went for the works and the combo of all the meat made it too salty. I think next time we'll just still with the cheese and 1 topping and have them chill on the sauce. Or maybe even better we'll get it from their flagship location if we're ever near. I'm just trying to find a place that is consistent!

I live less than two blocks from the flagship restaurant. Our favorite is the #27, which has fresh tomatoes, spinach, garlic and mushrooms. You can get it with white sauce instead of red.

Aurelio's is best eaten at the original Homewood location. I also order the pizza cooked in the "old oven" even though we are not sure if there IS an old oven. We have a lot of pizza in the southern suburbs and while this may not be the best, we eat it most frequently at our house because I can grab it on my way home from the train.

You are welcome to come out to the Homewood location. PM me and we'll meet you there!

Suzy

Thanks sdritz! I just did a quick mapquest to Homewood from Oak Park and it's close to 30 miles away. I was probably thinking Homewood was somewhere else for some reason or another. The closest I ever come to going that south is when we venture out to Michigan City to shop, but even thats far. Hmmm if I'm ever around I'll be sure to visit.

Oak Park? why bother with Aurelios?..used to be some good pizza joint s on Roosevelt ..also cesars in Forest Park..none of thse splaces are around anymore? You also got Jimmys Place in forest park too

As a former south suburbanite, Aurelio's is my second favorite pizza. As Suzy said, the Homewood oven makes all the difference, but I have been known to pick up a frozen one in a pinch. I have also gone to the one downtown when I had a craving. Just not the same.

I like sweet sauce, I like thin crust, and I like pizza with cheese alone (I like the spices they use in the cheese) or just one or two toppings, and I think Aurelio's excels at that. So for my money, it's a great choice.

deke rivers wrote:Oak Park? why bother with Aurelios?..used to be some good pizza joint s on Roosevelt ..also cesars in Forest Park..none of thse splaces are around anymore? You also got Jimmys Place in forest park too

None of the pizza I've ever had along roosevelt near forest park/oak park/berwyn is of any real quality. Giovanni's, before it moved, was mediocre. So is salerno's (although I like some of the other things on their menu). Smilin' Joe's or whatever it is is just awful.

Jimmy's Place is OK, but something about the crust changed about 2.5-3 years ago, and I haven't enjoyed it nearly as much since. It went from being cracker-thin-and-crisp to thin but very soft.

Im going back aways but in its day Giovannis and Salernos were really good..things must have changed..I really cant imagine them hittng the level of Aurelios in mediocrity though..is Cesars no longer in existence either?

I've never even heard of Cesar's, and I grew up 3 blocks from Giovanni's.

Salerno's moved from 16th St to Roosevelt about 5 years ago, and it hasn't been as good since.

I like Aurelio's on occassion. The sweet sauce is pretty annoying, but it's still something I sometimes crave. I think part of it is that they seem to use particularly good green olives, and I'm a sucker for that.

Gleam - Cesars is (or was) on Des Plaines and Washington in Forest Park on the southwest corner right next to what used to be Stormy Monday tavern.There is still a tavern there but its a different name now..I didnt mean to imply it was near Giovannis in Berwyn

I actually like their sauce. They use plums...

Since my brother was in for Thanksgiving from Minnesota, my parents ordered Aurelio's on Friday night as an escape from the mounds of turkey still lurking in their refrigerator. My mother believes in saving money whenever humanly possible, and since there were nine of us for dinner, we ordered three pizzas -- my dad ordered a small cheese (for my 5 year old niece) and a fiesta No. 27, which has fresh tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and garlic, and is my personal favorite. I also ordered a fiesta-sized No. 27 so that we could maximize our coupon use. One small problem -- I forgot to specify that we wanted our pizza baked in the old oven.

We opened the pizzas my dad ordered first and they were delicious. Then we opened mine. There was a definite difference in the taste as well as the appearance of the pies. The crust was not as crunchy as usual. Since they were both ordered at the same time, I can only surmise that there is indeed a difference if you specify that you want your pizza cooked in the old oven.

My dad claims Joey Aurelio told him there is an old oven at each Aurelio's store. I suggest any LTHers out there try ordering your next pizza baked in the old oven and see if you can tell the difference.

Suzy

Is there any rule about bumping old posts?

sdritz wrote:My dad claims Joey Aurelio told him there is an old oven at each Aurelio's store.

As a former employee of the Chicago Heights location, I can tell you that there is NO "old" oven there. All the pizzas get cooked in a standard conveyor-type pizza oven, much like you see at a Little Cesears. Of course, the Chicago Heights location is somewhat smaller than the typical location, with carry out/delivery only.

A friend of mine who used to work at the Crete location reports that there is no "old" oven there either. I cannot personally vouch for this information.

I personally don't care for Aurelio's pizza. They used a 50/50 mix of a premium cheese and a cheaper cheese when I worked there, which in my opinion is why the cheese there is more rubbery than stretchy gooey.

When people ask me what the best pizza is in the immediate area (Crete), I always recommend Dan's in South Heights. Only for the pan, though - I feel the thin is too crackery. Don't get me wrong, I don't really think it's anything to go out of one's way for, but it's certianly decent, and I feel, far better tasting than Aurelio's.


Aurelio's
1545 S. Western Ave
Chicago Heights, Il
(708)481-5040
www.aureliospizza.com

Dan's Pizza
3324 Chicago Road
South Chicago Heights, Il
(708)755-3267
www.danspizza.com

Is there any rule about bumping old posts?

Well, I suppose not to do it gratuitously, but if you have new info, which you do, it's totally fine, indeed better than starting a new thread in most cases.

I would assume that only the oldest location (Homewood) has an old oven-- it's not like you'd open a new store and install an old oven, most of the time.

I do know this, I live in South Elgin where there is a fairly new Aurelios. We ate there and found it decent but now blow-you-away. Then there were local signs saying they were under new management. I found an opportunity to talk to the new owners who said they would be following the original Aurelios recipe. This was nearly a year ago, so I am only going by memory, but they did say they would be using the Aurelios proprietary blend of cheeses and the old owners weren't. They indicated to me that the cheese blend was more expensive than just mozarella.
Apparently you can contract the name but aren't required to use the original recipe. I can't imagine they get a free for all, but they definitely are allowed to modify the recipe (perhaps within parameters) to cut costs.

I'm pretty sure Joey Aurelio meant it as a joke when he said each Aurelio's has their own "old oven." It still doesn't stop people from ordering their pizza baked in the old oven, no matter which store they order from.

Suzy

christine wrote:Apparently you can contract the name but aren't required to use the original recipe. I can't imagine they get a free for all, but they definitely are allowed to modify the recipe (perhaps within parameters) to cut costs.

*shudder* Somehow I am not sure if this is ever a good idea for a franchise.

I also think the "old oven" request at Aurelio's is interesting. Having experience behind the scenes with a different Chicago pizzeria name, I can attest to the fact that new ovens purchased were often "seasoned" by older stores and then brought to the new location so that the taste/texture would remain the same. A lot of time and work involved moving around Blodgetts that must have weighed about 1000 pounds, if not more.

I did used to have customers tell me that they felt the pizza tasted better at certain locations because of the age of the ovens, but I do believe a large portion of that was a combo of nostalgia and dining in rather than carryout/delivery.

My wife (whose family hails from the south suburbs) is a big fan of Aurelio's. Personally, however, I've always found the sauce to be very sweet and the pizza to be, at best, average.

I met a friend for dinnner the other night at Sanfratellos in
Glenwood. He was in from out of town and this was one of his favorite places as a youth. The pizza was rather forgettable, but somehow the issue of the old oven was raised with the waitress who confirmed that they have their original brick oven which is still in use as well as a modern conveyor style oven. The Glenview location seats 320 and is an old roadhouse style place which has been added on to over the years, so the need for additional oven space makes sense. In any case, we had pizzas from the old oven and they were ok. They wont make me forget NIck and Vitos though. They have been in business a long time(1969) and I expected more from this place. Did I catch them on a bad night? Anyone have experience with this place?

Sanfratellos
127 W. Main
Glenwood IL 60425
708-758-5500

Additonal locations in Tinley Park, Highland, IN and Dyer, IN

Sanfratello's is actually in GlenWOOD, not GlenVIEW.

I haven't eaten there in several years, but I keep meaning to try it again. We prefer carryout from Arenello's or Aurelio's dine-in.

Suzy

Sanfrantello's has its' devotees, but I always thought it was just average, though kind of a fun place to be because of the nookish corners of the building. But down the street there in Glenwood about three blocks east, now you're talking. My favorite pizza ever, Arrenello's. Those who dislike Aurelio's (my second favorite) for the sweet sauce will hate Arrenello's. Which just leaves more for me. The way the sauce on the edges get sort of carmelized and a little sweeter and thicker. Oh my. Makes me swoon.

Arrenello's thin crust is my all-time favorite pizza. The sauce is sweet, but in their case it works because the sausage they use is VERY spicy, and the sauce acts as a buffer to the spiciness.

Mark

If we're talking south suburban pizza, I have to give a shout out to Beggar's (when ordering ask for it well done). All locations are decent. However, the best ambiance is at the first Blue Island location IMO.

Beggars Pizza
127th and Western
Blue Island IL

All the pizza of my youth!

Jane Lynch isn't going to Disneyland... (starts at about 2:25 in after the commercial.)

Was driving down Clark Street today and saw a familiar logo in the windows at the former Myron Mixon's. Aurelio's is coming to Wrigleyville.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/fbh/ ... 98425.html