Are any big name pizza places very good italian restaurants?

I have some friends here in SoCal making a virgin trip to Chicago for an upcoming ND football game and they want to eat pizza and eat some good italian food, not necessarily at the same place. THey are staying downtown and I don't know if they will have a car.

Any of the top shelf pizza places good for overall italian cuisine? If not, what would you rec in the moderate and then in the higher-end?

Thanks.

First, I think Bacino's has relatively serious Italian cooking. Not exactly Spiaggia, but it holds its own as a destination for Italian and not just for pizza.

Among the rest: "Not bad" is about as good as you can do. If you are not looking for top quality Italian, Giordanos does some decent pastas.

Follia.

Very good pizza. Very good pasta. Very good meat dishes.

Best,
Michael

I second Follia, for all the reasons given in the attached thread. But remember, this is not typical "Chicago-style" pizza, if that's what your friends are expecting, but rather a thinner pizza typical of those you'd find in Rome (or Milan, from where the owner comes), and a very good version at that. The pizzas are also a good option, by the way, if you want to keep costs down. Follia is not inexpensive.