gino's east

hyper-industrial & multi-story restaurant where i was unsure if i should order lunch or report for a shift machining wing nuts. mid sunday afternoon w/ plenty of room at the bar, but by the nature of the main attraction deep dish pizza, be prepared to occupy yourself for about 3/4 hour. plenty of tv’s to see if so inclined.
any small pie will run you ~$25 or more, w/ mushroom & patty sausage being my selection. oddly, extra vegetable & protein ingredients were priced the same, so selectivity may be required. the casserole-like chicago pizza is always satisfying, but i’ve had better than gino’s version. while the sausage &saucewere excellent, 45’ in the oven were apparently not enough to fully melt the mozzarella layer. noble effort but will try another when next in town.

ewwwwwwww the crust is dry and tastes like it's made of corn flower, looks like it too and bland. thesauceis watery and my pizza was swimming in it. the stuffing was undercooked. store bought is better. the fountain pop was amazing. not something chi-town should be impressed about.

we're on our third pizza place in three days. this time? gino's east.gino's east was just a block or two from the hotel, so we stopped here for lunch. we actually arrived here slightly before they opened, and we waited outside the doors with a few others for them to let us in (damn tourists). there is writing all. over. the. walls. and. seats. it's everywhere! which is mostly fine, but i was worried about sitting on it. no worries.after being seated, we ordered the "gino's supreme," with pepperoni. it comes with pepperoni or italian sausage, onions, green peppers and mushrooms. since giordano's switched our order, and we ended up with sausage, we still had yet to try one with pepperoni. after the waiter read the order back, he said "pepperoni deep dish," which i assumed meant a gino's supreme with pepperoni. when he came back with our drinks, i clarified, and he basically told me i said it incorrectly (nope) and rushed back to fix it. k.but, it came out correctly, though i can't say it was my favorite pie. it has a very, very buttery, flaky crust. it almost seemed like i was eating an actual pie crust. i like the crisper crusts better. thesauceand toppings were just ok. little soggy, not a ton of flavor. but, it had the best cheese, by far. ooey and stringy. very good.

after our disappointing lunch at pizzeria uno, i admit that we were a bit anxious to find a good deep dish pizza in chicago. not that we thought it was impossible, but, being there few days, we really wanted to go to a good place that would erase our past experience. and we did. after a walk to the navy pier, we looked up pizza places and ended up at gino’s east, a homegrown chain that serves an amazing pizza. i know that the term chain gives a negative image of the place, but, in this case, it should not. they have places in quite few cities, except unfortunately new york, but who knows, maybe one day! i would surely love to see them in the big apple, their pizza being superb: the crust has this golden color and texture that i could have sworn was because of corn meal, but no, it is due to the olive oil they put in it. it comes with a deliciously sweet tomato sauce, that tops a large amount of cheese (we asked for extra cheese and some blue). the pizza cooks for 45 minutes and comes very hot in a cast iron dish. after the first bite, you do not care that you might burn your mouth eating it: it is so good and flavorful. you get the crunchiness and crumbliness of the crust with the sweetness of the tomatosauceand suddenly the flavor of the cheese, especially the blue that pairs well with the tangy tomato sauce. sublime!

sad face. definitely expected better. after going to giordano's and pizzeria uno i thought this was going to be the apex pizza. even waited in line here.saucewas meh, crust was meh, flavor was meh. i really think the deep dish i make at home was better. atmosphere was interesting, service was good, and i liked the caprese salad.

we loved the toppings.  the sausage was seasoned nicely, with peppery notes and a nice sweetness.  the sweetness may have also come from the onions and green peppers – beautiful, really. the tomatosaucewas acidic but not too acidic, which is a good thing!  we were surprised about that! we loved how the cheese brought everything together as it continued to melt and spread across our plates.  this made that one slice of pizza… not only a slice of pizza but a meal as a whole.  i loved it.  we loved it and certainly wanted more. the crust is a big deal for deep dish pizzas.  a criteria is that it should be able to hold all of the toppings well and not fall apart under the weight of the sauce, cheese, meats and veggies.  this crust passed that test! something else that i noticed was that the crust had numerous wonderful textures.  the sides were crispy, the bottom was crispy, the inner portion of the crust that had a layer of cheese was moist and fluffy, rich and almost creamy – melding together with the cheese.  this  makes the pizza.  we were extremely delighted with how buttery and flavorful the crust was. final thoughts: geno’s east is eat. nosh. nom.’s favorite chicago deep dish pizza spot so far.  does that mean that in our books, geno’s tops lou malnati’s ?  yep. make a reservation before finding your way to gino’s.  good news though – if you didn’t a chance to, and you’re on your way, when we dropped by without a reservation, we were seated immediately. this location, the original location, was nicely positioned near lots of touristy areas.  the service was fantastic and the decor and atmosphere was fun.  you’ll see, in the picture above, that people have written on the walls and left their mark at the restaurant for years to come. a lo

we tried the cheese and sausage pizza, patty style. this means a giant sausage patty spread over the whole pizza, ensuring sausage was in every bite. they also offer a crumbled sausage version. the sausage and chunky tomatosaucewas delicious. the crust was almost too buttery and not something i prefer. i

if you're looking for good authentic chicago deep dish, don't go here. the atmosphere was fun but the pizza really left something to be desired. all the ingredients were bland and thesaucerunny.

a new, dedicated follower. as a recent north carolina transplant, i had my deep-dish cherry popped at original gino’s east – and i’ve been honest and true to the superior street restaurant ever since.

i’m embarrassed to say the wife and i had lived in chicago for over four months before striking out to try our first deep-dish pie. rumors of chewy bread-like crusts and soggy samplings kept us away, so it took my brother coming into town before we wandered over from streeterville to give them the chance.

we stood outside for about 20 minutes on a busy friday evening around 5:00pm – we had showed up early with hopes of getting a table...seems most of chicago was thinking the same thing.

once we were seated upstairs, we were surrounded by graffiti-covered walls, featuring names, initials and declarations of past loves, all in white paint, chalk and markers. just a heads’ up: the place is dark. deepest, darkest-of-caves dark. we found ourselves passing the candle around the table as each of us tried to read the menu.

first rule of any deep-dish; pack a lunch if you arrive hungry. these monsters take a solid 30-45 minutes to show up tableside once you’ve ordered – our server let us know, in advance, to expect the wait.

on our most recent outing, we ordered a medium chicago firehouse, featuring a hot-and-spicy bottom of patty-style sausage, fire roasted red peppers and thin slices of red onions.

first and foremost, and despite our preconceived fears, these deep-dish pies are not loaves of bread covered in runny tomatosauce– the crust was amazingly flaky and tender, and just thick enough to hold the massive layer of toppings. the sauce-to-topping ratio was perfect, and the cheese was distinctive and had a great pull. the firehouse’s sausage certainly brings a little heat to the party and has become our favorite.

while a medium is certainly enough for two people – you’ll probably end up taking two to three slices home anyway. and at $25 for a medium pie of six slices, it’s definitely turns in to a two night dining experience .... re-heated, these pizzas are just as good as they were table side.

yes, we're eaten around the corner at "that other guy's place', but we keep coming back to gino's east for the fun atmosphere, awesome pies and superior service.

enjoy!

disappointing. we wanted to try traditional chicago pizza, but i don't think it was to our taste. it was doughy, the tomatosaucewas over powering and it just sat heavy in our stomach. having said that, the servers and restaurant were nice.

we keep things simple, ordering the cheese and sausage deep dish pizza. the crust is thick but buttery like a biscuit, and it really is more like eating a pie or a tart than a pizza. the pork sausage comes in fat peppery chunks, hidden beneath a lake of tomatosauceand stretchy globules of melted cheese.

nasty mess of a pizza,saucetasted canned, expensive, rude, with long waits... was way better 5 years ago when i was last in chicago and couldn't wait to go back now just very sorry i went.

best pizza hands down in chicago. if you don't know about the hour wait for it, the. i'm telling you now. it's a hour before they get it to you, and for good reason. the cornmeal crust makes it, but the homemade italian sausage and pepperoni are amazing! thesauceis fantastic and just the right amount. if you're a cheese fan, like myself, it is cheesy heaven. we loves all the stuff written on the walls, the service was great, even with the wait, and the overall dive feel. if you want an appetizer, we ordered the toasted ravioli and it was awesome. filled with cheese and fried to golden perfection. gino's east will be my choice if i come back to chicago

my pizza craving was satisfied! it wasn’t my favorite that i’ve had, but it definitely did the trick. that thick gooey cheese and fresh tomatosauceis just so good no matter what the crust is like.

staff is great. appetizers are great, especially since you have to wait 45 mins for a deep dish. spinach sticks and toasted ravioli are tasty fried starters. however, the deep dish pizza was terrible! thesaucetasted canned (boring seasoning) and the "famous sausage" tasted very gamey to be world class. still, great service staff, tasty apps, and they offer local micro brew on tap, so not completely awful. just don't go for the deep dish pizza!