I love the Chicago Pizza & Ovengrinder Company: I cannot make it any more plain than that. This place is fantastic. Obviously the pizza pot pie is the restaurant's specialty. It is, as has been described in other reviews, exactly what you think upon hearing that term: A pot pie with pizza inside. Either meat or vegetarian sauce. The crust is excellent, as is all the rest. Of course, the mediterranean bread is the perfect appetizer, and could indeed be a meal in and of itself. The rest of the menu is not to be dismissed, however. The grinders are tasty and absolutely massive. I have some friends who are very big eaters who cannot put away more than half of one. That is okay, of course, as that just means the other half can be enjoyed another time. The salads are also huge and quite yummy. The experience ends with some sort of chocolate toffees (I think that is what they are) with your bill. Speaking of the bill, that reminds me that pricing is very reasonable. I cannot recommend this place enough, and if you go there, remember to only tell the host the number of people in your party. Do no use your name.

I absolutely, positively love this place. My parents have been going since their first date 26 years ago and I've been going since I could hold a fork. It has a diffrent and unexpected flavor that you will come to crave.

Excellent food and Service: Great food and history!

A must for pizza lovers!: The pizza pie here is amazing. The salad and flatbread are also delicious. Plus, the history of the restaurant is very interesting too.

It was the first resturaunt I went to in Chicago...I will never forget it!!!! Awesome food...the bread...the deep dish pizza!!!

Sooo good!: I love their pizza pot pies, and their mediterranean bread could be a meal in itself. The salads are huge and could be shared by three people for sure. It's is definitely hard to leave room for all the good food, but that's what leftovers are for! It tastes just as good reheated as when it was served. The seating is limited and a little crowded, but it is definitely worth the wait and the seating for the food.

Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder is one of the best restaurant that i have ever been to. I highly recommend it to anybody.

Best of all: A regular since 1977, in over 25 years have never been disapointed

We can't wait to go back: no parking at all. but (I call them upside down pizza) are great!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Pizza!!!: Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder offers amazing pizza as well as a great taste of chicago history. The restaurant itself is located in a building that has ties to Al Capone himself and is located right across the street from the location of the infamous St. Valentines Day Massacre.

A Chicago landmark: Without a doubt the best pizza in Chicago!

awesome--and unique: Great pizze, unique, the deep dish is baked in a soup bowl--or it looks like one. get the sausage and mushroom-- served with whole mushrooms. The mediterranean bread is phenomenal. service and ambience is quaint and fun!!

best pizza ever: Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder is a must for anyone that wants the BEST PIZZA ANYWHERE! Only downfall no credit cards

For Outstanding Food and Atmosphere.......: If you are ever in need of some truly delicious pizza and want something out of the norm, I strongly suggest giving the Oven Grinder a visit. This place has absolutely the best Pizza I have come across. It is a very unique restaruant tucked away on Clark Street. The location isn't very big, which provides a very nice and romantic ambiance, but also sometimes can cause a bit of a wait. The wait..DEFINITELY WORTH IT!! I recommend having the Pizza Pot Pie, absolutely DELICIOUS. The Pizza Pot Pie is an individual serving, "made from scratch" with triple-raised Sicilian bread-type dough; a homemade sauce consisting of olive oil, fresh garlic, onions, green peppers, whole plum tomatoes and a special blend of cheeses; sausage made from prime Boston butts; and doorknob-size, whole, fresh mushrooms. (Vegetarian pizza pot pie may be special ordered.) Even better this wonderful dish can be purchased frozen to take home, for those days you want a good meal, without the hard work. With a very affordable price of $9.75 for the half pounder and $19.50 for a whopping one pounds of yummmy, it's easly on the wallet and guaranteed to fill even the largest appetite. I highly recommend this location to all, it is very impressive (fellas) for first dates or just a nice place to take friends and family. I hope you get the opportunity to try it out and see one of the reasons I love coming home to Chicago!!!!

looking at all the reviews I'm a lil surprised why this place is so popular. This is the second time I have been here as my brother told me about this place.I wanted to treat my lady to a nice place to eat and i felt this was not the place.First off we got there and the place was packed but they were able to sit us right away,which was great cause i hate to wait.The booth though was very small,comfy for a midget but not a regular size person.This place was very loud too,so if your wanting a place to take a date or to talk don't go here.Then we waited 15 minutes before we got waited on and were already hungry.While were waiting we were in need of another pop and we were told no free refills,which that upset me considering there charging over 2.00 for a 10 oz. pop anyway.We waited over 30 minutes for our food which i was irritated by then.When we got are food it was good and we both got the pot pie pizzas. Its neat to try but nothing really special in my eyes.To me its just like eating a calzone, so not really sure what the hype is. In a nutshell this place offers no refills on pop(must be living in the 70s still),possibly long wait to be seating,slow getting the food out, and a pricey place.Oh by the way we took the bus there, but i can tell that parking wold be very tough too,not very many places to park.good luck.

Excellent Pizza!: I must admit that I was a little hesitant about going to this place. But what a pleasant surprise I received when the food was served! I am a self proclaimed HomeRunn Inn Pizza lover, but this pizza almost gave HomeRunn Inn a "run" for its money. The food was hot. The service was great! The pizza puff was enormous! I only ate a quarter of it! However, the parking sucks! We circled around for ever looking for parking...typical North side problems....but don't let that stop you from enjoying the food. It's actually worth the wait!

Odd, great pizza: Everything you can order at this place is going to be, at once, both new and excellent. Their idea of pizza is, well, odd; but it's worth a two-hour ride from Indiana. Heck, so are the subs, and so is the Mediteranean bread!

Upside down!!!: All I can say is that you have to have the "Upside Down" Pizza. I don't remember what it is officially called, but it is the BEST!! Sure, it doesn't have ambiance, but it's a great place. A great date place, unless you are looking for candlelight! A must for visitors!!!

Great food...service questionable: The pizza's are great and very unique. The restaurant is very nice and inviting, but very, very crowed for such a small area. The service staff was very nice...but I am still undecided about the host who remembers your face instead of writing down your name. I guess that's part of the charm, but you can help but wonder that you should have be next in line. Don't go there with an empty stomach, because you will die of starvation before you get seated, but this is definitely on of those places that you go out of your way for at least once a year.

I have two favorite restaurants, one in Chicago and the other in New York. Being that I live only a few minutes south of Chicago, I obviously eat here more. Although not a typical pizza, I have never been to a better "pizza place" anywhere in the country. I first went with some co-workers about two years ago, and had the pizza pot pie. It took another two years, before I was able to convince my fiance to give the "pizza pot pie" a shot. As soon as I got here in there, she fell in love with the place! Not only the food, but the overall ambiance. Other reviewers have mentioned that the booths are too tiny, which I never noticed with just the two of us... until we came up with another couple recently(the second time in one week). The booths are pretty small, but they add to the intimate feel of the restaurant. No matter what you do, don't leave this place without trying the Mediterranean Bread!

Chicago Institution: Tucked away and nearly hidden, refusing to be co-opted over the years, this restaurant offers the most exquisite pizza in a bowl you will ever taste. You gotta try it at least once! Be prepared to wait to tast the delights of this Chicago Institution. Better yet, go before the rush. Share the Med bread and the 1 pounder. Yum!

I love this place!: I have been going to the Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Company for about six years. The food is phenomenal- I can't get enough of their mediterranean bread and yummy salad dressings. The pizza pot pie is great, too, I prefer the vegetarian. I have tried all the oven grinders and they are all pretty yummy, always splitting material. The fact that everything is so big and filling makes it easy to split with friends and still be very satisfied- making it a great value! Of course, there is always the wait to deal with, but the anticipation of the food often makes it better!

Folks, this ain't pizza ... That said, the pot pie 'pizza' is tasty. The sauce is similar to spaghetti sauce IMO. The crust was delicious and there was plenty of cheese (always a good thing) in it. The salad was nothing special and the dressing rather lackluster. The bread (which my friends were raving about) more than lived up to expectations and was the best part of the meal. We had a surprisingly short wait for a table, maybe 15 minutes. Like others have said, the dining room is cramped, the booths uncomfortable and the place is loud. The service we received from the waitress was pretty bad. She never told us about soda refill charges (and the soda was flat), never returned to ask if everything was alright or if there was anything we needed.

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fantastic!: This is the best pizza ever! It is also the first and only pizza I've ever seen where you order it by the pound!

It's not really a pizza. It's an oven grinder, so to say it's the best pizza is a bit far fetched. It's good though. They have good flat bread as well.

The Little Jewel of Chicago!: I've been going to this resteraunt for literally 35 years and it just keeps getting better and better! The pizza is very unique and my favorite in Chicago, which is saying a lot. It's not your typical Chicago style pizza. It's actually made upside down. Fresh cheese (and plenty of it) is placed in a crock bowl. The cheese is covered in a rich home made sauce which contains the best and largest fresh mushrooms I've ever seen. Then hand made dough is stretched over the top of the bowl. The dough forms the crust of the pizza. It's flipped over and served table side. You just can't beat it anywhere! Housed in a beautiful brownstone in Old Town, the atmosphere is fantastic. This place is a must see!

Soooooooooo tasty! They have good service and serve quickly because there is usually a line out the door for a table. I would advise not going near dinner or lunch hour or anytime on the weekend, you will be waiting. Some couples have waited 2.5 hours, NO LIE! It is very good though! They only accept cash, and the free chocolate mint at the end is the BEST!!! So tasty.. anybody know where it is from???

Best pizza in Chicago: Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders discovered an innovative way to make pizza. The low prices and great taste make it the best cuisine restaurant in Chicago!

Pizza with an Attitude: You just have to try this unique Chicago original. The service is classic Chicago Italian.

Great Pizza: This pizza was so delicious and as juicy as a well cooked burger. Hey, but all of chicago has great PIZZA.

By FAR...Best Pizza in Chicago!: If you're looking for a truely different style and GREAT TASTE, this is the place to go. An AWESOME 1st date place as well as an Anniversary Celebration. Make sure you order the Popover with Mushrooms!

More than just pizza!: My experience at this spot was excellent. The resturant is actually an old bar that has been kept up in pristine condition. The booths may be tight for some; if this is the case, they will gladly seat you at a table in the front. We began with the Meditteranean bread. It was a nice appetizer. I had the 1/2 pound pizza pot pie. I don't know who came up with this little gem but they should be thanked! It was very good. They offer the pot pie in a one ound version, but honestly, the 1/2 pound is plenty. An added bonus is the smoke free atmosphere. If you eat too much, Lincoln Park Zoo is around the corner and you can walk off your food! I will surley go back!

Holy Good Food Batman!: My #1 favorite restaurant. It's kinda small, so the wait can be outrageous sometimes, but trust me...it's well worth it. Also, no credit cards accepted, only cash. Don't worry if you forget cash, the bar across the street has an ATM. They're pizza is definately unique in that it's a pizza bowl. Haven't seen that anywhere else. They're salads are fresh, cold, crisp and huge. Sometimes we go for just salad and mediterranean bread. Other times we go, get a half pounder each and split a grinder. Needless to say we have left overs for the next day. The price in my opinion is actually way under what I would expect for the amount/quality of food. Staff is very friendly, they do not take reservations, they don't even take names, they just somehow remember . It's scary at first, you're thinking they'll forget about us, but somehow it works. It's not a quiet romantic location, it's loud and busy but really really good.

Soo Good!!!: This is some of the best pizza you will find in chicago. They also have great sandwiches too!!! Never bad always good!!!

I'd go once a week if possible: When I was 11 years old my friend took me to eat here, and ever since then I've been spreading the word. It's a great place to go if you love pizza as much as I do, and want to try something a bit different.... or if you just want to go out with your friends!

Wow: I love Giordano's, but if you want upside down pizza and the best bread in town, this is going to be your favorite, hands down. Lincoln Park has a treasure with this place.

Still dream of this pizza!: After moving 800 miles away and getting a food allergy that makes it impossible for me to eat pizza, I still dream of the amazing food at Chicago Pizza and Ovengrinders! This is deep dish pizza on a scale that you will not find anywhere else on the planet. For those of us who aren't able to eat pizza, there is an antipasto and mediterranean bread that is out of this world Everyone must eat here once in their lives if they want to know what great food really tastes like.

Deep Dish All The Way: Their Chicago Deep dish is amazing.

Their food is amazing: Only Ovengrinders would put meatballs and italian sausage on a salad!! truly fabulous experience

My All Time Favorite: The most unique pizza place in all of Chicago. Im a lifelong resident of Chicago and have never tasted anything like the pizza pot pie, it is amazing. Order it with a salad (dressings are all delicious) and the mediterrian bread. There is usually a long line and no reservations can be made, but Ive grown to not mind the wait. You can spend time at the bar or just chill outside with your friends. The overall ambience inside has a very romantic feel, however if on a date it can get a bit loud due to its diminuative size. My all time favorite restaurant, Ive probably been there 50 times and ordered about the same thing everytime, its that good.

This is where I love to go anytime. Excellent service every time I go there. Pizza is excellent with big slices. My favorite in the whole Chicago.

VEry unique and much fun.: Very unique...so much so that they have a long wait any given night of the week . . . yet its worth the 45 to sometimes longer wait.... I've been known to go across the street to the Clark Bar and have a brew while I wait. Its romantic in a fun kind of way.

Unlike Any Pizza You've Ever Had!: Banish all thoughts of Swanson's and your grocers freezer... A Pizza Pot Pie is food from the heavens. They are addicting! A little expensive... $9.75 for a half size pie but oh! so! delicious! Remember to bring cash because credit cards are not accepted. IMO... if you are coming to Chicago from out of town and want to experience a great Chicago Pizza... skip the way overrated Gold Coast places and head up to Lincoln Park. A big plus, is that you can also buy frozen pizzas and take them with you. Although it wasn't a factor when we went, I've been told that the wait can be outrageous and there is only neighborhood parking. There is valet service.

Best in the West (well, Midwest): I've lived in San Diego, Connecticut, Florida, and this is, by far, the best I've had. ALL PORTIONS ARE HUGE. Picture: A bowl layered with cheese, filled with sauce and whole mushrooms and topped with dough spread over the edges. It's then baked, brought to the table and flipped over in front of you. Get the great Mediteranean Bread for an app! At least an hour wait, but get a drink at the bar and relax with everybody else.

pizza in a bowl: They bake the pizza toppings in a bowl with the crust covering the bowl and the flip it over at your table to serve it. The best pizza ever!!!!!

I have been coming here since I began visiting Chicago. It is such a fun place to go with friends. The twist on traditional Chicago pizza is what I love - the actual pizza pie. SO good. The antipasta salad is also a must.

Showed up around 5pm and there was about a 15 minute wait for 2 not suprising because there are only about 30 tables in the place. It was worth every minute of the wait. The place has great atmosphere and the food is amazing I recommend the oven pizza as well as the italian grinder. Not to mention they have bottles of wine priced around $20 prob one of the best deals in the city.

Soooooooooo tasty! They have good service and serve quickly because there is usually a line out the door for a table. I would advise not going near dinner or lunch hour or anytime on the weekend you will be waiting. Some couples have waited 2.5 hours NO LIE! It is very good though! They only accept cash and the free chocolate mint at the end is the BEST!!!