I feel we all must thank Italy for giving Pizza to the world. The remarkable dish has reached almost every corner of the world. While the original recipe still exists, the Pizza has gotten a local makeover everywhere it has travelled. Right from the Tandoori Paneer Pizza to the Chicago style deep dish pizza.
In this blog post, I’ll be sharing my experience of dining at Giordano’s in Chicago and tell you about the different styles of pizza that it serves. I shared my experience of dining at Pizzeria Uno in my previous blog post and wrote about having a Chicago style deep dish pizza for the first time.
While that’s the one that originated in Chicago, Giordano’s has a different and interesting story. Read on to find out more.
Giordano’s – From Italy With Love
Though Giordano’s is serving Chicago style deep dish pizza, it isn’t quite Chicagoan. A lady from the Giordano family used to bake pies in a small town near Torino, Italy. One of her favourite dishes was the Italian Easter Pie pizza which was served only on special occasions and later became a tradition in the family.
Years later, two Italians moved to Chicago in the 1970s and introduced this recipe of stuffed pizza to Chicagoans. This stuffed pizza was very similar to the Chicago style deep dish pizza and the locals loved it. Today it’s amongst the best pizza places in Chicago.
Giordano’s Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza – Review
Giordano’s is a chain of Pizzeria in Chicago and hence they have multiple outlets. I was at their Rudolph Street outlet that’s located in Prudential Plaza. This is at a “walkable” distance from the Millennium Park Chicago Metro station. It’s quite easy to locate and isn’t located on a busy street and yet isn’t far away from a busy street.
Lively Ambience
Push the revolving door and you enter a different, lively world. There’s a small waiting area right at the entrance (I’m sure they need these at peak hours) There are some interesting artworks on the walls. Though we were close to dinner time, we luckily got a table soon. There are TVs and music and hence the place is all pumped up. There’s also a lady who’ll click your pictures but you need to pay to get it.
The seating area is pretty spacious with multiple areas. They have tables for individuals, and couples along with large tables for bigger groups. Even though we were just two, they made us sit in one of the cosy sofa setups. They do have a physical menu, but again they promote the QR code. There’s also an iron stand on which they put the pizza.
Italian Style Deep Dish Pizza
Since there were only two of us, we went for a small pizza. Unlike Pizzeria Uno, they don’t have an individual size and only small, medium and large. While they do serve regular, thin and extra think pizzas, we were here for a deep dish pie pizza. There are a couple of vegetarian pizza options – Spinach and Super Veggie. We opted for a super veggie pizza.
Like Pizzeria Uno, they too take 45 minutes to prepare a deep dish pizza. So I’d suggest ordering some sides that you can eat because 45 minutes is a long time. Don’t be like us and not order any sides and die of hunger.
So the pizza arrived and the lady put it on the stand. She knew that people came here to take videos of the cheese pull. The pizza looked better than what I saw at Pizzeria Uno. It had lots of Olives on it. The pizza was deep, maybe deeper than Pizzeria Uno – but that may be because of the size as well.
This had lots of veggies from bell peppers, olives, and broccoli along with a generous amount of cheese. It was a nice pizza but a little bland. (I’m guessing we Indians would find everything bland) So I had the parmesan cheese as well as seasoning to make it tasty. Further, the amount was quite good even for two people and it was difficult for us to finish it. Lastly, it does become hard as time passes plus this one became watery by the time we finished.
Try & Taste It
From having the original Chicago style deep dish pizza to having an Italian stuffed pie pizza which is also considered as a deep dish pizza, I loved having pizzas in Chicago.
The pizza here at Giordano’s is nice and loaded. I’d recommend having the super veggie one since there are a lot of veggies in here. The sauce I felt was better at Giordano’s but that doesn’t mean this one was bad.
We paid close to $33 for the meal with a deep dish pizza and an Iced tea. Considering this was for two of us, I feel it’s aptly priced. The dining experience was nice and I wouldn’t mind going back again to try the other pizzas as well.
If you’ve never eaten it, try it once for sure. Feel free to comment down below if you have any queries. You can also DM me on Twitter at @Atulmaharaj, DM @Atulmaharaj on Instagram, or Get In Touch.
Ha ha ” Don’t be like us and not order any sides and die of hunger.”
The wait was way too long!
Nice post ✍️