Giordano's Pizza

September 13 2007 

Giordano's

Prudential Plaza

135 E. Lake St.

Chicago, IL 

The Setup: It's impossible to visit Chicago without stopping for a slice or four of famous Chicago pizza. (Ok, I'm sure it's possible for some people but for me, a trip to Chicago means a trip to the pizza parlor!) Up until this past weekend the only Chicago pizza I'd had the privilege of trying was Uno's. Although my first experience with Uno's was at the original restaurant in Chicago (and was mighty tasty), knowing that I can now go to Cleveland and get the same thing has taken a certain something away from the Chicago deep-dish experience that Uno provides. 

The Experience: My most recent trip to Chicago was for my friend's bachelorette party. It gave me the opportunity to hang out with a true Chicagoan and experience a brand new (to me) pizza sensation: Giordano's stuffed pizza! Giordano's has been a Chicago staple since 1974. Myself, along with the Bride-to-be, M.O.H and another fellow bridesmaid made our way to the Giordano's at Prudential Plaza. We arrived around 6:00 PM and although the restaurant was crowded, once we put our name in our wait was no more than 15 minutes. Perfect timing actually, as it gave us just enough time to look over the menu and decide on our meal. 

The Food: Between the four of us, we ordered one large Stuffed Pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms ($21.75). We also ordered a Greek Salad ($7.75), a Chopped Salad ($7.75) and washed it all down with a bottle of Pinot Grigio (you'll have to give me a pass on this one - I can't remember the name of the bottle but I believe it was around $25.00).

The Verdict: A+  Our food arrived in about 45 minutes which was exactly what we were told to anticipate (you can't rush great food)! Plus, 45 minutes gave us just enough time to catch up on some wedding plan finalizations! The salads were delicious and each came with 4 pieces of seasoned, crunchy on the outside-soft in the center bread (Yum)! My only gripe about the Greek salad were the anchovies. Being Greek myself, that was the first time I've had anchovies in my Greek salad and I have to say it was not a nice addition. That's not to say that other Greek restaurants don't use anchovies - just none that I have experienced. But they were easy to eat around and didn't really create a problem. 

As for the pizza - delicious! The slices were so big that we each were only able to polish off one slice which left exactly one more piece for each of us to devour later, after a few hours of bachelorette fun! (And devour them we did)! All in all, Giordano's was great. Not only did it taste great, it was also filling and very affordable for the portions you get. I would definitely recommend Giordano's to anyone visiting Chicago (If you haven't already beat me there)!