Ciao Bella Pizza

This place is out of business

I loved this pizza — my husband and I have ordered delivery several times over the past few months. Unfortunately I tried ordering this evening and the phone number did not work, and the website is down. I checked with several neighbors who confirmed it has not been open for a few weeks. I think Ciao Bella is no more — very sad!

Excellent pizza, i’ll be returning to get carry out often. Like others have said, they use authentic ingredients and were classically trained in Italy, and it shows in the quality. We tried a margherita and an arugula pie, both were very tasty with fresh ingredients.
The restaurant itself needs work. There is zero atmosphere or décor, so skip it for date night. The waitress was sweet but also on her phone the whole time. Staff was friendly, and we were the only dine-​in patrons on a weeknight. Will most likely stick to carry-​out from now on.
Bottom line, great pizza, good value. Skip the dine-​in option.

The pizza here is SO GOOD. For the price (cheap!), it’s as good as it gets. Seriously good pizza. I might say that Spacca Napoli pizza is a little bit better, but their prices are way higher.
I have eaten in the restaurant twice and had good service both times. The only detractor for me (thus one missing star) is the very spartan decoration; it seems like they do a lot of take out business and this might be why. If you’re not trying to impress anybody with a designers eye, this is a great spot for pizza.

We think they have lost their Italian pizza maker. The last two times we have been in, the local understudy was at the oven. When we asked the waitress (still the same one) where the regular star attraction pizza maker was, we were told he’s «sick». The pizza, alas, is no longer what it was. We keep driving by, and peeking in… it’s still not the expert manning the wood oven. Just goes to show how many jobs are not as easy as they may look. Now, the pizza crust has lost its magic, crispy feel. I hope they can get back former star, or find someone with equal abiility quickly. We are soooo disappointed.

Our dine-​in experience was fine– our pizzas came out fast (within 20 min of ordering?) and tasty. That is, once they took our order. Took at least 10 minutes to speak to someone and get a bottle opener. There was one waitress handling the tables as well as putting together the take-​out and delivery orders (more on that later). Pint glasses for beer, but no glass of water.
From our table in middle of the place we got a great picture of the DISASTER that is their take-​out/​delivery business, at least on a Friday evening. I was embarrassed for them. The waitress was nice and apologetic but the guy taking orders wasn’t particularly friendly to people who had waited 2+ HOURS for pizza. People picking up would sit there for over an hour.
They take on way more orders than they can which leads to people cancelling in exasperation anyway. Don’t place a big order– this poor woman ordered 6 – 8 pizzas to pick up and got the first two, then 40 minutes later two more, then 40 minutes later two more… they finally left (I can’t believe how patient they were) with 5 pizzas on the table. And the manager was pissed about it– «After all this, they leave?!» Well yeah, what good is ordering nice pizza when you go home with five cold pizzas because you waited two hours for your full order?

I don’t write reviews but this is a must. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER. I would love to rate this restaurant just on the pizza but sadly we never got it! There were 2 other tables when we got there so not busy. We order the burrata and 1 pizza. It took over 35 minutes to get our burrata. It’s cheese. 35 minutes for cheese?!? Then it was time to wait for the pizza. 2 tables that came after us all got their pizza before us. I guess because we ordered the app, that counted as our «turn» in the pizza oven and we had to wait until their pizzas were done to maybe make ours. After 55 minutes, we finally caught our waitress who said 5 minutes… well 10 minutes later we still didn’t have it and decided that’s enough! No apology, nothing. We asked for the check and it took 5 minutes to get it and she never comes to pick it up. Had to walk up and physically hand it to her. Oh and this is all while the owner (I assume) stood there looking down at his iPad, ignoring it all. No discount, no apology, nothing.
I know the pizza reviews are good! I saw a few bad reviews but thought maybe I should give it a try. REGRET! If you try this place, I hope you have better experience.

Excellent pizza — but know you’re getting Neapolitan style — and FAST! Ready for pickup in 10 – 15 minutes. The white pizza was excellent, and the prosciutto e funghi was a perfect recreation of a childhood favorite. Can’t wait to try more varieties!
Tell your friends, and let’s make sure Ciao Bella stays in Albany Park!

Tonight I tried the Hawaiian pizza. Delivery took an hour 20 and only arrived minutes after I called to check status. I think they were holding order because they wrote down the wrong zip code for my credit card. The pizza was cold, the 4 slices of ham on it looked artsy, but didnt really count towards flavor since half the slices had none. The panna cotta’s chocolate sauce was everywhere in the bag. The texture was rubbery and had no flavor. I’m really disappointed because I enjoyed the Quattro Formaggi from previous order.
The person I called back to complain to, blamed the driver. He offered to make me something special next time I order. I don’t think I’ll trust delivery again after seeing other complaints on here as well. I’ll try dine in next time because I’m desperate to find a local pizza place in my new neighborhood.

Delivery took an hour and a half and arrived only minutes after we called to find out where our pizza was. The pizza was cold and had a layer of grease sitting on it like it had been sitting out a while. I had a slice while i was preheating my oven and it was pretty good.

This place just broke the rules! I thought that there was an unwritten pizzeria rule where you can’t serve a buffalo mozzarella pizza for under $ 15.
This place is a hidden gem which will soon become an established joint. I’ve been looking for a pizzeria in the area that delivers NY style slices with quality ingredients and Ciao Bella is the answer. Yeah sure, there are other places in the city that do it, but not at these prices.
Crust — Thin with a little char on the crust. Chewy.
Sauce — Light and sweet.
Ingredients — Italian style toppings. Choices such as prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, arugula and shrimp.
Tip: There is only 1 pizza size. 1 pizza fed about 2 hungry people. Although it’s not the huge NY slices, the price justifies ordering more pizzas.
This review is for delivery so I can’t account for the dine in experience. Delivery was quick.
I will be ordering from here often. My new go to pizza joint. Gotta come back to try the pizza with an egg or the one with wurster.

Incredibly great thin crust pizza (great flavor & fresh ingredients) at a steal of a price! Went with a group of 15 people, ordered close to 15 pizzas and spent only $ 12/​person (including 20 percent plus tip). The owner is great — came out to our table multiple times to see how things were.
The focus is definitely on the food and friendly service, rather than a classy looking restaurant. It’s rare to get such great tasting food at a low price. This place is a hidden treasure!

«Diamond in the Rough» could not be more true! Fabulous pizza in an area not known for flashiness.
We had the Funghi/​mushroom pizza and the margherita pizza and it was delicious! Cooked very quickly in the clay oven — and you can see the whole process. Cheese makes a pizza, and this cheese is amazing! BYOB is great — bring your favorite brews, along with a VERY valuable pizza cost and win/​win.
Pros:
— Very delicious!
— Friendly staff
— BYOB
— Great value!
Cons:
— the only knock (though it wouldn’t lose stars because of this) is the ambiance. Music when the place is a little slower would do wonders!
I really hope this place catches on! There is no reason it shouldn’t be packed at dinner time with the price and deliciousness.

While I understand that this place just recently opened and has some kinks to work out, there are just some issues that are not because a place is new.
1. We ordered the caprese and focaccia. The caprese was OK, the tomatoes were definitely not ripe, maybe that just comes with the season. The focaccia was basically just a pizza crust with some oil and seasonings on it. While you can tell that the crust was fresh, it just didn’t have much flavor to it.
2. We ordered the sausage and the margherita pizzas. The sausage was definitely fresh — so that pizza was good. Our margherita pizza was just a cheese pizza — no basil, no mozzarella, just a cheese pizza.
3. At the end of our meal, we asked to have the bill split between two credit cards and we were told that can’t happen. I don’t know of many places that cannot split one check between two credit cards. Just irritating.
I will probably be back again because I want to support the restaurants that are close to me. Hopefully, by the time I make it back again they will have gotten their act together and ironed out some of the kinks.

We visited here the second time. The appetizer, caprese, was good but lacks a wow factor. However, the primavera pizza (containing arugula, tomatoes, ricotta cheese crumbs) was outstanding. The only minor glitch was that the pizza was not «cut,» but I know my hands are sharper than a pizza cutter… lol! The pizza master even offered the tiramisu on the house, but we kindly declined it. Hey, speaking a foreign language, in this case, Italian, can get you far… just saying!

I really wanted to like this place. It’s walking distance from my house and there is no other good Italian/​Pizza joints near by.
While the staff was nice they were also very lackadaisical. Our waitress spent most of our time there sitting off to the side texting or talking to a table of her friends.
An Italian restaurant should have the basics (i.e. salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper, olive oil, and parm) on the table. Also, the olive oil should taste like olive oil not some watered down, light veggie oil.
Appetizer: Foccia was a cooked pizza crust with a sprinkling of seasoning. This was not bread it was a flavorless cracker. I don’t think these people know what foccia is.
The Pizza: We ordered the prosciutto and «fresh» mushroom pizza. The crust was decent, the cheese was mild… almost flavorless, the mushrooms clearly came from a can and were flavorless. The Prosciutto was the only thing on the pizza that had any flavor and even that was pretty mild.
The ambiance of the place was horrid. Pale yet vibrant neon lighting to make everyone and everything look sad and slightly diseased. There was a bad paint job on the walls that complemented the fake wood tacked up around the bottom half of the wall. All of the furniture, including the counters, appeared have come from an alley.
Like I said, I really wanted to like it. I could’ve overlooked the décor and inattentive waitress had the food been good. Hopefully they’ll get it together soon.

My GF and I went last night and ate two different pizze. We had the veggie with grilled veggies and the sausage pizza. Delicious. The sausage is made in house and had a fresh flavorful taste to it. My GF enjoyed the veggie pizza, especially the large pieces of grilled eggplant and yellow peppers. I’m more of a traditionalist and preferred the sausage pizza. Both pizze went very well with the Daisy Cutter beer we brought with us.
The waitress was warm and attentive to our needs. It was a pleasant surprise to see real pint glasses provided for our beer.
I’m sure once Meme has settled in the décor will improve, but for now it’s very basic. It can’t be stressed enough that Meme with 25 years of pizza making experience in Italy, takes great pride in what he produces. Watching him prepare the pies you can see he is a master. Not only that he is welcoming and friendly.

Ciao Bella Pizza features truly authentic wood fired Italian Pizza, and a welcoming yet cozy atmosphere. First of all, my wife and I have been to northern Italy and have had true Italian pizza, and this pizza is the real deal. They use a high quality flour and hand make all their pizza crusts. They offer thin pizza and calzones. The chef is from Italy and you can watch him make your pizza from start to finish. They do not currently offer gluten-​free pizza.

I’m totally going to go back here! It just opened and there’s clearly some kinks to work out. (The décor isn’t so great and they didn’t have balsamic for our lovely plated insalate fresca.) But it was really, really delicious.
My dining partner and I got focaccia, which was just incredible. You can taste that the dough is fresh. We also got a veggie pizza w/​out cheese since we’re both off dairy at the moment. Sauce looks house-​made and zesty.
Plus, it’s BYO. So next time we go back, we’re bringing some red with us and getting our chow on.

This new restaurant has really great wood fired, thin crust pizza. They have several vegetarian pizzas and a handful of seafood pizzas to go along with the Italian classics. There are also about a dozen appetizers to choose from. BYOB. The staff is very friendly. Parking is off street and plentiful. It’s a great location as there are not a lot of quality pizza options in Albany Park. I give Ciao Bella kudos for doing market research before opening this restaurant!