Max & Leo’s Artisan Pizza

The place is kind of weird. We came in at noon on a weekday and there was no one else in the restaurant. It was cold because the door kept being opened by workers. We received friendly service from the bartender and cooks. It’s an open kitchen. They suggested the special which was half price wings with the purchase of a pizza. Fine. We ordered the Brooski pizza with chicken and a Margherita pizza. We ordered the rosemary and onion wings. The pizzas were greasy and practically dripping. The crust was burnt. The wings were, well, odd. They were smothered in onions and rosemary. The rosemary wasn’t chopped. They were well cooked but greasy as well. Again, the service from the bartender was very nice. He refilled our drinks twice.
The bill came and I put out my credit card and a coupon that was sent out by the New City Mall folks. It was a coupon for 10.00 off of a 25.00 bill. We met that requirement. The bartender showed the coupon to the manager who said we couldn’t use the coupon because we got the «special». How does that work? Since when does a special on the menu preclude use of a coupon? I couldn’t get it. It was just stuff on the menu that was ordered. There was no promotion or other coupon. He maintained that we couldn’t use two promotions. Whatever. I don’t need to come back. I threw the coupon out.
I suppose if you were very hungry and there was no where else to eat in the area, this would be fine. The reality is that there are dozens of better restaurants in the area and even the same mall this one was in. I say good luck to them but they have to think about service in the 21^st century. That’s how restaurants can distinguish themselves from other restaurants of the same type.
Tom Beckman

Max and Leo’s pizza is amazing!!! As a New Yorker who is obsessed with Pizza (evident as I capitalized pizza), I was skeptical of what it might be like. How surprised I was. The different combinations of toppings on the pizza are well selected and each one seems to bring out just the right flavors of the others. I have now tried all of their pizzas and I think I have only been able to narrow down my selection of favorites to three or four. The lemon rosemary wings are a great compliment to start with and the perfect thing to share.

My boyfriend and I ordered half pepperoni half sausage and mushroom and it was amazing. The coal fire oven really adds a great taste to the crust… We also got the lemon rosemary wings which was a nice surprise! We live down the street and will be back again for sure! It’s too bad they don’t have a sign outside letting everyone know they’re there! It’s connected to kings in new city. I will definitely recommend this place to my friends.

Bowling was cool. Marcus wasn’t aware of what was going on. He overcharge my credit card and didn’t every apologize. We will next be back. We work in New city and will tell our friends about this … The mgr (black lady white scarf) wasn’t any help … She wasn’t on her customer service game.

I understand the need for interacting with your customers, but is it really necessary to ask your customers EIGHT TIMES how the pizza is? We get it, the founders of this restaurant were these amazing twins from Boston and their first pizza was the best and it’s still on the menu today, and they cook their pizzas at 900 degrees. And yes, we know that your wings are also cooked at 900 degrees. Holy shit. If another person says, «Isn’t this pizza the best ever?!» I’m going to throw myself in the oven – which is 900 degrees. Anyways, their pizza is pretty good and their wings are great, but beware, the pizza will totally fall apart because the slices are so damn massive.

Max & Leo’s is an East coast favorite and now a favorite of mine for pizza! Located in the King’s bowling alley (you can’t even get to King’s unless you walk through Max & Leo’s first), it’s a nook of a pizza parlor that serves unusual concoctions of thin crusted pizza (like the L’Umina: White Olive Oil Pizza with Sliced Pears, Caramelized Onions, Basil & Ricotta Cheese topped with fresh sliced Prosciutto, & finished with a drizzle of Organic Wildflower Honey). YUM! I also tried the lavender chicken wings – delish!
Friendly staff, coal fired pizzas (think crispy crust) and a decent drink menu at affordable prices ($ 18 gets you a large gourmet pizza that serves 2 – 3 people), I think this is going to be an area favorite, or at least a New City favorite, where so far the bar as been set pretty low for restaurants (Adobe Gilas to name one).
Try it out, you won’t be disappointed, especially if you are a thin crust fanatic like myself. If all you can do is hate on thin crust and Pequod’s is your favorite pizza joint in Chicago, then maybe this isn’t for you.