Pizza Art Cafe

This is my family’s favorite place to go for pizza and chevapi. We usually order «Siciliana» pizza. Pizza dough is not your typical Chicago style, its not deep dish pizza. It is European style, which we prefer.
Sometimes, it can be crowded in here, but the best thing to do is to make reservations.
We also ordered take out numerous times, and again same great taste. Employees are very friendly on the phone.
Service is great, food is priced at reasonable price.
BYOB!

1. The best Greek salad I’ve ever had in my life.
2. Classic wood-​fired Neopolitan pizza.
3. It’s BYOB!
Always helpful to have a reservation here rather than just walking in!

Nice little pizza place unknown unless your from around the neighborhood. The pizzas are from a brick oven right in the front of the restaurant. The pizzas are fast and flavorful. Staffing can be an issue at times. There is usually only 1 – 2 wait staff that I noticed. The restaurant is kid friendly and since the pizzas do not take long, it’s not a bad wait for the kids.

I’ve always been happy with my dining experiences here. I live in the neighborhood and think this is second best to Spacca Napoli for Neapolitan-​style pizza, but this is closer for me. I’ve dined in with a friend, dined on the patio with my cousin, and ordered pizza to go. Each time I’ve been happy with the service (although it can take awhile sometimes) and especially the food. I’ve had the mussels, which were delicious, some type of salad, I can’t remember which, that was also very good, and several types of pizza.
The pizza is their best asset and is a delicious one at that. My go-​to guilty pleasure when I am eating alone is their pizza with just mozzarella and anchovies. Yummers. I’ve also had their veggie one with the egg on top that was delicious but a lot going on with the toppings. That may be for some people but I’m more of a simple gal with my Neapolitans. Their crust– OH YES! My favorite part.
Downside of ordering for pick-​up is there really is nowhere to wait inside because it is a smaller joint and it can get pretty crowded. But I’m more than happy to deal with that especially if it’s nice out and I can wait outside the door.

I will never step foot in this hole again.
The owner should be ashamed of himself.
While ordering to go with my 15 month old baby in my arms he berated and screamed at me and proceeded to throw my money at me because I asked for bread to go. I really don’t understand what set him off about asking if bread comes with the food to go. I had a $ 5 bill in my hand’s ready and willing to pay. He freaked out as if I was begging for free bread. (Not to mention my take out was $ 48 plus a $ 10 tip.)
When I have dined in the bread it is brought to your table. I asked an honest question. I wasn’t looking for fight especially in front of my little one.
The waitress with the blond hair confirmed he’s the owner and the sweet bus girl apologized and said he acts like this all the time.
Afterwards I was so frazzled, and embarrassed I couldn’t eat, I dumped the food in the garbage.
I’m a regular at the Bloom yoga studio, Rockwell’s, Kira pet cuts, The Nest, Ruff Haus and the delicious Bean’s and Bagel’s.
I would never use Unilocal to harm a business. I prefer to take it up with management, but that clearly will not get me anywhere.
If you are considering patronizing this business, please take your business somewhere else. Lincoln Square has lot’s amazing restaurants with very friendly staff and business owners.

Their funghi pizza is incredible. Mussels with bread, dare I say rivaling Hop Leaf?
There is one server here who has a really nasty energy, but the food and patio are pretty awesome.

I’m not the kind of person that eats out at Italian or Italian influenced restaurants; originally from Bolzano, it’s safe to say I know my Italian food. The date and I ordered the Siciliana and the oven roasted octopus. The waiter told us that the octopus usually takes about 45 min but we had are Stella’s to drink so we were in no rush. While waiting we noticed that the waiter took on 3 jobs. He was waiting tables, bussing tables, and also being a hostess. Kudos my friend! You busted your butt that night. The octopus was a mushy on the outside but very chewy and firm towards the inside but I did enjoy the sauce with onions and potatoes we ate all of that but left the octopus. The most disappointing part was the pizza… Rule of thumb in Italian cooking ITS ALL ABOUT THE SAUCE and there was little in our pizza it was just straight up cheese I wish I could describe it a little more but again it was just cheese. Personally I like it a little burnt but the whole bottom was just charred reminded me of captn crunch where it would just destroy the roof of your mouth. we usually take our leftover to give to the homeless under the bridge by lake shore but once being in the food industry we’ve became very tolerant when restaurants are busy or understaffed so we were mad at all the waiter was busy and he was doing the best he can all at the same time being very polite and accommodating.
so yeah, 2 stars just for the waiter but the food yeah not really.

This is a perfect little date spot. It’s BYOB, intimate, cozy, all that jazz. The service is consistently great (I’ve been going to this place for years now) AND the pizza. You guys, the pizza. It’s everything. I can taste it right now: perfectly crispy crust, just the right amount of sauce and cheese and toppings. I could scarf a whole pie down in one sitting. The apps and salads are amazing, too. Also, it’s conveniently located by the Brown Line and parking is usually pretty easy. So seriously, go there as soon as you can and thank me later.

C and I have been coming to Pizza Art for at least 5 years and it’s among our favorites.
Service: 3 stars — I notice that there are quite a few complaints about service and I can understand their frustration. Here’s the thing: The restaurant is owned by a European, where people are accustomed to a slower pace of dining; rather different than we gringos are accustomed to here. They expect you to stay and enjoy yourself for as long as you wish. They are not hell-​bent on turning tables. As a result, service is noticeably slower than in typical American restautants. So adjust your expectations regarding the pace, bring a spare bottle of wine and enjoy yourself. Meanwhile, once you place your order, the food arrives fairly quickly. Also, if you are planning to come at prime time (7 pm on Friday or Saturday), you have to expect to wait, even if you have a reservation.
Food: 5 stars — Everything we have ordered has always been fresh and delicious. The pizza, cooked in a wood fired oven, is exceptional. Again, adjust your expectations: This is not typical delivery pizza. It’s artisinal. And exceptional. The crust is especially good. They prepare dried beef that is added to some dishes, including a pizza called the Sciciliana. Really different and unexpectedly good. The range of the menu, I think, is remarkable. Remember, this is all freshly prepared, to order. Someone complained that their pasta was overcooked; perhaps, but in the dozens of times we’ve ordered pasta, C and I always wonder «how do they get it cooked so perfectly every time?» There are some unusual-​sounding items, such as Jasko’s Balls. Our grandson hates them. What does he know?! He’s seven. To an adult, these meaballs are amazing, with interesting flavor. Really, everything is so tasty.
Ambiance: 4 stars — It’s impossible to describe, but be assured … it has ambiance. Sort of rustic meets artsy.
Oh, it’s BYOB, which is a big hit for us. Some might be annoyed, if they didn’t know, but there is a liquor store just one block north at the NE corner of Rockwell and Lawrence.

If the service had been even just slightly better, this would have gotten 5 stars! The food was exceptional and it was great being able to sit outside on a road without a ton of traffic. Also awesome, BYOB which meant our bill was considerably less than it would have been had we purchased the 3 bottles of wine we drank:)
Pizzas were spot on, salad was fresh and yummy, burrata was super delish.
Now, for the service… a friend and I were told to select a table outside (we had reservations) and we waited for over 15 minutes for anyone to even come over with water or menus for us. The restaurant wasn’t that busy (it was a Thursday night) and someone only finally came over (the pizza chef) when I popped open our bottle of prosecco. After that our server seemed SHOCKED that ‘he’ (some mystery male server that never appeared) hadn’t come by with menus and water. After that, they were decent with coming by, but there were still long long long stretches with no service.
I’ll definitely come back again to give it a try, especially since it’s only 2 stops from my house:)

We’ve lived in the area for a few years, and always walked past this place to get to Rockwell. Finally, we decided to give it a try.
Waitress– I don’t know if she was tired or just annoyed, but helpful, she was not. I do have allergies towards dairy, so I made that known to her. And she just «assumed there was no cheese in the meatballs” – I went with the chicken.
And as for the pasta, I’m pretty sure it came out of a barilla box. And it was way overcooked.
I don’t know if they’re authentically Italian, but I appreciate al dente pasta, or at the very least, not mushy.
I hear people rave about how great this place is, honestly, it could be better.

We dine out a lot both in the city and our local neighborhood, at both expensive and inexpensive places. Pizza Art Café is excellent all around. This quaint little neighborhood gem is off the Rockwell station Brown line. The food is freshly prepared and they use a rustic wood burning oven for their pizza. We had the mussels that were fantastic and could have been a meal easily. The staff really do an amazing job of serving everyone, they make every effort to be as friendly as can be given this place is typically busy. The atmosphere is rustic. We are fortunate to have them located within a couple of blocks from our home.
Note that being a small BYOB place, they try to keep their prices low, so they have limited staff and when the place does get full, it will limit the time they have per table. So give the hard working staff a break because the food is excellent and worth the wait.

No complaints about the food and I would never report a bad service only once but after our second visit we just experienced then 2^nd most WORST service ever… And I’m 50 and world traveled so that says a lot. We were the 2^nd table seated on a hot sunny afternoon just after they opened for dinner, waited for 25 minutes for a «hello will be right with you» and another 10 minutes for the waiter to come over just to walk away after we complained for waiting way too long.
We walked out after that and passed the owner as leaving and he told us to go F ourselves !!! What the heck ??? Happy to say we ended up at down the street at Spaggia on sunny side, way better food and no question the service is their business

Great place! The bruschetta is delicious! I have tried multiple types of pizzas and have never been disappointed. The crepes are my absolute favorite and I always need to save room for them.
The service can sometimes be very slow but we have gotten used to it.

Perfect little restaurant. Quiet with a periodic ring of a train ramp on Rockwell :)
Pizzas baked like they should be with that real Italian taste. Who tried real italian pizza, knows what i’m talking abot.
Service very good.
Keep up with good work. Thumbs up!

After a busy day of chores, we decided to try a place in our neighborhood. Since we pass by this place every day on our way to the train, we were curious to try it.
Service was good, food was ok. The pizza (had the Cappriciosa) needed more sauce in my opinion, it was bland despite the number of ingredients. We also tried the spaghetti meatballs, which both my husband and I found to be too sweet for our taste, they tasted like meatloaf.
Price tag was reasonable for the quantity, but a little high given the quality of the food.

«I don’t care where we go as long as it’s not Pizza Art. After the horrendous last experience, I don’t want to give them another dime.»
Normally, I wouldn’t write an update for something that happened months ago, but the prospect of returning here for dinner still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Everything about the evening, except the company and the food, was so unbelievably foul, I see no reason to return. Chicago is a city of great food; I’ll stick to places that know how to do food **and** service well.
If you want a detailed explanation of everything that went wrong, I suggest you lookup Ericka A’s review.
Suck it Pizza Art, you’re dead to me.

Still tops in my book after popping in last night.
Due to the snow the crowd was very lite as was the staff but the service did not suffer at all, in fact it was exemplary based on the circumstances.
Bruchetta to start with heaping mounds of fresh tomato, Feta, Olive oil, garlic and basil. followed with a Siciliana pizza with roasted peppers and smoked meat. So good.
BYOB is the added bonus,

A friend of mine decided to have his birthday dinner here. I had never been, nor had ever heard of this place. We were a party of 12 at 8:00 on a Saturday.
The place is small, very small. I would not recommend coming here with a large party, as we were smashed into a table that probably should have only sat 8. It was very uncomfortable seating.
The place is BYOB — no corkage fee — total bonus.
The pizza is AMAZING. Seriously good. We had a variety of pizzas for the entire table, and nothing was bad. Everyone loved everything. We also had the bruschetta appetizer — again, AMAZING.
Service was great. Parking was street, but plenty of spots. I think the entire bill, without tip, for 12 people — $ 150. Great bang for the buck — worth checking out.

This is a cozy, inviting place. It feels comfortable and almost romantic. It is a great spot for a date or for meeting friends.
We meet friends for dinner here on Friday. We had a large booth in the back corner. It was very comfortable for the 4 of us.
Service was fine. We did have to ask for more water a couple of times, but it was no big deal.
We ordered bruschetta and pizzas. The brushcetta was so good. I could have eaten just that and been happy. I tried the vegetable pizza and the mushroom pizza, both were fine. I would order the vegetable pizza again.
This place is byob!
Street parking wasn’t too hard to find.