Paisans Pizzeria and Bar

I decided to cheat one of my favorite pizza places (Lucanos) and headed over across the street to try Paisans because why not? Well– It didn’t take long for me to realize I had made a mistake and that karma was setting in. We ordered a veggie pizza with «extra thin» crust and were very disappointed. The veggies on our pizza were basically raw and the crust was still thick. It takes a lot for me to not enjoy any sorta pizza but I was over this one after my first slice. Other than the pizza we enjoyed their appetizers and the customer service but if you’re looking for great pizza, Lucano’s is across the street.

Paisans resides in the former Pizzeria Bombola location. It is on a lonely stretch of Ogden Avenue and easy to bypass on your way to Naperville. However, I found it bustling with diners on an early Sunday evening.
On my recent visit, I started by ordering a Boulevard Tank 7 and the Chicken Bombolas appetizer. Tank 7’s looks are deceiving. In the glass, it resembles a Miller or some other weak beer. The head, however, is thick and the alcohol content is a whopping 8.5%. The brew went down easily and tasted mild, but it was powerful. My favorite part of the Bombolas was the pizza dough coating. The inside had a chicken meatball but no other spices, really. The meatball was tender but nothing all that amazing. The platter came with a spicy sauce that jazzed it up a bit.
After the appetizer, I had an extra large thin crust pizza with pepperoni, onion, and black olives. The crust was a perfect balance of toasty and doughy. In addition, I liked how the ingredients, the onions especially, were crisp. The pizza sauce was a nice combination of spicy, sweet, and tangy. It was a rich red color. Overall, it was a great thin crust pizza. It held together very well; you could easily pick it up without having a topping avalanche.
I’d visit Paisans again. It had a fun atmosphere. The dining room had a very modern industrial feel and they are preparing to install a big aquarium. The one downside may be the prices. The Chicken Bombolas appetizer was almost $ 12 for four pieces, and the extra large thin crust pizza was about $ 36.

I have been to Lisle once in a group setting with family and is was great. It has a little bit of everything. Will be going again.

One of the best options in the area, Paisans has a lot to offer. This place is not only a pizza place, it has everything. From Pasta, to Burgers, to Ribs, to Gelato, Paisans has a fantastic assortment that should satisfy all. The design of the restaurant is very cool, with the tables being old recycled wood, connected by metal and bolts.
While my wife and I were there last night, we had a side caesar (good), buffalo shrimp (good, would be better with some blue cheese as well), Special for the Night — Baked Tilapia (had a creamy red sauce… vodka sause… on it as well as perfectly cooked green beans, and the Shrimp Alfredo Flatbread (holy cow, soooo good). We typically don’t get this much food when we go out but it was a celebration of sorts. Everything was great! We brought home about half of the flat bread, which I can’t wait to enjoy later today.
To drink I had two Manhattans ($ 6 each special), and my wife had a glass of red wine ($ 7).
I will be returning to Paisans in the near future. Since we live within walking distance, a nice beer and pizza in the summer while watching the Cubs win 100+ games should be a lot fun.
5 stars!

Went here for a holiday office lunch. Interior is pretty cool, industrial vibe, nice outdoor seating with the garage doors for summer. House salad w chicken and feta was excellent. Pizza was average at best. Crust was kinda just ok. And the veggies on the pizza were like still raw. Odd.
Actually our whole table of Chicago pizza snobs agreed that none of us would make a trip back here on our own to eat. Might be a fun place in the summer to have drinks though.

Been there about 8 times, we usually go to watch the Blackhawks game and sit in the bar area. They are very accommodating and will put the game sound on instead of the music. The food is very good, nachos are enormous and they should offer a half size for 2 people. Love the pizza, but my favorite is the Philly steak sandwich. The onion rings and egg rolls are great too. As for the service, it’s top notch and the wait staff are attentive and friendly. We are regulars now.

My initial visit to Paisans was decent. I’ll go back for sure and will try either pasta or pizza. This is the old Pete and Johnny’s on Ogden and had been under construction for some time.
I had a spicy chicken sandwich and the bread, veggies and overall taste was good-​fries in an old soup can were good-​hand cut. My son enjoyed his cheeseburger and the pizza my other son got (the meat lovers) was tasty-​really good crust-​crispy and not too thin.
Why the 3-​star rating? To be honest, it’s kind of expensive (no sandwich or dish under $ 10) but it is pretty good pizza joint/​bar food and is worth a try.

I grew up going to the small location in Brookfield (when it was at the old location across the street) so when I heard they were building one in Lisle I was very intrigued. The renovations they have done to this place are awesome, definitely spent some money to make it look nice. Walking in right away it smelled like the pizza I remember. It wasn’t always my favorite but there were always times I had a taste for it. If you don’t like sweeter sauce it may not be for you. I was more impressed with the size of the menu. Nothing like I was expecting. Service was so-​so, but I would come back to try a burger for sure.

First of all, I have to say: YIKES! To all those harsh reviewers, I think this place deserves a break. While bad service always deserves a harsh review, comments such as «sweet sauce» or the way a menu item is prepared is almost unfair to critique. Paisans is known for sweet sauce, so don’t knock the way a chef works. Just move on and order from another spot.
That said! I’ve been driving past this restaurant every day for what feels like a year. It’s on my way to work, and is also across the street from where I used to live. I absolutely loved (and still miss) Pete and Johnny’s, but was gone by the time Pizzeria Bombola opened.
Enter: Paisans. My husband grew up in the Brookfield area and was a fan of Paisans back in the day, so I was pumped to bring him here. He warned me that it would likely be a dump, and I told him I thought he was wrong. Not surprisingly, I won. Paisans of Lisle has incredible décor. Very trendy and ridiculously industrial, it’s no wonder it took so long to renovate. What was once a very open restaurant is now a spot with lots of small sections, which makes for a more intimate experience.
After reading the reviews on service, I was skeptical. Though we had a reservation, we were asked if we wanted to sit in the bar (we didn’t). We were seated in the dining room, and while we got our waters fairly quickly, it was about 20 minutes before our server was back to take any type of food or other drink order. I assumed it’d be like this the entire time, or that at the very least, our order would be messed up (she didn’t write anything down — I hate this) — but to my surprise, service was great from there on out, and the entire order was correct.
Appetizers: HOLY EXPENSIVE!!! Clearly the appetizers are paying for all of the renovations here. $ 10.49 for MOZZARELLA STICKS?! We were blown away at the prices here. We originally planned to get an app, salad and pizza, but said no to salad after we saw the insane prices. We opted for the fried calamari, and it was fantastic, albeit pricy.
Pizza: I didn’t taste sweet in the sauce, but my husband assured me I would have, had I compared it to another pizza. I’ll admit, I wasn’t overly impressed with the pizza. But you know what, that’s okay. There are SO many other menu items, that there’s enough for me to look forward to at the next visit!

I came in here on a Sunday late afternoon/​early evening. It was pretty dead in there… probably more staff lingering around than people sitting down eating so if you’re looking to avoid a crowd, that’s a good time to go. I’ve driven by this place other times and it always looks pretty crowded.
I was looking forward to this place opening again, Pizzeria Bombola was a place I liked to go for pizza. (the name this place was under before). I like the change in décor in this place, pretty neat in there! We were asked if we wanted to sit in the bar area with the high top tables or the regular dining spot to the right with regular tables. We sat at the high tables. They have a pretty extensive beer menu, and just menu overall… they have food besides pizza. We ordered the chicken bombolas for an appetizer… you get for for $ 12. They are basically deep fried chicken meatballs, but I might add they’re good. I wouldn’t order these for a large group, but good for two to hold you over till you get your meal.
We got a medium size thin crust pizza — it’s not super thin, so I’m not sure if that’s an option… in fact it’s rather dough-​y, and the sauce is sweet (odds are they add sugar) which makes this pizza a little different. I’d probably go again to try something different, but my overall first experience here was average.

With much anticipation, my colleagues and I tried out Paisan’s in Lisle for lunch today. We were SORELY disappointed. While Ambiance was good, typical Chicago style Italian place, nothing over the top, pseudo trendy décor.
First Issue: Unorganized — Made a reservation for 8 people, arrived and had to wait for them to put a table together for us. The place was not busy at all. maybe 4 tables filled (albeit larger group 4 – 6 people each).
Second Issue: Waitress kept disappearing. We were seated and got drinks but then did not see our waitress again for nearly 20 mins. There were maybe 30 people in the entire place with 7 members of the waitstaff but some how she kept disappearing. Every time I went looking for her (Yes I had to look for her, three times) I found her either hiding in the kitchen or clustered in a group by the register with the other waitstaff chatting. maybe it was because we were a party of 8 so she knew a tip was included and did not have to work for it.
Third Issue: Timeliness (or lack there of) — Food came out in three separate waves and the food was luke warm like it had been sitting in a window somewhere. By the time I got to eat (after the third wave and everyone go their food) my food was cold. It took nearly 75 minutes for us to finally get all food. We did not order any appetizers and as I have mentioned the place was less than a third full. My colleague ordered a side salad with her sandwich and instead received Garlic Parm Chips
As for the food:
I ordered the Chicken Vesuvio and for $ 19 (with Vesuvio potatoes) I would rather have had a chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and went back home with $ 15. I was not impressed at all.
Three colleagues had Salads which they thought were good. (Turkey Cobb, Kung Fu & one other)
Two colleagues had the crispy chicken sandwich and were underwhelmed.
One colleague has the Beef Panini and liked that.
Garlic Parmesan chips were a tasty treat.
We gave ourselves and hour and a half to have a leisure lunch only to be rushed because of the delay in getting the food.
Bottomline — I may give them one more shot because they are close to work, but I will wait until they have the stuff worked out. There is no way with the amount of diners in that restaurant and the size of the kitchen staff on site it should have taken so long to get feed let alone eat cold food. I have chosen not to call out the individual waitress as she seemed to have lacked training so I think it is systemic.

I’ve been here 5 times now and I’m not sure if or when there will be a 6^th time. The first time I came here the food and service were great and it seemed like a new go to place. I’m starting to think that the first time I came here was the exception to the rule and not the norm. Each time I’ve gone the service has gotten worse each time, but the food is still really good. I’ve had a different server each time and other than the first time, it’s always hit or miss and usually very slow. On Friday and Saturday nights they have valet parking, I hate valet parking, the only thing more annoying are those stupid bathroom attendants (they don’t have those). Tuesday night was was the final straw for service. We ordered our food and when it came out, one of my friends got the wrong pizza. I understand mistakes happen, the waitress was very apologetic and I could tell she felt awful about it. She brought the manager over and the manager let us know that they were remaking her pizza. Then the manager said if we wanted the incorrect pizza we could buy it, otherwise she was going to let the kitchen staff eat it. She never offered to discount the pizza or offer a free drink while my friend had to sit there while the rest of us ate. About 30 minutes later, after the rest of us had finished eating and had our plates cleared and were essentially ready to go home, her pizza showed up. The bill had no discount on the pizza for the long wait or the inconvenience, nothing. While they do have great food, there are plenty of other great places in the area to get food and that have great service. I suggest trying one of those instead.

Stopped in for lunch today. Grabbed a calzone to go. Had a few issues but nothing major.
First issue: waitress was kind enough to bring my order to me when it was ready but didn’t give me any plastic silverware or napkins. Maybe I’m supposed to get them somewhere else though. I don’t know.
Second issue: a calzone (in my book at least) is not supposed to have the sauce on the inside of the calzone. It is supposed to be served on the side.
Third: wasn’t a big fan of the sauce or the sausage.
I’m sure issue 1 was either my fault or just an oversight on the employees part. Wasn’t a show stopper. I’ll be sure to ask for the sauce in the side next time so issue #2 is solved. Not sure I can do anything for item 3. Hopefully the sauce will be better next time i go or it will most likely be my last time.
Will update the next time I go in.

Food was good. Service was terrible. Our waitress Monday night was rude, unaware of the menu, and took forever to bring a drink. She never even offered to bring another! Paisans could have made some $$ from us but didn’t because of lack of quality service. Pretty disappointed.

Paisans in Lisle, 12÷5÷2015
.Pizza review + carry-​out service.
The Good-​Pizza– large cheese-​sausage-​½ peperoni Good to very good. Tasty sausage and peperoni nice amount of cheese, sauce, a bit too sweet, crust, good (I like thinner)
The Bad– Carry-​out– I was instructed to park on the west side of the building and go in the side door for pick-​up… No side door, employee only, back around to front door, thru seated customers to pick-​up order? Poor P/​U lay-​out. Confused staff, my order is getting cold, 12 minutes later they figure things out.
The Ugly– Valet parking? Almost half the lot was closed off. REALLY? They have a dedicated parking lot, the two spots for PICK-​UP are occupied by patrons (?) WOW!!! way to squeeze your customers.
It took them over a year to open this place, guess they have their $ back one way or another.
Maybe I’ll be back after you settle in.
Til then I stick with 2 UGHS!!!

Wanted pizza for delivery but they don’t have it for a few more weeks the girl on the phone said. Picked up a pizza and wings and it was awesome. Not a fan of when pizza places sprinkle oregano on top but at least Paisans didn’t over do it. Been to the one in Berwyn plenty of times and same quality at this one in Lisle. Might be the new go-​to pizza place

Great food! Great atmosphere! Way too expensive. $ 13.00 for a burger is a bit too much for the western suburbs.

Went there Saturday evening cause they re-​opened and wanted to check it out. We got there at 10:26 and had asked if they were still serving food, the waitress checked and said yes they are just serving the bar menu. We sat at the bar were looking over the drink menu and asked for the food menu. They said the kitchen is closed and we explained that they checked with the kitchen. After 5 minutes of running around to see was the kitchen open or not they finally figured out that it wasn’t. People go to bars to drink and eat, guess they don’t get it so I would not waste my time going there, they have no idea how to run a bar

My daughters and I were so glad they opened a PAISANS out here in the suburbs. We usually order at the original one in Cicero when we visit grandma.
We moved out here over 4 yrs ago and have not yet found a great pizza place until now!!!
Ordered a larger ½ sausage ½ pepperoni. Delicious! Just like the one they make in Cicero! LOVE PAISANS.
The service was great. Very friendly!
I will be going there once a week now that it is so close!
Have been going to PAISANS for more than 20yrs. Best pizza!

I had been wanting to get to their Berwyn location for the longest and it appears the renovation project here will pay off.
I was intrigued by the construction material used and the design and layout is very unique. So much to take in with just one visit… same goes for their menu.
Stopping in opening day was enjoyable and my decision on #nationalpizzaday will surprise you. I was tempted by their salad «The Julie», but went with Nonna’s Lasagna instead. Anytime grandma’s recipe is on the menu you have to try it. It was delicious and the hint of spinach was perfect.
The burgers served on cutting boards looked insane, as they went wafting by. I wasn’t going to give a review until I tried their pizza, but just wanted to chime in on my pleasant experience on day 1. There really is something for everyone on their extensive menu and great bar drinks too. Oh, did I meantion friendly staff?
I look forward to spring when the garage doors are raised and the fresh air will flow through the building. Welcome to the neighborhood!
**updated to 5 star after I tried their pizza, time for a burger!