There’s a lot of debate over where to find Chicago’s best pizza. Rosati’s Pizza of Chicago is one of the over 70,000 pizza restaurants in the United States. With so many options, how do you find the best pizza? Specifically, the best thin-crust pizza? We will provide a guide on what to look for in any pizza brand.
Quality Ingredients
For any restaurant, the quality of ingredients is critical to the quality of the food. For pizza places, this includes the cheese, toppings, and all that goes into the dough and sauce. Consider the quality and the freshness of all the ingredients needed. Is the dough made fresh in-house? Or shipped from somewhere else and frozen until needed? Same with the sauce. Does the sauce have a strong flavor, or is it lacking? Is the cheese ultra-processed, pre-shredded, and frozen?
Chicago’s best pizza places can tell you exactly where their ingredients come from and what goes into their pizza. Rosati’s understands the importance of quality ingredients. Our dough is made from flour harvested from high-protein wheat grown exclusively in the Midwest. Our fresh mozzarella comes from Wisconsin. We make our sauce from a family recipe with tomatoes grown in the Central Valley of California. Our Italian sausage is made daily in Chicago. We deliver fresh vegetables and olives grown just for us in California daily. Even our pastas are imported from Italy.
Baking Method
There are many different ways to cook a pizza: stone ovens, traditional pizza ovens, or even wood-fired. No matter the specific method, proper baking is key to quality pizza. The crust should be cooked thoroughly but not burnt. While crust can vary between a Chicago deep-dish style or the best thin-crust pizza, a quality pizza place will have consistency across each style of crust. An undercooked or overcooked crust is a sign to move on.
Customer Service
Customer service is crucial in the restaurant industry. For an industry with so many customization options, it’s important any pizza place can follow orders. Other customer service aspects to contribute are timely preparation, having pizzas ready when they are estimated, and having timely responses to phone calls or social media questions.
Convenience is also important. Do the hours work for your schedule? If you’re a late-night pizza eater, a place that closes at 10 pm won’t be the best for you. Is the location easy to get to? Are there delivery and take-out options? Rosati’s Downtown and The Loop are open at 10 am most days, and we’re open until at least 3 am most nights.
Red Flags for Pizza Brands
Cleanliness
Without checking the kitchen for cleanliness, there are still potential signs. Unwiped tables and counters and staff without their hair tied back in some way may not be critical concerns, but they portray an environment where cleanliness is not a priority.
Dietary Restrictions
We know not every pizza chain offers vegan or gluten-free options, but every place needs to accommodate food allergies and other restrictions with care. For customers with serious food allergies, including gluten, cross-contamination could be deadly. Any restaurant should confirm what accommodations are needed in the kitchen, such as using separate pans and utensils, to avoid cross-contamination. Any restaurant that does not take food allergies seriously should be a red flag.
Too Much on a Menu
When it comes to most restaurants, less is more. Generally, the more menu categories, the lower the overall quality of the food. It is hard for a restaurant to be good at every type of cuisine. When looking for the best Pizza chains, look to those that specialize in well, pizza and related items. A pizza place that stays too far from pizza, pasta, and similar Italian-American-inspired sandwiches and sides is probably not the greatest. If you see an entire menu section dedicated to hamburgers or something really out of left field, like sushi, you may want to find somewhere else where pizza is actually the priority.
Trust Your Gut
If you walk into any pizza place and it doesn’t smell like pizza or the pizzas on display just don’t look good, you can walk away. Many pizza places, especially in big cities, rely on foot traffic. If the smell and the looks of the food aren’t drawing people in, it might be a sign to keep walking until your nose perks up.
Rosati’s Pizza of Chicago
Rosati’s Pizza of Chicago Downtown and The Loop is Chicago’s best pizza. We have the best thin-crust pizza, deep-dish pizza, award-winning wings, and traditional Italian beef sandwiches. There’s a reason we’re one of the top 50 pizza chains based on average sales. Our locations will draw you in with a delicious smell and satisfy you and your stomach. Our late-night hours, easy online ordering, quality ingredients, and convenient locations make Rosati’s the best place to grab a pie.
