My most recent visit to “Giordano’s” was at the Streamwood location located at 1556 Buttitta Dr. The restaurant is located in a tiny strip mall and is actually very unimpressive from the outside. Once inside you see that this place is packed! All that advertising must pay off. That, and the fact that people really like their pizza. It certainly isn’t the décor, because this place is kind of ugly inside. A mish mosh array of pictures adorn the walls, while the ridiculously ugly carpet’s only purpose is to have you looking at your food and nothing else.
Décor aside, let’s talk food! Our waitress arrives promptly to take our drink orders and asks if we would like an appetizer? I inquire about the “French” fried shrimp, and ask what makes them French? She has no clue and says she’s not sure if they even have any tonight. I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of restaurants being out of items that are on the menu, but we’ll let it pass and just order some mozzarella sticks. I order a small “stuffed” sausage and pepperoni pizza and my wife orders the chicken linguini which comes with a house salad. A nice option is that they offer personal or half portions on many of their dinners for folks with smaller appetites. One issue I have is that my pizza is $16, easily the most expensive of the “big three”.
Appetizer is first and the mozzarella sticks have a really nice crunchy coating and are served with a different type of sauce. It’s still tomato based, but seems a little more “soupy” than your average marinara. The taste is very good, just the look and texture were a bit unexpected. My wife’s salad is the typical iceberg and tomato salad you get pretty much anywhere you go.
Dinner arrives and my wife’s linguini is less than a homerun. Not bad flavor but the combination of alfredo and red sauce ended up being pretty “runny” and didn’t cling to the pasta very well. My pizza arrives and it is a true meal. A deep crust is loaded with sauce and lots of cheese, but a little light on the sausage and pepperoni. For a “stuffed” pizza, they sure could have stuffed some more toppings in there! Flavor wise everything works really well. The crust is crisp outside, soft and bread like inside and the rest of the ingredients are all of very high quality. This really is good pizza.
You can’t end a night without dessert, well you could, but why would you? My wife inquires about what flavors of ice cream they have, but our waitress tells us she’s not sure if there’s any left. It’s six p.m. on a Saturday; you should not be out of ice cream this early on a Saturday! I digress, we’ll order something else. For me it’s the tiramisu and my wife opts for the cannoli. The cannoli has smooth and creamy ricotta cheese with chocolate chips throughout and chopped pistachios on each end. Cannoli’s are a rare treat to find on menus and it’s nice when they’re done right. My tiramisu is espresso soaked lady fingers, topped with a sweet, almost cheese cake type layer and sprinkled with cocoa powder. A little different but still enjoyable.
Final bill came out to $55 with tip. A little pricey but not outrageous. Food quality is fairly high but being out of items that early is unacceptable. So the question is then, is this the best pizza in Chicagoland? No, but it is pretty darn good. Overall rating ** and ½ out of ****.
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