Vito & Nick's Pizzeria
8433 S Pulaski Rd
(between 84th St & 85th St)
Chicago, IL 60652 (773) 735-2050
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: No
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
283 reviews
Neighborhood: Near North Side
"Had way too much food here and cultivated some extreme nostalgia for my study abroad time in Italy. The food was exactly what I would…" read more »
19 Reviews for Vito & Nick's Pizzeria
This is my all time favorite pizza..When Im on tour and anywhere near the midwest, I make it a point to fly in and grab a pizza at Vito & Nicks.
I grew up in Hometown (leftfor LA in 66). But I still hit Vito and Nicks FIRST THING as soon as I'm in the neighborhood.
Its a great place....the BEST pizza on theplanet.
I hope they never close!!!
JB
www.johnbeland.com
The best thin-crust pizza in Chicago. I'd say the best thin-crust pizza EVER, but there's a take-out joint in Manhattan that goes head to head with it.
People, you're in Ashburn now. Don't expect a big drink menu or a long description of today's specials. Don't expect post-modern Ikea decorations or mood lighting.
The lighting is x-mas lights, the wallpaper is brown carpet, and your waitress will be delivering your food with a cigarette in her mouth. Normally this would chip off a few stars...but I grew up in this neighborhood and I understand that a restaurant couldn't exist here without appealing to the blue collar meat-heads and mobster cops and city workers.
That being said...if you're a vegetarian...you obviously should go somewhere else to eat. If ambiance is important to you...you should go somewhere else to eat.
If you simply desire pizza and cheap beer to wash it down...you'll be back again and again and again.
If you don't live nearby, it'll be worth the 20 minute drive from the loop. My personal favorite is just sausage, but this is a long-standing debate for the "best toppings" with my family.
I've been coming here, literally, since my infancy. So maybe my review is biased by the sheer amount of nostalgia connected with my weekly dinner here.
Hint: Locals call it Nick & Vito's...and yes...those are real mobsters at the bar.
Bonus hint: Some people here have marked that Vito & Nick takes credit cards. They absolutely do not. So BRING CASH!
My Aunt Kathy grew up across the alley from Nick and Vito's and remembers seeing the titular brothers arguing and throwing butcher knives at each other in the alley. She explains that they signed a contract that every 10 or 15 or 20 years the order of the names will change. This is why many call it nick and vito's while it is officially vito and nick's.
Like John B, My Uncle Tom comes here everytime he returns to town. Jaded, I grew up in the neighborhood and still fantasize about the pizza.
The best pizza ever is involves sausage and giardinara from here. You should drink pitchers of old style with it and you should do this all during a sox game. While its on point, please remember that this establishment is as much a bar for families and the elderly as a pizzaria for the same. That is what makes it work.
Some corrections though. Nick and Vitos not only doesn't take plastic but DOES NOT DELIVER. They only printed up carryout menus a few years ago and only in spite of themselves.
Anytime we make the hour-long trek to the southside to visit Grandma, we MUST get pizza from Vito and Nick's. Their sausage pizza is the best thin crust sausage in the city!
It's even better reheated in the oven on day two. Thank goodness G'ma insists on ordering enough pizza to feed an army! We almost always take leftovers home with us...in fact, we just ate last night's leftovers for dinner tonight.
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Just how far would you be willing to trek for a good Chicago thin-crust? Because just like the fabled man who hikes up the highest mountain to hear the enlightened's wisdom, Loop residents and northsiders will be in for a long journey to the South Side to experience the perfect authenticity that is the original Vito & Nick's. But trust me, it will be oh-so worth it.
Oh, sure, the decor may leave something to be desired. Brown carpeted walls, primary-colored light bulbs, linoleum floors that probably haven't been updated since the '60s... But one bite into their signature super-thin crust pizza and you'll understand why Vito & Nick's regular following keeps coming back. Who cares what's on the walls? It's all about what's on your plate, right? While the pizza is as thin as a cracker, it's not as hard or crispy as one. The meats, sauce, and cheese are all applied in proper proportion; even if you get the "garbage" pizza (which has just about everything on it), you won't feel overwhelmed. Just satisfied.
I hear there's other stuff on the menu: salads, sandwiches, pastas, waffle fries, hot wings, jalapeo poppers... but really. What could be finer than a large thin-crust, a pitcher of Old Style, and some interesting people-watching?
It figures that the vegetarian didn't like this place. You ordered a friggin' salad!?!? The best super-thin crust on the planet. Order it well-done, and you'll thank me. Oh, and get sausage on it, for God's sake! It's homemade and has a nice little kick to it...
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This is the best Chicago-style thin crust in the city, hands down. Sausage is probably the topping of choice, although I love to add spicy giardineras. The service and decor could not possibly exude any more sense of place, from the no-nonsense waitresses, to the conversations at the bar, to the carpeted walls illuminated by x-mas lights. If you live far away, plan to visit this place every time you fly through Midway.
I hereby condemn anyone who rates this anywhere below 5 stars as a persona-non-grata on the South Side.
If you're looking for the best tasting thin crust pizza, you must try Vito and Nick's. They're simply the best, better than all the rest. I highly suggest the pepperoni pizza. They have 1950's decor and service can get slow but totally worth it. I've been eating their pizza since the late 70's and the last pizza I had was as good as their first. Oh how I miss the south side.
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I'm not a big fan of thin crust pizza, but my boyfriend, who is always raving about this place, took me here to try to convince me otherwise. And I will admit that I was fairly impressed. The crust was paper-thin and extra crispy. The topping seemed a to have a little too much grease on the cheese, but I think that's what made it so flavorful.
The service was really good. Our waitress was uber friendly. The place has a very classic pizzeria feel to it. From the looks of it a lot of regulars go there. I think I was the only person there without a south side accent.
But overall, I rather enjoyd Vito & Nick's. Maybe one day they'll be able to bring me to the dark side and convert me into a thin-crust pizza fan.
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My wife and I tried this place, it came highly recommended. We were told the decor was horrendous but the pizza was phenomenal. We agree: the pizza is phenomenally ordinary. The sauce is bland, the crust unmemorable and the service was indifferent. And yes, the decor is as bad as they say. The only thing my wife liked was the warm bread served with our salads, which were also unmemorable.
Neither my wife nor I can figure out what people see in this place, Positano on Archer has much better pizza.
Best pizza on the south side. Young guys make the pie in front of you and you get to hear their war stories about the life of a south side teenager while you wait for your pizza pie. This is a classic south side joint that has that old Grabowski feel to it.
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Don't tell my parents, but this pizza joint is my favorite reason for going back to the South Side. It's one of the best pizzas in the city. Super crazy thin curst, fresh ingredients, and a totally funny decor. Carpet on the walls, that kind of stuff. In fact, one of the owners passed away a few years back and the flowers on the casket were made to look like a pizza. Well, they preserved that, and it's now hanging on the wall. Plus lots of trinkets from Italy. Lots of regulars come here, and it's just mellow and very small. Oh wow, now I'm starving.....they recently started serving Peroni, which is great, because I couldn't handle the Budlight. I prefer to sit at the bar, because the company is always great. It's a true south side joint, and Iove it.
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The Good:
-Pizza was incredible! I normally despise thin crust and sausage - this place has me converted! The crust was super-thin but chewy, not cracker-y and with a great bread flavour. The sausage was melt-in-your-mouth perfect with just the right amount of zing. Sauce, to die for. Not too much, not too little. Same with the cheese.
-Jalepeno poppers, while not spicy hot, were humongous and came out of the kitchen still steaming. The oozy cheese was yummy and oh-so-bad for you. You gotta get a pitcher of Old Style to drink with this stuff when you are there. I think it is a city ordinance or something.
-People watching. Fantastic. Everything from a sweet old guy dressed to the nines complete with black & white wingtips, to a young hipster couple with 1940's hair, to your average Chicago Southsider with a Sox hat. Oh and a guy who was workin the 1970's look so hard you thought he came straight out of Serpico.
The Bad:
-Did I just drive to the South Side of Chicago, or Alabama? Because I think it would have taken the same amount of time to go to either. Took. Friggin. Forever.
The Ugly:
-Wow is it ever ugly in there. Its like a VA Hall collided with a sports bar in Italy. What the hell was going on in there I dont know. Brown carpeted walls, huge gold framed paintings, linoleum floors, turquoise vinyl barstools, sports posters and banners from beer companies...nothing worked together and yet somehow it did. I dont know, I guess it is true that things are a bit different on the South Side!
You gotta go. First and foremost for the pizza, but really, just to say you've been. It rocked.
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One of the better thin crust pizzas in Chicago... while much of the Chicago competition turns out pizzas that take like they're made of cardboard, Vito & Nick's somehow manages to make a crust that's actually edible... and they're very generous with their toppings, and the price is right.
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The true great thin crust is quickly becoming a memory on the South side. Here, though, the legend continues. Great pizza,with two sizes, small and large, and no matter how little or how much you get on top, pick-up time is always 1/2 hour! I love it. Great pizza, with the grease on top like it 's supposed to be. Try the "garbage" pizza which has everything on it. I mean EVERYTHING. Do not pass this up.
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Simply the best thin crust pizza in the Universe! I have had a pizza here at least once a month since I was a child. The service is terrible when busy so I recommend ordering your pizza in advance. The carpet on the walls and the smoky bar just add to its greatness.
Be sure to order more pizza than you need. Vito and Nicks pizza taste completely different when it is cold. I have no idea how they pull that off but they do.
They are another Cash only business!
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Everyone loves this pizza and there are several locations now on the south side and the burbs. It's good pizza, but I'm still wondering what all the fuss is about.
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Knew Nick the owner, bless his heart. His sister Lee still works the dining room (Think she's been there 50 years even though place is only 40 years old) along with a bunch of gals that are sweet. Lee is a peach. I like this joint so much I had my wife make cookies for the boys in the kitchen. (zzzbestcookie.com). I can't even estimate how many pizzas I've had from here, possibly even infinite. Boy are they delicious. Downright addicting. Thin crispy crust, sweet sauce, secret recipe sausage, just the right amount of cheese. WHAMMY! it is good!
But, and a small but, occasionally with shift changes or new hires they can miss a beat now and then, but not often. For example, last night, along with a half carafe of non-descript Merlot (they also have the Prime Minister of beers: Old Style!), my wife and I shared a steak sandwich. In fact it is the fourth one I have had. The last three did not live up to the first one which was superb. Overcooked, a bit chewy. Comes with a heap of waffle fries. One time toasted garlic bread next time not. So it's back to pizza, which is a good thing. They also have a hot wing called a Wing Zing. Spicy little fellas. Just fried and not coated, but a departure from everyone else's. Salad is ice berg, and itsy bitsy tomatoes. That's it (not enough). But house is tasty along with the bread and packet 'o butters.
Another good thing: the place will not break your bank. It would cost me more to eat at home.
Had carpeted walls forever and a day. Place got a face-lift about 10 years ago. Maybe it was Design on a Nickel.
Favorite spot for Chicago's finest. See them there all the time.
Bartenders are pleasant and work hard.
I think a urinal in the men's room has been inoperative for 20 years. No kidding, but it doesn't diminish the quaintness (word?) of the place or one of the BEST PIZZAS IN THE WORLD! (No, I am not a relative).
Oh, and their hamburger is a nice concoction. One day I will bribe Lee to give me the hamburger recipe.
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A couple years back, I'd have given this place five stars. And sometimes, they rate the fifth star. Inconsitency is the problem. Solid quality meats, sparse sometimes though. Sauce is tasty but again, sometimes there isn't enough of it. Cheese sometimes spread too thin. Nice thin crust (you can read the Tribune through it). Old school dining area, cranky old waitresses, and YES they have Louisiana Hot Sauce. Good fried zucchini if you need an app. Among top three thin crusts in Chicago (Pete's, Pat's). Wish they'd get back on track and be GREAT everytime. Cheap cheap pitchers of soda...can't people just serve Coke already?
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