Gino’s East

Certainly not the best deep dish pizza that I have had, but my favorite place is no where close and family owned.
The cook times for the deep dish were acceptable and the toppings were very good.
I will probably come back, but I am not feeling that it is z pizza location that j am dying to get back to any time soon.

Went here with family and ordered the cheesy bread and a large chi-​talian stallion. The pizza did take quiet some time to come out but I think that’s because they bake it fresh. The service was great, our drinks were never empty and when the pizza did come they served the first slice to everyone. The cheesy bread was not good, felt amateur like a kid whipped it up and did not expect from a Italian restaurant. The pizza however was delicious, the meat and pepper mixture and ratio was great. I would highly recommend it for Chicago style pizza lovers. Closest to Chicago pizza I’ve had in dallas. Just pick a different appetizer I guess.

TL;DR — Robert is the worst server ever and management is beyond incompetent. Now read ahead for all the fun details.
—
Every once in a while, you wish Unilocal would offer the option for ZERO stars because that’s exactly how many this place deserves. Even giving them one star is making me reconsider posting this review at all as it would do this experience an injustice.
Family and I spent the better part of the day at Fossil Rim. We start to make the northward trek back home and decided that we would stop at Gino’s for an afternoon pit stop. Remembering the long waits for pizza from their original Chicago location, I called in at around 3pm. The lady on the phone quoted me the expected 45 – 60 minutes. Perfect timing.
Arrive around 3:45. Pizza’s not ready. No problem. Let’s sit down and have an appetizer and drinks while we wait the last few minutes. Seems like a good enough plan. Oh how the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Robert, our «server», greets us. We let him know that we already ordered the pizza and that we were ordering apps and drinks. He takes our order, smiles (doubtful, actually), and disappears. Common theme, you’ll see.
Several minutes later, he comes back with our waters. Puts them down and walks away. Doesn’t say a word. Well, it’s waters. Not that I expect you to debate the merits of our current foreign policy or anything but not even a «anything else I can get for you?»
The apps arrive and we have no plates, utencils, or napkins. Lovely Robert is nowhere to be found. Luckily one of the neighboring servers noticed and brought them to us. Thank you, kind sir!
Robert never came to check on us. Never asked to see if our food was okay. Oh, rest assured, he walked by our table… just never stopped. I mean, I know I had been walking around outside for a little bit but I swear I didn’t smell. I wore deodorant… I promise!
But alas to no avail. No Robert and thus no service. Our entire meal’s service including the order of additional food was handled by neighboring servers. Robert just didn’t like us. /​sadface.
After sitting around for almost an hour, we still don’t have the pizza that we ordered almost 2 hours ago! What is going on? Don’t know because Robert hasn’t come by to ask or check. So I get up to ask yet another server. She goes and checks. Comes back in less than a minute with a reply. Pizza is coming out of the oven. It’ll be out shortly. Your server will bring it to you… that last comment did not give me the feel goods.
Pizza finally arrives. Robert drops off a to-​go box and the check. Doesn’t say a word and walks away before I could quickly give him my credit card. Prob knows I’m shooting holes in him with my eye daggers. So yes, I end up having to give my check to another server who promptly takes care of it.
I ask to speak to the manager because this was an atrocious disregard for service. Except her lovely self can’t seemed to be bothered by an upset customer. I prob wait 10 minutes for her to give me 30 seconds of her «busy» day. I get lovely quips like «well as you can see, we’re quite busy.» Uh, it’s 4:00 in the afternoon. You have like 8 total tables. At least 2/​3rds of your restaurant is open. This is «busy»??
After explaining our complete absence of service, her response was «we will sit Robert down and talk to him about what he did right and what he did wrong.» WHAT? No, seriously… WHAT? Is he a child being reprimanded for stealing a cookie? To be fair, the «manager» was like 22 and wore an incredibly low cut top that clearly screamed «I’m a professional.» Nothing was comped, nor was anything even offered. Just a «sorry, we’ll talk to him.»
But if the story only ended here…
We put this horrific experience behind us. We have our pizza. We take it home. Except when we finally take out a slice, it’s not what we ordered. Supreme deep dish somehow took 2 hours to make and came out as a pepperoni only. Yet we were charged for the full Supreme price. Not one person there in the kitchen or our dear Robert checked our pizza order.
We call back to the restaurant and get some story about how there was confusion in the kitchen about the order. That they DID make a supreme but someone (Robert??) told the kitchen that we really only wanted pepperoni (not true) so they had a pepperoni one made on the fly for us which is why it took almost 2 hours. YET NOT ONE PERSON AT ANY POINT CAME TO TELL US THAT WHILE WE SAT IN THE STUPID RESTAURANT FOR OVER AN HOUR!
We’ve had bad experiences before. We all have. Comes with the territory of eating out. It’s why sites like this ( Unilocal) have any lifeblood. But this was literally top-​3 worst all time. Incompetence all around EXCEPT for the two servers near our table who actually took care of us. Bravo to them. Robert and the rest can do themselves a favor and find a new profession. Preferably one that doesn’t involve service… or food… or people.

Good concept, good food. Horrible service. The Mexican waitress was in a pissed off mood from the very beginning. No smile at all. Constantly on the cell phone. The hostess was not even at her position when we walked in. She was too busy talking to the Mexican waitress by the bar. She acknowledged us after we were standing there for about 3 minutes.

I’m definitely not from Chicago, & I like good Olé hand tossed pizzas. The deep dish was tasty, & lots of crust for sure. It does take longer to cook, working in a gourmet pizza parlor for a few years, I can understand that. Most people don’t comprehend that you actually have to cook all that extra dough, for some reason.
The service was easy going, yet attentive. I didn’t go without anything, & the only waiting I did was while my pizza was cooked to perfection. If you have concerns about your food taking a while, I recommend ordering an appetizer to tide you over.
The atmosphere is really laid-​back, & enjoyable, & the food is yummy. Be prepared to spend a little cash. (you get what you pay for)!
Solid choice for good pies, & a chill environment.
Also, I hear they have great drink specials!

Another review that I am torn about. I wasn’t sure what «Chicago Style Pizza» was supposed to be. While I was there, I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. There were good flavors, but the crust didn’t wow me. VERY filling (because there’s a LOT of crust), but most of the flavors were drowned out by the LOAD of tomato sauce ON TOP of everything else.
I sent the leftovers home with my friend because I just didn’t think it was good enough to eat cold or deal with warming up. If I could «no star» this rating and just post it as an FYI, I would. I can’t, though, so I’ll middle of the road it. *dunno*
Would I go back? Nope. But, I think that’s more the «style» and my own personal tastes, rather than a problem with the restaurant.

The hostesses are worthless. We asked them to change the TV in our section to the Final Four and they could not achieve this simple task. After the 2^nd time asking, the channel was changed for around 2 minutes then changed to something else completely different. DO NOT come here to watch a sports game. They do not care.
Our waitress was inattentive as well. We asked her to get the TV changed and it never happened. How
f#$%ing hard is this?
The food: appetizer cheesy bread was cold and bland. It was pizza sauce and cheese barely melted on stale French bread.
The pizza, however was quite good. We ordered the Meaty Legend deep dish and it was delicious. Very close to what I remember when living in Chi-​town many years ago. The 3 stars are for the pizza alone.
If you want a pizza from Gino’s East, I would recommended getting it to go. Their in-​house service leaves a lot to be desired.

My wife & I had already eaten but sampled pizza, their pub chips, fried Calamari and brisket sliders. All were great! So much for having already eaten.
The service was really good, we had a great corner booth. Not too loud. Great for conversation. The servers were great to take the table pics. Clearly women wanted that. I was more interested in taking home the last few stray slices.
I really don’t know if this is a one-​off or a chain. Good representation of Chicago Style. A new spot on our list!

Many Food Network and Travel Channel long-​standing favorites (Gino’s East being one of many transplants to land in Texas; see In-​And-​Out Burger) to venture into the state of opportunity. I am a bit conflicted… when I go to Chicago, Gino’s East is no longer on the must-​eat list, as I can have the same quality where I grew up.
Regardless, the management here is great. I ordered 12 deep dish pies for a corporate dinner in Fort Worth (you see how much I love deep dish?), and they made the delivery AND lent us the hot boxes. No, not drug-​infested vehicles, mind you. Furthermore, the kitchen knows the little dishes that appeal to current dining trends: brussel sprouts and pancetta.
Not much to report on, if you have had deep-​dish before. You will find a buttery, pastry-​like crust with a hint of corn flavor… encasing a moat of ingredients (my favorite is the bacon/​blue cheese pie) that happen to be swimming in a rich tomato sauce that most definitely has a couple cups of olive oil mixed in… with everything under a layer of cheese, the amount of which could choke a camel.
At the couple GE’s at which I have partaken the gut-​wrenching (the good kind) goodness of Chicago deep-​dish, good memories burned themselves into my brain – primarily memories of waking up the next day and heating up for breakfast the dog that bit me the night before. Heard that one before?

I’ve been a fan of Gino’s East since before most of you whippersnappers were even born.
I used to go to Chicago every week and spent the night in the Neiman Marcus docks each week (I was a long haul trucker back in those days). Gino’s was right next door to the docks so I’d eat there quite often.
Now Gino’s East is in Arlington!!! YEAHHHHH.
If you like Chicago style DEEP dish pizza you will love this place. Warning, if you get the deep dish, it will take close to an hour to cook but it is well worth the wait. This is not the floppy eat with your hands pizza but the knife and fork kind. Not until you get to the wonderful crust will you be able to use your hands.
This is a very dense and filling pizza so even for big boys like me one — two slices are enough for anyone.
Is Gino’s Arlington as good as Gino’s Chicago? HELL NO. You’ve gotta have that Lake Michigan water to really get the crust right but I think the Lake Arlington water is giving a close second.
Welcome Gino’s East — Arlington. We’ll be back soon and so should you.

On a Saturday night, the wait was about 30 minutes for a table for two. The hostesses leave a bit to be desired. They selectively offered to pre-​order some pizzas for at least one other group, and this must be a thing because the very first thing our server asked us was if we had pre-​ordered, and she seemed a wee bit stunned we had not. Nonetheless, we came anticipating, and with knowledge aforethought, about how long the pie would take.
We ordered drinks & the appetizer sampler while waiting on the pizza. The spinach sticks were an awesome change, and the mozzarella sticks came out hot & melty. Calamari also came on the platter. Yes, as others have stated, it is slightly overcooked. It’s not rubber, but maybe thirty seconds less cooking time & they would be near perfect. The only real dislike on the platter was the spinach-​artichoke dip. It was bland, cold, and there was no evidence of artichoke. The red gravy with the platter was very good — slightly spicy.
When our pizza arrived, it was hot and cheesy. We ordered ours with pepperoni, meatballs, caramelized onions, and sweet peppers. I was expecting more from the meatballs. This is a general complaint about nearly all pizza places as it seems they all love to go heavy when veggies are ordered and scale back the meats. To that end, what we received was a pepper & onions pizza with a smattering of «meatballs» & a few slices of pepperoni. I am not a veggie person on pizza, but I wanted something different.
Also, perhaps due to the choice of ingredients, or maybe because the have a different sauce for the pizza, our pie was very sweet. Finally, the alleged meatballs look remarkably similar to the hamburger topping at Pizza Hut. Meatballs, they are not. This disappointed me. I really enjoy meatballs on my pizza, and these just did not meet expectations.
On the bright side, the crust was well-​cooked & crunchy. The cheese was substantial. Service was slow at table-​side, though they were quite busy. When extra napkins were offered, we received two.
Overall, the experience was good, and the food met, but did not exceed, expectations. We will try them again. I really need to know if the overt sweetness is in the sauce or our combination of ingredients we chose.

If you’re looking for a Chicago style deep dish pizza Gino’s East is the place to go. This is a franchise of the Gino’s restaurant that is in downtown Chicago. I have been to the Chicago restaurant so I could compare but I will not I will give this Gino’s the review not Chicago. The restaurant was very busy when they first opened but they have slowed down a little. So there may not be a wait to get a seat. The seating area is not real large but it hold a fair amount of people. They do have a large bar that sits plenty. With TV’s on all the walls. And you can write on all the walls if you want everybody does that is their thing.
I like the pizza it is different than most pizza the crust has a different texture more flaky. They put a lot of sauce on top and the pizza is nice a cheesy. The pizza has 3 sizes the small for 20 dollars will fill up 2 people easy. The medium for 25.00 has 6 slices and is good for 3 to 4 people. They do take a while to cook so do not get mad at the wait. This is because the pizzas are so thick they take a while to cook. But it is worth the wait. They do have plenty of appetizers if you want to fill up first before the pizza get to your table. They have plenty of types of pizza to choose from. And the menu also has plenty of other item to choose from if you do not want pizza.
The wait staff are pretty good the service has been good for us. The people that seat you need a little more training not that friendly. Just going through the motions. I don’t even think she spoke to us. Over all Gino’s East is a good place for pizza and food I would give them a try. I will be back again since they have Groupons and I like a deal. But I would go back anyway once in a while.

First time trying Gino’s in probably 8 years or so. Typically when in Chicago I go to giordano’s or lou’s. But I saw a groupon and thought it was worth a shot. I think the groupon was like $ 16 for $ 30, so pretty solid.
We came after the Cowboys game and surprisingly this place was dead! I don’t know if people have not seen /​heard of it but it wasn’t crowded at all. Luckily through last couple experiences w deep dish pizzas I’ve learned to call ahead. Maybe 45 minutes?
Anyways, even though the place was dead, the service wasn’t very good. The waitress and host staff wasn’t very attentive. It took awhile to get drinks and refills. So slow it makes me not want to go back.
On to the deep dish pizza, we got a medium supreme and medium meat lovers for 5 of us. The pizza itself is pretty good, no skimping on toppings. Typically two pieces per person is way more than enough when it comes to deep dish, and we had two pieces leftover. These pizzas ran about $ 26 each.
Might be worth a shot, get the groupon, call ahead.

This Ohio girl was craving some good old deep dish Chicago pizza and I must say this place did not disappoint. If you are in a hurry please do not come here. For a deep dish it takes 45 minutes. It takes that long to get all that deliciousness in place. So please be patient. Sit back and enjoy a glass of Chardonnay or an ice cold beer.
We decided to order an appetizer to start so we settled with the mozzarella sticks. Omg! They were amazing! They were so crispy which is hard to find in a cheese stick. But these had a really nice seasoned crunch to them. The sauce was really good as well. Did not wrong with this choice.
The pizza we ordered was the deep dish supreme without the onions. I was surprised as to how much I l enjoyed it. It was seasoned perfectly, and the toppings still had a bite. My favorite part was the crust. Again, it was super crispy. Some deep dish pizzas crust tends to get soggy but not this. It was crunchy and flakey.
The alcohol selection was full bar and a good selection of beer and wine to boot.
Would I come back of course! Everyone once in a while a really good pizza just sounds good. Sorry all other pizza places deep dish is and always will be the best!

Chicago native and lover of the deep dish. I’m not a big fan of Texas except for Bucees, FC Dallas and Kreuz in Austin but I went in with an open mind. I’ve had deep dish at other restaurants in the Dallas area and was very disappointed. Gino’s in Arlington however, is approved. The pizza itself is really good! Comparing to deep dish in Chicago… the taste is definitely not the same. But when you’re away from home with no upcoming trip back soon, this will satisfy your cravings. Our waiter Thor was awesome!

Top notch this visit. Server’s name escapes me, but we were at Table 24 on Monday ¹⁰⁄₁₉ around 8p. The ticket shows server as PM and I want to say her name may be Chrissy or Nikki, but I am not sure.
Went with four Gino’s east virgins. My friend Joe and I split a Cesar salad ($ 9), with ranch instead of Cesar dressing, because I don’t like their version of it. This salad could easily feed 3 – 4 people as a side salad. I ate ½ of my ½ and that was plenty, so the rest came home with me.
Friends ordered the mozzarella sticks and the spinach sticks, each for $ 8. They attacked them and everyone loved them. More leftovers!
Two friends split the Spinach Margharita pizza and loved it. Another friend got the thin crust pizza, The Meaty Legend. After his ½ of the salad, he could only eat one piece but proclaimed it quite yummy! Even more leftovers!
Another friend and I ordered the deep dish, Meaty a legend, and it was packed with toppings. Cooked perfectly with a little crunch to the bottom crunch and toppings and cheese appropriately hot made this our fave. Yup, more leftovers!
I also ordered a small cheese pizza, with extra cheese for my hubby who stayed home. Pizza looks great and I am sure he will love and demolish it!
Our server was amazingly attentive, quick to check back and get refills and pro-​actively prepared the leftovers to go.
Not crowded so not too noisy and their music is 1980’s cool songs.
Overall, a stellar dining experience with awesome friends. Stop by and you will love it!

Okay so my BF and I both love Chicago pizza and were pretty excited to try this place. We’ve tried deep dish pizzas at 2 popular spots in Chicago and really enjoyed it. I came in with high expectations which was kind of a mistake on my end. I shouldn’t have because this is Texas not Chicago.
Came on a Friday night and it wasn’t too loud which was good. Parking was easy and convenient. The interior was cute and there were a ton of tvs so great for watching sports. The walls had writing on it from customers which was cool. We asked for a marker and signed it too :)
Appetizer: We ordered the cheesy bread which was just okay. It actually tasted like something that came from a freezer and was thrown in an oven. The bread was way too soft in the middle and the ends were crispy. I would normally enjoy that, but in this case, it was too soft and felt kind of wet from the sauce on it (if that makes any sense.) I definitely wouldn’t order it again. The pizza takes 45 mins to an hour to prepare so an appetizer is kind of necessary if you’re starving.
Pizza: We ordered half BBQ brisket and half spinach margherita (with chicken which is extra). The medium deep dish is pretty big and perfect to share between 2 really hungry people or 3 kind of hungry ones. They messed up our order and made a full spinach margherita so we had to wait double the time. It already takes long to make one pizza so that was kind of annoying. Finally the pizza came out and we were impressed. I did enjoy both pizzas, but my favorite was the brisket BBQ. It has both marinara and BBQ sauce on it which sounds gross, but it complimented each other well. We read that the crusted made from cornmeal and it was delicious. They ended up not charging us for the appetizer since they messed up our pizza order which was nice. Unfortunately the service wasn’t great so I gave it 3 stars only because I loved the pizza.

I’m unsure if I like Chicago style pizza or not. I’ve been to Chicago twice and ate at 2 very popular pizza places in Chicago. And maybe I’m use to a regular pan pizza/​oven baked pizza.
Chicago style deep dish pizza is very thick. Takes awhile for your pizza to be done.
Ordered a half and half of jalapeño blue and the other half the BBQ one. I’m unsure what Chicago pizza should actually be… But when I visited Chicago before the pizzas I had were very saucy, but this one I had was very cheesy.
Jalapeño blue is good! Not too much blue cheese. The BBQ one was okay, too much vegetables on it, good amount of BBQ sauce, didn’t over power the pizza.
Remember pizza take time to cook, 45 minutes I believe. Make sure you order an appetizer to pass the time!

I arrived to 2 people at the host stand who told me I had to wait for the hostess to come back, which was an odd foot to start on. I was seated a few minutes later by the hostess. In the same breath the waiter asks for his drink order, he tells us we need to order our pizza now because it takes an hour. We hurriedly made a decision and ordered the Meaty Deep Dish.
When the waiter returned with our drinks we order the HOMEMADE Cheesesticks. They took over 20 minutes and when they arrived they were still frozen. Ew! What happened to «homemade»?! Sent them back for a new order, waited 20 more minutes… frozen again! Seriously? For $ 10 in homemade Cheesesticks, what a joke. The waiter even admitted they were frozen! Asked for the manager and decided since we still had at least 20 minutes to wait for our pizza, we would try the cheesy bread. It came 30 minutes later with our pie. While it was good… it wasn’t really special. It was drowning in cheese so of course it was good!
I really, really did enjoy the pizza. I thought the taste was amazing. Loved the chunky tomato sauce and the super flaky crust. It was cheesy and meaty and everything I want in a pizza. Very filling. My only complaint about the pizza is that I’m suspicious it was also previously frozen because some parts of the pizza were burn your mouth hot while some were room temp. Also– something about the crust didn’t scream «fresh». Sad when the check price is so high.
Final rant– it was HOT in the dining area. They run fans on low but it was around 80 degrees in there.
If you’re a foodie and haven’t had this style pizza– I would recommend it. Just plan your meal time to be at least 90 minutes and be patient. If you’re a Chicago style expert– steer clear.

2 stars, because of our server Ariel. He was fantastic!
Do not be fooled. This is not the Chicago Gino’s East deep dish that we have had multiple of times in the windy city. From Chicago? You may be disappointing like us. Well… maybe you had Chicago deep dish when you were 7, moved here, but we go back to the homeland quite a bit and we very disappointed.
Here is my review. Good, bad, and ugly.
The good.
Our server Ariel… Fantastic. He knew that we are from Chicago, and was really looking forward to what we thought. Quick with our order, checked on us quite often, and had a great attitude.
The Spinach and Artichoke dip. Served hot, lot’s of flavor. The only issue was that we asked Ariel to bring out more bread, as for the amount of dip, 8 tiny pieces of bread are not enough for the size of the dip.
The bad.
Pie delivered, not by Ariel, but you could see the disappointment in my family when they brought out a horrible imitation of a Chicago deep dish. The person that brought our pie out, said she needed to cut our pie. Large is 8 sliced. After watching her cut the first slice, I said, «You’re butchering our pie». She was failing miserably, and after her second slice, I asked her how many pie’s has she sliced, and she said not many, this was her second day. Great! rookie trying to cut a pie. Well, we did manage to get 7 slices out of a pie that should have 8 slices, for 4 people. I brought it up to Ariel, and he said he was concerned when he saw her bringing out our pie, and he apologized.
The ugly.
Yep…the pie. What a horrible excuse for a deep dish. It’s more like a Pizza Hut thick crust pizza. Now, a true Chicago deep dish pie should fill you up with 2 slices, with plenty of cheese, great ingredients, and a bit of sauce to cover your pie. We split the pie in half with ½ Spinach Margherita, and ½ Meaty Legend. They need to call it the Margherita. Why? What spinach? The sauce on the pie was very watery, and was the «featured ingredient» when it should be just a topping, and letting the cheese and ingredient’s take take center stage. The crust was more of a sweet corn bread style, and we determined that the lack of Lake Michigan water in the dough may have impacted the overall flavor.
We came in excited ready to have some Chicago deep dish, and left «dejected». I shared with Ariel, after he asked what we thought, and I told him, disappointed. His attitude was priceless, as he said to me, «We’re trying to make it right» and «we will get better». Love it!
Ariel, because of your attitude, we may try again, but please let me know when you make it right.
FYI, google Gino’s East. I am posting a picture of a pie from THE original Gino’s East Downtown Chicago.
Go Cubs, Go Hawks!
Stay hungry my friends…

I was so looking forward to this. My husband is from Illinois so we have our share of deep dish while visiting family. Lou Malnati’s and Quatro’s are favorites for us. This was just ok. Nothing great.
Tried the deep dish nachos and jar caprese. The nachos were terrible and at $ 9 they better be great. Only the top layer of chips had stuff on them and they really needed some salsa for flavor. The caprese was probably the best thing. Great flavor.
Pizza-​The crust is strange. I can’t describe it but it’s different from any deep dish I have had. Its pretty flavorless. Like a strange under seasoned biscuit. The hubs liked it fine. Cheese and sauce had good flavor though.
Kids Meals-​The chicken fingers were deplorable. She couldn’t even eat them. Just over fried. My other little did enjoy the spaghetti though.
Overall it wasn’t worth the $ 80 bill and hour wait. I’ll probably try it again and I am sure my husband will want it too, but I’ll wait until they start doing takeout.