Gino’s East

And if you (native Hoosier who visited Chicago a few times and fell for deep dish)
Can’t be with the one you love (Giordano’s)
Honey, love the one you’re one you’re with (the Gino’s that just opened here)
The pizzas are legit. But (except for the pre-​baked ones available at lunch) they take a while, so I’d suggest slowly noshing on a Caprese Jar Salad while you wait. I can’t quite give it five stars though, as all the cocktails I’ve tried have been a little off. Unfiltered water in the ice, some weird combination of ingredients, something. You might be happier with a craft beer bomber or some wine.

I had the meat lovers deep dish pizza. It was everything I thought it would be and more! The wait for the pizza was 30 minutes but our server warned us about the wait prior to us ordering.
While we were there a couple began to complain about the wait for their pizza. I’m so annoyed by bitter people that have to go out and ruin people’s positive vibe. The manager offered them free drinks, which I thought was nice, but they were warned about the wait for the deep dish so I thought it was unnecessary. He should have told them to go elsewhere.
Anyway, the pizza arrived and the server cut it and served it for us. She want above and beyond to make us comfortable. We moved tables, too. We wanted to take photos by the sign. She didn’t care and took a photo of us. Great vibe there!

I would give this place more stars because the pizza is the best but the service here sucked. I’ve been to Gino’s in Chicago and Gino’s in the woodlands, Texas, but this Gino’s had terrible service. The place wasn’t even packed but I had to flag down our waitress to get a glass of water. Then to order a couple slices of pizza took forever. We even spotted the waitress in the back on her phone just chilling. Not the best Gino’s I’ve been too. But the pizza is still the same old deliciousness so that was the only plus side to this visit.

Really? Just moved here from Chicago and ordered via grub hub. Why the hell would you guys send our Italian beef sandwiches bone dry? You guys really missed the mark on this one. And since it was delivery at my work, no way to rectify it. Like eating sand.

Ok, so I finally made it to Gino’s! I was waiting until the kinks were worked out and the consistency was under control. I am a native Chicagoan, BIG pizza guy and consider like most, that Lou Malnatis is the best deep dish pizza in Chicago. I’ve also eaten my fair share of Gino’s, so I’ll take deep dish where I can get it.
We went on Saturday 1÷16÷16 at about 7:30ish…apparently the owners were there and were about to leave, a waitress was wrapping up their pizza and we chatted. I learned that they also own the bar upstairs, several other bars in the area, as well as 4 other Gino locations in Texas. I really hope the owners are reading these reviews to make adjustments.
In terms of time, just know. that it ALWAYS takes an hour for a deep dish pizza so anyone complaining about that… take note. As a suggestion to the owners or manager, to ease people’s temperament with the time, put a sign up at the door that say «pizza perfection takes an hour» or something like that… It should also be in the servers’ verbiage when talking to their patrons so expectations are set.
Location … terrible, terrible location. On the weekend they close 6^th so yeah it’s in the middle of mayhem in the streets. There is a club upstairs with people dancing and the pounding on the ceiling was really annoying. Chicago pizza should be celebrated! This concept wasn’t thought through very well for business owners that have 4 other locations. You AREN’T selling Austin people, YOU should be selling Chicago!!! Deep dish pizza is classy and should be accessible to a family or small intimate groups. The graffiti on the walls is great and it gives character to the restaurant, but unlike the walls, the the level of service and professionalism that a patron should feel when they walk into a Ginos should not be so casual and grungy!
Service– absolutely THEE worst. We walked in and were not even greeted … in fact I had to go find someone to ask what to do. Seriously, that girl that I think was the hostess was unidentifiable, spoke a few words to us and after our brief conversation, I was still unsure whether or not we were gonna find a table. It was pretty steady but wasn’t that busy. They did seem short staffed I think … or they aren’t hiring enough people or they really just don’t know what they’re doing. I couldn’t tell. I actually think they were hoping we would leave. There really isn’t a place to wait other than two chairs at the front. We waited and waited and we noticed that there was a table for two open and had been for about 20 mins. I didn’t know what was going on. We moved to the bar in hopes that someone just might talk to us and tell us our table was ready … nope. I finally went over to the guy in a light colored polo shirt, who I think was the manager because he spoke in a east coast accent. I told him we had been waiting a long time and asked him about that table. He says to me and I quote, «well, ok go for it then». I wanted to slap him.
So, he was also our server too (jeez) and in the entire time we were there, he came to our table 3x’s, that’s it! Once for the order, to deliver our pizza to us and for the check. That’s it. We were in this place for TWO hrs!!! I had to flag him down for a drink and finally had to go to the bar to get a glass of water for my girlfriend. I watched him too… he wasn’t busy, just terrible. Jeez, it takes an hour for a pizza for every table… plenty of time to visit tables. I can tell there are ZERO systems and infrastructure in this restaurant. LOTS of work needs to be done. If that was the manager, I’d promote him to CUSTOMER in a Chicago minute.
Food — decent. We ordered a caprese salad as an appetizer and split it. It was petty good and the presentation was really nice. Now, like I said earlier, I’ll take some Chicago DD wherever I can get it. We ordered a medium crumble sausage, mushroom and onion. The crust has little flavor as always. They really should offer butter crust like at Lou’s, it’s the best. The sauce seemed to be missing something too, like oregano or garlic. It had very little flavor. The onions were pretty much raw. I can tell from all the reviews that there is some training need in the kitchen … bad. I’m not sure if I will return; it’s expensive and not that great. I’m undecided on whether I will recommend this place to anybody, even my kids. Maybe I will, but Im afraid of more disappointment.
This place has little going for it my friend. It was a big disappointment. The only bright spot, were the drinks, which were solid. There are a lot of people that have moved to Austin from Chicago. Illinois is the 3^rd most popular state people have moved from. You’ve got to get it right people and this isn’t right!
They should close this place, do something else with the down stairs and move it to the east side or maybe West 6^th or even 4^th or 5^th.
I gave it 2 stars and frankly I was being generous. I really want it to be great and give it 5 stars.

I’m sad that my experience here was disappointing. Nothing like the true Gino’s or any other Chicago Deep Dish pizzas I have experienced in Chicago, the taste is not there.
I wished it could have been better since we don’t have very many deep dish pizza options here in Austin. Walking to lunch, we passed at least 5 other pizza places on Sixth St. though, so the competition for pizza is high. This is definitely a sit down place for lunch, not a grab a quick slice. I understand that deep dish pizzas take a while to cook, but ours was well over 30 minutes, while 3 other tables received their pizza order before we did. We also ordered the smallest pizza compared to the other tables.
Our server/​bartender was great though, so it sucks that the food doesn’t deliver. There was only one other server and he seemed to be all over the place, running orders outside etc. Didn’t seem like good planning on the floor, although I noticed a lot of kitchen staff and other staff walking in and out of the back door.
When our pizza finally arrived it was fairly cold for how long it took for it to come out. We got the Meat pizza, and I didn’t taste and bacon. It was a very underwhelming pizza to me. We also ordered the cinnamon sugar balls. I took a bite of one of the smaller ones, and it was absolutely one of the most disgusting things I’ve eaten. It was either very under done or very over done, the presentation was also very underwhelming as well, but it came recommended by the manager who walked by earlier to check on us. I told my server, John, how terrible the dessert was and he sent the manager over again, I expressed to the manager how terrible it was and he said to see if the rest was that way. When he came over to take our bill, I told him I definitely did not like it. Needless to say, the cinnamon balls remained on my bill.
I would only recommend going back here to get drinks with the bartender John. The food is definitely not something I would recommend or return for.

I’m born and raised in Chicago. I grew up on Gino’s and all the other Chicago chains of deep dish and stuffed pizzas.
In Chicago Gino’s is considered a bit of a novelty as you can write on the walls. I don’t know anyone who really considers their pizza to be all that great. It’s no Lou Malnati’s.
When I heard Gino’s opened a location here in Austin I was definitely up to trying it out. I found its location on 6^th street to be a bit odd. I get the feeling who ever scouted the location was only in Austin for an hour and picked that spot. It’s surrounded by bars and feels like a bar with some seating when you get inside. Wasn’t easy to take my 4 and 2 year old to but hey… I’m from Chicago and I want my pizza.
We arrived just before 8pm on a Thursday night. It was dead inside. Again I feel it’s in the wrong location. Going out and drinking do mix well with pizza but not pizza that takes 40 — 60 minutes to cook.
The staff looked like they were imported from Chicago. Anyone from Chicago who has moved to Austin will know what I’m talking about. The staff was very unfriendly. Our waitress muttered about 10 words to us the entire night and all the other servers and hostess looked like they were about to fall asleep.
The food itself was nothing to brag about. Being from Chicago I would not recommend anyone go here to experience Chicago pizza. Something’s missing… something less obvious than the oregano that should’ve been in a shaker on our table.
I really wish I could be writing a positive review as I would love to have true deep dish pizza here in Austin but I guess it’s for the best. Perhaps I lost over 20 lbs moving to Austin because of the lack of Chicago style pizza here.

This place is amazing! We’ve only been to the one in Chicago and fell in love with the deep dish. We came to the Austin location and it’s just as great if not better! Tom (The restaurant Manager/​GM) was awesome! He was extremely informative about the menu and suggested a beer that taste just like a root beer. It was delicious so try it out sometime.
All in all it was a 5 star experience and would recommend Gino’s East to anyone that loves deep dish Chicago style pizza! It will make all of your dreams come true lol!

Great service, great location, and the best damn deep dish pizza in town! I have been going to Gino’s in Chicago since I was a child and I’m thrilled to have a Ginos East in Austin now :) their spicy sausage deep dish is what they are known for. Their bar is nicely set up and the only disappointment is that they have nothing on tap.
I will absolutely be back!!! B

I walked in after seeing the outdoor menu — veggie sub? Sure why not. Lunch specials are $ 7.95 but there are no vegetarian options. Bummer, I could only order a cheese pizza or chicken pesto sandwich w/​o the chicken. Tried the pesto tomato onion sub w/​side salad.
Sub — ²⁄₅
Salad — ³⁄₅
Total bill — $ 8.95.
I asked the waitress about it and she said, it was $ 1.00 more because I ordered the sub w/​o chicken.
Really?
I won’t be coming back… Roppolos pizza is better.
Gino’s east — nope.

Deep dish… deep disappointment.
I bought a deep dish Spinach Magherita. The pizza took 45mins as expected.
Crust was really hard, dense, and flavorless.
The toppings were minimal, comprised mostly of sauce, tomatoes and spinach. The cheese was hard to find. I’ve had Genos in Chicago and there was so much cheese the pie stayed together when served. This was sloppy and not pleasurable to eat.
Waste of money and time.

Ordering favor allows me to eat at all these cool places without the irritation of having to put pants on to go there!
Homemade spinach sticks: spinach and mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce. Why hasn’t everyone thought of this? As if the basic mozzarella stick wasn’t good enough someone figured out that you can add more flavors to the cheesy goodness. Now if they just threw some artichokes in there the’d be 10 steps ahead of everyone else.
The All In Chopped Salad: Great size for the price but, make sure you check which dressing they give you if you are doing take out. I ended up with some oil when I asked for bleu cheese. If you like bleu cheese I recommend theirs because it’s creamy and chunky just the way it should be. I love fresh toppings and this salad was chalked full of it.
Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese: The flavor combinations and innovations of this place make my stomach happy. I was a bit skeptical but, the cheddar cheese really does taste good with the buffalo sauce. Be adventurous and try this dish.
This place is a bit pricey as you can tell from other people’s reviews however, I have no problem paying for good, well made and well flavored food.

I’ve never been so disappointed in pizza in my life. Waited an hour for the worst pizza I’ve ever had. The crust was as hard as a rock. That is not what deep dish crust is supposed to taste like! The sauce and toppings had zero flavor. Couldn’t finish a slice it was so bad. I wanted to return it, but my husband refused to let me (he disliked it too, but as usual didn’t want to make a fuss.) We will not be giving Gino’s East a second chance. Yuck.

Not impressed. During lunch you can get a almost premade deep dish but only one topping. Reminds me of home slice.
The pizza at that size is mostly bread and sauce. Needs more meats and cheese.
Salad was drowning in Dressing the lettuce had given up and died.
I predict this place won’t last a year.

It was good but I’ve had better.
I ordered the small Chicago Fire and it took over an hour and a half to get here through favor…
The pizza had a lot of sauce and the crust was a bit soggy bc of that but didn’t taste bad. It’s A LOT of food and not sure how I feel about the sauce to cheese ratio. I think I’ll stick to via when I get hit with a mad pizza craving.

Low-​carb vacation so pizza today.
Gino’s is much like the Chitown original and I was not a big fan of that.
I think you need to be from around there to like it. The ingredients are good and the taste is good but I just do not like deep dish style.
Tried the thin crust also. The crust is thin, very dense and crispy. Not really NY style or Neapolitan.
The atmosphere is cool and serving cocktails. The air conditioner has trouble and it was a bit warm and humid making the pleather booths sticky in shorts.
For my low-​carb holidays I have a few other choices before here.

I had a hard time deciding whether or not I wanted to give Gino’s 3 or 4 stars, so read this as a 3.5 star review. The food itself was pretty good, but what I didn’t like about our visit was the awkward experience and the price.
We got here at 11:04 last Saturday for lunch and the hostess told us we needed to wait because they didn’t open until 11. I wasn’t going to be that person and point out the time, so we just said cool and stood out front. A few minutes later she told us we could go in and as we did we walked right into a meeting the staff were having in the middle of the main floor.
As we sat down one of the waitresses in the group yelled that she would be with us in a minute. It was slightly uncomfortable, and when she finally came over I actually caught myself apologizing for being there purely out of habit from feeling like we had imposed.
At least service was great (seeing as we remained the only table there until we left) and the waitress had our salad and drinks out quickly. We shared the Cesar salad and it was okay, nothing special and certainly not worth $ 9 in my opinion. For the pizza we got a small deep dish since we didn’t feel like hauling leftovers around for the rest of the day. It comes with 4 slices so it’s the perfect amount for 2 people.
If you aren’t familiar with Chicago style pizza, they take about 30 – 40 minutes to bake. Bring some friends, share a few appetizers, but don’t make the rookie mistake of getting full before your pizza comes out. Pace yourself because if it’s done right it will be worth it by the time it’s ready.
Ours had lots of melted cheese which I love, but the crust didn’t do it for me. It’s a little too flakey which is great for pies but not pizza. I like more of a chewy dough personally.
All in all, I am glad to have a Gino’s here in Austin. While it’s no Giordano’s, it fits the bill when my craving hits. But $ 50 for 2 people at lunch is crazy. For 2 beers, a small pepperoni and garlic pizza (toppings are $ 2.75 each), and one salad? No.
$ 2.75 to add fresh garlic is ridiculous when I can go buy a head of it for 50 cents at HEB. In downtown Chicago, yes I expect these prices but in downtown Austin not so much. But hey, at least we got to sign the wall which is tradition there so that was fun.

Anthony Bourdain likes to call Chicago deep dish a crime against food. I definitely disagree with that statement, but if Gino’s East here in Austin is supposed to be repping the real deal, then I’m a bit disappointed as I’ve had better elsewhere (though not in TX).
It’s still a long wait 45 – 60 min for your pie, but you can now do carry out. Only problem is that with carry out your pizza is not molten hot, so it loses some of that ooey gooey cheesy awesomeness and the sauce isn’t piping hot. That loses some of the magic for me.
It’s heavy, bready and not as intensely flavored as I thought it would be. Could use more cheese too imo, but the Geno’s Supreme is a sauce heavy, topping relatively light pie. I feel lukewarm about it, but perhaps it was just expectations. Maybe I’ll try again another day for the meaty legend but at the price point, unsure when the next adventure might be…

I had just visited Chicago for the very first time in June, and while I was there, I had tried Giordano’s and Pequod’s. Coming back to Austin, I could not stop daydreaming about a pepperoni/​pineapple/​giardiniera deep dish pizza. Well, the pizza gods were definitely looking out for me, because during my second week back at work, my coworker (from Chicago) let me know that Gino’s East had just opened!
Watttt. I had to get my fix before the end of the week.
Located on Dirty underneath The Parish, Gino’s is pretty spacious consisting of both an upstairs and downstairs. If you’re ordering a deep dish, keep in mind that it’ll take 45 minutes to an hour for your pizza to come out. While you’re waiting, get the spinach sticks or calamari to tie yourself over– both are delicious and come out quickly. As for the pizza itself, it hits the spot if you’re having deep dish cravings. I would say Gino’s almost rivals Giordano’s, but Pequod’s blows both out of the water. All that being said, we ain’t in Chicago, and Gino’s is probably the best we’re going to get in Texas.

Updated… still 5 stars, but I have concerns. Please don’t screw this up! I’ve waited a long time for REAL Chicago pizza in Austin.
First visit 6÷26÷15:
Yay! It’s finally open and I’m here. I’m about to write on the wall, which is tradition at Gino’s East! Yippee! This Chicago girl has been waiting a long long time for real Chicago pizza & not the imitation garbage that’s available other places in Austin.
For opening week, it’s really well organized & efficient. The servers were practically tripping over each other taking such good care of us. Very well done. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be this well organized or good this early on.
The bar area was cool with 4 very large TVs with something different on each channel (congrats US women’s soccer btw), and a nice wine & drink selection.
The food… what I’ve been waiting for… for years and years and years. We started out with cheesy bread & a salad. One of my friends is also from Chicago & he was as excited about this opening as I was. Both were very good & enough food to share between the 4 of us. We also ordered a thin crust pizza (name started with a D) which had cheese, tomato sauce, pepperoni, basil & white truffle oil. Honestly, the pepperoni (even though this vegetarian picked it off) overpowered the truffle oil, so that was a bit disappointing. Don’t mask that piece of heaven that is truffle oil. The pizza was excellent — don’t get me wrong, just couldn’t taste the truffle oil at all.
The one weird thing, though… The server asked us if we wanted our thin crust pizza cut into squares or wedges. Ummmm… ok you Texas folk — get with it. Chicago thin crust pizza is ALWAYS cut into squares. Seriously, don’t even ask. My friend and I both kind of laughed about that.
I’m looking forward to my return visit where I will order my old standby — deep dish cheese pizza and you can cut that into wedges. My Chicago friend is excited to come back, too. We are so glad Gino’s East is finally in Austin! Woohoo!!!
This pizza snob was very pleased!!!
Second Visit 7÷17÷15:
So…we returned 3 weeks after our first visit to give them some time to normalize & try the full menu. My Chicago friend was eager to try the Italian sausage & I was excited to try my usual deep dish cheese pizza. Let me start out by saying it tasted wonderful and I won’t reduce my 5 stars because it’s still the best pizza in Austin and the sweet sauce was perfection. However, comparing the overall pizza to the real deal at Chicago Gino’s East, this was a fail. When they brought out our 3 pizzas, we were like WTF? That’s not Gino’s crust! There was at least 2″ circle of puffy crust coming into the middle of the pie. TOTALLY WRONG!!! It’s supposed to look like a sea of red sauce with a tiny bit of edge crust showing. This was not. All three pizzas looked the same, so they screwed all of them up. Maybe a new cook? I don’t know. We were sad.
We pointed this out to the manager at the end of our meal & he agreed that it was wrong. I was very disappointed but will still go back. However, I will talk to the manager beforehand (as HE suggested) because now I’m not so sure they really know what they are doing. There seemed to be less cheese than in Chicago as well. Normally, you practically choke on that cheese. It was still very very good, just not up to true Gino’s East standards and that was a big fat bummer, especially for the price.