Chicago Jaqx Pizzeria & Taphouse

While the pizza isn’t as authentic as a typical Chicago style deep dish; i.e., Connie’s, Giordano, Gino’s, it’s still good.
A better description is full body flat crust pizza.
However, I give big props to the owners who insisted that I try their crust with honey on the edge.

Best pizza in the beach– Love the thin crust pizza.
Growing up on Columbus Ohio pizza– this is the closest I’ve found

I found this gem of a restaurant serendipitously! I had a truly amazing 1^st time visit as I went after the lunch crowd. The owner were exceptionally friendly and went out of their way to answer any question about the food and craft beer. I loved the «swings» on the patio which were inspired from a vacation to Costa Rica that the owners went on. We split a Chicago thin style pizza and the wet Italian beef. Both were as exceptional. I’m looking forward to trying one of their burgers and of course you can’t forgot to try the Famous Chicago Hotdog!

Went with my family to grab a quick bite to eat before we went to Indian Rock Beach. Being from Chicago I have always had a love for Chicago type of food especially pizza and Italian beef. I am comparing this restaurant to «perfect» restaurants such as Joe’s Italian pizzeria off of Harlem in Chicago Illinois and Dukes roast beef on Harlem in Chicago. For starters we got and Italian sausage pizza, a Chicago hot dog all the way, and an Italian beef with cheese. I know as a reviewer’s on here said that the service was slow but for us our food came rather quickly. Our waiter was very helpful and the management staff check with us twice to make sure everything was OK. Overall for this type of bar, restaurant, we enjoyed our experience. I believe we enjoyed the Chicago hotdogs the best because they were made with real Vienna beef. Truthfully the hotdogs could’ve been a little fresher and the bread got a little soggy from the pickle they put on it however it was worth the visit. The pizza was refreshing in the sense that it was not the usual fast food type of pizza. If you’re in the area and need to grab a quick bite to eat I would recommend trying out this place. Please note that this place is also a bar and you may not want to bring small children into the restaurant as some people can be boisterous and loud when they’re drinking.

This is not deep dish pizza… pan pizza would be a better description. The sauce had flavor, but the crust was doughy and had a yeast taste. The Italian beef came drenched when asked to have it on the drier side. It was wet enough that the bread had become a disintegrating gelatinous mess. At best the food was a version of «Chicago-​style» food. The swings outside were nice. The place was empty… that should have bee our first clue.

We visited the last night we where in Florida… I have to say I wished we had been there sooner… The pizza was delicious… Best pizza we have ever had, and the sweet tea is out of this world… Our server Alley was very attentive and the cook actually came out to make sure everything was to our liking… He also gave us a tip to use honey with the crust… We will definitely be coming back to Florida to eat here again…

We’ve been here about 3 times now and I’m not sure why we keep coming back. I think it’s because of the swing seats outside because the food is meh and the service is horrible! Expect to spend at least 2 hours here and that’s if you catch them on a good night, usually longer. They’re always under staffed and the workers don’t get along so if you sit outside be prepared to hear them arguing outside around the side of the building. There is one lady who tries really hard and is super nice but some of the others are completely rude.
As far as food… we’ve had the cheese sticks, garlic bread, thick and thin crust pizza. The thick crust is insanely think and the thin crust is so thin you can barely see it. The cheese sticks are straight out of the freezer box it seems like but the garlic bread is delicious! The first time they gave us honey to put on the crust to eat as a dessert and said it was there «thing» however no one has ever offered or served us the honey on either of the next two visits.
It’s nice to sit outside and super close to the beach but SLyce is right down the road and is WAY better!

Pizza was decent, but RIDICULOUSLY over priced and TINY portion sizes. I don’t recommend wasting your money here and won’t be returning. Even if the pizza was absolutely spectacular, it wouldn’t offset the overpricing and tiny portions. :(

This Chicago themed joint has a ton of potential, but falls short in some really basic categories. Although our server was admittedly new, she had almost no knowledge of the beers or the menu. She was super friendly, but that will only get you so far. I don’t need someone to walk me through the menu, but it’s nice to get a cool suggestion about the menu or a great beer to try.
The food was beyond disappointing. The spinach Calzone was a joke. It was more like a roll with a spoonful of creamed spinach inside of it. The antipasto salad was the smallest salad I have ever had, maybe ever. The Italian Beef sandwich was ok, but the bread should have been toasted and maybe put a layer of cheese on the bread itself. Without either of these, I was left with bread that was so soggy, I couldn’t even pick it up.

Worst experience ever. This is not real Chicago style deep dish. Service was slow. They ran out of soda. I had great expectations… and they were not even close to being met, very disappointing.

Horrible experience. Someone needs to tell the cook to stay in the kitchen and not behind the bar having inappropriate conversations. And turn his stupid rap down. Nothing sets the mood like listening to MY DICK by Mickey avalon. Not only does that song suck, his so called singing is even worse. The chef salad was crap, lettuce cheese and pepperoni. Not what I would consider a chef salad. We would have been better off ordering from dominos. If you want good pizza, DO NOT GOT HERE. You should try slyce or mikes pizza. Hands down superior. Lesson learned, stick to what you know is good.

Worst dining experience I have ever had! The only reason why they get one star is because Unilocal!made me. The atmosphere was silently awkward except for the cook in the kitchen singing along to the blaring rap song «MY DICK» by Mickey Avalon. My husband turned to me and said how inappropriate the song was and that he didn’t want to eat dinner listening to that… our waitress overheard our conversation and went back to the kitchen and told him that people were complaining and then he (the cook) began shouting.
Half way through eating our dinner the cook decided to hang out behind the bar and talk about plucking chicken’s feathers. At that point I was disgusted and done eating. I will never be back to this establishment… not even for a Togo order.

First of all, It took almost an hour for to pizzas. And second of all it was over $ 40. The pizzas were average. Nothing too special.

1 star is the least i could give this place and it doesn’t even deserve that. Here is my story — i called in an order they told me it will take 25 minutes. The order ended up taking 40 minute plus another 10 just trying to pay for it. Being a New Yorker we tend to be in a rush so i can over look the time delay. I got 2 pizza’s (pies) 1 was ice cold and the other was raw, i mean the dough was white and badly cooked! So trust me say away unless you like bad pizza. You are better off going to papa john or some other commercial pizzeria or try Amici

Went here looking for a good Chicago style pizza becuse it was close to my house. The pizza was not a Chicago style pizza. The pizza was tasty but had very little suace. Was loaded with cheese and a fair amount of toppings. I would call it a slight improvement on a Pizza Hut deep dish pizza.

Really enjoyed the deep dish pizza, gourds gone wild on tap, and great service! Love the atmosphere, friendly owner and staff. A must try in IRB!

We encountered very poor service despite the restaurant being mostly empty. My family just left this restaurant before we even placed our food order. The waitress was incredibly rude. We ordered beer, and two of the chilled beer glasses we were given were cracked — and all of the GLASSES came in beer coozies?!? Huh?
One cracked glass of beer spilled all over my father’s lap and the waitress then scolded US for putting the glasses into the beer coozies. What?!?
Then the waitress did not bring out anything to help my Dad clean up for 10 minutes. We had to go into the restaurant ourselves and get napkins and paper towels to clean up the mess. The waitress threw the plates and utensils on the table angrily when she came back to the table. She did not apologize for the difficulties we had until we were about to leave — only then did she give us a half-​hearted «I’m sorry». She did not help clean up the mess and did not offer any recompensation for the spilled glass of beer from the cracked glasses.
We left the restaurant disappointed and angry.

If you like Chicago food this is your place… the deep dish pizza is awesome cook perfect and take the workers advice dip the end Crust in honey wow!.. so good. the Chicago hot dogs are on point. the Italian beef take me back to my childhood growing up in Chicago (yup that good)…Sunday’s are a can’t miss with ½ appetizers and 1 $ drafts. so if your from Chicago and want real! Chicago food. this is your place.

Deep dish pizza and calzones were very good. I enjoyed the atmosphere and liked the house beer. Not sure what went wrong with the other two Unilocal reviewers but I would definitely come back if I wasn’t an out of towner.
The service was outstanding.

I almost feel sorry about writing this review. 1) I’m from the Chicago area, 2) I’ve lived all over the US and England too, 3) I love love love a good pie. When someone claims to have «award winning deep dish crust», I’m thinking Gino’s East down-​town chi-​town. SO excited to walk into a place for the first time expecting someone even remotely close could produce a pie like the true staple and signature of Chicago pizza. Instead I get a modified version of Pizza Hut’s deep dish with limited toppings for 3 times the price. ugh! and ewww!
I’m talking about a totally flavorless crust, like flour pressed with a little salt and some chewy form of filler that filled 70% of their «award winning» deep dish. The «bountiful» toppings where really quite limited and I fit the entire set on one piece of their «award winning crust»… which was the right amount … finally… unfortunately, still tasteless. sigh… never again. PLEASE someone buy this place and produce a good pizza for us locals!!!