Pagliai’s Pizza

The pizza was okay, nothing to brag about. I was a little disappointed because I had heard such great things. Service was good and seems to be a «hip» place to work. I would eat here before Pizza Hut but that is about it.

This is a Charleston classic! Love the house special. Kids are a big fan of the cheese sticks. The owners are great supporters of our local community as well. They get super busy because of how popular they are and how superb the pizza is and a fun staff greets you with a smile. Say hello to «Dan Dan the pizza man!»

This pizza is worse than any frozen pizza I’ve had. I can’t understand how this place has stayed in business for all these years and the positive reviews of it! I went to Pagliai’s 30 years ago on a date and both of us didn’t like the pizza. After reading all the positive reviews, my husband and I decided to try it this past weekend. HUGE mistake! $ 35 for a House Special, which I had seen highly recommended, and a thin crust pizza with pepperoni, onion and sausage. The thin crust was paper thin and toppings were sparse and tasteless. The House Special was a bit better, but from reviews we expected spicy sausage and sauce. Neither was spicy, just bland, and there was a terrible garlicky aftertaste. I guess my opinion of 30 years ago still stands. If you want good pizza, try Jerry’s. We won’t be ordering from Pagliai’s ever again.

Best pizza in Illinois outside of Chicago. Killer thin crust, great sauce and cheese. Can’t go wrong with their sausage.
Their spaghetti is trash, but I don’t go for the spaghetti (although a lot of people do).
The pizza is a little pricey, but well worth.

We stopped in here for a supper break from moving my daughter upstate. I had been here before years before, but with fellow firefighters, and my wife hadn’t been here. Staff; very friendly, and helpful. Even though they were obviously very busy, we were seated very quickly and our drinks arrived also quickly. the setting was pretty nice, I would rather not have had everyone’s bright headlights in my face while we dine, but that is apparently what we had to work with, as the parking is literally two feet from the front row of tables. live and learn. here is where this hiccup begins. AMBUSH! we look at the menu, and we see pretty much «pizza, and here are available toppings»…kind of like the breakfast menu in «my cousin vinny» in that little diner. so we chose to try the cheese sticks, a salad, and a 12 inch –what I would call a *deluxe* pizza, as we chose several of the toppings. the waitress seemed very surprised at our order and stated she had never seen anyone order a pizza like that. our salads arrived in a reasonable time, but I use the term «salad» VERY loosely. what we got was, some bagged del monte lettuce and a packet of kraft ranch dressing. in my mind, bagged lettuce does NOT a salad make. it seemed fresh enough but talk about CHEAP. after a very extensive wait, upwards of half an hour, our cheese sticks arrived. (in that time, I counted 45 pizzas out the door). I thought they just had gotten our pizza wrong, as it was basically a 12″ cheese pizza cut in strips. ok… tasty, but a bit out of what one would expect for two people when they order cheese sticks. then our pizza arrives, and again the waitress seemed really excited and shocked at the pizza we had ordered. it is a GREAT pizza… one that was as good as any pizza I had ever eaten. the toppings were tasty, fresh, and you could actually taste the different toppings. so we finish, and walk up to the counter to pay… here’s where the good times end! $ 45.00 +!!! THIS IS A 12″ DELUXE PIZZA, TWO SMALL BOWLS OF LETTUCE, TWO POPS, AND CHEESE STIX! I suppose the term «let the buyer beware» really applies here, or we didn’t read the fine print in the menu NEARLY well enough. I will probably not be back, as I consider this «ambush pricing». if every topping is considered a separate meal, or side item, and are priced accordingly, then this would explain $ 25 for the 12″ pizza only… which was what this cost. You may have a good pizza, but I could have eaten at Red Lobster for that!!! I think maybe a warning from the waitress, who was advised we were from out of town and totally unfamiliar with the place, about the pricing may have been in order. these sides were NOT marked with a price that I saw, nor did it jump out at me that each side would be a separately priced menu item. perhaps the yokels already knew to only EVER order two toppings or less!
Maybe someday, we will come back… but I doubt it. the pizza was really good… but a 12″ piece of dough with sum stuff on it does not constitute the $$$ that they are charging.

It’s Pagliais. All townies know and love it. We have family in Chicago who look forward to Pagliais and try to eat as much of it as they can when they’re here. Pan crust is amazing. Thick crust, just as good. Ham pizza and mushroom is usually kind of an unknown gamble when ordering from somewhere else but its amazing from here.

The pizza is ok. It’s a bit tasteless, but that’s to be expected in the middle of nowhere. My major problem is the customer service. I know Pagliai’s mostly likely deals primarily with college kids, but I am not going to spend my money to deal with their attitude for mediocre pizza. Every time I order, I get incredibly rude kids on the phone. I will not order from here again until there are prices on the website, as I feel ridiculed whenever I ask what the cost of things are. Tonight, I asked the person on the phone for a paper menu so I could have the prices when I order. He sent a menu with no prices listed. I’m done.

I hadn’t been to Pagliai’s in at least 13 years. The place hadn’t changed a bit! The décor is still the same, the service is still top notch, and the pizza is still some of the best in Illinois!
Pro tip: we discoverd an odd combo that works really well. Pizza with refried beans, black olives, and pepperoni. Weird, but awesome.
So good, we went two nights in a row!

Last night my family visited Paglia’s for a family meal. My husband and his family are natives of the area and have been going there since the 60’s. The experience was the worst I have ever encountered due to the rudeness of the manager Dan. He was completely uninterested in hearing of our daughter’s dietary restriction and completely ignored us after our very pleasant waitress assured us would talk to us. When he did finally speak to us his rudeness was incomprehensible for someone in the restaurant business. He told us to F off in front of our 8 year old. Shame on you Dan! His parting comment was for me to go back to my own country! I was born in Scotland but am a now a US citizen. This is my country. Thankfully this country is known for its customer service. Dan you need to revisit a customer care course and learn from your competitors. I will never revisit the restaurant.
Very disappointing.

Good food. It was seat yourself, and was waited on quickly. However we had a party of 6 and had to sit in 2 booths across from each other. Very friendly staff. Pizza was good with generous amount of toppings. Crust was good and not soggy. Salad was lettuce only, would prefer to have a few toppings like tomatoes, cheese, maybe croutons, also generous portion for side salad. all the food was very good. Will come back again.

I’ve gotten pizza from Pagliai’s a number of times now, and I like it just fine. The pan pizzas get a nice crunch on the bottom of the crust while still being chewy on the inside. The meat toppings are all pretty salty — too salty for me. I do enjoy the veggie pizzas they make, though, and the cheese sticks are quite good. The buckets of tortellini that you can take to go are also tasty and are a grown-​up version of the classic Chef Boyardee meal.
It’s not worth ordering the garlic bread, trust me — the garlic/​butter barely covers the inside of the bread and it’s altogether a disappointing experience.
In all, I’m from the Chicago area, so I’m used to having a bunch of non-​chain pizza restaurants at my disposal. Pagliai’s is a solid choice if you’re wanting something a little more flexible than Little Caesar’s. Just not my all-​time favorite.

Best pizza ever! I’ve tried Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s in Chicago, various pizza places in NYC and LA, Pagliai’s is the best!

Really liked the thin crust pizza. Good salad. Great Server. Would go back.

Reviewer’s note: I am an extremely hard-​to-​please pizza fan. I grew up in a mid-​sized city full of high quality pizza places, so I’m spoiled, and my standards are unrealistically high. So take this review with a grain of salt, and probably add a star. lol
That being said, Pagliai’s is pretty good for what it is. Crust and toppings are pretty decent, however Pagliai’s can be a little too salty for my tastes.
For the price, Pagliai’s is a pretty good value. If you, like me, have unrealistically high pizza standards, Pagliai’s won’t meet them, but you’ll get a good pie!

Paglias in Charleston has been the best pizza downstate since my parents were in highschool (60s)… and is still the bomb.
It is very well managed (by Paul Pagliai).The kitchen setup is in full view, and they use an old school dough roller machine and front loader gas ovens, which is kind of fun to watch if you haven’t seen before. It really is an efficient bustle of pizza slinging activity. They crank out the pies like a well oiled machine.
It is pretty small, so expect it to be packed if you are there on a weekend, but the atmosphere is good, as is the service.
They make their own sausage and it is AWESOME. Great garlic flavor. I highly recommend the HOUSE SPECIAL (thick crust with extra sausage & extra cheese). Believe me you won’t be sorry!
I am not into leftovers and won’t even eat most pizza after it has cooled down, but we will fight over the last few pieces of house special for breakfast. It is even good COLD! The heavy & doughy thick crust just seems to take on a new personality after it has been refrigerated — kind of like homemade beef & noodles do.
If you prefer thin crust, I recommend the Pancho Villa. It sounds weird, but is is surprisingly good & is a break from conventional marinara sauce. (I have seen many a skeptic convert after they try it). We generally switch the beef with sausage to give it a little more jazz.
The spaghetti is not worth eating IMHO, and you aren’t going to get a fancy salad here. but if you don’t think the pizza is awesome them you are probably ignoring the recommendations of the folks that have been eating there for years and getting the wrong pie (who recommended pepperoni &… Green peppers???). BTW, you can also have a beer with your food here which is a good pairing with the salty sausage.
I grew up in C-​ton, and was always partial to Jerry’s (pizza/​salad buffet anyone?)and Monicals as a kid, but
now that I have a more refined palate (and no longer live in the area) I find Paglias is what I crave.
Yes it costs more than some of the other places… and you aren’t going to find a bargain coupon… but if you want to get stuffed with some awesome pizza this is the place to do it.

Its the best pizza in Charleston by far! Been eating there every since I was a little kid. Make sure you get the cheese sticks they might just be the best thing on menu!

The house pizza is the best! Crust is perfect and the sausage is amazing! Cheese sticks are the bomb as well.

Love thus pizza!!! Have to have it every time i am in town! Nothing like it anywhere else.

Given that there’s no Lou Malnati’s, Rosati’s, or Giordano’s anywhere nearby, I suppose this might be the ‘best’ pie in Charleston… but then again, it’s a looong way from Chi-​town, the alleged pizza capital of the USA. I got a half-​n-​half 10″ with green peppers and ‘roni on my side, and it wasn’t bad. Not great, not awful, just pretty good.
The salad I got was kinda funky; the lettuce was wet and somewhat wilted. Instead of croutons there were prepackaged crackers sitting on top of my salad next to the packet of Kraft honey mustard dressing. I sat there thinking «did I just order from a restaurant or a high school cafeteria lunchline?» Hmm…
I get it, it’s a local, no-​frills, family-​owned-​and-​operated place, and I’m totally okay with that, since the bill was on-​par with the meal. It ain’t no downtown Chicago pizza parlor, but the pies are made right there in before you, so that’s kinda cool.

Very early on dating my future hubby, we went for pizza. I have no idea what restaurant it was, but when I commented that it was good, he said, «Yeah, but it’s no Pagliai’s.» He proceeded to compare EVERY SINGLE PIZZA we ate to Pagliai’s for the next FIVE YEARS before we were able to take a trip to Illinois from Texas.
B’s favorite thing about the pizza is the sausage. I think it’s made specially for them. Since I’m veggie, I just appreciated the crisp crust and flavorful sauce.
I don’t think we’ll be back to Charleston since we no longer have family there, but I will be listening to comparisons to Pagliai’s for the next 20 years.