Bricks

The Painful is really good. It’s definitely a hot pizza, so not for the faint of heart. The Sweet Heat pizza is also good, but nothing out of this world. We also tried the Popeye, which was just OK. Overall, the Painful is my fave and I crave it. One downside: The pizza is a little pricey for what you get…

LOVE LOVE LOVE their sweet heat pizza! But I have tried 2 others. They’re all good. You can’t go wrong. My bf and I love this place.

I am so happy with our delivery pizza! This may be my favorite delivery option in Chicago. We had half the sweet heat and half regular pepperoni. The crust tasted so fresh and was the perfect thinness/​crispness. Delivery was right on time (maybe even early) despite the snowy weather. Very satisfied and will definitely be ordering again soon! Thank you Brick Pizza! I am so pleasantly surprised!

Don’t judge the book by the cover… You wouldn’t think to step down into the basement off of Lincoln Avenue to try this place, but if you’re in the mood for pizza you should give it a try.
The thin crust pizzas here are great, with my favorite so far being the Painful which had spicy pepperoni, jalapeño, onion and garlic. We also had some goat cheese dip and the slutty ravioli, both great for an appetizer. They have a solid beer selection and some cheap old school beers on the menu also like Schlitz.
If you’re looking to watch a game with some friends, this isn’t your spot because there is only one tiny TV in the corner by the bar. But if you want to have some good conversation with friends over some good pizza in a unique spot, give it a try.

As far as the customer service it was pretty good.
The four star review is for the food. The pizza that we ordered was not bad. It was just average.
We thought the ingredients were not of the highest quality. The crust was good. We also ordered a meatball sandwich: that was pretty good.
With so many options in pizzas in the city, we felt like bricks was just good, not above average.
I love supporting local businesses. I just did not see you why this is so hyped up.
The ambience is nice to take family and friends. It is probably also a nice place to bring people from out of town to have a taste of the city pizza. This would not be my first choice.

I was never able to even place an order. I called to place an order for delivery. She could not hear me because of the background noise. She was eventually able my address. She then put the phone down on the counter and asked everyone around her if our address was «in the delivery area.» After four minutes of listening to her conversation with co-​workers, I hung up.
Moral of the story: they don’t deliver in Lincoln Park.

Two pizza delivery orders — one a week ago that came out fine and the pizza was quite good. The other, tonight, we will never know. The first time I checked on it, the person who answered the phone (about one hour after order) said it was on the way but she had no idea what the driver’s route was. Fair enough. 30 minutes later, still no pizza. The same person on the phone apologized but said she was too busy to call the driver to find out what was up. I pointed out I’m 3 blocks from the restaurant. She apologized it was taking «longer than you expected;» I replied it was «taking longer than you promised» and said if the couldn’t tell me where the pizza was right then they should cancel the order. Order canceled. A competitor brought me (an admittedly lower quality, but half as expensive) a pizza in 40 minutes.

So Bricks is a pizza place located in a half basement in Lincoln Park. It is pretty small and they do not take reservations however the hour wait they promised us really was only half an hour on a busy Saturday night.
We had the Julius Caesar that was on the specials menu and a make your own pizza. Both were fantastic. The Julius Caesar is hot, hot, hot! The other pizza was made without traditional sauce and had chicken, artichoke, Gouda cheese and spinach. Both were cooked to perfection.
The only reason they didn’t get five stars is that you could not engage the bartender. He seem like a nice enough guy but getting him to smile was an absolute joke. When I sit and eat at a bar especially with the group it’s usually not a problem to have a conversation that includes the bartender and when I travel alone it’s necessary.

Just realize Bricks is not family friendly and also has an attitude with customers. Their food is still good, but be aware, you should not visit them when you have a baby.
Bricks has always been my favorite Pizzeria in Chicago, always take friends and family there and was never disappointed. Making reservation could be difficult at times, but it is understandable given their quality.
Over years I thought it is a family (read: kids) friendly place, given that every time I dined at Bricks I also saw there were tables of parents with kids having a good night out like me.
However, I am very frustrated today and feel compelled to provide a one star review to Bricks even if the food is still good. Why? Because of the attitude they gave me when I called to make reservation.
They said, during weekends, they now do not take any reservation. Maybe i haven’t visited them for so long, but I remembered I could make reservation and gave credit card info in advance to let them charge penalty for cancellation or no-​show.
You may say, this doesn’t warrant one-​star. I’d agree if they weren’t that arrogant during the conversation followed. I explained that I have a baby w/​car seat and I’m taking my entire family (6 total) to their restaurant at 6:30 (which is never a high traffic time for Bricks). I asked if they could help me out so that I didn’t have to wait outside in a cold night. Their response was, they are first-​come-​first-​serve and they do not take reservation under any circumstances.
Okay, fine, I hanged up and didn’t try to reason with them any more.
We got there around 6:15, I walked in a full restaurant, put my name in the list, they said it would be 45~60 minutes wait time. I then drove to a nearby supermarket to get some groceries. [One reader argued and made fun of this move. Readers are entitled to your opinion. But there is no place for my family to stay and wait for 45 minutes on that evening. The bar is packed even if I was willing to take the car seat and my baby with me, and there is no parking space around.]
They called in 10 minutes, but I couldn’t pick up the phone, when I pulled over and called back, I was put on hold for a long while and they said I didn’t call back in 15 thus we have to wait from the bottom of the list again.
Is it too much to ask for their understanding and help for a 6:30 dinner? I was not asking for a 8 pm reservation. Sure it’s a high season and even 6:30 could be impossible, but is it too much to ask to put my name on the wait list upon my call ahead? And is it too much to ask for a better estimate of wait time? If Bricks is really family friendly, then they should know they have only a very small waiting space and it’s not that kid/​baby friendly. Put it differently, do guests want to hear baby crying if I’m spending 45 minutes there and my kid got fuzzy? So, having a fairly accurate wait time estimate would help guests to manage their time and kids.
Maybe the waitstaff is too young to understand, or the management doesn’t care since there are enough family guests around old town and Lincoln Park. In any case, now I realize Bricks is NOT family friendly, as indicated on Google Local and Unilocal

Get the slutty ravioli, you won’t regret it! Laid back atmosphere with friendly staff. Pizza was cooked perfectly and was delicious. Has a cool, underground vibe going on with dim lights and bar.

If you want to step it up and get away from your «routine’ style of pizza this is where to go. You should also try their slutty ravioli!

If you enjoy thin crust then stop your searching and go here.
Step into the cave that is bricks and you’ll feel transported back to speak easy days. If you have to wait for a table grab a drink at the bar and savor the delicious smell of pizza.
Once seated order the slutty ravioli immediately. It’s a carb and cheese lovers dream.
As far as pizza anything on the menu is great but the ditka cannot be beat. Since moving to the area we’ve ordered out/​eaten in several times and it has never disappointed.

I thought the place was a cozy, casual place! I loved the setting and the brick walls!
I got the creole shrimp pizza, and it was amazing! There was so much flavor to it! It did cost a dollar extra compared to the other pizzas, but so worth it!
Customer service was regular, nothing special.
I’ll be coming back for the creole shrimp pizza!

Really cool place! You have to walk downstairs and into the basement/​alley — it’s an underground restaurant. The atmosphere is already pretty cool. I went with someone who has been there before and they suggested we get the slutty ravioli (the ravioli is ‘stuffed’ with sausage hence the name!!!) and it is sooooo cheesy and so good. Sauce is delicious. I don’t love sausage, but this was ground with a hint of spiciness so it was very good to me. We also had the pizza of course. We had half cheese and the other half sausage & pepperoni. Nice and thin but so crispy. Definitely a place I’m heading back to in the near future!

Everything was a 4 star experience until we got our check. They have an extremely annoying policy where they don’t split checks. Because of that, I will not be coming back here in large groups.
We had a group of 11 and we all ordered different things. After she brought our check I asked the waiter if she could split the check. Instead of her having a nice attitude, it’s as if she was trying to be a smart aleck and trying to tell me that it’s easier the way it is.
1) I told her it would be more complicated because we all got different things
— she told me «just split the bill 11 ways because the drinks (alcohol) are only $ 37»
2) I said «No, I don’t want to pay for anyone’s alcohol and our pizza prices were different»
— «well you can tell me how much to put on each card and I’ll do it that way»
3) «that’s so much more work then you just printing out separate receipts for each seat because then we’d have to calculate it all»
— «well we put the $ 37 on the back so it should be less complicated»
Then I went back to our table and we spent the next 20 minutes calculating it and we had to add the tax/​tip as well. We had to do something for 20 minutes that could have been avoided by the waiter just simply pushing buttons on her computer for 2 minutes tops.
The entire time, we were thinking we could come back to this place with our other buddies and then at the end, we said forget it, we’re never coming back here again. If they change their policy on checks I’ll come back because the pizza was pretty good.
I have been to one other place that didn’t allow us to separate checks. At least they told us before we sat down that they don’t do it. So our friends who wanted alcohol went and ordered it from the bar to avoid complications.

Perfect location, underground setting and just an okay pizza. We came in the afternoon on a weekend and the place was surprisingly empty and stayed so while we were there. Pizza was ok, crust a little bit too hard and overall experience really not that great.

This is the second time I’ve ordered from here and it’s the same guy that delivers the pizza-​a complete asshole. Also here’s the garlic bread (aka a hot dog bun with garlic on it?) this place is the worst. Pizza hipsters=pieces of shit.

Went here while I was in Lincoln Park before seeing a Second City show and it was delicious! Although I have a special place in my heart for deep dish pizza, I have to say I loved this thin crust pizza almost as much as I love deep dish. My boyfriend and I shared a medium «painful pizza» and it was the perfect size and had amazing toppings– pepperoni, onion, and fresh jalapeño. What else could you want?
In addition to the pizza, they also had a great selection of beer. I got one I had never heard of and I loved every sip of it. Definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone in the area!

I’ve had mixed experiences with this Bricks location.
My first visit here months ago, the boyfriend and I were hungry for pizza. It was relatively late Saturday night (10pm-​ish) and their hours listed them as open. When we got there, the staff were at the bar eating and giving us blank stares. Finally one of them told us that they were closed. Weird. We had talked to the «bouncer”/doorman checking IDs for Drop next door and he said, «Yeah depending on the night, they’ll close early just because.»
Ugh.
Second visit weeks later was for a pick-​up order. The boyfriend and I went there to pick up the order and it took a few minutes for someone to help us. The bartender had told us the server would take care of us. She was busy doing paperwork and didn’t seem in a hurry at all to give us our order.
Ugh.
The thin crust pizza was fantastic though when we got home.
Since the pizza was good, I agreed to give Bricks another try yesterday. I had dinner with a friend who hadn’t been to Bricks in ages. It wasn’t crowded on a Tuesday evening, so we were sat down right away.
We ordered «The Beverley» and a couple of beers. We didn’t have to wait long for the pizza, probably 20 minutes. It was delicious! The ingredients were fresh and was pretty darn spicy! It was good!
In terms of atmosphere, it does feel like you’re eating in a basement, it’s pretty dark, but it’s clean anyway. Our server was nice. She didn’t check up on us a lot. I would say the minimum any server could check up on customers.
TL;DR — Bricks thin crust pizza is definitely one of my favorites in the city! I rate the food highly! Customer service isn’t the best, but it’s not horrible either… the service is pretty much meh.

Nothing at Bricks was bad. Service was great and very accommodating of our large group. But nothing was stellar either. I tried three things: the sausage stuffed dates, the slutty ravioli, and the Ditka pizza. My main problem with all three: the meats had no flavor! Dates tasted like tomato sauce, with none of the saltiness of the prosciutto or sweetness of the date. Slutty ravioli tasted like bland sausage (similar to ground beef in taste/​texture). Ditka pizza tasted pretty strongly of canadian ham but many of the other components lacked flavor. It was a solid spot to bring a large group in a pinch, but I wouldn’t go there for the cuisine. Evidently the beer selection is quite good if you’re into that.

Took my boyfriends parents here over the weekend, and we absolutely loved it. It was a delightful experience and the food was delicious.
I really like that it is in the basement giving it a speaky-​easy vibe and the décor and furniture really brings it all together. It was surprisingly not that busy or overcrowded for a Saturday night, which I had no problem with! Great beer selection too.
I love thin crust pizza (because I can eat a lot of it) and Bricks serves up a mean thin crust pizza! Very pleased with what we ordered. I forgot the name of our pizza, they all had funky names, but it was BBQ chicken pizza, and my bf’s dad got one that had artichokes all over it. So so good. Unfortunately I did not order the slutty ravioli as recommended due to the scary amounts of cheese we saw in peoples pictures, but I will get it next time for sure. We also ordered the prosciutto wrapped/​sausage stuffed dates. They were just ok, not amazing and a tad overpriced.
I will be back again, no doubt about it!

Ordered in to Hotel Lincoln just a block away. Large pizza was $ 23, not a lot of flavor and no visible sauce.
We asked for plates and napkins, as we are in a hotel, they didn’t have plates but did bring us napkins. 6 napkins for $ 3.50! They charged us for napkins, do they charge for napkins if you dine in?!
The total with tip was $ 34, for a bland pizza. I ate in once and enjoyed my meal but this was way over priced and not good. Bricks is a huge delivery fail.

We are staying at Hotel Lincoln and arrived fairly late on a Tuesday evening. The excellent bellhop Joseph recommended that we walk the few blocks to Bricks. Excellent suggestion!
Our group of eight enjoyed the rather unique and interesting atmosphere. It was cozy but comfortable and the server quickly pushed several tables together to accommodate our group. We all ordered different pizzas from the wide selection of unique house pizzas. Beware! The pizzas are served extremely hot so give them a few minutes to cool.
My first love is deep dish, especially in Chicago but this was some of the best thin crust pizza I have ever had. There were several vegetarian specialities on the menu, almost too many to choose from at least at the late hour of our arrival. I finally settled on the Popeye and it was excellent.
The beer menu is HUGE and there are various beer and wine specials on different days of the week.
Highly recommend if you are in the area… or even if you aren’t it is worth a drive.