HomeMade Pizza Company

Here ya go folks, bad capitalism at work… they were selling uncooked pizza at a huge mark up and just barely paying minimum wage to most employees, in smaller shops with reasonable rent, so this should have been a gold mine (I worked here for a while, from line, to prep, to management, so I know what I’m talking about), but trying to expand too quickly with banker types will get you in to this sort of mess. If someone were really smart they would snap up these locations and install a Blaze Pizza type high temp fast oven and get re-​opened quick, selling both cooked and raw pizza.

This review is only a reflection on the gluten free crust. I was initially glad to see that homemade pizza co is offering gluten free crust even though it is only available in a medium size and they charge more for gluten free. Unfortunately, this is the worst gluten free crust I have ever tried. I don’t know what blend of flours where used but it has no flavor and after baking it for another 15 minutes past the recommended time it still wasn’t cooked in the middle. If you are looking for gluten free pizza pass on homemade pizza co.

Great pizza, fresh salad ingredients. Extra toppings on pizza are over priced. Delivery times are ridiculous for pizzas that aren’t cooked, about an hour and a half. Seems like mistakes in the order are common.

If you live in a ‘pizza desert’ section of Chicagoland, then perhaps this place is for you.
The pizza quality is basically five star. They have a good selection of premium ingredients on par with the superior pizza dine-​in places in the city. Great crust. Decent sauce but a little light for my taste. At last night’s NYE celebration, I watched vegans fall for the multi-​cheese, vegetarians go for the sausage, and stone-​cold alcoholics quit drinking (for a little while anyway) to make room for additional helpings. Not one of the gastro-​chique guests had anything negative to say about the ingredients and many complimented them.
The bake-​your-​own concept is in my opinion one star at best. Would you order a bucket of cook-​at-​home fried chicken? Chinese? If you did would you want to pay the same for what it normally costs already cooked and ready to eat out of the box?
Also, no matter how you ‘slice’ pizza, if you order here versus anywhere else it is going to be a minimum of an hour before you are eating and possibly much longer if you get delivery or if you make the mistake of going east/​west on North Ave during general evening times. (Seriously people, take Wabansia!).
Overall, this place makes for a solid three stars — which to me translates as it’s fine — but…
The ‘but’ here is that there are tons of serviceable and a handful of fantastic pizza spots around the city, THAT SERVE PIZZA WARM AND READY TO EAT. Perhaps if you are getting multiple varieties for a get-​together and don’t trust your hipster friends to not make a mess using ingredients from the fridge and boboli, which I don’t, it might make sense. Otherwise, in Wicker Park alone, it’s called Pizza Metro (not Pizza Metro II), Santullo’s, or Piece.

UPDATE — yet another night without a delivery driver. the 4^th or 5^th time in the past couple months. they said it was a slow night so they sent him home! going to be looking for a new regular place.
the pizza is 5 star, but this location has horrible service — more times than not they don’t have a delivery driver!
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this place rocks. the cheese is something special. it is a blend, i think mozzarella and Parmesan, but whatever it is, is addicting. it is great. best thin style pizza in Chicago (there, i said it). our staple is a cheese pizza and cheese bread — never fails.
i took one star off for two reasons 1) nearly half the time this location DOES NOT have a delivery driver. very annoying. how can a delivery pizza place not have delivery drivers on Friday night? it seems to be the same hipster guy every Friday — so he’ll be seeing his very generous tips to to pocket change the next few times we see him. and 2) the toppings are inconstant. sometimes the cheese is very sparse while other times, it is overflowing. I’ve read similar complaints on here regarding the toppings. i wish they could keep it consistent.
all in all, great pizza!

This is an interesting concept to me, albeit a good one. You order your pizza, which costs the same as say a normal place for pizza. But you pick it up, and cook it at your house. Fresh ingredients. Very good pizza.
But my gluten free pizza fell apart all over the place. It was like a pile of Italian goodness on my plate, but it did not resemble pizza. :(
I still ate all of it, and it was super yummyness.

I grew up on papa Murphy’s as our go to take and bake, this is better. No, scratch that… This.Is.Amazing!
We ordered two large pizzas to give me a much needed a break from cooking and thinking about meal planning over the weekend. I ordered online and picked up that night. Parking was a little tight, I may or may not have illegally parked for 60 seconds while I ran inside to grab and go. A designated pizza spot sure would hit the spot, *hint* *hint*.
I ordered a BBQ Chicken and a Spinach Pie. The crust is a little thinner than hand tossed and very sticky and doughy pre-​bake. The directions are super easy, just unwrapped it and throw it in the pre-​heated oven right on the parchment paper for 15 minutes. The crust literally bubbles when it bakes and boy is that crust oh so very crispy and good *crunch*.
We enjoyed the BBQ the first night. It was pretty sweet with a little bit of tang. It was good but I could only eat too slices before I was done in by the sweetness. Round two of our weekend pizza the following night was the Spinach. It kept great overnight, although I don’t think they recommend holding these fresh pizzas hostage from getting baked too long after they are made. I modified my pizza to have red sauce, it usually comes with olive oil glaze. It’s the same great crust with lots of spinach, feta cheese, sun-​dried tomatoes, garlic, pine nuts, oregano and I couldn’t resist adding Kalamata olives.
Yeah, it’s a little pricey for carry out pizza but I think it’s worth the splurge. Besides I think I’m in love.

Best gluten-​free pizza I’ve ever had. I don’t live a gluten-​free lifestyle but a friend of mine does so I’ve had my fair share of gluten-​free pizza. We split a medium sized pizza and I almost preferred the gluten-​free crust to the regular crust! Great texture and not too cracker-​like which was a plus. We ordered the four cheese and it was delicious!

The gluten-​free pizza quest continues.
They have a personalized-​ish sized GF crust here. It’s ok. Kind of crackery. Nothing to write home about, really. It’s just ok. Might not be worth the extra effort of baking it at home either when I have found homemade GF crust recipes that don’t take that much more time and taste way better.
Friendly staff though. Informed and helpful.
Had a pear salad that was pretty good, so I think I’ll just stick to those next time.

I’ve been going to this place for years and love the new deep dish and calzone products. Their pizza is made with quality ingredients and ready for you to bake at home.
Now, for the IDIOTS reviewing this place who are mad that they had to bake their own pizzas WHAT PART OF HOMEMADE DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? Are you such morons that you didn’t read anything about this place on its website or this Unilocal page before you ordered? What kind of jabroney doesn’t have an oven in his apartment?
This is a fine place offering a quality product and, yes Virginia, SOME OF US LIKE BAKING OUR OWN PIZZAS WITHOUT ALL THE PREP WORK OF PUTTING TOGETHER QUALITY INGREDIENTS AND TOSSING DOUGH!
What if you like your crust softer? Or a little burnt? The HMPC is there to help letting you do whatever you want. So, to you idiots putting pizza into toaster ovens, I say grow up and join society. If you want the crap made the same way every time go to Pizza Hut. I’m sure you’ll fit in great there with the other mouth breathers. Enjoy reading People Magazine and eating at Wendy’s for the rest of your life, too.

A fun option for dinner! My boyfriend and I love getting the pizza, salad and ice cream combo. The concept is really basic, you just take it all home and pretend like you’ve made it yourself, and frankly, it’s cheaper than just making it yourself, and much better probably!

Delicious and quick!
I like that they’re just off Damen — easier to pull up and grab your pizza without finding a real parking spot in the area.

The Cabo Salad is the most fresh and delicious. Just enough tang, salt and crunch from not only the fresh vegetables but also from the tortilla strips.
I prefer the white 4 cheese pizza, however you really can’t go wrong with any of the pies!

The first two experiences we had here were excellent — they gluten free pizza is amazing and they do a great job at eliminating cross contamination. So delicious. My husband loves the Miesian pizza — a very simple margharita pizza. We also love the Big Salad — so, so yummy!
The last experience we had was extremely disappointing. We ordered online and chose delivery because both my husband and I were very sick and just needed some food. The online system said it would be delivered within the hour. An hour passed. An hour and a half passed. We called, they said they were very busy that night and the pizza had not left for delivery yet. My husband explained that the online system indicated it would be delivered within the hour and the employee explained that the online system gives just an estimate. She was very defensive.
Our pizza arrived 2 hours after it was ordered. And we did not so much as receive an apology for the delay from Homemade Pizza Company. In fact, they were defensive about the reason it was so late. So unprofessional! Disappointing.

I have only the best things to say about their salads, yes salads. I know its a pizza place but I may the one person who still wont buy a pizza she has to cook at home. If its getting delivered, it better be ready to eat.
This is why I eat their salads, I’ve had the Cabo Salad several times and each time it’s amazing. The ingredients taste so fresh and the honey lime vinagrette is delicious!
I put the fresh salad to the test today. I bought it last night intending to eat it today for lunch. and it was still as fresh as could be! You are my only place for salads!

I love HomeMade Pizza Co!!! Yes you do have to bake the pizza at home but it’s not rocket science.
While it is a bit pricey (avg. price for medium sized pizza is $ 15.75) HomeMade uses all natural ingredients and it’s definitely a healthier option than ordering some fatty deep dish. Love the Miesian and the BLT.
I recommend ordering a salad to go w/​your pizza too if you have a couple people you’re sharing with. Ooh and don’t forget to order up a big chocolate chip cookie for dessert and to be extra fatty top it w/​ice cream (reminds me of the pizookie from BJs in CA).
The cutie pie kit is something cute and fun to get if you wanna make pizza w/​ur fam or friends. We ordered a box and made pizzas w/​our lil cousins and they had fun makin their own personal pan sized pizza. The kit comes w 3 choices of toppings, 5 pizza doughs, lil chef hats and aprons.
Ooh and they have a loyalty program order 10 pizzas get one free!

Color me addicted to HomeMade Pizza Co.
When I have a fierce pizza craving, but I don’t want to break the calorie bank, I always go for HomeMade. Here’s why: Sugar-​free whole wheat crust that’s super thin (read: not overly bready), tomato sauce, lots of veggie toppings like roma tomatoes, caramelized onions, spinach and roasted garlic and a nice portion of lean protein like plain grilled chicken done cheeseless is the way to go.
Cheeseless pizza is slightly sacrilege, but hey… sometimes you gotta do it. And when you top it with lots of yummy veggies and chicken I promise you’ll hardly miss the cheese. Okay, you will miss it, but it’s not bad!
The staff is amazingly friendly, too.
Can’t go wrong with HomeMade!

My last experience here was so fab (hence the 5 stars) that I’ve been craving their pizza and salad ever since. The hubby and I recently went back on a Sunday night to pick up a few salads… look at us being healthy!
I attempted to order the Cabo salad, but they told me they were out of avocado and grape tomatoes… half the ingredients! I asked them to replace the grape tomatoes with the tomatoes they use on their pizza. And also ended up ordering one of their small individual pizzas with mushrooms (so much for healthy).
When I got home I opened my salad and all I saw was lettuce, tomatoes and onions. They forgot the tortilla strips, cheese and I’m pretty sure a few other ingredients! The salad tasted as sad as it looked, but fortunately I had my mushroom pizza to make up for it.
It’s worth noting that the hubby was pleased with his pear and goat cheese salad, but I think next time I’ll probably just stick with their pizzas over salad.

It’s damn good pizza but when you’re lazy like me, you’d much rather slip someone $ 20 more to cook it for you.
The salads are DELISH, the service is super friendly, and I LOVE how many interesting pizza options there are, but again, I just really have to hit home with the laziness factor… ooh– and add in a little of the «I can barely boil water» factor and it’s just not a five star combo.
If they throw in the person to cook the pizza for ya, I’d TOTALLY give it the 5 star bump. Love this place and you will too.

They don’t cook for you?! What kind of place is this?!
Well, I will tell you right now, it’s delicious. Thanks to the awesome ladies at Unilocal,Homemade Pizza hooked me up at Summerfest with a coupon for a FREE pizza! Of course, we really enjoyed their yummy nosh at Summerfest, so we went out that same weekend to cash in our coupon.
The staff are exceptionally nice here. They asked if I had ever been in before and explained their entire process to me. All-​natural ingredients come together to form an awesome pizza that you bake in your oven at home. Your choice of crust, toppings, everything. My recommendation: whole wheat crust. I don’t care what you put on top of it, but the whole wheat crust really adds a nice nutty flavor to the pizza that is super yummy. They have a few pizza ideas for you in case you don’t want to build your own pizza, but you can really do whatever you want. There’s a good choice of salads and they come in two sizes so you can share with a friend if you’re so inclined.
I will say that I was impressed with my visit. Everyone was really nice, they upgraded me to a large pizza AND threw in a huge cookie (which you also bake in your oven) for free. That’s what I call class. However, I still can’t get over the prices at this place. I obviously didn’t have to pay for anything so I loved the place even more, but the pizza is pretty pricey. I don’t know if I can get over a place that charges me MORE than some other pizza delivery places to bake the food myself. They will deliver for you, but it’s still raw when you get it and that’ll cost you about $ 20 for a large pizza. I can pay the same at Pizza Metro and get a fully cooked, delicious pizza that requires no work outside of eating it. So I’ll probably go back, but only rarely because I don’t really need to go pick up raw pizza for $ 20 to bake in my oven. Sigh.