Red Flame Pizzeria

This business is closed and has been so for awhile.
Just a few quick details. I liked the idea and freshness behind the pizza and the business it was. Hand tossed thin is a nice change from the typical Chicago style, so for the once in awhile I liked it.
Speaking to their location, there was definitely less traffic and staff /​atmosphere that wasn’t lively, didn’t quite help it. The mood seemed like it was always the same. So, there was an identity crisis. As a restaurant, who were they? Themed nights or specific music would have enlivened it.
Checked it out a couple times, for either pizza or booze specials. At times there were bartenders with a good heavy pour and other times there were servers that didn’t quite know how to serve correctly. One detail to how pizza was served; it was placed atop a large can of whatever brand red tomato they used for their pizza sauce. Gosh. I’ve seen that thing topple over more than once. I can see how it was a great idea, however didn’t work out as nicely.
Too bad they had to go, I think if they reopened in a food court at a Chicago University or on a campus, they would do greatly.

2^nd time I have been duped into coming here only to be greeted by an empty restaurant. This time the sign says until further notice. However the place seems long abandoned. Don’t think I’ll be trying my chances again.

There are signs on the door that say closed until further notice :(

This place is not good. Because I went there today. And it no longer is open. So. Zero stars.

Red Flame is boarded up. Signs in the window say «Closed until further notice, sorry for any inconvenience.»

My favorite neighborhood pizzeria. No waiting, no fuss, no complaints here! My girlfriend and I strolled up with our groupon and had a yummy pizza within minutes. The outdoor patio is also a nice addition.
We ordered the mixed green salad and Prosciutto Pizza. The salad was more gourmet than the name implies, but it was very heavy on the oil. Still the cheese and and croutons were very tasty. The Prosciutto pizza was a solid choice. There was lots of arugula, and I loved the mix of the saltiness of the meat and cheese. I’m clearly a fan of the grilled style and can’t wait to try a few more of the varieties.
FYI, there are a lot of great beers on tap and the pizza is buy one get one free on Wednesdays.

Lately, I have been intrigued by the idea of grilled pizza dough; I kept hearing and reading about it on my favorite cooking blogs, but did not have the time/​patience to try to figure out how to make it on my own. Enter Red Flame. After seeing it on Groupon and checking with Unilocal,I snatched up the Groupon and planned a date night with the BF.
Started off with some good craft brews (Allegash on draft!!), though it was a tough decision between beer and wine because Red Flame had good options in both departments. A rare find in pizza restaurants/​bars as they usually focus on one (typically beer) and the other is skimped or outrageously expensive. But at Red Diablo they have a wide variety of affordable wines, 40 under $ 40, to be precise, and at first I couldn’t decide if beer or wine would be better. Ultimately though, you can’t go wrong with beer and pizza, right?
The white diablo appetizer was divine, especially the diablo sauce it came with. These were no frozen mozzarella sticks, these were fresh balls of mozzarella goodness, lightly deep fried to perfection. AND it came with a slightly spicy diablo dipping sauce that I caught myself eating with a spoon when the mozzarella balls ran out. I would have got the diablo on my pizza as well, but the BF can only tolerate spicy in small amounts. We went with the Smoque daddy pizza, which is a spin on the usual BBQ chicken pizza, complete with Smoque’s fantastic BBQ sauce drizzled on top. The BF is a pizza snob and usually scoffs at thin crust pizza, but this one caught him off guard and we both came back for seconds, thirds, and contemplated fourths, but realized that this would be complete gluttony. The dough is delicious and carefully grilled so that it is crispy, but not well done. The pizza itself seemed to have an addictive quality that was hard to avoid. The BF and I did surprisingly have some leftovers, and no joke had to do rock, paper, scissors the next day to decide who would get to eat them (rock all the way baby!). Luckily yours truly won, and I ate the last two pieces with pride. Red Flame is an awesome place for a date night, girl’s night, or just a place to get an excellent pizza. Just make sure you go here with someone you can negotiate with, because you might find yourself quibbling over that last piece of pizza!
PS Buy one get one free pizza on Wednesdays!

Pizza was good. Service was good.
Place smelled a little like stale beer and vomit when we first arrived.

What an absolute gem! This is one of those situations where I want Red Flame to be successful and have lots of customers, but also want to keep the secret to myself :) I guess this time I will be generous and share the joy of Red Flame!
First of all, the location and ambiance are great — it’s just a really chill place with a big bar in the middle and tables scattered around. Nothing fancy, just a friendly chill place. The waitress was super friendly and attentive.
They have a great beer and wine selection, and some of the cocktails looked pretty good too although I didn’t sample any. The pizza is what really shines here — they have a GREAT selection of red and white thin-​crust pizzas, with a lot of specialty toppings and even a spicy marinara sauce for those who are so inclined (I am!). The pizza was absolutely delicious — the crust is a perfect balance of crispy and fluffy, the ratio of sauce to cheese was divine, and the whole thing just tasted great together. I will definitely be back again and again! And then I might upgrade to 5 stars :)

I was definitely impressed with Red Flame yesterday.
We got there just after 7, and there were two other tables seated, but Sunday night, that’s okay. The restaurant/​bar has a very standard «Chicago neighborhood bar» feel to it, which I really like.
We were greeted promptly by the bartender/​server and informed him we had the groupon (2 beers and 1 pizza.) He gladly walked us through the menu, explaining everything we could order (with or without the groupon.)
My other half ordered his beer based on it’s name: Rogue Dead Guy, and really liked it.
I asked the bartender what he thought of the Lagunitas Dogtown Pale Ale, and he recommended the Lagunitas Lil Sumpin’ Sumpin’ IPA instead. I was not disappointed!
On to the pizza… We ordered the wild shrooms white pizza, which was great, but I had expected more goat cheese, the flavor got lost, and I’m not really sure if it was even there. The crust was (as described by the bartender) very thin and crispy. Nearly perfect.
I’m not in the area often, but if I am, Red Flame will be on my radar!

On a recent Saturday night in March five of us tried the RedFlame all for the first time. It is located in the space formerly occupied by the Clybar tavern. The setting and atmosphere are reminiscent of the very comfortable old-​time saloons that had been so prevalent in Chicago but have now dwindled down dramatically in number. A wide assortment of pizzas is available along with a decent selection of wines and beers. On the night we visited the place had few customers. Two servers were on duty, and a Groupon was readily accepted.
We ordered two pizzas: a redFLAME Original with Italian sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and basil; and the Quatro with chicken on one-​half side. The consensus was that the pizzas were just fair. A unique process is used to cook the pizza that entails grilling just the dough then adding the toppings and cooking it under a flame. Our pizzas turned out to have crusts that except for the edges were rather limp, and although the quality of the ingredients was OK, the pizzas tasted bland. Moreover, the first pizza didn’t include basil in the toppings as ordered.
The atmosphere was pleasing and the service friendly and attentive; however, we were there for the pizza that turned out to be disappointing and not recommended.

So, we were frequent Clybar goers and so it was only a matter of time before we made it to Red Flame to check out our old hangout. They have done some updating to the bar and it looks nice, added wine racks and some nice wood paneling. When we walked in I was a little confused about what this place was trying to be, they had the Bulls game with the sound on, could have done without that, being a restaurant, but I guess it is a casual place so that’s ok.
We had the caprese salad for an app and they have some good beers on tap. Also a pretty large wine list! Affordable prices too! We had one red pizza and one white. They have a lot of interesting choices. We got the Smog and the Californian. Both were great. I loooove thin thin pizza and they have it down here. Super fresh tasting ingredients and tons of choices. I can’t wait to come back to taste the Smoke Daddy BBQ Chicken pizza. The prices are super affordable too!
I did see the Pizza tour in front of it one one day too, so if they are stopping there, you know it is worth checking out!

The white pie is pretty good.

Pizza and beer– could it get any better? Yes. Yes it can. Specialty pizzas made right. They grill the pizza then throw it in the oven– so the bottom is crispy and the top is perfectly cooked.
I’ll probably be the only person in Chicago that will admit that I do not like deep dish. I think it’s just too much food. But Red Flame’s pizza is just my style. Thin with a tasty crust and fresh toppings. Going to go back with my husband for some more because we did not get a chance to try the s’more pizza.

Yum! Fun pizza place that I didn’t know existed. Probably because it’s in an AWFUL location, but don’t let that stop you from checking it out.
When we went service was pretty slow b/​c there was clearly only one person working on a Thursday night. I figure that was likely a fluke, though, and the guy did a pretty impressive job, considering.
We got the southside with diablo sauce, which wasn’t exactly spicy, but it was still flavorful and good. We also got the wild shrooms, which was creamy and savory. The white pizza was our favorite in the restaurant, but when we heated the leftovers, the red one was the big winner.
Only downside is that it’s not cheap. Frankly, I’ve been coming to the sad conclusion lately that pizza in Chicago is never cheap, so I can’t fault them much for this. Plus they have great specials. Go on Wednesday for 2 for 1 pizzas, or Thursday for half price drafts, which are great craft beers for like $ 3.

Really like this pizza… red sauc is great and I had the death by pizza… yeah loaded with everything. Tasted the mushroom as well. Love that thin crust like sapori. Staff was great and I have seen many places fail here over the years. Make sure you give this place a try cause I want to come here forever… Shit they gave us some sauce on the way out because we asked…

I have been to Red Flame twice and both times give it two thumbs up. The pizza is amazeballs delicious, the wine is cheap and the staff is great. Plus, it is supah close to my abode.
I have not tried the «white» ‘za but the red is delicious (go with the diablo sauce if you like it extra spicy!). One time we went with arugula (a veg-​te-​ble) and prosciutto and the other my favorite staple of all, pepperoni. Really solid and unique cooking process that is definitely working well.
They often have Groupons or Groupon nows so keep yours eyes peeled!

Sadly, this winner of a pizzeria was a downright ghostown during prime dining time on the night we stopped in. This is a shame b/​c I do declare: redFlame is cheap, delicious pizza bliss!
We had the specialty pizza, called the Bucktown (whipped roasted garlic goat cheese, mushrooms, and spinach), and the Southside (hot giardiniera, chili oil, and italian beef). I’m a vegetarian, and my portion of the Southside was graciously prepared sans sausage.
RedFLAME utlizes a double cook process, which means the pizza is first grilled, then baked. The result is an oxymoronic crust; chewy, crispy, crunchy, fluffy perfection. Design-​your-​own and chef-​designed pies are offered, as are fresh-​and-​creative topping choices. Both pizzas were well executed and extremely flavorful, but what really hit this one out of the park is the fact that BOGO pies are offered on Wednesday nights.
Best pizza I’ve had (so far) in Chicago.

Is it a bar or a restaurant? Walked in on a sunday night and the place was dead. There were 3 – 4 regulars sitting up at the bar (I’m assuming since they looked like they were ready for bed in sweats and slippers.) chatting with the bartender. The bartender was taking care of us, pleasant guy.
We ordered the trio of bruschetta and the buffalo chicken pizza. The sun dried tomato pesto spread had way too much spread and was kind of boring. The tomato was typical and the goat cheese was tasty, although it to had too much goat cheese. The best part of the pizza was the crust, grilled pizza who knew! Unfortunately the light, airy, and crunchy crust was weighed down by too much cheese. The other toppings were okay. And the pizza was hot for the first piece then just a touch warmer than room temperature by the second. Got to fix that!
I will give this place another shot based on the crust alone. Probably ask for easy cheese and try the philly or Italian beef. We are a 3min drive from here, it’s not exactly a destination place where you would be willing to drive 20mins to eat. Hope they figure things out.

redFlame is in the old Clybar space, and after a little talking with the waitress it turns out it is the same owner as the original time Clybar was opened, before it was under new management. I used to live two doors down so I am probably the only one that understands this haha, sorry.
Long story short this location has a lot of turnover probably because of the slightly odd location it is in (not close to any trains what-​so-​ever) I am hoping it will be able to fare better as a restaurant than a bar. Meter/​permit-​less street parking is very easy to find in this area on Clybourn or MarshField.
They have 17 specialty pizza options on the menu along with a good variety of libations for those needing a drink or two; hard liquor, draft beer and wine from their floor to ceiling wine rack.
All the pizza’s on the menu sounded amazing and it was a tough decision. We ended up with the buffalo chicken and the wild shrooms which is one of their white pizzas. Both were good, the first piece of the mushroom pizza was fabulous when it was still hot and the cheese was gooey, but it seemed to cool quick, so eat fast! Their pizzas are grilled, yes you can see the grill marks on the bottom. The crust is nice and bubbly though it was a litte burnt for my taste and I ended up leaving part of each piece uneaten.
They have good weekday specials on their website, we went on wednesday which is buy one get one pizza’s. Between us we got two pizza’s for $ 18 or $ 9 each for those not good with mental math), half of which we ended up taking home and will be more than one meal.

I live REALLY close to this place, and I was really looking forward to the grand opening. It meant I could order a pizza, not pay a delivery fee and get there and back to pick it up in 1 minute or less.
I went 2 nights ago, and it’s really nice here. It has a very classy upscale feel based on the décor and lighting. However, the music was really off (strange selection of songs) and all the TVs were broadcasting sports games. The prices are also pretty up there, fancy pizza prices. So, it was like somebody couldn’t make up their mind about whether this would be a sports bar or an upscale pizza restaurant. There’s some nice deals on beer by bottle or on tap, but then there’s the fancy looking wine racks lining the back wall. So, it was *interesting*.
As for the food, I ordered the Daddy. My roommate suggested it after she went. she said she doesn’t normally like chicken BBQ pizzas but that this one was an exception. I ordered that, and it was alright. I wasn’t a fan of the cheese blend on it, and I think they add salt to their pizzas, because some parts of the crust were SUPER SALTY. The salty crust was the only real downside to the food. My friend ordered their spinach pizza, and it would have been great, but again, too much salt on some parts. So, I’d suggest they cut that salt out or cut it down. It’s ruining the great pizza. The crust was great as far as texture and flavor (salt aside) goes.
I’ll go again some time soon I’m sure, and maybe I’ll be able to update this review once they’ve settled into the neighborhood.