District of Pi

This place was great! Cornmeal crust pizza was a nice change from the big chain pizza places. It was sooooo good. Service was very attentive, even though it was Saturday night. Garlic bread app with a roasted garlic was also excellent. We can’t wait to go back.

We came here Saturday nite with 5 people. The host and hostess were very nice and very helpful. Got a scotch at the bar – they know what single malt is, but no big ice cubes.
On to dinner, salad and pizza. Now basically we ordered the salad to have some food while waiting for the semi-​deep dish pizza. Problem was the salad came out AFTER the pizza!?! How did they manage that one? Kalefornication Kale salad was ok. Deepdish pizzas were good but not amazing. Delmar — supposedly the best and most ordered — was ok but the barbecue sauce was overdone. Southside was better and the tomota sauce ample. The Western with spinach was probably the best.
Our waiter was very competent and attentive. The expediter and food runners were clearly overwhelmed. My recommendation is … If you want great deep dish pizza, try Lou Malnatti’s in Chicago.

First, this place has one too many names: district of pi, pi pizzeria, pizza pi beer! I think they should consider changing their storefront to one of the three and ensure it matches what’s online (i.e. On Unilocal and on their website).
But back to the real review… this was the best «casually-​stumbled-​upon» restaurant I’ve been to since Lincoln’s Waffle Shop slash perhaps since I’ve moved to DC (almost 3.5 years ago).
My friend and I tried the Delmar deep dish, which was reminiscent of classic pizza (cheese on top) as it did not have any tomato sauce. The deep dish crust is AMAZING! I typically love cornmeal doughs, so that was a plus and a surprise, especially since most gluten-​free products taste sandpaperish. I don’t have a gluten allergy, but I appreciate that fact, since I have a close friend that does.
The small size is more than enough for two people. We also split a small house salad (which was actually a generous portion) to complete our well-​balanced meal. I do think the pizzas are expensive but split between two it’s not that bad.
This is by far my favorite deep dish pizza spot in DC and this is coming from someone who has had the giordano’s and Lou malnati’s in Chicago. I plan to go back for more!
The space is pretty large too; they have a great back area that could potentially be rented out for a party or happy hour.

Dear Pi, I love you. After going to college in St. Louis and moving to NY after graduation, I crave the deep dish that Pi offers. Lucky for me, I find myself in DC quite a bit!
Every time I am in town I make it a point to stop in. I have never tried a pizza there I don’t like. They have the perfect proportion of cheese to sauce to toppings. The kirkwood is hands down the best pizza on the menu. I also love the garlic bread because I think it is so neat that they give you fresh roasted garlic. Everyone needs to come here!!!

When we got to this restaurant we were seated in the bar… way too small of a table for 4 people to have dinner. Luckily as soon as we sat down I asked to be moved… thank goodness we were there on Dec 28^th so place wasn’t too busy. They moved us to the first table that opened. That was great. The main dining room is nice! The wait staff is super friendly! The food… I’ve had better… much better.
I love deep dish pizza and was so excited to try this place. I had eaten at a place called blue line pizza in San Fran, which served cornmeal crust deep dish. It was amazing!
So when I saw there was a cornmeal crust deep dish place in DC, I had to go. I live here and if I could get that all the time I’d be in heaven… then I ate there. It was no blue line pizza. The crust was pretty bland, over cooked and very dry. Sadly, I’m back on the hunt for yummy deep dish! Guess if I want pizza in DC I’ll continue to go to Mellow Mushroom.

pizza is just ok here. it’s deep dish, but I don’t love the crust (and the crust is what makes deep dish for me). The sauce isn’t anything special, and I could hardly taste any of the toppings that were on the pizza.
Also tried an appetizer (the meatballs), which were overpriced and also very boring, small meatballs lacking any discerning flavor

They don’t advertise this place as a Chicago Style Deep Dish pizza place.
Good.
Had the deep dish.
Cheese on top, sauce, red onions, sausage, pepperoni.
Unlike NY style pizza, Chicago style is about excess. More sauce, more cheese, more toppings. First place I had Chicago style was in Austin of all places. (Mangia’s for my Texas Crew). Eventually I made it to Chicago and went to a couple places there.
Usually it take half an hour to make a deep dish pizza.
A Naples style pizza can be done in 60 – 90 seconds.
Those were the old rules. Nowadays, you can get a high quality pizza out of a conveyor belt. Arguably some of the pizza mastery is gone when you mechanize the baking process, but it’s hard to deny the quality and price point, unless you’re truly in the pizza elite. (i.e, you’ve been to Naples and can discern top product from stuff they sell the tourists)
All this to say that on my outing, most of the patrons had gotten the regular pizza.
Ignorance on their part? Or was it an omen?
I got a deep dish, cheese/​red onion/​pepperoni/​Italian sausage. Unlike regular gas oven pizza, where it’s a smart move to do just cheese or 1 topping, from my prior knowledge, you could «kitchen sink» a deep dish.
Imagine my surprise when it came out w/​in 15 minutes. (probably less)
As all bakers know, a good way to shave the time off your baking and possibly make a better pie — you pre-​bake the crust.
Wet ingredients need to cook. The dough needs to stay firm.
Hot oven — top side is cooked, innards stay uncooked.
Cold Oven — Top and innards are cooked, but at the expense of the crust, which becomes soggy.
So by pre-​baking you get a crisp crust and cooked filling.
But what happens when the crust gets too crisp?
And there is where this pizza gets a B+ instead of an A– for me.
The crust was a maybe +1 on the Moh’s scale for me.
Service was great
Location nice
Décor/​Ambiance — the place is huge, but you could never tell that from the outside.
All in all this is a return place for me, crust issues aside.

Pro: The pizza is really good here. The crust, the toppings, the tomato sauce, the cheese. I just drooled on my keyboard.
Con: I can’t walk down F Street anymore because I’d weigh 300 pounds (although I’m sure their pizza is very healthy and if you made a New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, just order the veggie pizza)
I love the South Side Classico. You can substitute the Match® Sausage if you have an unfortunate friend in your life who doesn’t eat pork. The fake meat is pretty amazing: you can hardly tell it’s whatever it is.
Great beer selection, too! Yum!

They have BBQ pizza. THEY HAVE BBQ PIZZA! And you can get it with vegetarian «sausage» instead of chicken! With just the perfect amount of cilantro, cheddar cheese, red onions, and barbecue sauce… slay me. I could have died a happy woman after eating a slice of it. Barbecue pizza is my absolute favorite, it’s nearly impossible to find it without chicken on it, and barbecue pizza without a protein on it is a little pointless.
This goes above and beyond your average pizza joint on the East Coast because it’s something different, and it’s done right. It’s not just your average, run-​of-​the-​mill, trying-​to-​be-​New-​York-​style pizza. It is… well, I can’t exactly remember. Michigan or Wisconsin style. Not quite Chicago. It’s a type of deep dish, but let’s not split hairs. It’s GOOD. The crust is buttery, the amount of toppings is just about perfect, and the tomato sauce tastes like your grandma made it. Plus, they’re accommodating of different dietary restrictions. They offer Daiya cheese, vegetarian sausage, gluten-​free crust, and they allow for substitutions without charging much.
To continue with my raving, the beer selection is also excellent, with decent happy hour prices. They had the Schlafly Pumpkin Ale on tap when I went, so naturally, I ordered it.
Our server was very friendly in spite of the crowds, especially when it came to splitting the check. Overall, a worthwhile joint!

Came here with a group of 6 for dinner. Server was very helpful in making recommendations and also explaining that you could flip flop any of the deep dish or thin crust creations to be on either crust. It was also cool that you are allowed to split the pizzas in half with topping mix.
We ordered two large pies (one deep dish one thin crust) and an order of wings. This was definitely enough food as we ended up with leftover pizza. The thin crust we got half pesto chicken half something along a supreme. The deep dish we did half meatball with red pepper and again something like a supreme.
Literally I enjoyed all of the pizzas. The deep dish was great, seriously better than some of the stuff I’ve had out in Chicago. The wings were served with a zesty Greek yogurt based dipping sauce. Really enjoyed.

District Pi is one of my go to cheaper options when in DC.
Pro’s:
+ Gluten free dough– decent thin crust that holds up well. The taste is good. It has a bit of a flavor, so it doesn’t taste like cardboard and isn’t salty at all. The only size option available is small.
+ Quality ingredients– fresh and plentiful. It can get pricey depending on how many and types you select on the build your own option.
+ Modern industrial design
+ later hours on the weekend — open till midnight on Saturday
+decent size bar to catch a game on
Con’s:
— this place can get loud

It was our last night in D.C. and wanted a lowkey evening. I had bookmarked this place based off a friend’s suggestion. We walked from our hotel over and had no trouble getting a table. We must have had great timing because shortly after they were packed! Everything looked really tasty and we ended up getting a ½ & ½ pizza but I couldn’t tell you what they were cause we inhaled them quickly. I do remember a thing crust, a favorite of mine, and lots of fresh toppings. Their beer selection is killer and took me a while to decide but our server made great recommendations based off of my preferences.
We walked away with pizza for the next morning, but honestly we are it once we got back to the room! Pricing is on point and the spot is in a great location. I was sad we waited til the end of our trip to try this place because it would have been our beer spot!
Fun fact: the bar area is separate from the dining space. The bathrooms were very clean and well stocked.
I look forward to my next D.C. trip so I can nosh on some Za!

Our group of six stopped in around 8:30pm on a Saturday night without a reservation and were pleasantly surprised to get a table with less than a 5 minute wait, This place appears to be super popular and for good reason.
They have both thin and deep dish pizzas. Since I disdain deep dish we ordered thin crust pizzas — a few of us shared the Hill (I think that is the name) and it was very very good. The thin crust was crispy without the burn you get from wood fired pizza ovens. The cheese was gooey and the amount of ingredients were plentiful. There were lots of additions you could make to your pizza even anchovies! The small side salads were huge and very fresh. The service was super friendly and the food came out fast.
And as engineering nerds we liked Pi inscribed on their bar and on their glassware.

This place has large and tasty pizzas. A couple people can split one, especially the deep dish but be warned they take awhile to cook so get a thin crust if you’re in a lunch hurry. Salads are pretty good too, the bada bing salad has greens, Gorgonzola cheese, and dried cherries with a raspberry dressing. I added some chicken and it made a good lunch when I didn’t want to order a whole pizza just for me. They really should have individual pizzas for easy lunch ordering but maybe they’ll add them?
This place is a solid choice for lunch or happy hour but isn’t the fastest lunch choice if you order a deep dish pizza.

We had a quick dinner before a Wizards game during the week. We came pretty early around 530pm and the place was sparse. We got our pizza quickly and it was tasty. We got the thin crust and split the toppings. One side had the arugala and the other a meat topping. We saw a bunch of deep dishes and kind of wish we got that. At first when we saw the small pizza we worried it wasn’t enough but we were good. We had planned to get popcorn at verizon. Otherwise I would suggest appetizer or dessert. The place is surprisingly big inside with different dining rooms. I think this is a great option near Verizon center that isn’t super expensive.

Only been here once and it was great! The staff was very prompt to the table and make a little conversation as we settled in and ordered drinks.
The menu was just big enough and had something for me and my foodie friend that does not eat pork. I know bummer but hey the Delmar was great! I seen everyone getting the pizza that’s covered with Tomato’s (its called the Kirkwood), so Ill be making a trip back to try that.
Being a bit of a over achiever when it comes to eating, I wanted to get a large but the small for the two of us was more than plenty. We also got the garlic bread and it did not disappoint. They served bread that was toasted and with whole clove of roasted garlic… OMG! it was so fantastic I would recommend it to anyone!

I’ve never been to pizza heaven but I’m pretty sure District of Pi is it. I’ve never had Chicago style deep dish pizza either, but I’m so so glad I tried it here. The décor was amazing. It was modern architecture with a classic touch. We were seated promptly upon walking in. The menu was a little bit overwhelming but it could be because I was starving, my mind was racing.
There was 4 of us, we decided to get 2 large deep dish and share. According to their menu, a large feeds 3 – 4. We did half and half on both pizzas. One was half Lincoln Park (thin crust but we turned it into deep dish) and Bucktown, the other pizza was the Southside Classico and the Delmar.
We had some amazing drinks, I had the Italian Sangria. It was actually more of a juice/​punch than sangria but it was really good. It came in a cute mason jar. Two of my friends had the Pear Cider which was super delicious. I am not a cider drinker at all. My other friend had the Constant and it tasted like cough syrup. Not the favorite drink of the table.
We also split two salads, a ceaser salad and a kale salad. The ceaser salad was soooo good.
I didn’t try the kale salad.
THE PIZZA:
1. Lincoln Park– white pizza with mozz, zucchini, tomato, feta, basil, garlic olive oil. I was hesitant but it was my favorite hands down. It was even good cold the next day.
2. The Bucktown– mozz, roasted chicken, artichoke, red pepper, green olive, red onion, feta, sundried tomato. Classic pizza flavor but the feta gave it a little extra umph.
3. I didn’t try the classico because it had pork which I don’t eat.
4. The Delmar– I was super psyched about this one, but oddly enough I was let down. It was a really overpowering BBQ taste. Granted, it is a BBQ chicken pizza, but it just wasn’t my favorite. I still ate it though.
This pizza was very delicious, I am glad that we stopped in here. The waitress was exceptional. I really hate that I can’t recall her name. Do yourself a favor, if you ever go to DC go to this place. It’s on my list now of MUST visit restaurants when I return to DC

Went to dinner here last night and our server, Tim, was great.
We ordered the Blazed Wings and a large Caesar Salad as appetizers. The wings were baked (which made them feel a little healthy :)) and came with a cucumber yogurt dipping sauce which was pretty good. The wings tasted good even without any sauce. The large Caesar was a good size for sharing.
We ordered a deep dish pizza with pepperoni and caramelized onions with fresh mozzarella on top. We were trying to decide between the shredded mozzarella and the fresh mozzarella for the top of our pizza and Tim suggested the fresh on top… It was a great suggestion… our pizza was delicious!
Pi offers deep dish and thin crust pizzas. The deep dish is definitely worth a try, especially if you’ve never had it!

Is it bad of me to give five stars? I’m so often at exotic ethnic cuisines, or stir-​frying up some plant-​based food myself, that this American indulgence seems decidedly outside of my oeuvre. Even my frequent pizza visits tend to be for relatively light thin-​crust pizzas, Neapolitan, or assembly line creations loaded with healthy ingredients. And make no mistake, District of Pi is not health food (though they do make vegan and gluten-​free pizzas). But damn, it’s good.
The pizza itself offers a thick crust with extra crispiness from the cornmeal. I’m no expert in Midwestern pizzas, but this pizza tasted much like Armand’s (DC’s Chicago style establishment), but with decidedly higher-​quality ingredients all around. Of their many appealing toppings, I sampled only portobello mushrooms, which were really fantastic. I wish more places offered them. The sauce on top of cheese is a messy arrangement, but I can’t argue with the result.
Their assemble-​your-​own garlic bread is appropriately mouthwatering. The hummus platter I was less enchanted with; it was tasty, but salty, and I wasn’t a fan of all of the accompaniments. However, the chocolate skillet cake with caramel sauce was easily enough to overcome any negative thoughts I might have had. It was a heavy meal, (that 9″ deep dish pizza is plenty for two), but I just wanted more of all of it.
Walking here, one passes people asking for your money, downtown suits who are actually taking your money, and all manner of touristy riff-​raff. The contrast of evident Midwestern hospitality and charm from our server, David, topped our night off, making me feel as if I was indeed eating at a pizzeria in St. Louis. The prices here are downtown-​y, but I imagine I’ll be happily paying them again in the future the next time I’m in the area and want a treat.

Phở, Sex, and Pizza… no matter how bad, its still pretty darn good.
They call it the «Central West End»…$ 21.95 for a large New York style 16inch… prosciutto, goat cheese, tomato, red onion, arugula… pretty good, but not great. Nice service and clean environment. But the pizza just didn’t have that WOW factor to make me give it a 5 Star.