Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom Review

This isn’t the only pizza chain that we’ve reviewed on the blog. If you want to read another, check out our Blaze Pizza review.

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom Review

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Let me start by saying we’re reviewing the chain, not the exact location. We showed up just before midnight, not too long after the second of two playoff football games ended. The televisions were still showing the football game’s recap and there were football fans still at the bar.

We were sat in a back corner away from that section, again: just after 11:30 pm on a Saturday night. The customer service was subpar, and we got forgotten about for a bit while the staff hung out in the parking lot, but I can’t imagine this would be the case at 11:30 am on a Saturday or at any other location at any given time.

So, with that being said, Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom is a chain. 

The pizza restaurant operates in 22 states, including North Carolina. There are about 100 restaurants spread over those states. You can find all the Old Chicago Pizza locations here.

Old Chicago Pizza Menu

The chain has Chicago in its name, but Chicago pizza is just one of Old Chicago Pizza’s crust options.

Small aside: Chicago pizza is a deep-dish style. The crust is thick and the pie is round (as opposed to Detroit deep dish, which has an airier crust and is baked in a square pan).

Old Chicago has the aforementioned Chicago Thick crust, a Gluten-Free Crust, a Tavern Thin crust, which is exactly what you would expect, and a Hand Tossed Ale Crust, which our server said was the most popular. The menu says it has a “slight” ale flavor, but I could really taste the beer in it.

You also have the option to turn any of the pizzas into calzones. 

When we went, there were 11 signature pies on the Old Chicago Pizza menu (of course, this can change at any time.) The classic pie is the Chicago 7, which has pepperoni, Italian sausage, red onions, black olives, green peppers, and sliced mushrooms as toppings. This is the one we split.

It was really good. There was a generous amount of toppings and it had a lot of flavor. It was also really tasty reheated. The pizza (we got a large, which is 8 slices) was huge. We only had three slices between the two of us and packed the rest to go.

I’m glad we had leftovers because a large, ale crust Chicago 7 pie was $26.99 (this was in 2019!). We had a coupon, so I didn’t really worry about the cost when we ordered, but it’s definitely not the most frugal dining out option.

If it was up to Pete, he would have picked the Classic Margherita. And if I was feeling really adventurous, I would have picked the Thai Pie with Thai chili sauce, three cheeses, chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, and peppers. It’s also topped with teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds, and green onions. It sounds delicious … but maybe more of a salad option than pizza toppings for me.

Speaking of salad, there are seven entree salads and three additional salads on the menu.

And, if you’re not in the mood for pizza, Old Chicago Pizza still has something for you.

There are a bunch of Italian entrees, from pasta dishes (like craft your own mac and cheese), to baked pasta (mmm manicotti), burgers, sandwiches, and stromboli.

And apps. Which break my heart to talk about.

When I originally looked at the menu from the hotel room, all I wanted were the Bacon & Cheddar Mac N Cheese bites. I even send a photo of them to my best friend via Snapchat because they look amazing. But when I got to Old Chicago, I didn’t have enough room in my stomach for them and pizza.

That’s how I really feel about most of their appetizers. They’re all super heavy, so you can just get them as entrees. There’s an Italian Nachos appetizer that is pasta chips topped with a trio of cheeses, pepperoni, pepperoncini and Italian sausage.

And then there are chicken wings and pepperoni rolls. So everything is a little bit more indulgent, heightened bar food.

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom Beer

There’s the word “taproom” at the end of the name because of the large selection of beer on the menu. The taps and cans/bottles change often.

I don’t drink, but I kept trying to get Pete to try the Oskar Blues Fumble Brewski because there was a huge sign advertising that it’s an Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom exclusive. He didn’t try it, and that’s probably for the best. I don’t think it’s sold anymore, so maybe it wasn’t great.

He did drank two other beers, though, which could have counted towards the 110-beer World Beer Tour.

OC Rewards members (it’s free to join) earn perks like a free pizza on your birthday. When you earn 75 OC Rewards Points, you get $5 to spend in house.

Members can also join in for a World Beer Tour. You earn credits per beer purchased (in North Carolina, you earn 2 credits per visit; in other states, you can earn up to 4 credits per visit), then get prizes and your name on the Hall of Foam when you complete it.

If that’s too much, there are Mini Tours. Those are mostly seasonal tours that consist of 8 to 12 hand-selected beers. Drink each on the mini tour and you’ll earn a limited-edition mini tour t-shirt (or other prize). The beers in the Mini Tour count towards completing your World Beer Tour.

So, the big question. Would you go back?

So, would we go back?

Honestly, we hardly go back to the same place twice. And since our closest Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom location is over an hour away in a town where we don’t live, we’d rather check out other restaurants in that city while we’re there.

If we lived close to one, though, I could definitely see this being our spot for football games. The atmosphere for sporting events (even though we showed up at the tail end of that) was great.

Have you been to Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.