Home / 2010, Food + Mingle / Pizza & A Gallery

Pizza & A Gallery

Last friday was a pretty disappointing night, as most of the galleries slated to hold openings in River North had either canceled or finished by 7. As luck would have it, I ran into some friends, fellow bloggers who write for Art Talk Chicago.

They led me out to the West Loop where we eventually landed at Ugly Step Sister Art Gallery. In addition to the fact that their website is wretched looking and that their name makes me cringe, the fact that they awkwardly include “Art Gallery” in their name should have kept me out of there. But as luck would have it, they were the last place open at 9:30. The walls were littered with work hung salon style aka carelessly but among the mess were some striking pieces from Jesse Stone. The work showed a love and playfulness with materials while simultaneously holding a high standard for production value. The sculptures were colorful, on a very nice scale and explored a variety of ideas, from post-human oddity to artistic modes of production. It was unclear to me who the people who made the work were (the place was beyond crowded, with a mountain of empty kegs and jug after jug of wine) and unfortunately for both of us, the website doesn’t clear this up a bit. If you find anything let me know. For now, you’ll have to deal with this here slide show.

As for my pizza review, after reading about Great Lake, way up on the north side, in some fancy magazine who mentioned their sporadic hours, quaintness and off the beaten path location, I knew that I had to start my new column with this place.

What I encountered, after driving for nearly an hour, though google maps said 18 minutes, was possibly the worst customer service, the lowest value and the most pretentiousness I had ever encountered at a restaurant. And at a pizzeria no less.

Although they have no listing to be found online and no website, I was told that I needed to make reservations, the next opening being in 40 minutes. I thought no matter, I’ll take it out. The wait for this was 40 minutes. I said to the woman, polite as can be,

Fine, why don’t I order it now and if there’s seating when I come by, I’ll have a seat and eat it here.

She responded curtly

We don’t do that.

I apologized and said as she could have inferred, it was my first time at this place. Could she please be flexible as I had just driven an hour to be there?

No. We don’t do orders in advance.

This made no sense and the situation escalated. My dinner partner held out her card and ordered and we both regretted it immediately. 26 dollars for a 14-inch pizza. I write this in bold as it turned out to be a 10-inch pizza (I had a ruler in my car). Though we were told we would be called when the pizza was ready, we walked in 60 minutes later, after enjoying some of our BYOBs seated in my car and our pizza was stone cold. They handed it to us practically at the doorway, almost urging us out. This was by far the worst restaurant experience I’d ever encountered (and I’ve lived in Germany). Although the pizza was somewhat flavorful (Shredded Spinach with Goat Cheese and Red Peppers on a tasty thin crust), we were made to eat it cold, seated in my Ford Taurus, feeling like idiots for being insulted and ripped off simultaneously.

This was not the kind of experience any customer expects in any restaurant, and certainly not an experience congruous with spending 26 dollars on a 10-inch pizza. They don’t deserve even a bad reputation. My recommendation: Call Lou Malnati’s instead. Hell, call Domino’s.
Tweet