Via Chicago

I cant attest to the authenticity but I think I’m in love. Go eat here now! The cheese is thick the crust holds up. The love is obvious. The sausage is spicy and the sauce is so flavorful it’s to die for. I can’t believe I’ve slept on this for so long. Do it. You won’t regret it.

Crust is so light and tasty! I think most deep dish pizza sits like a rock in your belly, but not here. Great Italian beef too! Get it dipped like a real Chicagoan! Juicy!

The pizza was very satisfying! Got the four cheese with pepperoni, to go. Globs of flavorful cheese, pepperoni was hidden under it all but it was there!
The time I was told it would take was very accurate (35 minutes) and when I arrived early I was told it would be 2 minutes and it was. The people working were pleasant, the place was quiet and clean at 5:30 pm on a Friday.
Be very careful when transporting your pizza though. It’s very sauce top heavy and my pizza started to slide in the box when I put it on the passenger seat of my car. Mess was minimal, and I take full responsibility but it was touch and go for a minute.

First off the salads were great! Big size and plenty to share.
I’ve never been to Via Chicago before and came here as a recommendation from a friend because Handsome Pizza was closed. The setup is confusing, we weren’t sure if you were supposed to order at the counter or sit down. We decided to sit down, after deciding on what to order the waitress came over and took our order. 2 people in our group ordered beer, when asked if the waitress wanted to see ID she said if you tell me you’re over 21 it’ll be fine (we are all over 21). I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 15 years, I know that you can get in big trouble for that. We received the big salad after 15 minutes which we all enjoyed, about 40 minutes later we received 2 slices and 1−8″ pie. If I had known it was going to take so long I might have ordered a slice, they should let customers know it’s going to take up to 45 minutes to bake. I ordered the artichoke and Parmesan but it didn’t come with any, I received a cheese pizza. not wanting to wait another 45 minutes, I ate it anyway. Overall I would probably not go back nor refer anyone here for the mediocre service and wrong order.

I’m not any sort of expert on Chicago Style pizza but this was good. I had a slice of meat pizza. It had great crust, lots of cheese, good meat, and the peppers were a nice addition. I would’ve liked a little more sauce but that is really nitpicky.
They have cannolis here too. It was one of my favorite cannolis too. Not too sweet, creamy and simple.
I would’ve liked a cup of coffee but cie la vie.
The service was fine, I ordered he got me pizza and cannoli.

WOW! Best pizza I have ever had! I had my eye on this place for a while, as I’ve seen it nestled among some shops in my favorite part of Portland… Alberta Street.
I have a friend who moved here from Chicago years ago, and she said she missed Chicago style pizza. So… I brought her here. Her reaction was to close her eyes and sigh… when she opened them, A SMILE! This place is great, and Chicagoan approved! Spicy pizza sauce, yummy high quality ingredients… I will come back for sure! Well worth the price!

Deep dish by the slice! YES!
Also, if you’re vegan — VEGAN DEEP DISH BY THE SLICE!
The staff was pretty nice and the place was pretty clean so I didn’t have the same issues as some other reviewers here. I’m just a fan that you can get slices since I’m the main cheese eater in the house and if I want a deep dish I’m on my own and then have to suffer a severe case of food guilt of ordering a whole deep dish pizza to myself. I can tell myself I’ll eat one slice a meal and it’ll last me all week but we all know that is a bold face lie and that pizza will be gone in 24 – 48 hours if I’m left alone with it.
Slices. Slices are good and fit into my life well. I’m so glad this place exists.

The pizza was delicious. We’ve been fans of well executed deep dish for a while (Zach’s in the Bay Area spoiled us — owners were relocated Chicagoans, added California spin: quality ingredients). While it’s hard to live up to THEIR standard, Via Chicago makes us feel less homesick; the key is finding the ingredients YOU like (though the quality of the sausage was fine, we didn’t care for the huge chunks in the pizza, as an example). We found the pizza quality and price comparable to another newer Bay Area chain, Patxi’s Pizza… Zach’s more reasonably priced competitor.
If you can find a combo you like, and their crust (which we thought was very tasty) is to your liking, Via Chicago could work for you too.

I really enjoyed the brew and the pie. Good stuff. We had a group of 5 people — all with different tastes — and everyone seemed to enjoy what they had. A couple thoughts: 1) the flavor was amazing, 2) there was a lot of crust (almost too much), 3) it wasn’t quite «Chicago”-level good… but it was the best Chicago style pizza I’ve had outside of Chicago.

We wanted to watch Blazers @ Suns and have dinner, after we received a very poor treatment in another place we finally find this bar, they greeted us, they had good recommendation and we could finally watch the game.
Good life IPA is great and the roast beef sandwich delicious (recommend by one of the crew members) we would just suggest to add a better selection of sides like french fries, fresh salads or fresh veggies.
But this guys made my night by letting me watch the game. Thanks

Stopped by for a quick bite on a rainy Portland night. There are many reviews that talk about the rude staff and long wait times and cleanliness issues. I guess it was my lucky day, but the lady at the counter seemed nice, not grandma level nice but polite and willing to take the order nice. The tables were clean. About the wait time, it does take a while for the pie to come I like well cooked food overall.
I ordered a slice of the Meaty pie/​pizza that they have and it did remind me of having Chicago style pie/​pizza in Chicago itself. I will point out that it has been a few years now, but it was a memory refreshed.

I was really excited about this place, then I ate their pizza. Imagine something that looks really tasty and then you take a bite and it tastes horrible… Way too much salt in their sauce, average crust, average topping, super expensive. Big fail for Chicago pizza, I can’t understand what the owners don’t get — what they don’t eat the food they serve or they just don’t get it in general?
Skip it, Godfathers is better and that shit is horrible…

I have to say, this was my first Chicago style pizza, and I thought it was amazing. If I lived closer I would get pizzas for take out all the time.
The poor score for this review is entirely based on the staff and cleanliness of the restaurant. After we ordered, I went I. Search of a table to sit at, and I will add there were no other customers at any table in the entire place. The first three tables I went to, were dirty. The dishes had been removed but the tables were not wiped down. Eventually we found a table.
The pizza took a while, but cook times are expected. Only 2 other customers came in, in the 35 minutes that it took for our pizza to arrive and other than that, the one employee say behind the bar, talking with a single customer the entire time. At one point the employee lifted up a large rusted machete from behind the counter and was waving it around. My confidence in this place is poor at best.
Tldr: not inviting at all, but the pizza was good.

If it weren’t for rude treatment (cold pizza, no apologies, dropped silverware on our party, thrust food plate almost hitting friend), I would push another star for the saving grace called the heavenly slice of deep dish pizza.
Either this woman had a bad day or has been forced to work here (or both). What a shame on a street that’s bustling with many other options. May find courage to try again but judging by other reviews, it appears it’s a pattern. Hope the owner is listening and acting.

I hate to do this, but I have to lower my rating of this place because of inconsistency. Sometimes it’s awesome, sometimes it’s bad, and sometimes (like today), we order two slices, pay full price for both, and end up with one normal sized and one baby slice. So don’t get slices.

I haven’t Unilocaled in a loooong time, but my experience at this restaurant the other night brought me back.
Service: The management should be ashamed of themselves. There was one heroic, amazing staff person running the circus. She was apparently stood up by other staffers or simply not supported by the owners. It was Saturday night, the place was packed, the phone was ringing off the hook. It was a herculean effort on her part. If I owned a restaurant or any other business, I would have hired her away from this place and put her in charge. I really felt bad for her and left a good tip, despite…
Food: Meh. Big old meh. In a town in the midst of a massive Pizza War, this place is flat-​footed and won’t make it to the front. I love deep dish Chicago pizza (hello Zachary’s in Oakland!), but this place is making deep dish pizza in the shallow end of the pizza pool.
Skip this place and head across town to East Glisan Pizza Lounge… not deep dish, but my go-​to for great pizza.

I don’t understand why the reviews are not higher for this place.
Deep dish Chicago style pizza by the slice was amazing! The flavors oft he cheese/​meat ratio was perfect. And you can tell that they put some magic flavorings into the sauce, as it wasn’t just bland tomato sauce. Lots of filling! thus deep dish! Great american style pizza. It has the flavors of a gourmet pizza, and all the other great points of a classic feel good pizza.
What was my favorite part? The Crust! it was amazing. It is an amazing pastry all on its own. All together. each bite was the bomb! I can picture myself driving to Alberta St, just to grab another slice of pizza. then some salt and straw ice cream to follow. and maybe another slice to just end it with: P Yes, its that good! :) nom nom nom.
$ 3 – 4 per slice. I wish they had one just like this in Seattle. I may get even fatter. but i’d be one happy fatty.

Mmmmmmm deep dish pizza. Now let me start this off by saying, I’ve never been to Chicago, so I’ve never had the real thing. But I work with a guy from Chicago, born and bred and this is the pizza place he goes to for authentic deep dish.
Months ago, he brought a pie in for us to eat and on this occasion, I was with a buddy and his five year old daughter. It’s nice and conveniently located right by Salt & Straw. The five year old noticed this immediately. We got her a slice of cheese and we got the Meaty pie, but left off the hot peppers. I like them, my buddy wasn’t in the mood for the associated heartburn he would likely get by eating them. No worries, the small pie we got was ample enough for the two of us. Two thick slices stuffed with meat and cheese and covered with a great marinara sauce. These pizzas take time to make, so be patient. It’s worth the wait.
This thing was filling and tasty and just F’n good. I really hope one of these days I actually get to Chicago just to know if the few deep dish pizzas I’ve had in my life were any good, or just crap in comparison to the real deal. I also have to have an Italian beef, but that’s for another time (Via Chicago does have them…)
Go eat and then roll out of this establishment, because you aren’t walking out. Enjoy.

As a Chicago native, I was a bit hesitant, but pleasantly surprised. The owners are from Chicago, and it makes sense because this was the best out of state deep dish I’ve ever had. They also have a full bar, and a good number of beers on tap.
We tried the prosciutto and arugula pizza — which was a portland twist on a true chicago classic. The crust was almost as good as the original. We also had the caesar salad — hard to go wrong here. The large pizza was big enough to feed 4 of us, and we still had leftovers. And as every true chicagoian knows — deep dish leftovers taste way better when they’re reheated in the oven.
The only downside to this place is the atmosphere. I was definitely expecting more of a chicago pizzeria feel (dark, cozy, comfortable), and this place seemed a lot more like a place you’d go for lunch.

Well, when you are from Chicago & on vacation in Portland and just happen to stroll by a place that says they have Chicago Deep Dish Pizza… well you gotta stop! We weren’t even planning on eating dinner since we had a huge lunch but decided to split a slice to give them a try.
What we really liked:
— the woman we spoke to who is one of the owners was very nice! She said she and her husband lived in Chicago for 18 years.
–Deep Dish Pizza by the slice! That is often hard to find so we were happy for this option.
–I LOVED their crust! Deep dish but still with a good crunch! And you could really taste the butter. I like their crust better than my faves back in Chicago!
–Plenty of cheese! The cheese was different than what we are used to, but it was still darn good.
–Steelhead Rootbeer from Eugene, OR. You can really taste that it is sweetened with honey.
Room for improvement? I thought there could have been more veggies on the slice of the veggie deep-​dish we shared, but it could have just been the overall veggie distribution and that particular slice had a bit less. Still good.