Coalfire Pizza

This place is as good as it gets for pizza! Walked in, and we were told it was a 20 minute wait. (we were seated in about 10) Very courteous and attentive staff. (forgot the name of the waitress, but she was awesome. Ordered the Honey Salami pizza, and it was fantastic. Best thin crust in the city by far. Will be back for sure.

Love the pizza from Coalfire! They consistently make lots of top pizza in Chicago lists and it’s easy to see why. All of their ingredients are high quality and prepared properly making an American style pizza with an Italian influence. The double coal ovens they’re running blister the pies and give a nice char on the crust, and the fact that they’re using coal helps to suck out some of that excess moisture that a lot of the Neapolitan style pizzas tend to have. The staff is always accommodating and there is an owner present almost 100% of the time. You can tell they really care about their business, the customers, the neighborhood, and especially the product.

Pesto pizza with sausage, burrata, and honey… get it! I’m still thinking about it the next morning.

It’s good. Not great. Maybe it’s me but the expanded menu was not as good as Grand Ave. Bigger, louder and busier than Grand too. They seem to have a few problems. Bar was backed up, our appetizers came out quickly followed by the pizza. Better than the tables near us however. They tried to give our neighbor’s pizza away to us and the other table next to us was served their appetizer long after their pizza arrived. No mention of the cupcakes was made. I might have gone with it but being busy, we got the feeling they wanted to turn our table. There was screaming children which added to the overly loud noise level. Nothing really wowed us. The friezee salad was mostly nuts, it was good but could have used more apple, less nuts. The pesto pizza was okay, salty sweet. The cremeni pizza was salty smoky, maybe could have used the sweet. An expensive night out for so so food,

I was stoked to hear Coalfire was opening a second location closer to home. We decided to try it out the day after Christmas while my mom and brother were in town. Called ahead to see what the wait was like, about 15 minutes for a party of 4, which was the same estimate by the time we arrived there 30 minutes later. The hostess was super friendly and asked how they could accommodate our baby. The space is much bigger than the original location, with a front seating area that is first come, first serve and the main dining area in a separate adjacent room. It can get a little crowded around the hostess stand with people waiting for tables.
We were actually seated after 30 minutes, not 15 minutes (pet peeve #1 not being given a more accurate wait time — I don’t mind waiting for a table, just as I know how long I really need to wait). We snagged a corner booth which was nice to be able to set the car seat right on the bench. Since we were waiting, we already knew what we wanted to order having time to review the menu. At first the waitress was ready to take our orders but after we all gave our drink orders (which she didn’t write down), she already forgot what was ordered and asked us if she could place the drink orders first then take our main orders (pet peeve #2 is not writing down orders in the first place!).
For starters, we split the Burrate el Forno for an appetizer, but were miffed that it only came with 2 pieces of garlic crostini. Definitely not a good crostini to burrata ratio, or crostini to person ratio at that. It wasn’t that remarkable. We ordered two pizzas, the Honey & Salami and the Margherita, which was definitely enough food for 4 people. The former was a delicious combination with a nice spicy kick and the latter was standard fare. The thin crust didn’t seem as charred and crispy compared to the original location.
It’s nice to have another location to go to that’s closer to home, but some things can’t be replicated. Better luck next time!

Drinks: We ordered something called «My Favorite Thing,» and it was not our favorite thang. It tasted like a watered down gin and tonic.
Pizza: Pizza was excellent except for super thin dough and the crust had no flavor. The toppings were awesome and fresh but they really need to up their bread game.
Appetizer: we ordered the tomatoes and cheese sauce with bread, it had some fancy name I can’t remember. The sauce was great, the bread was shit and they only brought three small pieces. The bread was kind of like unflavored frozen garlic bread with burnt edges. No thanks. For 15 $ they could provide you with a decent local baguette.
Service: super great service, we were greeted immediately and our server was super attentive. Hell yeah!
So I guess my point is, if you’re looking for toppings and a nice server, this is the place for you.

Deep dish’s thinner sister is the Neapolitan pizza found at Coalfire! The cheese on the pizza is fresh, the meats are cured nicely, the veggies vibrant, and the crust has a toasted chew! I will say, the meats weren’t as flavorful as some of the cured porks at Spacca Napoli, which is still the golden standard in my book. Still, if you’re in this part of town, and looking for a solid thin crust, think Coalfire!

Came in on a Wednesday night with my wife it was a little busy.
We were seated right away but almost 20 minutes go by and not a single person came to our table to take our order there were multiple waitresses passing us by tending to the other guest which we understood. There was a group of 6 that came in 5 min after us and their orders. So we finished our water and went to Pizza Rustica and they didn’t disappoint.
Maybe we’ll try the Grand Ave location but I will never go back to the Southport location.
Sad thing is we live a few blocks away.

I was curious to try Coalfire’s new location on Southport; I liked the food at the original Grand location, but didn’t care for the noise, crowding and no-​rez policy. On a recent weeknight, there was no wait for seating, the noise was barely tolerable, and the food was OK.
VIBE: Hip & noisy, a bit too dark — not my thing. Not quite as crowded as Grand.
SERVICE: Pleasant, informative and attentive. Hard to hear the server over the din, though.
LIKED: Nice selection of wines. Wanted to love the pizza, but the Grand Ave White was just OK — not enough garlic flavor, crust not blistered crispy.
DISLIKED: Did I mention noise & dim lighting?
I’m on the fence about returning; my 3* is generous. I might come back to give other pizzas a try on a not-​too-​busy night.

How did it take me this long to come here? This is probably the closest restaurant in proximity to my house (with the exception of Zia’s). This place is amazing. Their menu is fairly basic with a handful of creative pizza options. They all have a bit of a twist to your traditional wood oven pizza joints. The real highlight of the meal was the service and the drinks. The drink menu was killer! I am not one to normally rave about drinks, but they were unique and delicious. It was almost as if it was created by a former top chef! I need to come back here often and we would even feel comfortable bringing the kids, if it was early enough. Overall it’s a great addition to the Cooridor!

Now we are talking some pizza! This place is my favorite in Chicago. It ain’t quite Pepe’s (what is?), but it is pretty damn good. Crust is thin, crispy and I really like the updated ingredient combos they’ve come up with. When our family of four came we each had to order our own pie. All were excellent!
Pepperoni/​Ricotta is outstanding. Honey/​Salami is ridiculous. Whoever heard of honey on pizza? Not sure, but whoever came up with this is now my hero. Cremini with Arugula is really awesome — the nuttiness of the mushroom works great with the bitterness of the greens.
Service is friendly and efficient. The room is fun, loud, and boisterous. Great place to have a pizza.

The pizza is good and comes out super fast. My friends and I had the spinach pizza, and then two red pizzas, one of which was the stracciatella + sausage and we skipped the meat. That last one was really good. Menu is pretty pork heavy which is a bit of a bummer for me (no pork on my fork!) but still worth a go.
Service was really friendly and attentive and our server was very nice.
My only complaint was that they advertised a burrata appetizer as «burrata stuffed with fresh figs» and with prociutto. We skipped the prociutto and tried it– first off, the burrata was not stuffed with anything. Burrata itself is fresh mozz stuffed with shreds of mozz soaked in cream, so it’s already stuffed, but whatever. So no figs stuffed inside. Instead there were some fig halves on the plate. The menu clearly said fresh figs– and these were clearly dry figs and sort of hard. I mean… still fine, but at least tighten up your menu and make it accurate. What came out was not what was advertised.
Anyway, it’s cute– pizzas are good (3 pizzas were perfect for our group of 6). Cupcakes were pretty good too– she said they were a «cheesecake base» and we all felt they were really just cheesecake. There was nothing «cupcake-​y» about them other than the frosting. But tasty, if you like cheesecake :)

So I don’t like pepperoni pizza, I’m just gunna put that out there. Never have, doubt I ever will. But you CANNOT MISS the pepperoni pizza and whipped ricotta cheese pizza here. We ordered 2 pizzas for the 4 of us to split: Margherita (sp?) and the pepperoni ricotta. The pepperoni was meant for the guys to eat, but I couldn’t get enough of it! Seriously, so unbelievably good.
The hostess that greeted us seemed a little bit off, but our awesome waitress and the guy that kindly found us a seat in the bar area more than made up for her.
Seriously guys, get that pepperoni/​ricotta.

This place has been on my to do list for a while now, but never got around to being in that neck of the woods. It was only recently did I find out a second location opened closer to home that I found no reason or excuse NOT to finally check it out.
Parking was a pain on such a beautiful Saturday night, since our days are limited before the treacherous winter weather falls upon us. With that said, be prepared to circle a bit since permit parking is everywhere in this area, or just take the train. Not too bad of a walk besides you could use the exercise before you max out on this amazing piece of pie.
Upon arrival, the host took my name down and told me it was a 15 – 20 minute wait. Those were the only words exchanged. I was never informed the following:
— One half of the dining room (aka the high top tables) is first come, first serve.
— You can just grab a seat in the patio without wait apparently.
Here is a crowd of people huddled in this lack there of waiting space anxiously waiting for their name to be called. Despite the lack of space and the smell of this place taking control of me, I waited outside. After 15 mins, I checked back with the host to realized that I was missing out on the many opportunities of being seated earlier. It was only when I came back to check with the host did I realized everyone before AND after me was getting seated did I realized I was totally skipped. WHY? HOW? I have no idea. Hangry took over and here I am today giving you guys the heads up.
Finally, after realized I pretty much had to fend for myself, I snagged the first high top table available. Mind you I am still in hangry mode, and my ordering process wasn’t a pleasant process either. Not sure if I ate the appetizer too fast or the timing of appetizer and entrée was off that night, but according to our server, he wanted us to have time to eat our appetizer and the pizza is made to order. Nice of him, but can he see that I am perishing by the minute?! With that in mind, tell your waiter you want your appetizer and pizza coming out together so you can feast happily with no interruption, especially if you are trying to catch a movie, you don’t want to miss it.
— Appetizer: Burrata & Speck — pretty much just a fancy way of saying mozzarella & prosciutto. On point except for one thing… there was more meat and cheese than there were crostini (aka toast). 4 slices of prosciutto, 3 small pieces of toast, and a whole lotta cheese. More toast please!
.
— Pizza: Pepperoni & Whipped Ricotta — oh boy! the wait for this bad boy paid off with that first bite. At first I wasn’t too sure how to eat it as there was a glob of cheese on top of each slice, so I picked up my knife and spread that goodness across my slice and inhaled it in peace.
Ultimately, my symptoms of hangry subsided and I became a happy camper at the end of the meal. The pizza was amazing. You can taste the spices in the pepperoni and the cheeses — mozzarella and ricotta wasn’t too heavy or overpowering. Being a huge fan of thin crust, this pizza really nailed it for me. Not too doughy with depth and texture to each ingredient. My rating is strictly on the food as the service could totally have been better if there was better communication between employee and customer, especially when servicing a new customer.
For those first timers like me, I would hate for you to go through what I did, if you are going to go during rush hour (aka dinner time or movie time) it is going to be busy, but lucky for you, here are some tips to seem like a regular:
1. Train it if you can to reduce circling around for parking and having to deal with a parking ticket later because you didn’t check the permit zone.
2. Double check with the host the situation of the seating situation for the night. What is on a first come first serve bases.
3. Got hangry issues or the beautiful smell of pizza has consumed you? Tell your server you want everything to come out all together.

My friend and I were excited to check this restaurant out after some anticipation. We split 2 pizzas–
The Pesto: Very interesting, different, sweet– we liked this best
The Pepperoni & Whipped Ricotta: Good, classic and the ricotta was yummy
Overall the pizzas were ok– nothing amazing. I wish they offered 2 sizes in the pizzas. The one size they do offer is pretty large so we had lots to take home. I’d prefer smaller pizzas to try different flavors. The pizzas are too pricey for what they are. I also wish they had more exciting appetizers. As most have mentioned– there is no ambiance– there are kids everywhere but that’s ok by me– most restaurants on Southport are like this.

My boyfriend and I were THRILLED when we stopped by and saw that Coalfire Pizza had opened up a second location on Southport. We’re in desperate need of a greater variety of restaurants on the street so it was nice to have another alternative to sports bars and pubs.
We’ve been twice since it opened and both time really, really enjoyed our food. We’ve tried a few things on the menu but our absolute favorite is the pesto pizza because it is so well balanced and has a nice blend of sweet, salty and savory. The pistachio, sausage, burrata, honey are so, so good together. My only slight nit is you can barely taste the pesto vs. the other ingredients so I’m not sure why that is the focus of the name. This pizza is great and reminds us a lot of Reno in Logan Square which we HIGHLY enjoy.
The only thing I would say is ambiance wise, this place is whatever. Like a lot of restaurants on the street it’s popular with families which means you can anticipate loud children running around. I wish like some of the other restaurants on the street they offered a family special earlier in the evening to encourage families to eat early, but we’ve come to expect it with this kind of place.
Overall it’s quite tasty and I LOVE the pesto pizza.

Nah.
I visited Coalfire on a Friday night. Unlike the location on Grand, there was almost no wait to be seated. This place is loud as hell. A million hard surfaces throughout the restaurant bounce every sound directly into your ears.
Let’s start with a look at the menu. There are zero appetizers under $ 10. Zero. The burrata (which sounds great) is $ 15. Fifteen American dollars. The pizzas are all $ 15-​$ 20, so you want us to spend the same amount on our entrée as our appetizer? Git yo prices in check, Coalfire!
I had the creatively-​named «Meat» pizza. It came topped with salami, sausage and long strips of prosciutto. It was alright. The crust is extremely thin and floppy. There was not much cheese or sauce. The toppings mostly just fell off.
Instead of pizza, Coalfire should say they serve «lightly cooked dough with a light glaze of bland tomato sauce, a sprinkling of cheese and haphazardly administered toppings you will need to balance atop each slice.»
It wasn’t bad or anything, it just wasn’t that great. At $ 19.50 for one thin pizza, I can think of a lot of restaurants that will serve you better food.
My girlfriend tried the cremini pizza and made note that the pizza cools off too much before you can eat it. That’s true. The last half of my pizza was ice cold as I finished it.
Straight up, you can get a better customized pizza at Blaze for one-​third the price.

Sorry, I can’t. Really. Let me rewind a little bit (take a sip of some sarcasm) and explain, because every restaurant has a fair shot of serving their customers (mindfully) and providing a pleasant dining experience.
In general, thin crust pizza is my absolute fave. I specifically recommended this place to have dinner with a friend before catching a film at the Musicbox. I was excited to try Coalfire for the first time and there has been some online buzz, so I wanted to see what it was all about. Plus, as a neighborhood resident, I love when new businesses make a home in Southport Corridor.
My friend was early so she managed to snag a table outside and order a glass of wine. I was frantically power-​walking a few blocks to meet her. She told me she was already seated.
At Coalfire, apprently they have these guidelines, which they follow to the tee. Taken from their website:
«1. We are 1^st come, 1^st served. You must be present to be placed on the waiting list.»
2. We will only seat complete parties.
3. To ensure that everyone gets a place to sit, you may be asked for your table after you’ve finished.“
They will follow their rules at the expense of customer service. Good job! While my friend had ordered a glass of wine at a table for two, waiting for me, she was guiltripped by our server, reminded that her party was incomplete. And worse yet, she was my invited guest, sorry I was late! But…
For the rest of the time, she was not even able to look our server in the eye. Mock charm, when I finally joined, with a jolly «How are you ladies doing? What can I get for you?» How can a customer be made to feel so horrible, and once your party is complete you can treat them decently again? Things happen, sometimes people run ahead/​behind schedule, but most of all I think humans do not enjoy feeling harangued.
However subtle the exchange was, when your dining partner already mentions that they’re not coming back before the food is served, that is a clear sign. Actually, they should turn those aforementioned rules into a sign [flashing neon lights], hang it outside, and refer to it with a laser pointer, with the fine print being, «or ELSE.» Follow the rules, Unilocal nation, because it’s what we’ve been taught since preschool. If you deviate, your pizza will end up tasting like contempt. The bruschetta was good though.
Chicago’s got their deep dish all figured out. But if Coalfire is going to rep thin crust pizza, they have some improving to do, especially in their customer service department («people over pizza»). Kind of embarrassed to have recommended this place.

Like everyone else in a 5-​block radius of Southport & Waveland, we waited. And we waited. And we waited some more for Coalfire to open up. Just when I thought it was never going to happen, it arrived!
Good stuffs:
–Pizza! Delicious thin-​crust pizza, the way God intended it to be.
–Did I mention thin-​crust?
–That whipped ricotta situation with the pepperoni’s. I don’t even like ricotta. I don’t even really enjoy pepperoni. But damn this pizza is delicious.
–Décor. I dig the tables/​chairs/​ambiance. The bathroom doors remind me of my grade school & I like that.
–Outdoor seating.
–Friendly & fast service!
Meh stuffs:
–A little pricey. You can definitely share a pizza between 2 people, but I’d say that you need an appetizer or a salad to go with it if you go this route. I feel like the pizzas are pretty simple for the cost & by the time you add on drinks & an app or a salad, you’re at an expensive weeknight dinner.
–Holy crap the children. I mean, Southport is stroller central, I get it. But good lord. Kids beating on the table with silverware, kids beating on the pizza sauce can/​candle holder things (who on earth thought it was a good idea to put what are essentially snare drums on the table in reach of children!?), kids screaming. Kids, kids, kids. Go after 8 when the little hellions are in bed & thank me later.
–No reservations.

The pros —
WHIPPED M-​FING RICOTTA.
.
Excellent, attentive service.
The honey/​pistachio pizza. So unexpected and knock your socks off drool-​worthy.
The cons —
Stroller central.
The most uncomfortable chairs known to man. Who wants to sit on a backless, metal stool for dinner?
Kinda overpriced for what you get.
Do I wish the bottom of the pizza was JUST a touch crispier? Yes. But aside from that, I was enamored with Coalfire. I’ll be seeing you again very soon.