Happy Camper

Was on vacation and chicago and came here twice, love the atmosphere, and the pizza was really good! Definitely would come back again

I have this place another shot since I live across the street. The food was very good and it is a cool looking place. I now approve.

Went here on a Friday night and the place was packed. Waited about an hour and 15 minutes for a table, but my friend and I had a few drinks (pink flamingos) at the bar so it made the time go faster. Once we were seated the service was fast which I was happy about. For dinner I got the Peter, which was sooo good. I’ll come back again, but maybe during the week when it’s less crowded :)

great place, great food, great experience.
A lively fun, young crowd. A happening place!
Food is pretty innovative, we stuck with the pizzas.
We tried four different types each better than the previous.

I had the cheesy breadsticks here and they were pretty good! If their cheesy sticks are pretty good then their pizzas are probably pretty good too. I’ll have to come here for a meal next time. This place has a very social and fun environment. You can also sit in campers inside the restaurant which is a pretty cool concept. I would recommend this place :)

This place is cool if you’re 23, single and like mediocre pizza. We waited about two hours for a table.
The décor and camper theme are cute, and the waitstaff dressed in flannel makes this place casual. But the pizza is ok. We ordered the Peter (my favorite), Tony, Gaurav and a plain cheese. The topping combinations are unique, but the pizza came out warm and just reminds me of Chuck E Cheese. I’m also from Chicago so I like A LOT of cheese on my pizza, not some measly crumbles.
I believe people come here for the bar scene and pizza is a second priority. At least our waiter was cute. ;)

I really liked this place. Three of us went on a Wednesday night for dinner. There was no wait, and the décor was cool.
We ordered a 14″ Linda pizza and 10″ cheese, both on wheat crusts. Usually I’m all about the veggies, but the cheese pizza was awesome. I kinda wish we ordered a medium cheese and small veggie instead.
Definitely order the cookie dough balls for dessert. They look funny, since they’re rolled in Oreo crumbs, but are delicious. I was going to take a picture of them to post… But an Oreo colored ball doesn’t look too exciting.
My only criticism would be that it was sometimes hard to find our waitress.

Gluten free friends! I have found the best gluten free pizza in Chicago. FYI This place is owned by home slice, the gluten free pizza tastes the same. My friends even tried it and they said it tasted like regular pizza.
Honestly I would skip the flamingo drink. It’s too tart and it’s not strong enough. They have Omission gluten free beer that’s a better option.
The décor is cute, I went on a Sunday and it was pretty dead. Which was nice.

Friendly staff, not at all snobby, great food. Feels very homey. Really good beer selection on tap. If you want to enjoy a casual and happy evening, you can’t go wrong with this place. Great music played too.

Solid 3.5 stars with strong potential for 5 stars.
The Good:
–Ambiance & Décor — I like how they utilized old campers through out to go with the theme of the place. One booth was actually inside a camper and they utilized another as the hostess stand and a DJ booth. Lunch boxes at each table containing all the napkins, sriracha, and silverware you need to get yo’ grub on. Sweet neon sign of the great lakes!
–TVs to catch any games going on
The Bad:
–The Matt pizza (a meat lovers delight with canadian bacon, pepperoni, and italian sausage) we ordered was really greasy. Although tasty, it was way too greasy for my liking.
-$ 0.50 extra charge for any additional condiments we asked for without any warning. We had a salad and asked for additional ranch and my buddy asked for additional peppers and marinara sauce to go with his calzone.
Overall I’d be back more so for how cool of a bar it is. Hopefully the food catches up to it’s looks.
‘Til next time, cheers!

The staff here knows what’s up. That’s refreshing when not only the front of the house but the bar staff, servers and busboys all have their shit together. Let alone the kitchen fires on time and to order — impressive guys. 5 stars

Im going to forego the usual «such a cool space!» (In this case, it was) and just get to he point. A few things to note:
Do not add the extra chicken on your salad for $ 3. It is a ripoff.
Management: If you’re going to offer a kale salad, you really need to massage it before serving or it will be extremely tough. Such was the case.
Be wary that they charge for sauces. Which is petty. $.50 for ranch.
They ID check.
Otherwise, cool décor, decent pizza.

As soon as you step foot into Happy Camper you’re greeted by a beautifully restored vintage Air-​stream RV. Shortly after you realize that this isn’t their only interior designing accomplishment but much more. The bar is surrounded with large tire swing chairs literally hanging from the ceiling. The walls are covered top to bottom with some sort of rich oak wood. And they’ve had custom made neon lights highlighting the bar’s rich Midwestern roots. Before even being seated you can tell Happy Camper has a huge resemblance in their sister pizza joint, Homeslice. It feels like an Up North Michigan watering hole with a modern sports bar feel to it. Sounds weird but it works all too well.
It’s safe to say that the creators of Homeslice and Happy Camper know what’s up when it comes to interior design and impressing their customers with looks but could the food be as good? I’ll be honest I was a little skeptical with Happy Camper when I first read of the new restaurant idea. Not because I didn’t think the food was going to be good but this restaurant location has been the home to past disasters like The Refinery which couldn’t gain traction.
Well that skepticism went out the door quickly when we received our Bloody Mary’s which were garnished with a pepperoni pizza slice. Obviously being obsessed with Bloody’s and their unique garnishes this was something new to me. I’m always looking for that distinctive taste or garnish to set Bloody Mary’s apart and they’ve succeeded here. The food was also pretty tasty which included great brunch menu items like breakfast pizza, brunch calzone, chicken and waffles, and pork hash. I’d say my favorite was their new chicken and waffle item which came with a homemade honey butter that served more of a dipping sauce than anything.
I’d have to give Happy Camper a double thumbs up. This camper they’ve parked in Old Town is here to stay. If you’re in the area and craving some pizza or a beer I highly recommend stopping by. Cheers!
From my Blog:

Fabulous addition to Old Town! Just what we needed was this friendly spot. Visited this place last Friday with some friends that were visiting from out of town. The place was definitely hopping.
We put our name in for a table and they text you when your table is ready. We decided to wait at the bar so we could check out the scene. This place has a cool, hip, casual vibe to it. We had a drink and 15 min later our table was ready. Score!
We tried a few apps that definitely hit the spot. The jalapeño app is so delicious and not spicy at all. They also have a great beer list.
After that, we decided to belly up back to the bar side since we liked it so much. They were very welcoming here and even gave my friends and I these cool FREE beer koozies. I like to drink outdoors (when the weather permits) so I always love a free beer koozie.
Thanks for the great hospitality Happy Camper. I look forward to coming back often as this place is on my street! Welcome to the hood :)

Glad this little pizza joint decided to join us in Old Town. While I haven’t been back since just after they opened I’m hoping this place continues to stay busy. And I can’t imagine it wont.
Great vibe and décor. Um… hello childhood tire swing at the bar! Yea, you know the 10 year old in you is loving that. Great cocktails and beer selection with pizza to boot. Pizza wasn’t quite as good as Homeslice but I’m hoping that it will continue to improve as time move on.
I’m sure I’ll be watch countless games at this joint just steps from my door.

WOW this place has everything one could want/​need in a bar! Security, neon wall art as a map, cool layout (camper INSIDE the bar on the right, awesome for parties of 10 – 20), and tire swings at a 2^nd bar attached. Open until 2am!
Liked that there was security at the door and the layout was open and the lighting/​mood was perfect for a Sunday nightcap with my family. I was in from Brooklyn, NY and was blown away by Josh’s 2^nd effort in the Chicago eating scene. What an awesome, dynamic establishment for Old Town and us all!
Mouthwatering pizzas (the MATT) and delicious drinks (TRAILER PARK COCKTAIL & PINK FLAMINGO) are reasonably priced. I had a wonderful time at Happy Camper and can’t wait to be back for some of the live music!

Overall: 3.5.
The place was hopping the weeks leading up to the grand opening. I was skeptical and dejected cuz it’s just a bar that serves pizza. (Note: I like to avoid pizza because my office caters in pizza from the various chicago joints every 2 weeks and i’d prefer to skip the carbs if the food isn’t spectacular… needless to say, i am sick of pizza)
Anyhow I ended up here for a girls night (not my choice). 3 of us shared 3 small pizzas.
Décor/​ambiance = 5 stars… they have tire swings at the bar!
Food = 3. It’s just pizza. They are named after people who created the idea for ingredients in each. I liked certain toppings on certain pizzas. like the creamy roasted garlic, and the tomato paste on another… but again it’s just pizza with hand stretched pizza dough… not thin and crispy or stuffed or deep dish.
Service = 4. it was fine… they did their jobs. they were not too helpful with suggestions.
Overall, I may come here again because it’s close to me and the vibe is energetic.

Went their with my girlfriend after hearing the hype. We liked homeslice so we thought we’d give it a try.
We went in and it was PACKED. We gave our name (estimated 40 min wait) and were told we could grab a seat at the bar. We tried several beers, the best being the Revolution Fistmas. After about 30 minutes, we realized we could order a pizza at the bar (DURRRRRR). Cancelled the reservation after we ordered the ‘za.
We got the medium size pepperoni, mushroom, tomatoes, onion (named the Ken I think?) and we added giardiniera. It was so good. The crust was the best part. I actually liked this pizza better than Homeslice!

Happy Camper makes me a happy camper (ba dum tss!) That’s a drum sound… like at the end of a joke…
I went to Happy Camper with a group of friends the other week on the second day they were open to the public… I believe it was a Tuesday. Our group started out as three people but quickly grew to five people, and they were very accommodating with seating and let us squeeze in extra seats at our table.
This place is cuuuuuute. When you walk in, you immediately notice that the host stand is inside half of a camper. There is a huge neon sign of the Great Lakes on the wall, and there are two campers in the back of the venue that are decorated with lights that resemble stars. Just adorable.
We were seated in the section closest to the neon Great Lakes sign, and I think I must’ve taken like 100 photos of it that all looked the same. Anyway… moving on… our server was very attentive throughout the night and gave us really great recommendations for pizza. My favorite was the Marti — sun-​dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta, garlic, and olive oil. OH MY GOD YUM. We all ordered personal sized pizzas (10″) and shared. Shoot… I wish I could remember our server’s name, because he was great. He was wearing flannel… although that probably doesn’t narrow it down very much.
I want to go back ASAP and try the goat stix, mozzarella bread stix, ALL THE STIX THEY HAVE TO OFFER and basically everything else on their menu.
SIDENOTE: My friend and I tried to go to Happy Camper last Friday before seeing a show at UP Comedy Club down the street, and when she got there around 6:30pm it was PACKED. Like, she could barely get into the door — that’s how many people were there. We ended up choosing another place for dinner, because I think we would’ve been 90 years old by the time they could seat us. I would recommend checking the place out during the week if you want to avoid super long wait times.

Happy camper has it all! Amazing food, awesome cocktails, inviting ambiance and great service.
The Chris is my new favorite pizza– the meatball and giardiniera is a perfect combo!
The pink flamingo cocktail is delicious!