Riverview Brick Oven Pizzeria

Where to start with this review… well we can start with the literal garbage that was burned in the same oven as my pie. I could’ve done without that «extra» flavor. Do yourself a favor and just pick the food out of the dumpster, it’ll save you money and taste the same!

This is our favorite pizza place! The atmosphere is relaxed and they are always friendly. We’ve tried almost everything on the menu and have not been disappointed! The balboa and fungi pizzas are awesome. Definitely a place to try!

What a disappointment, $ 8.75 for two slices of pizza soaked through a plate due to how greasy they were. If you order more than one slice make sure you ask for separate containers as all they do is toss one paper plate on top of another hot melted slice and toss it in a styrofoam container. The bottom of the first plate was glued to the second slice. I fully believe the guy behind the register was using full sarcasm when he said, «this is good pizza right here.» Save yourself the trouble and money and head over to bartolis for their slices. $ 3.25-$ 3.75 a slice and they have the decency to place it in a box that’s is geometrically shaped for a slice of pizza. The only thing riverview brick oven has going for them is the fact that the pizza is served hot, something any standard microwave can achieve. See pictures I posted for my justification of this review.

Really nice guy made me a great BBQ pizza! Pizza was well made, also cooked and made right in front of me. I was the only customer at the time, was around 7:30 and the chef was really easy to talk to. Described what was good and what I should try. So he recommended me the BBQ Pizza and also was able to cut it into squares for me. Would recommend!

My wife and I moved to Roscoe Village in May and nearly did not go to this pizza place due to poor Unilocal reviews. Fortunately we decided to give it a shot and ignore the reviews.
Some quick points:
1. We have a pizza here every two weeks and I would easily say the majority have been great
2. We have never had a greasy pizza as some people noted
3. Flavors and crust are great
4. Pick it up if you can — the driver is outsourced and slow
5. We never write reviews but thought the reviews on Riverview are so wrong based on our experience that we need to make our point.

RBOP has been criticized way too harshly in these reviews. I come here occasionally during lunch, often with my friends or parents, and I even catered with them for a party. I have never felt anything less than pleased with their food and service. It’s a nice change of pace when I go from deep dish to thin crust /​Neapolitan style /​New York style, or whatever you wanna call it. Riverview is a good option when that inspiration strikes. The pizza options on the menu are well-​crafted, with lots of unique flavor combinations. But even still, I usually stay simple and boring with my toppings. I think the texture of their pizza is great. The crust is neither too crunchy or chewy. Anyone who complains about it being «soggy» or «oily» is just ignorant to the style. It won’t blow you hair back, but the pizza is very tasty. I would often split a pizza and sandwich with a friend so we can get some of both, which is what I recommend. The Turkey Spin Club, Chicken Parm, and Tony Montana are all really flavorful and come with home-​made chips. Riverview also has a lunch special for a slice and a beer, which is great when just relaxing with a friend or on a date.

This place really pales in comparison to Robey Pizza that used to be in this space.
We gave them two tries before giving up, finding much better pizza elsewhere (Frasca, Spacca Napoli, Ciao Bella, etc.). Prices are double what Robeys charged, and both times the faux-​Neopolitan pizza was soggy in the center with grease. This was after ordering carryout and walking it a block away, so time wasn’t the issue, it was just consistently underdone. Also gone were the great past ingredients like marinated tomatoes, goat cheese, red peppers, homemade sausage.
Sadly all the funky eclectic décor from Robeys was stripped off the walls, leaving a bare, sterile impression now. There’s a crappy sun-​faded banner over the hand-​carved wooden Robey sign that sort of resembles the lack of effort put into this business. Robeys was good while it lasted, but we won’t be back here. C’est la vie.

I’m surprised by the bad reviews here. I just moved to Chicago from New York City and after spending 3 months in Lincoln Park thinking I’d never taste a good bite of NY-​style pizza again, I moved to Roscoe Village and found this gem. It’s not perfect, but they have created a beautiful crust, and the toppings and sauce have been fresh, a bit spicy (which I love) and consistent after several orders. This will be my go-​to pizza spot. And my husband loves that he can have a beer in the tavern while he waits for carry out.

I don’t know why the bad reviews… They have good pizza, they seem to use ok to fresh ingredients and the dough is really nice. Two downsides: 1. We ordered delivery and we live 3 minutes drive from that place. The pizza took 1 hour and 5 minutes to get here… 2. Pricey. We also had pizza and Italian «fries» once on site. Italian fries never again, just tooo much cheese and dough but pizza is real good. Not too thin not too thick. I am confused about the bad reviews…

I actually haven’t had pizza here. I always order one of the sandwiches and they’re excellent. The crispy hand-​cut chips are really tasty too.

Not very impressed with the pizza. It was very greasy! It seemed over priced for the quality of food. It did the job and made us full, that’s about it.

This place is really terrible. My bf had a pepperoni pizza which was so greasy it was soggy. I ordered a margarita pizza and am pretty sure the cardboard box would have tasted better. Terrible crust, sauce from a can, and customer service not the best.
Get a business in that space that knows what they are doing with that amazing wood burning pizza oven. What a waste!!!

Went there right before heading to Chicago airport. It was highly recommended by a Chicagoist. Used to be very good, much better than other famous pizza places. Changed the name and it doesn’t taste as good now.

Good brick oven pizza. Nothing fancy, more of a take out place then sit down.

Sadly this place isn’t run as good as it was when it was Robey Pizza which is a real shame. They used to do an awesome job here.
The pizza’s here are more expensive than they used to be by $ 4 – 5, and the flavors aren’t as good as they were previously. Our most recent pizza seemed fairly undercooked (not much browning on the crust) and it was very soggy. The lead time they gave for pickup was really long and the pizza by that point was not the warmest.
Next.

Let’s be honest here, the pizza isn’t the best but certainly not the worst. RBOP needs to work their execution a little and they are sitting on a gem. Roscoe Village has clearly shown an interest in artisan brick oven pizzas, one needs not look further than Frasca’s sidewalk in the summer. It’s easy to imagine this would be a successful delivery concept in the winter. I live right around the corner so I was rooting for this place, I’m still rooting for it, but it needs some work.
The pizza is way to greasy. Not sure why, nothing on my pie could have produced this much grease, I can only suspect the dough was doused with too much olive oil prior to the toppings. I enjoyed the toppings, I had the balboa, it was rather spicy but flavorful. The only problem was the toppings slid off the crust due to the grease which left me with a nice piece of toppingless crust. The now naked crust had a wonderful crispy bottom and edge but the topside resembled something more like a wet noodle. And thin wet noodley crust is not an ideal vessel for transporting tasty toppings into ones mouth. Fix the grease and you fix your pizza.

The Club Italiano sandwich is awesome. Big fan of the natural chips. Was there right after Thanksgiving.

Just got put on hold for 5 min… Hmmmm. I hung up and called another place.

Order the «Lip stinger» and it was awesome — loved it! I also saw a Taco Pizza with Doritos on their website which I can not lie, peaked my interest for my next order. You’ll hear from me soon!

This is some of the worst pizza I’ve had in Chicago. Tastes like they use cheap, standard tomato sauce and the greasiest toppings. I’d rather have had a frozen pizza. Service was also pretty terrible. Nobody was at the register for about 5 minutes at lunch, with the restaurant completely empty.
EDIT: As an alternative, go to Bartoli’s up the street!