Ginos East

I can’t believe this place calls itself ginos. They carry the name, but lack the quality and taste. They brought out my pizza watery looking and the dough was not done. I’m from Chicago and most Chicagoans would thrown this out of the Window. It was a shame.

Friday night call in order at 7p arrive at 7:45p and it was piping hot and ready to go. The inside seating was fairly empty to my surprise. If you want delivery it will be a 3^rd party company you will have to order through. I got the pie home safe and sound! We got the Chicago Fire and it was amazing! Not too spicy either. Chicago deep dish pizza makers have different types of crust and this style just happens to be Gino’s. It tasted just like we remembered from Chi-​town. Thanks guys! We will return!

I was so excited to try this place only to be disappointed. The mozzarella sticks were good, but I didn’t care for the pizza. I think the crust was made with cornmeal? It wasn’t bad, but not somewhere I care to go back to.

My husband and I tried the Chicago style pizza for the first time. It was pretty good. We tried a flavor that we had not had before. It had blue cheese and bacon and jalapeño on it. I honk next time we will try the supreme. We ordered a side salad to start out with since the deep dish pizza can take up to an hour to cook. The salad was ok — nothing special. Didn’t really care for the blue cheese dressing. Atmosphere was ok. Our waitress was great but a few of the other wait staff had a poor attitude. We will give it another try and see what happens

This worst dining experience I have ever had. Waited for 20 mins and never got a drink order. Group of 5 came in 1 min before we left and the got a drink order. WTH? Manager no where to be found. Don’t waste your time here. It really isn’t worth it.

So its ok.
Had a cheese stick. Lil over done, a glass of red wine, and a supreme deep dish. The pizza was good, sturdy crust and lots of toppings. I felt it tasted better the next day. A little too heavy and rich for me tho. You should really be hungry when you go here.
I would go back if someone I really liked asked me to go with them, but not sure I’d go on my own again.

I don’t understand all the negative reviews here. Maybe they were having a bad day?
Took a first date here for lunch on a Saturday – place was clean and well lit, unlike Gino’s in Chicago which is pretty dark inside.
Service was prompt, efficient, and attentive.
We started with a beer – they have several local brews on tap – Revolver, Deep Ellum, Community, etc. Excellent.
We then had the «all in» chopped salad with the house dressing – creamy Italian. Easily big enough for two.
Main course was a large cheese deep dish. It took maybe 15 minutes or so to arrive, not that long. It was excellent – sauce is fresh, not too chunky, cheese was abundant, and crust, just what you expect from Gino’s. I had two slices, date had one. So that leaves five for leftovers. Not bad…
I think if you go here, keep in mind where you are – it’s a chain now, and you’re not going to be whisked away to the Windy City. You’re in Dallas – which isn’t half bad. And the pizza here isn’t, either.

Just like Marilyn M, I struggled as well on how to rate this place. A friend from Chicago raved about this place and I absolutely love deep dish pizza. I figured there was no way I’d go home without leaving 110% satisfied, but I was underwhelmed. I was meeting a group of friends for dinner and I got there about 10 – 15 minutes before them. I ordered 2 pizzas to get them cooking. The first pizza was half Chicago fire and half Spinach margherita and the second was a whole gino’s supreme. Since we knew we’d be waiting 30 – 45 min for the pizza, we ordered a chopped salad and gino’s family platter. It was a lot of food for 5, but we wanted to try as many things on our first visit. [Didn’t order dessert because we were too full. Darn!]
The family platter was good, just like any other restaurant with an appetizer platter. The chopped salad was meh. Wilted greens with chicken and bacon, but where are the other veggies? Avoid their salads from now on.
Pizza time! It smelled so good I was ready to dig in! Up first was the half/​half pizza. I liked the spinach margherita — simple but good flavor. The Chicago fire had no fire whatsoever. It was kind of weird because there was no crust on the bottom, just the sausage patty. The supreme was kind of soggy and slightly lukewarm. The toppings were scarce as well.
I’m kind of sad I didn’t like Gino’s. I was really hoping I finally found a good deep dish pizza joint. I’ll be back once more, but any other suggestions for deep dish Unilocalers?

We love deep dish pizza, and the places near us have closed down. I don’t know how authentic it is, but considering that 5 of the people in our party were from Chicago and quite pleased, I think it falls in the more authentic than not category.
Gino’s East is everything you would expect from a Chicago style restaurant as far as décor. It was warm and inviting. The pizza is flavorful and filling, definitely don’t fill up on appetizers or drinks. My husband and I got the large pizza and we had enough for leftovers. It does take time to bake, at least 45 minutes, so be prepared to what just a tad for your main course. The service was fabulous. Our waiter was extremely attentive, and was constantly checking on us and serving us the pizza. We also appreciated that Ginos stored the birthday cake in the fridge and brought out plates and serving utensils which was a nice touch.
We will definitely be back!

I was excited about Gino’s East setting up shop in the DFW, I remembered visiting Gino’s in Chicago and I LOVED it. Unfortunately, my visit to the DFW counterpart wasn’t as enjoyable as the Chicago location.
The atmosphere is pretty much the same: casual, dark, no extra frills type place. They had a nice bar area when you first enter surrounded by the general eating areas which also have TV’s strategically placed for patrons.
We were given some time to look over the menus so we were ready to order when our waitress came back to check on us. We were met with the disclaimer that if we ordered a deep dish pizza, the wait would be 30 – 45 minutes for it to cook. Okay, not a problem, that makes sense (THANK YOU for the warning beforehand!). For an appetizer my husband ordered the cheesy pizza bread and for dinner we ordered the small meaty legend deep dish pizza.
About 10 – 15 minutes later, our appetizer arrives. Cold. Okay, maybe not cold. Lukewarm. It was really disappointing. It was covered and draped in cheese so hubby was in hog heaven but I wasn’t impressed with it at all. Then, when our pizza comes out, I’m hoping it would make up for the deflated appetizer. Nope. I take a bite and the toppings were great, but something was overly chewy. So I start to dig through the toppings and see that the crust wasn’t cooked all the way through. Like barely, the outside was crisp but everything else was mushy and doughy still. Ugh. I showed the waitress and she apologized and took it back to get us a fresh one made, at this point I was waving my white towel.
They did comp us for the pizza, which I appreciate, however, I will not waste my time with Gino’s in DFW. For the time and price that you wait/​pay, the food should at least be hot and cooked thoroughly.

Good O’ deep dish Chicago style pizza. Cute entrance, love the lighted letters and stuff. The deco is very Chicago and homey. You can sign your name on the walls and their lamps. Make your mark!
Pizza can take an hour to make. Slices are big. So come hungry!

okay, let’s qualify this posting– I lived in Chicago for 4 years and LOVE deep dish up there. Lou Malnati’s all the way. Gino’s East was my second favorite b/​c I think they have the better crust.
But a girl gots to do what she gots to do when she’s got a hankering for deep dish and lives in Dallas…
pizza rather good, but I wouldn’t say it was as good as Lou Malnati’s but that’s what i expected. however, I don’t know if I remember the crust wrong from Chicago, but def not as good as I was expecting from my memories of Gino’s east in chicago.
The supreme deep dish was very good– very cheesy. Bad ratio of crust to toppings. not enough crust on bottom so the pizza is a little bit… soggy. The other problem was that we asked for sausage and no pepperoni, but it came with both. Pepperoni to me overwhelms everyyyything else so not as enjoyable.
the pub chips are fab though, def get that!
—hh

Geno’s East is a Chicago import that specializes in deep dish pizza. There are several restaurants in the DFW area that does deep dish, but Geno’s can also be found in Chicago. It’s authentic, but as long as you know deep dish takes time, you’ll be rewarded with a Windy City pizza experience.
My Overall Rating — 4 Stars (Atmosphere, Service, Food, Return)
Atmosphere — Geno’s does an admiral job recreating a Chitown eatery. The exposed brick wall has Chicago style memorabilia everywhere. But if available, ask for a booth. It’s a semicircle booth that can fit 4 — 5 people. The seats are classic red shimmering vinyl held down with buttons. And old school umbrella lamp hangs from above, and the staff even encourages you to sign your name. 1 Star.
Service — Here’s an important tip: you can call in your order ahead of time because it takes 30+ minutes to properly bake a pie. We called in our order at 11:45, arrived at 12:15, and our server brought out our pizza at 12:20 along with our drinks. Out hostess was very nice (and is who takes phone orders) as was our server. Extremely nice, personable, and of course served us our pizza when it came out. 1 Star.
Food — I’m more of a fan of Neapolitan (thin) pizza than deep dish, but if you’re here you gotta go deep. My deep dish Margareta pizza excelled with copious amounts of thick cut mozzarella cheese, a thick & hearty sauce, and a crust made for dipping. I loved the texture of the deep dish crust — it was flaky and made for scooping up more sauce & cheese. Not as buttery as Lou Manalti’s in Chicago, but quality. If you don’t call in your order, you’ll need to order an appetizer while you wait for your pie. Don’t bother with the Brussels sprouts with pancetta. The pancetta was good but the sprouts seemed like they were boiled and were bitter. But since I came to Geno’s for pizza, I’ll give them a pass. 1 Star.
Will I Return? — Yes. Sure, Geno’s is a chain, but they do deep dish right and are a lot closer to me than Chicago. Just remember to call in your pizza ahead of time (especially during lunch) if you want to minimize your wait time. 1 Star.
My Unilocal Rating Scale (Sum of all parts):
1 Star — Atmosphere — Is it a cool dive? Perhaps an upscale place? No matter the type, atmosphere plays a big part and I’ll give a star if I like it or thinks it has great charm.
1 Star — Service — You can have a great meal with bad service. But that’s also what can make a five-​star joint drop to four. It’s important to the dining experience that service is great and on point.
2 Stars — Food — I’ll award up to two stars for the food, since this is the main reason we dine out. Sometimes the extra star is given for value, but it’s really all about the food.
1 Star — Will I come back? — If I know for a fact I’ll return, I’ll give this a star. A place has to make an impression for me to return.
Each Category can be given up to 1 star except food (2 stars) because I consider all these categories important to the overall dining experience. I will sum them up to provide my final Unilocal score.

I LOVE DEEP DISH PIZZA.
So of course, I had to come try this place out. I’m going to go ahead and give Gino’s East four stars since I am thankful to have a legitimate deep dish chain in Dallas (I’d really give my visit more like a 3.5, but I’ll go ahead and round it up to be nice). I thought the pizza could have been thicker (shocker– I know). I remember the Gino’s East in Chicago tasting a little more «authentic» and thicker, but I guess I can’t be too picky in the Big D.
Service was VERY slow, and they didn’t take our drink orders until 10 or 20 minutes after we sat down. As others have mentioned, it takes a long time to cook the pies– So order as soon as you know what you want.

Where to start? Came in waiting for 5 minutes to be seated when no one came. Bartender said seat yourself and no one came to give us a menu so I go and get my own menu. Waited another 20 minutes and all of the wait staff acting as if we weren’t there we left and went to another restaurant Totally disappointed especially after going to locations in Chicago. Customer service sorely lacking

My BF and I came here for an early dinner (so we could eat leftovers at home for a later snack.) Fat, I know. We have our days. So I called in and placed our order for a deep dish while we were on our way since we didn’t want to sit there and wait for 45 – 50 mins.
We got there about 20 mins after I placed the order which was good. The restaurant was dim and quiet with lots of tv’s. Very similar to the one in Arlington, but this location still seemed nicer to me. I have no clue why. Our waitress had excellent customer service skills and helpful. I wish I knew her name but she had dark hair. She recommend the spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer and we went with it. The dip came with 8 pieces of oven-​baked bread. We really enjoyed the flavor of the dip but one thing I would change is the bread. It was crunchy and I prefer a little softer texture but that’s just personal preference. The deep dish we went with was the BBQ brisket (for the second time) and we loved it again! The BBQ sauce and marinara combo is wonderful.
This experience and service was phenomenal compared to the Arlington experience we had. We will be returning one day in the near future. Too much pizza will clog our arteries. Loved it though!

Well, I’ve struggled for a couple of days on how to rate this newish restaurant. We met friends there this past Sunday @ noon. Very few occupied tables at this early hour. Greeted by a very friendly and welcoming hostess who offered our party of 5 a table or a large booth. We opted for the large very comfy booth.
The décor is nice; lots of dark woods, plank floors, red checkered table cloths and a large appealing bar area.
Our cute enthusiastic server Leslie was there quickly to take our drink orders. When asked a couple of questions about two cocktails she admittedly said she didn’t know as she didn’t drink, but she offered to ask the bartender and had our questions answered. Our drinks were delivered in a timely manner by another server. My Pinot Grigio was a very generous pour for $ 7.
A friend and I ordered a small deep dish (4 slices) with mozzarella, tomato sauce, sliced tomatoes, black olives, crumbled sausage and caramelized onions. Two others in our party ordered a medium deep dish, half supreme and half with jalapenos and sausage. They also ordered the spinach mozzarella sticks as an appetizer. The fifth diner in our party, a teenager, ordered Fettuccine Alfredo.
We knew there would be approximately a 45 minute wait time for the pizzas so that was not an issue nor had any effect on the rating. What was interesting however was that the pasta order was brought out within 10 minutes of ordering rather than serving it when the pizzas came out. Also, the portion of the Alfredo was extremely small, enough so that the teenager’s Mom asked Leslie about it and was told that was the normal portion. Without being asked, Leslie reappeared quickly with another serving, on the house. Now, that is great customer service!
We enjoyed our time to chat and sip on our libations until the pizzas arrived. Leslie had explained that all the toppings would be placed on the pizza first with the sauce on top.
The toppings and sauce were generous and absolutely delicious as well as the top edge of the crust which was nice and crispy. The big fail… the bottoms of the pizza on both pies were undercooked, soggy & doughy, really really soggy. Also, the caramelized onions were almost raw, rather then soft and melt in the mouth tender. We were all so hungry we just ate the sauce and toppings and the top edge of the crust. I only attempted one slice and left a little hungry. I did let Leslie know and asked her to pass our comments on to the chef as constructive criticism.
In conclusion for the 3 star rating:
Atmosphere — 4 stars
Service — 3.5 stars (Leslie could probably use a little more training on menu and drink items) but was a very affable engaging young lady working very hard to take care of us.
Food — 2 stars because of the undercooked pies & raw onions
Price — 2.5 stars, $ 26 for a small pie, pricier than other comparable pies elsewhere @$ 17 – 19
I feel that our experience with this visit could have been an anomaly so might be willing to give it another try if in the area as most reviews here are 4 – 5 stars.

I used a Groupon ($ 16 for $ 30) to check out this pizza joint.
«Hi, I’m Monie and I’m a pizzaholic» hee, hee
The calamari was fried perfectly, not greasy at all. I would have liked some seasoning (other than salt and pepper), but I scarfed it down anyway.
Full Disclosure: I have not had real Chicago deep dish pizza since I was actually in Chicago, which admittedly was about 20 years ago.
I got the small «jalapeño blue» deep dish pizza, because that’s one my hubby wanted to try. LOL! It came loaded with Italian sausage, blue cheese, a few real bacon bits, and one giant, roasted and blue cheese stuffed jalapeño in the center.
The crust was tasty, but the mozzarella, blue cheese, other toppings were «ok.» The cheese, sausage, etc did not taste as high quality as the pizza crust.
A small deep dish is Plenty for two hungry folks. We also enjoyed reasonably priced wine & beer. The cocktails were only $ 7 regular price.
Happy hour is M-​F. And they offer specially priced lunches during the week as well.
And yes, as other reviewers have noted, get your deep dish order in BEFORE your drinks & appetizer order. It takes 45 minutes to cook up a deep dish pizza.

They are not kidding when they tell you to get your order in ASAP because it takes 45 minutes to bake that pie! Anyone remember the pie at Flying Tomato that took 45 minutes? It’s that! It does not help when your waitress tells you this and you get your crap together and then wait while she disappears to the Gino’s netherworld and does not return for 10 – 15 minutes.
We had the antipasti salad to share. It’s big enough for two if you are having it with pizza. It was delicious. We had the Meaty Legend and while the concept is good – I’m just not a fan of their Italian Sausage. I like Italian Sausage, just not this one. Next time I will try something else. Beer selection is good.
I will go there again and hope the service is a smidge better and try something different. I’m going to call this one growing pains.

We knew Gino’s reputation for their deep dish pizza, and we were Not disappointed. The best thing about tonight’s dining out is our server James H., he is so passionate about this place that he made our experience that much better!!! He recommended the Brussels sprouts and the cheese bread for appetizers. Excellent!!! Then of course our favorite — Gino’s deep dish pizza!!! Awesome!!! Finally found my favorite place for pizza!!!
Great experience!!!