← Back to Top 50 Pizza Restaurants Worldwide
Why Lou Malnati's Is on Our Top 50 Pizza Worldwide
Lou Malnati's, under Malnati family's direction, is ranked #21 on our Top 50 Pizza Restaurants Worldwide. The pizza style: Chicago Deep Dish (butter-crust).
The oven type: Deep-pan oven, 230 Celsius (35-minute bake). The dough fermentation: Buttery flaky crust, cornmeal-dusted pan.
The signature pie: The Lou (the signature deep dish), The Malnati Chicago Classic, Sausage deep dish. The dough provenance: Malnati family butter-crust recipe since 1971.
The award lineage: Chicago institution; James Beard America's Classics.
How to Order at Lou Malnati's
The booking lead time: 2 to 4 weeks for prime time. Reserve through OpenTable, Resy, or the restaurant's direct booking line.
Order the regional signature. The kitchen's strongest expression at Lou Malnati's is the The Malnati Chicago Classic. The pizza style is Chicago Deep Dish (butter-crust); the dough technique determines what to order alongside.
The dress code: Casual. The pizza spend: 25 to 40 USD per deep dish. The kitchen at Lou Malnati's is rated 10/10 for food and 9/10 for ambience in our editorial scoring.
Why Lou Malnati's Is Worth the Pilgrimage
"The Lou Malnati family's Chicago deep-dish flagship. Lou Malnati ran the kitchen at Pizzeria Uno for two decades before opening his own; the most consistently family-run Chicago deep-dish institution since 1971."
Our editorial scoring places the food at 10/10, ambience at 9/10, and value at 9/10. The Chicago Deep Dish (butter-crust) register is structural; the oven, the dough, and the regional pizza tradition produce the pie that rewards the pilgrimage.
View Lou Malnati's on Restaurants for Kings →
Related Reading
- Top 50 Pizza Restaurants Worldwide. The full editorial ranking, of which Lou Malnati's is #21.
- Browse all 23 Top 50 Rankings · Top 50 Italian Outside Italy · Top 50 Hidden Restaurants
- Chicago restaurant guide. The full city directory with all occasions.
- Pizzeria Uno. Our deep dive on the closest pizza peer in the city.
- Pequod's Pizza. Our deep dive on the closest pizza peer in the city.