Robert's Pizza & Dough Company Review

Alexis Hu

Restaurant Week (RW) is something I’d never heard of before I came to Chicago, but once I discovered it, I immediately started researching. However, I discovered that not all RW deals are worth it—in fact, oftentimes you’ll end up spending more than you would on the RWmenu compared to the restaurant’s usual à la carte selection. After some Googling, I found a website created by Chicago Food Influencer, Plates with P, which featured calculations for a catalogue of restaurants, analyzing RW deals to compare their value with their normal menus. One of the restaurants listed as having a good RW deal was Robert’s Pizza & Dough Company, which was also conveniently recommended to me by a friend previously. Undeterred by Chicago winter winds, I was determined to see for myself whether the hype was real.

Robert’s Pizza & Dough Company had a $45-per-person RW dinner deal featuring four courses. First, you were given the choice between Burrata or Mussels to start, and my friend and I both chose the Mussels. I was shocked to discover that, coated in a white wine and garlic soup with thinly sliced shallots on top, the mussels were served in full portions and even came with three slices of freshly toasted baguette! The mussels combined with the light and slightly tangy soup base made for a delicious pairing. But in my opinion, the baguette very nearly stole the show. Perfectly toasted on the outside and fluffy on the inside, the baguette was so good, especially when dipped in the soup. My friend and I ate most of it even though we knew we still had an entire pizza to devour!

As a fresh palate cleanser, we got to choose a salad for our second course, so I chose the Apple Hazelnut Salad. I was surprised by how big the lettuce leaves were, but they added a more delicate crisp that contrasted nicely with the sharp bite of the apple slices and hazelnut pieces. I mostly ignored the celery (sadly not a fan) and asked for no manchego (not the biggest cheese fan, despite my love of pizza saying otherwise). All in all, I really enjoyed the salad and would get it again for RW, although I should preface that I typically prefer simpler salads with fruit and nuts, so this one was right up my alley.

Apple Hazelnut Salad (regular price: $17)

Just when we thought we couldn’t eat anymore, our pizzas came. Each table had a two-layered metal rack for pizzas, and I was still in awe when the servers placed my 14-inch pizza on the top rack. I ordered The Jay, which has a tomato sauce base topped with house-made fennel sausage, Calabrian chili peppers, and fresh mozzarella. When I tell you this is one of the best pizzas I’ve had in my life, I mean it. I love NYC thin-crust and sourdough pizza, and this pizza had both elements. Thanks to their 25-year-old sourdough starter, each slice had a perfectly thin, crispy bottom, and the crust’s interior was heartily fluffy and chewy. Note: I usually don’t eat the crusts of my pizza slices, but I finished the crusts of every slice I ate! The toppings themselves had a nice subtle spice, which I liked, but the dough itself is definitely the star of Robert’s pizzas and probably the reason it’s in their name, too.

A little while after my pizza arrived, my friend’s pizza, The Funghi, was placed on the bottom rack. Instead of tomato sauce, The Funghi has a truffle cream base, topped with wild mushrooms, garlic, and dabs of ricotta cheese. My friend kindly offered me a slice, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I don’t typically go for pizzas with white-sauce bases, but this one had a nice balance of earthy flavor from the mushroom, richness from the truffle, and a slightly sweet, creamy addition from the ricotta. I’m not sure if I would order it for myself solely because I prefer tomato sauce, but I would definitely eat it if it were offered to me. If you love mushrooms and that earthy truffle flavor, I would definitely order this pizza!

At this point, my friend and I were stuffed. But of course, there’s always room for dessert. There was only one option, but neither of us complained when we were each served a cute, square slice of tiramisu. There are so many different versions of tiramisu, but this one had layers of fluffy mascarpone cream with soft, cake-like lady fingers soaked in coffee in between. I especially enjoyed the chocolate shavings on top, which added a satisfying crunch among the soft tiramisu layers. It was slightly on the sweeter side for my usual dessert preference, though it was still quite delectable!

After that delicious meal, I did go into a slight food coma, but it was so well worth it. I even had two meals’ worth of pizza leftover, which I happily ate over the following weekend. In terms of RW deals, I think Robert’s definitely offers one of the best. After some rough calculations, I found that the dishes I ordered totaled $80 on the normal menu, which means the RW deal is an extra $35 in value! I would definitely recommend Robert’s Pizza & Dough Company for next year’s RW, though you should probably visit before then because the pizza is that good.