Carpentersville, IL – Barones Restaurant and Pizza Review

Barone's Restaurant and PizzaThis may or may not be part of a small local chain;  there are a number of establishments in the Chicago suburbs with the same name, but no indication(s) online or elsewhere the joints are connected.

This particular location, in the far Northwestern suburb of Carpentersville, is located in a small strip mall, set well back from the nearby main drag (Illinois 25), and you’re not likely to see it if you’re not looking for it, or unless you’re a regular. There are two sides to the business, a full boisterous bar with seating and service on the right, and a sedate, vinyl-table clothed restaurant on the left.

Judging from mentions of the restaurant on other sites, this place has been here at least 25 years. The restaurant does a booming take out and delivery business, with a very complete menu of dinners, sandwiches, pizza, and nightly specials. On a Thursday nite, at the dinner hour, the bar was packed and the dining room deserted.   Guess which I opted for?

Meals are served complete – with a complimentary bread basket, soup or salad.  The Thursday special was fried chicken, four good sized pieces on the plate, with a choice of fries, smash or baked.  The salad was ample, the soup Minestrone.

The thin crust pizza is priced 10-20 % less than other independents in the area, which surprised me, because Barone’s really piles on the cheese (the equivalent of double at other pie shops), and used a hand-pulled, flavorful, Italian sausage in good sized pieces. The crust is typical of “Chicago thin,”  not cracker-like, but crispy and flaky at the same time. Sauce was flavorful without being overbearing. I like sliced green olives on my pizzas on occasion, and it seems like Barone’s uses my favorite kind, a “Sicilian style.”

Service was perfunctory.  The menu states to allow 25 minutes for  pizza, so there’s been no oven update in that kitchen in the past few decades.  But that’s ok.  It was worth waiting for, and if I lived in the Chicago ‘burbs, this would be my new go to place.

And my always “ultimate test” of how is it the next morning, cold?  As Mr. Burns would say, “Excellent.”

Barone's Restaurant and Pizza

Complimentary Bread Basket

 

 

Barone's Restaurant and Pizza

Sausage and olive pie

Barone's Restaurant & Pizza on Urbanspoon

 

 

 

Barones Restaurant and Pizza Review

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