What can I say? Sams has been an icon here in the Illinois…read moreValley for as long as I can remember. Sam serves pizza. That's it. Pizza. But what a pizza it is. Never have we been disappointed with it. The thing that gets me is, you call to place your order and he never writes anything down. Ever!! He puts it all in his "computer" lol. That's his noggin if you haven't figured that out. Anyway, give him a call, place your order, wait 49 minutes, and dig in!!! You'll be back..... We all go back. Enjoy!!!

Amazing pizza. Sam is hilarious. A big reason for me to visit this area was to eat from his…read moreplace. Unfortunately it appears he is now retired and it seems that he is permanently closed. Hope he can sell the business and train someone on how to work his magic. He sure is something special and will be missed

Staying at Starved Rock Lodge with my minions and 12 yo pipes up with "what's for dinner?" After…read morechecking on site options (plentiful) they still wanted Pizza. Leap into the Yelp-scape for something close but not a chain. Boom CortiLeno's pops up. 10" Pie for $12? We are all in. Walked in about 6pm Monday night quiet. Great bartender took order of one extra pepperoni sans cheese and one traditional pepperoni and cheese. "I'll be back in 20. Should I pay before I leave? No thats fine." Back 20 mins later a bit more crowded and pizzas ready to go. Ambience of space is not my vibe because I dislike the electronic gaming. Thats a me thing On way out chef/owner/dude.."I killed that one pizza with pepperoni." He did indeed. Happiness all around. Great sauce, amazing crust (soft so if you want crispy give them an alert) perfect amount of cheese and toppings. Great job!

The food is 5 stars. The service is 5 stars. The ambiance with a cool sports bar vibe is 5 stars…read more My wife and I dined in at the bar on a Monday afternoon. The bartender provided good service! I ordered a cheeseburger with pepper jack cheese with fries. My wife ordered a cheeseburger with American cheese and fries. My wife had a sprite to drink and I had a water. The soda is 1 dollar!! Both our burgers were fantastic, tasty, and juicy! The burgers are 1/2 lb burgers! The frozen fries here are awesome ! We loved our lunch and we will be back!

This place is great to watch a game , to hang out, to have a get together. Good drinks, great…read moretimes. They have a room that can be rented for parties and get togethers. Always has season decor and cool activities with live bands. It's on the pub crawl list. Plus it's the cleanest tavern around !

From the owner: Products: Salads, Burgers, Cheeseburgers, Chicken, Fried…read moreCod, Blue Gill, Tacos, Fried Chicken, Chicken Tenders, Appetizers, Boneless Wings, BBQ, Wraps, Sandwiches, Beer, Whiskey, Draft Beer, Domestic Beer, Imported Beer, Grilled Cheese Services: Private Parties, Private Events, Baby Showers, Bridal Showers, Wedding Rehearsals, Dinner Rehearsals, Retirement Parties, Gambling, Casino, Video Gaming, Video Gambling, Birthday Parties, Wedding Showers, Corporate Events Brands: Accel Entertainment Gaming, AE Player

We ordered here from an AirBNB on New Year's Day. Not only was the delivery quick - but the pizza…read morewas loaded with topics and was delicious.

The pizza was awesome. I ordered the thin crust and it was nice and crisp. The order was ready on…read moretime as I did take out. The staff were friendly. I will definitely order from them again.

Had pizza from here last Thursday and it was very good sweet style sauce good toppings and a good…read morethin style crust , I will get this pizza often in the future also got the cheese breadsticks which I didn't care for very much not what I expected but other folks might like them but pizza was great

Another fantastic find! Youngest recommended this place. So, Wifey, Youngest and I decided to…read morecheck it out. The vibe here coming in is just so, well, how to describe it... "Cool"? It's just a wonderfully spacious place. Not the typical "shove in as many as we can". I was a huge fan of the bruschetta appetizer. The bread want nearly as hard as you usually get, and the Italian "pico" was quite flavorful. If you like nothing tastes and your taste buds live in mashed potatoes, don't bother. The Bianca pizza was really nice. Crust was the Italian style with the right texture, and crispness. My only complaint, the chairs are uncomfortable. Wifey's thoughts? She's busy today, so I will just tell ya, she loved everything and cannot wait to come back. So, I'm sorry this brief review isn't up to our regular standards, but we will be back and do a nicer job next time. (By the way, the service was good, but the server we had (I didn't get her name) needs to learn about the beer wall, but I think she was new.

Canned Beer-"Good and Cold" and great price. Taco salad with…read morea teaspoon of meat, rip-off! Chicken sandwich w/ fry was good, but not even warm. 20% tip-well deserved. 2.83% charge for using credit card-bunch of bologna! Total $80.37 Dining area was maybe 15% occupied and sat us in front of the "Cave" entrance with about 20 people. Not a good visit!

We have been getting Lil Bella's for years. They usually have a food truck at the Pistol Shrimp…read moregames as well. My parents ordered a ribeye steak pizza. I actually thought it was very good. I will say they give tons of meat and they are not skimpy at all with toppings. We also ordered a cheeseburger pizza. The sauce is actually made out of ketchup and mustard, which honestly was pretty good. My only complaint would be the pickles on top are way too overpowering, and I would take them off next time.

Pizza places is one thing that Illinois Valley definately does not lack in, and is also one of my…read morefavorite foods....I originally tried Lil' Bella's, in LaSalle, on St. Patrick's Day, when I saw a Facebook advertisement for a Stuffed Rueben Roll Pizza....seriously, how could you pass up that??? I called and ordered it. Asked a bunch of questions.... Come to find out the medium was plenty big. It was delivered and I immediately had to try it. It was seriously incredible. I immediately sent food photos to my friends bragging about how good it was. I literally could eat one piece and be comfortably full. It was so good, I ended up eating two. It wasn't but a few days later and I was ordering again, but this time the Stuffed Beef Roll. Again, seriously didn't disappoint. Since that first trip, I've probably ordered from there 4-5 times. It's soon became a favorite of mine. In two of those times I had issues come up.... An unexpected emergency after placing the order. I had to cancel the delivery and asked if I could pick it up before they closed. Couple hours later, I picked it up and it was still warm. Last order, I wanted to surprise my buddies and drive some to them 1 hour and 15 minutes away. Problem is, they only had a small refrigerator to fit food in. Called Lil' Bella's up and explained the issue, and they went on and on about what they could do to solve my issue. My buddies LOVED the pizza by the way. Lil' Bella's seriously to me is a hidden gem that you can pass by a bazillion times, and not truly understand how lucky you are for having that place close by that you can order from. A couple other things to note... They make everything from scratch. Nothing comes from a can, box, or bag. The stuffed rolls and most likely many other things are made with their smoked meats...again, made from scratch. Its locally owned and family ran. Customer service is top notch. Seriously, they are so friendly, helpful...even when they have bragging rights because their pizza is so dang good!!!! Suggest following them on Facebook and TikTok if you can. They put pride in their social media which is great. Every once in a while you see them share that their food truck/trailer is somewhere around the area. Highly suggest stopping by for a bite to eat if you see it out and about. Sadly, food is only for pickup or delivery. Makes it kind of hard for the people who just pass through. Highly booking a room at a local hotel, and add this to your visit to maybe the Starved Rock day or something. Well done Lil' Bella's.... You have me bragging when we only met just a short few weeks ago. Totally worth it because it's a favorite in that short of time.

On our way through the country, my dad decided it was high time to get his hands on some Chicago…read morestyle deep dish pizza. He's not really that technologically advanced which is surprising because he was an electrical engineer at one point in his life. Anyway, he kept trying to find pizza places along our route and every time he found one that was either in the opposite direction from where we were going, was closed, or wasn't making deep dish. I finally pulled over and we found Lou's. We placed our order over the phone, and made our way towards the restaurant. It's not much to look at from the outside, sort of run down or outdated. Inside it's better, but still remnants from another time remain. My dad picked up the pie and we took it to the car because it was wicked hot and we were traveling with my dog. The pizza didn't look that impressive from the start, but that was before I inspected it intently. I picked up a slice and it was the most massive cheese pull I've ever experienced in my entire life. I have never seen that much cheese on a food item ever. It was by far the most massive cheese dose I've ever seen, and nothing has come even close. The taste was good, but I prefer a ratio of more sauce to cheese. The crust was tender, the sauce was hot, and the cheese was chewy, but none of it was anything too out of the ordinary. The extraordinary part about it was definitely the sheer volume of cheese on that deep dish piece of magnificence. I would likely return if I were in the area, just to re-experience the cheese-tastic inundation of their pie. Price is good, service is fast, selection is decent and people are fairly friendly. Bathrooms and restaurant are dated but relatively clean, and the food is good but nothing gourmet. Not standard by any means, but come for the deep dish cheese pie and prepare yourself for a cheese landslide!

The pizza was ok. Not great, not bad, but, the hand tossed crust was a little "dough-y". Decent…read moreamount of ingredients. Next time I order I will ask to have it done a little longer. It just felt like about 3 more minutes in the oven would have helped tremendously.

It's always pleasant to come here and pick up a pizza on a Saturday afternoon/evening. They make…read moreit right for some reason or another.

I got a special deal on a pizza and it was okay. I would like to try them again without any deal to…read moresee if that makes a difference.