Full disclosure before we start: we went to Nancy's with friends of more than twenty years, and…read morewhenever you bring excellent company to a restaurant, the restaurant gets an unfair advantage on the review. That's the case here. Nancy's sits at the halfway point between our respective homes, which is the first thing it has going for it. The second thing is bigger: this is authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza in Southern Illinois, right off I-55, about an hour from St. Louis.
Let's get the pizza snob argument out of the way. Giordano's, Pizzeria Uno, Lou Malnati's, Nancy's, everyone in Chicago has a hill they'll die on, and the snobs can have their way. I'm not rating this place on whether it has the best deep dish in the world. I'm rating it on a simpler question: is this a place you'd go out of your way for? Yes. If my appetite is calling for real Chicago deep dish, I'd drive the hour. Would I go twice in one day? Not possible. Two large slices of this pizza and your body files a formal objection to a second visit. The pizza itself is a bouncer.
The room has a modern, franchise-feel look to it, clean and comfortable, with a small bar. I had the Cowboy Margarita, which is the first margarita I've ever had rimmed with sugar instead of salt. Tequila and rum together, sweet enough that it's really more of a cotton candy take on a margarita. Cowgirl Margarita might be the more honest name. Not my usual lane, but I finished it, happily.
We started with two orders of loaded waffle fries, one with parmesan, ranch and bacon, one with pesto. This is junk-food-forward bar food and it does the trick. Both were solid, neither is the reason you make the drive. Middle of the road for loaded fries.
But the pizza holds up. Nice flaky pie crust on the outside, doughy underneath, and a heavy casserole interior of cheese, meats and sauce, which is exactly what some pizza snobs will point at when they tell you Chicago deep dish isn't a pizza at all, it's a casserole with a crust. Fine. Call it what you want. Is it my favorite pizza? Probably not. Does it deliver on exactly what I came for? Absolutely.
Service was fine, and I'll leave it there. We were a party of nine, and I couldn't tell from our server's disposition whether we were putting her out or she simply had other places to be. She was a bit particular, and it never felt especially warm. In fairness, we were so wrapped up in our own conversation that a more attentive server might have been a distraction. But you notice when the warmth isn't there, and it wasn't.
We'd go back. This is the kind of restaurant you can rely on: it'll be there, it'll be consistent, and it'll deliver the thing it promises.
4.0 out of 5 stars.
Genuine warmth from the service, add a solid old fashioned or straight forward classic cocktail to the mix and this place moves closer to a 5.
If Nancy's Pizzeria were a member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: it's Sam Wilson, The Falcon, in the years before he picked up the shield. Dependable, strong, always shows up when you need him, does the job without much drama. Not the headliner yet, and maybe never needs to be. But you'd never leave him off the team.
