Freddy’s Pizza

Pizza Stop #39:

Freddy’s Pizza
1600 S 61st Ave
Cicero, IL
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For today’s review we have a place that is a staple in the Cicero / Berwyn area, “Freddy’s Pizza”. They have been open since 1968 and are a small Italian food mart. They sell anything from pasta and pizza to gelato, meats and other Italian food products. 

Despite living in the area before, I have only been here a few times but have liked everything I’ve tried. Though until recently I did not know they sold a traditional thin crust pizza. The only pizza I’ve tried here were the square slices they sell at the counter which were okay, but nothing special. However, now that I saw they actually sell a proper thin crust I knew I had to stop in again and give it a go. 

This place has come recommended several times stating they sold a delicious pizza. However, most of these people were locals so I had to wonder.. was it truly that good or was their opinion influenced by the emotional attachment grown from eating here for years? None the less, all the hype has had me anticipating this pizza.

Here I got a 14” medium thin crust pizza with sausage and pepperoni that a was a little on the high side but about average these days at $18. 

While here I also picked up a Gnocchi and Italian ice for my wife which were both flavorful and good.

Unfortunately, my first impression of the pizza was a not a good one. Despite living about 10 minutes away and transporting it in a pizza bag, the crust was very soft and chewy when I got home. It was a texture that reminded me of Costco’s pizza. I’m not sure if it’s normally like this, but I’m going to assume it just didn’t travel well since this was a really heavy slice that could not be supported by a crust like this. Just trying to pick up the pizza was a struggle as it would just flop over and fall apart. The pizza was also just laid into the box itself without a liner so this left a soft and greasy spot at the bottom outside of the box. 

In efforts to give this pizza a fair go, I popped it in the oven for a few minutes and that made the crust a lot better and more like what it should have been I’m assuming. Soft but with a sturdy crisp at the bottom. 

The cheese on this pizza was excellent with tons of flavor. I would even say it was top 5 as far as pizza cheese goes. Unfortunately I also felt like every bite was more cheese than it was pizza as it was laid on THICK. So much so that it was even more than “Beggar’s Pizza” puts on. They serve both a thick Sicilian style pizza here and a thin crust (which is what I got). To me, it seems like they used the same topping amounts that a thick pizza has, but on the thin crust which resulted in an odd ratio. I 100% love a good and cheesy pizza but this was just a little too much that it became some sort of deep dish and thin crust combo. Perhaps the guy who prepared my pizza got distracted and laid the cheese on a little too heavy? This was my first time trying this pizza so I’m honestly not sure.

Heavy cheese and crust issues aside, this was a good tasting pizza. Both the sausage and pepperoni were both great tasting. I wouldn’t go as far as saying this was one of the best in the city, but its definitely a great local option for a quick pizza pickup. 

With that being said, I don’t think the appeal of this place is entirely just the pizza. Walking into this place is the equivalent of most women walking into Target. You’ll come with the intention of grabbing 1 item, but leave with half the store instead. There’s just a bunch of good tasting food and things to pick up here that it’s inevitable to buy more than you planned to. Unless of course you don’t have enough cash!

Which brings us to my next note and complaint.. this place is CASH ONLY. I’m not sure if the owners are just hard headed and refuse to pay fees, but it seems like such a limiting factor of their business. Despite once living only a few blocks away, I never found myself here often. Like most people these days, I rarely EVER have cash in my wallet. When I pick up fast food, its typically a quick stop on my way home. I don’t want to hit an ATM then circle back around to pick up food. That kind of loses the appeal of being fast food”.

Some of the better payment processors only charge 2.5%. This is a measly $25 of every $1000. In the end they won’t even lose a dime as I’m sure they’ll recoup those fees and then some in additional sales they’ll make from finally accepting cards. This aside, I’m sure they also lose money when someone plans to buy more but can’t if they didn’t bring enough cash. 

My “cash only” rant aside, there is one other odd thing about this establishment that I find both funny and feel bad for the owners about. If you happen to have young kids, chances are you’ve likely heard of the game “Five Nights at Freddy’s”. This was a very trendy and popular game a few years ago and in this game there is a place called “Freddy’s Pizza”. Well, I guess some of these kids got bored and googled “Freddy’s Pizza” and stumbled upon this place. The result? 180+ unrelated reviews talking about Animatronics and murders happening at “Freddy’s Pizza”. Some of these kids were kind enough to leave them as 5stars, but unfortunately the majority of them are 1 star reviews with nonsense complaints like “They tried to kill me” or “The animatronics were broken, disappointing”.