Hey folks! Long time no post... (as in 2011 for my last post) but after seeing the reviews for Paulie Gee's Logan Square, I wanted to chime in. (Because I'm the owner!)
First off, thank you all for coming to try us out! It's my first restaurant, and it definitely hasn't come to this point without some bumps and bruises... and some continued bumps and bruises even now. It's all part of the fun so far though!
We definitely had some rough service the first weekend we were open (far higher ticket times than we had planned for, server mistakes in table numbers, etc) however we've ironed out a lot of those issues as we entered our second week of service (ticket times last night were under 15 minutes at all times, and averaged 6 minutes). I'm a firm believer that we're in a work in progress, as I think we'll always be (there's always room to improve another aspect!)
@gnarchief - I'd say that there's plenty of room for Reno and us to serve the public! And our pies are different enough that I think we'll draw different crowds. I'm a firm believer in colleagues, not competition! Pizza is such a ubiquitous food, we're just honored to be another option in the neighborhood!
@Whocanitbenow - You hit it on the head. While the ovens do say Napoli, we're not trying to be Neapolitan... we just want to make good wood fired pizza for the neighborhood! I don't remember if Jonathan (Spacca Napoli) makes his own cheese or just focuses on using as high moisture as possible, but it's amazing stuff either way! We're definitely using a fresh mozzarella for our pies (vacuum sealed), with a more of a lean towards the American palate (heavier cheese coverage) for a good amount of our pies. As for the atmosphere, I wanted a relaxed place where people can enjoy each other's company, no TV's, and hopefully good food and drink. I definitely designed some of the style to echo what it felt like to be in the original Paulie Gee's in Brooklyn, but opened up the space a bit more so we weren't packed shoulder to shoulder as much. Does it really feel like Division St?
@ByEWS - I completely agree with you on the Eater articles. They've always shown a lot of love towards Paulie Gee's, which he has appreciated, but the tone of the articles at times has definitely been a bit... snobbish. If you ever get a chance to talk to Paulie (New Jersey native) or me (born and raised Chicago/burbs), we're of the same philosophy... this isn't "brooklyn" or "new york" style pizza. It's just wood fired pizza that we're trying to make enjoyable. And you're right, Spacca Napoli is definitely the finest Neapolitan style we have in the city (and possibly the States). After my wife and I had saved enough to do a short trip to Naples, we came to truly appreciate just how perfectly replicated Spacca Napoli is to Neapolitan pizza. Jonathan's dedication to his craft is nothing short of amazing, and has been instrumental in helping me down this path of opening my own restaurant.
@dagrassroots - Thank you for coming out on our first night, and being understanding enough to mention it! Hopefully you didn't come in on Thursday when we had to shut down service 15 minutes in due to flooding issues?
I guess no one ever said the restaurant business was easy...
Again, I appreciate the honest feedback folks, and thank you again for coming in! It was a pleasure connecting with those of you that I was able to! (I try to make it a point to meet every guest that comes through personally, but we've been short staffed more nights than I'd like to say, and I've had to jump behind the line to make pizza, run food, or any other role that just needed to be filled...)