Founded in 1979, Beggars Pizza franchise has been around the Chicago land area and Northwest Indiana for quite some time now. I have lived here for about ten years now, so one may assume that I have heard about it at the very least, but this is not the case. That is until about a month ago when friends of mine suggested it. So when they started talking up the place, I knew I had to try it. Yes, some may say I live under a rock.
Upon arriving at Beggars, I noticed it was located within a strip mall that looked fairly new. We pulled into the parking lot and got front row parking, which was a warning sign from the start. The front door is aligned far left in comparison to the building. You walk in to what looks like the pick-up area which was mind blowing because the area was small with maybe 3 seats for waiting, though it was a tidy and well kept up space. You proceed to walk down a narrow walk way to the tables, where I noticed only one other family was in the restaurant. I’d like to think that was because we went between lunch and supper time.
Finally, when our pizza arrived, 10-15 minutes later than told, it was looking good. The whole leaf lettuce and the not diced tomato was foreign to me. In all previous pizza’s I had eaten this had not happened, however it ended up being a pain in the butt trying to bit through a whole leaf. As for the cheese pizza, it was semi-burnt, just the way I like it. (To the right is a map of a few locations.)
My friends order the taco pizza so I was not a big fan of it. First of all I do not like olives; second of all I do not like tomato, so both on a pizza is a big no. I will say, though, that the lettuce was fresh and the tomato was juicy, so something was working in their favor. The cheese pizza was a little on the saucy side and didn't quite fill my appitite, but I mean I ate it! More cheese would have been better. On a side note, the pizzas were a decent price for smalls at about $10 each; then again that is when no sales are offered.
Other than the few wrappers that were on the floor under the table next to us, the place was kept fairly clean. It did bother me, though, because c’mon not many are in the restaurant and you (the waiter) had nothing else to do!
Now moving on to the waiter and how he presented himself. He could not have been any nicer! He checked up on us a decent amount of times, and kept the drinks coming. The uniforms or lack thereof, caught me off guard. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, as someone would like they were going to hang out with friends. The guy who actually brought the pizza to our table was wearing a similar outfit, which led me to the conclusion of no uniforms. In short, the no set dress code did not bother me, it brought in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Beggars, being a smaller sized restaurant, there was not much investigation on to where the bathrooms were, so they were clearly located in the corner of the restaurant. The restrooms were just as clean as the rest of the restaurant, and did not reek as if it had not been attended to in a week, as some other bathrooms have that disturbing odor.
The decorations throughout the place brought in a calm and relaxing feeling. There were fake plants hanging from shelves, and the lamp décor was one in which the designers had tried to make you feel as though you may be in an upscale setting because they were kind of dim which made the place darker and, for me, more difficult to see at times. Why? Because I am blind. There was only one TV, so that came as no distraction to me. There is a first time for everything and the trip was one for the books. Other than the extra waiting and the darkness of the place, it was welcoming. Overall, the restaurant would recieve a 7 out of 10 and although the service was good and the food was mediorce I will not be in a hurry to return.
