Polito's Pizzeria Restaurant

Walking in was greeted and sat at a table. Waitress was nice and got our drinks while we looked the menu. They had a good selection to pick from. The music was low and could barely hear it, would of been nice if was up a little more. The place was inviting to stay and hang out with family and/or friends. The waitress kept our drinks full. The food was good and was hot when got to us. Good portion sizes for the prices.

Service was fast. I got a calzone and it’s the best I’ve ever had. It’s also twice the size I can eat and it’s only $11 in Uber eats. My only complaint is that I didn’t find this place sooner… I will return!

I would not recommend spending money on this pizza. Unfortunately, our pizza was burnt when we picked it up, and we didn't realize it because the top looked great. Breadsticks were cold and dry. If you want good pizza, go to Halls Kitchen. We learned our lesson.

Service is fantastic Food is also.Heidi is one of the best servers i have ever been around. Coming from working in stressfull restaurants She handles business like a walk in the park large parties no problems Food comes out hot and tasty with no problems I highly recommend Palito's overyour local restaurants easily. Everyone is polite and enjoy their jobs.Get to the restaurant to enjoy. Today Thank you polito's.Keep it up. Youre great.!

Server was amazing she was very friendly and helpful. Food was good. We had garlic cheesy bread and the Chicago works pizza. I am looking forward to my cold leftover pizza for breakfast in the morning.

I ordered a chicago works pizza, says $24.99 online and when i went to pick it up it was $33.12!!! The pizza was all bread and was not any better than dominos!! I wanted a stuffed pizza, but they are $50, in chicago you can get the best stuffed pizza for $25..If i had to do it again, i definitely we ould not order from POLITOS EVER AGAIN!!!

Went here today 08/28/2025 The food was absolutely terrible, disgusting and inedible A Italian sub had no Italian meats only deli ham and try to cover up with vast amounts of lettuce Salad bar rotted and past date food on it the bread crumbs were oily and soggy The chicken Parmesan was old frozen chicken pattys put over cafeteria style pasta the sauce was very watery and vey under cooked tastes like the metal can it probably came from So pissed at this place it needs to be shut down The bread sticks stale and the roll for the sub very old tasting The employees were just as disgusting as the food since the had no concern for our dismay for the food

Made to Order Sandwiches. I liked the bread they used, but To avoid a dry eat, don’t forget to tell them to add Mayo/lettuce/Tomatoes. You must request this. One of their Sandwiches does comes with L&T, but no Mayo. There was a 40 min wait for our order. Would have given 3 Stars but the staff was so nice and the place was very clean.

Always great pizza. It's our go-to for close to NY style pizza, although we did recently order the beautiful tricolor Sicilian pizza pictured below .

When we first found Polito's in 1995 we thought wow real New York style pizza what a treat here in South Bend! Went there a lot in the old days with the kids, not as much in the past few years. Decided to get take out today...what a disappointment. Burnt rigatoni with vodka sauce, an oddly shaped pie, an undersized antipasto salad, and a $55 bill. I get the whole "inflation" factor and I'm willing to pay for quality. Flavor was mediocre and I think this will be our last dinner at Polito's.

Best New York pizza away from home. It's hard to find a good pizza place in the Midwest when you're from the northeast.

amazing service and amazing food I can never think of any other pizzeria better than this place this place rocks

WTH happened to Polito's? They used to be one of my absolute favorite pizza places. I hadn't been there in several years and decided to go in and get a carry out pizza. Pizza was so sub par... worse than the mediocre pizza chains. Poor customer service and then wanted to charge me for crushed red pepper for a carryout pizza. Never had that happen at a pizza place. I won't be back. There are way to many other places to get better pizza in town. Such a shame. I hate to see good places go bad.

If you're looking for the best, 'homemade' food, please give this place a try. Not only is everything made fresh, with recipes I wish I knew, but it is locally and family owned in a very casual atmosphere. We have to eat here every time we pass South Bend! Can't get enough of the Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce. The owner busts her butt in every department and is excellent in customer service! She always treats us like we've known her for years! (Which she has, but we live in Ohio and only get here when we're passing through, I'm sure she doesn't remember us. Lol!) I'd rather support a local business over a chain any day!

The food was ok - we went with a group of friends and they were busy. The bad thing is they brought the food out for most of the group and the rest just were told it would be out asap. When it did come out - the food wasn't hot at all. The highlight of the night was the server she was incredible and even double and triple checked to make sure she had the orders all correct.

Down home, old school and worth every penny. We've always been fans of Politos, but it's a place you tend to forget about. We've been so impressed with our DineIn deliveries from Polito's. A stuffed pizza slice is $10.50 and easily 3 meals. The vodka sauce is more like a vodka, cheesy, rosy, alfredo sauce and we add on a 16oz everytime for homemade meals. Our last to go order was $40 with delivery and easily 4-6 meals. Keep up the great work!

Great NY style pizza, ordered well done would be a solid 7.1 on the Portnoy scale IMO

Got two stuffed pies for takeout last week when I was in south bend for an errand. They half baked them for me as I was getting them for dinner and left them unsliced. Buddy of mine turned me onto the place as his family always got their pies for family holiday get togethers. I find it interesting they pre bake the mushrooms before use so they don't water out the pizza. The staff was super friendly and helpful. While I waited I watched several take out orders go and it was prob 1-1:30? Was able to have a small slice left on my recommending friends grave as he passed several years ago. Hopefully a small family of animals ate well in the winter cold.

The man who answered the phone had a voice like velvet. Very nice guy who had our food ready as promised in 35 minutes. The pizza has the crumbly sausage that I love. You can get chunk sausage as well. They sell pizza by the slice. I had sausage and pepperoni thin crust and it was amazing. We got breadsticks with marinara and nacho cheese. That marinara/pizza sauce is bomb! The nacho cheese is the good kind of cheese that does not taste like jalapenos. The hubby got a thick crust slice with crumbly sausage pineapple jalapenos and pepperoni. He said the jalapenos were spicy. He really liked his pizza too.

Worst pizza I ever had. Ordered the Works Chicago style pizza for carry out. The pizza was not circular and one side of the pizza was bent over itself to fit in the box. The vegetables were chopped up so small like they were put into a blender. The sausage was minimal and was only crumbles. Minimal sauce, so little cheese that you couldn't even tell if it had had any cheese. So disappointed and won't order again.

Menu on Yelp says $16.50 for a large pizza. Restaurant's website doesn't have prices. I ordered a large 16" pizza with pepperoni on 1/2 if it and was quoted $17.89. Tax is 7% so was expecting around $19 and some change. On picking it up, was charged just under $25- This is good pizza, similar quality to Rocco's or Bruno's. Slightly larger 17" pizza from Rocco's $22- after tax. Similar 16" from Bruno's also $22- $3 premium for Polito's shouldn't be the focus of this review but I'm very disappointed that their website had no prices for a whole pizza (only prices for by the slice) and that the price I was quoted was 25% less than what I was charged. Again, the pizza was good; the experience not.

Greeting! From the full picture of the pizza it looks mouthwatering. Unfortunately it's only so if you want round baked bread. Delicious bread moist and tasty. However I ordered a pizza with pepperoni sausage and extra cheese. That's right paid extra for more cheese. Tried not to skimp. The restaurant did. Not one full slice of pepperoni was found. Not one big piece of sausage either. The extra cheese I paid for, probably back at the restaurant on someone else's pizza. The other picture is with the small amount of cheese that was on the tasty bread. Do you see any meaningful pepperoni or sausage. Some other review had complained about less meat on there sandwich. I hoped it was a one time thing. Possibly could have happened on a game day weekend. This was on a bye week Friday night and the place was not full. If your looking for tasty bread this is the place. If you want a pizza look elsewhere!!! Had I ordered this an ate at the restaurant I would have complained.

This used to be one of my favorite pizzarias. Their thin crust with a bit of fresh garlic was amazing. That said, they've always been a bit pricey, so with a large family, we've recently favored more budget-friendly places. Last week, we decided to splurge. I ordered two pizzas, one cheese for the kids and one white veggie for the adults. The pies were beautiful. Disappointingly, neither had any flavor. We ended up drizzling spiced honey over the pies to give them some sort of flavor. After splurging on a more expensive dinner, I wound up in a McDonald's drive through to get the kids something they would eat (and no, I don't pander to my children like this typically, but if we're all in agreement)... It's evident that the pandemic has taken its toll on this business. Hours are limited and the dining room is closed in the evening. We trusted, however, that there wouldn't have been changes to the food quality...but we were unfortunately wrong. Hopefully, they'll be able to right the preverbal ship, but will have to do so without our support.

Been craving their calzones. It had been before the pandemic since I had ordered or eaten there. They became a bit more inconvenient when they moved out to McKinley. I'm sad to see what they have become. No tables, a simple pickup. But just 2 employees, no tables, pretty dark and unfriendly atmosphere. Calzone was pretty good, as usual.

Love this place! Have been going since I was a kid! Tonight we did something we never do we got the Sicilian pizza and it was great! It's like the gourmet version to the Chef Boyardee boxed pizzas mom would make if school got cancelled or we had a half day! The pricing here is extremely perfect for what you get and I recommended this local place to anyone!

Originally from South Jersey, was a godsend to find a good m, New York style/thin slice of pizza after weeks of square cut, sauce chunks with cheese. Sweet family owned spot who makes a good pie and Italian dishes.

Our pizza had rubbing alcohol or some sort of chemical compound on the bottom crust, we couldn't even eat it. When we called,the manager promised a full refund. She said it wouldn't be necessary to bring in the pizza. When we just went in for the refund we were thrown a $20 (which was NOT the total cost) and told we were lucky to be getting that. Definitely do not recommend. What a terrible way to treat your customers. Be careful what you eat from this restaurant, it may contain chemicals. Wish I could give zero stars.

The best pizza in the South Bend/Mishawaka/Granger area. The Garlic Special is simply wonderful.

Great service and food! This restaurant was not busy when we were there, but our server explained that they are newly opened for dine-in and they're trying to get the word out for more people to eat in the restaurant. Restaurant was clean and kept up, and our pizza was delicious! They offer a wide variety of pizza crust types and toppings. We got the deep dish Chicago Special, and it was so much better than the pizza chain pan crust pizzas!!

The fettuccine was watery ask for extra shrimp did not give it to me food had no taste I will never eat here again.

This place should just close. It is a shell of the restaurant that it used to be. Just came in to place an order for carry out and was there 15 minutes at the counter and neither of the two people working even acknowledged I was there. Sadly there was only one other person in the lobby waiting for his pizza. This one is past it's prime and it would serve all of us if they just gave up.

We went there to get dinner July 22, 2020. The employee preparing our food had no gloves, no mask and was chewing on a flosser the whole time. We should have just left right then. When the sandwiches were finished, it got worse. All the cheese on my meatball was stuck to the aluminum foil. The meatballs tasted old. My son had a roast beef that he didn't finish because he said it had no flavor. My wife said her italian was good. The bread was good but two out of three were slapped together by a hack who refused to were a mask or gloves. I won't go back. This man took NO pride in his work and didn't care about his customers either. The health department should be notified. Gross.

Small restaurant with pasta's, sandwiches and Pizza's. A few tap and bottled beers are available as well. Portions of pasta are large, breadsticks are the size of small loafs of bread. Cheese steak is decent and large. 1 serving of pasta is good for two people.

Politos is ok. I hadnt tried it in a few years..today i had it at my kids baseball Tournament. Politos has a decent crust a d sauce...not my favorite type of pizza though...thick and heavy. You could do worse...its much better than pizza butt or puppy jarns. Ymmv

Our tables meals sat under the warming lamp for 15-20 minutes while the server - Marcus just kept filling the salad bar items up while he saw our food was out from the kitchen. When we finally received our food it was terrible and extremely cold. There were (2) vodka sauce pasta meals ordered that were under the heat lamp and formed a film on the top from sitting. We informed the server and he said oh well I can warm it back up for you and proceeded to argue that it didn't sit before him bringing the food to our table. Politos was a great spot for a long time but their quality and service has slowly gone down hill. I doubt we will be back.

Ehhhh, not what they were 10-12 years ago. Not terrible, just meh. You could do worse but there's so many good pizza places in town. We thought that a $5 pizza from that chain place would be as good as this was for $22!

The food's so-so, but the real claim to notoriety at Polito's is the dingy and depressing ambiance. The place (which is a revamped Noble Roman's) has all the charm of a 1980s double wide trailer. The windowless back dining room is the place where dreams go to die. It feels like you're at a spaghetti supper in Buffalo Bill's basement in Silence of the Lambs. The last time I went to this place (which may very well be the last time I'll ever go to this place), both the men's and women's restrooms had handwritten signs on the doors instructing would-be urinators to knock on the door before entering because the lock was broken! Are you kidding me, Polito's? Are you for real? Two of the prerequisites of enjoying a nice meal at a restaurant (for me, at least) is not having to worry someone will walk in on you on the throne AND not having to shout out that the john is ocupado to possible interlopers. Also, I've heard that there was a shooting here recently. Polito's apologists might argue that such a misfortune could befall any restaurant. Well--what about if one of the EMPLOYEES is involved in the shooting? Does that change your feelings about it? No? You're still committed to mediocre Italian food at low prices in a partially-finished basement-like environment? Well, have at it, friends!

Excellent service, the food is always perfectly cooked and friendly staff one my favorite places to eat in town hands-down five stars!

Still make great pizza, but the facility has degraded and is only takeout for dinner. It used to be very hard to get into and a lot of energy. I hope they get back to regular service and find the positive vibes.

Really great pizza and calzones. The wait staff can sometimes be less than friendly, but they always get the job done. It's definitely a joint, but you can't beat the flavor of their sauce. I would also highly recommend their pasta with vodka sauce too.

A legitimate New York slice. Crust is ultra thin with a bit of char underneath, and slightly puffy around the perimeter. It has a perfect balance of crispy and chewy, with nice air bubbles, while also floppy enough to fold. Sauce has good tomato flavor, not too sweet. Thin layer of cheese and a little basil. This is the only true New York-style, thin-crust pizza I'm aware of in the South Bend area, where most pizza has dense, doughy crust and an overly thick layer of cheese.

1 star of the above two is for the vodka sauce, which honestly is something I crave all the time but only rarely indulge in. The other star is for the kindness (though cluelessness) of the hostess today when everything went off the rails- she really did try, but it just sailed so very short in so many aspects. I walked in for an order of breadsticks & vodka sauce (PS though delicious, sauce is super overpriced) and placed the order at the front counter. Apparently they rolled out a new inventory/checkout system but haven't trained any of the employees on it, because the simple act of checking me out for this order quite honestly took 20 minutes, with multiple confusions, trips to "the back" to find info or codes or instruction from the manager, the entire thing was ridiculous. I was absolutely patient despite being a bit miffed about the issue- I tried to recall that I've changed software systems at my job too, and it can be tricky (though rollout with absolutely no training is unprofessional as you can see why). As I was waiting at the front counter, I was able to watch the goings-on at the warming/kitchen area and was APPALLED to see 3 separate employees preparing food and handling food to plates without gloves. No gloves, 100% of the time. Grabbing slices of pizza with bare hands to place on plates. I was disgusted--- that entire piece will likely be consumed! Your hands were on bites that are going in someone's mouth!!!!!! This is food borne illness waiting to happen and completely against health code, it turned my stomach. I was going to bring it up nicely when the transaction was over; however, when I attempted to pay cash (I always do at local businesses to save them the CC transaction fees), that created yet ANOTHER issue as the new system wasn't set up to open the drawer for change and the key was, you guessed it, in some faraway place that would require another trip to hunt it down. I said I could not handle the struggle anymore and, for the first time in my LIFE, walked out of a business for customer service reasons, making sure to point out the health code violations on the way. I'm so disappointed because I really do root for and try to support the little guys around town, not chains, but when you don't manage your business well, I can't support you in your mediocrity and breaking of the laws that protect us as consumers.

I am here with my cousin one time approximately 2 years ago. The food was excellent and served hot. The staff was very friendly and the restaurant had a nice layout. You can also order things to go if you would like. Portion sizes were large and we were able to take food home after we were done eating. I will definitely eat here again in the future

We tried their Sicilian pizza with pepperoni and sausage, wings, and fries. The pizza definitely wasn't worth $22+. My boyfriend and I only ate 1 slice. We wanted to leave the pizza there, but didn't want to look rude. Lol. So we trashed it at home. My boyfriend and I joked how we should have went to pizza hut instead. :( The fries and beers was good.

I had the Philly cheesesteak it was huge, it was darn good the bread is really good to. My wife had the penne graceilla w/chicken, she liked it. Our first time there we will go be going back for their pizza which looked awesome.The breadstick was huge and homemade They had a nice salad bar also

Good place for date night or a group friend gathering. They do have beer and wine license. Beer and Pizza make a great pair. Large portions. Most items are sized that you can share or get a to go box and have 2 meals. They have a salad bar of basic selection. The salad bar is over priced unless you are making it unlimited and your main meal. Centrally located in town easy to get to with ample parking.

Favorite pizza place in town! The breadsticks with vodka sauce is absolutely amazing and the thin crust pizza is as close as you can get to New York style in South Bend! Highly recommend

This was my favorite pizza in the SB area. Their pizza had a NY feel to it. Unfortunately they recently changed something. They either changed their ingredients or the person cooking, but whatever has been changed it's definitely for the worse. The last two pizzas I got were the equivalent of gas station pizza- at best. I also noticed the pie was significantly smaller. They used to open the box and show me the pizza before I paid. It says volumes that they stopped doing this. They know customers are paying for something they are no longer providing. It's sad to see them do this. I regret to say that I've bought my last pizza there. Hopefully they go back to the original Polito's pie. It was a good thing.

THEY ARE RACIST!!! First, the pizza was over cooked and the crust was partly black. Second, they are racist!! Do not go here. I ordered a pizza from here and went to pick up my order and was treated horribly by the staff and owner. Waiting in line for my order the white customers are greeted and helped but not a person of color. I was ignored. The staff looked at me and walked away. No hello, how can I help you like the other white customers. Multiple staff members made eye contact with me and proceeded to ignore me. I waited and asked why I wasn't helped several minutes later and the staff tells me they didn't see me. LIE!! I purposely made eye contact several times with staff. I couldn't believe the blatant racism. The owner proceeded to ignore me as well listening to the conversation. No apology. She didn't even try and talk to me. The owner wasn't friendly or tried to listen to me. They are all warm and friendly to their white customers but ignore and mistreat a person of color. Don't give racist your business.

I visit Polito's whenever I return home to see family, a few times a year. Even though I favor extremely thin crust pizzas, I think Polito's makes great pizza. The crusts are not as thin as I am accustomed to in California, but for the Midwest, it is perfectly fine. The pizza is consistently hot and delicious and the ingredients are fresh. I miss their old Grape Road location but enjoyed the new cozy settings on McKinley Ave. Aside from the pizzas, we normally order the pasta with vodka sauce. It's a family tradition to visit Polito's and I'm glad to be supporting a local business in my hometown.

Pizza here if pretty excellent but what I really love is the calzones. They are huge and I always get mine stuffed with basically everything. This is a good place to eat. They are very consistent which has been lacking in some other local Italian spots i've been known to go to. This place is still killing it.

Had lunch there today, Bread sticks are delicious as always, had the Lasagna, which was quite yummy as well... but i noticed something just a little off. The dish was about half as deep and not as big as they used to be... Politos, did you cut your lunch portions in half, and continue to charge full price?

I don't like this place! The spaghetti is just "soupy" with sauce- I like a lot of sauce- but, too much is too much. Their "meat" sauce consists of the cook just dumping browned hamburger on top of your spaghetti sauce and not even mixing the two together???!!! The waitresses seem to have a surly attitude and the place is definitely geared towards "sports morons" whose I.Q. is probably lower than the score of the current game on the T.V.s. If this place had good food they would get a lot of money from me- they do not. Rules For Restaurants- http://www.flickr.com/photos/30759108@N08/7130324763/in/photostream

I would love to love this place. Really! I'd been searching all over South Bend for a good vodka sauce, and finally found it at Polito's. That's where the good part ends. Within minutes of delivering our entrees, our waitress informed us that the restaurant was closing at 9:00, and we would have to LEAVE. There were other tables there, but I don't know if she tried to force anyone else out the door. I would think that a closing time would be the last seating, not the time to get all diners back to their cars so the staff can get out. Totally rude, and I just can't support a restaurant that allows (encourages?) their waitstaff to treat customers that way. We asked for to-go boxes, and left. We'll never be back, no matter how good the vodka sauce is!

This place only gets as high as 2 stars because of their vodka sauce. It's the best I've ever had. I've gotten a few compliments on my homemade vodka sauce, and I'm not ashamed to say theirs is much better. The service has always been terrible here. I've eaten here several times since they first opened and am usually upset about the service. As I seen mentioned in a different review, I definitely get the vibe of an absent/uncaring owner. I've been ignored for refills, ignored for getting my order taken upon being seated, etc... The pasta dishes and pizza are nothing special. It's in fact gone quite downhill since their move from Grape Rd to Hickory. They used to be willing to make me mozzarella-filled shells, but last time I was told that their shells are now bought frozen and are reheated, so I was stuck with the pre-made frozen mixture of cheeses. If they start bottling their vodka sauce, I would give them five stars as a vodka sauce manufacturer. I won't be back in their restaurant other than, perhaps, for a quick takeout order of breadsticks and vodka sauce.

Came for dinner as we passed through town. Wow! What a pleasant surprise! Waitress Quinnlyn was soon helpful and pleasant. She offered us a sample of the rigatoni with vodka sauce (awesome!). Everything was so good and Huge! I would go back just for the vodka sauce on ANYTHING! Worth a stop anytime you are near South Bend. We will be back for sure. Great job Politos! These out of towers were impressed!

I visited Polito's at the recommendation by some people on the Talk boards. Our first visit I had a Stromboli, that was good enough to warrant a second visit, so the second time I tried a calzone. Both these items were pretty good, missing some of the good garlic parm butter sauce that a lot of my favorite pizza joints will put on them, but I looked past that. Even without that both items were good even excellent when compared to some of the offerings I have been able to find in the area. So we finally had a night where we could order a pizza, so we ordered a "Real NY Pizza" and got our favorite toppings. The pizza was disappointing to say the least, too thick to be considered real NY pizza, a lack of toppings didn't help matters. And the sauce and quality of the toppings were not as good as I have found at other places, granted all those places were at least 100 miles from here. We will undoubtedly go back for the stromboli's and calzones, but will pass the pizza up, and so my search for a great pizza continues.