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The Factory That Delivers
The aroma of cheese melted over homemade tomato sauce and a golden pizza crust drifts from sturdy Blodgett ovens.
Pictures of Elvis Presley and The Supremes watch over customers at picnic-dressed tables. Employees warm up to customers who read from hanging menus made of pizza paddles like neighbors at a block party. The local, family-run pizza joint is known for its welcoming atmosphere.
This place, with the enticing aromas and happy conversations, is the Pizza Factory of Barrington. With refreshed interior designs, it might not be obvious that this restaurant is celebrating its 40-year anniversary in October.
Just off U.S. Route 14 at Hough Street, Pizza Factory not only serves authentic Chicago-styled thin-crust and deep dish pizza, but those pizza paddle menus also list Italian sandwiches, various pastas and soups, and traditional Chicago hot dogs.
If the chicken-infused Wing A’ Ding Salad doesn’t quite hit the spot, Pizza Factory can cook up a specialty Workman’s Comp pizza or a Grandpa’s Italian sausage sandwich. Or maybe 25 of your closest friends are coming over and your pantry has dwindled. Worry not, Pizza Factory can cater its Italian Feast right to your door.
Owner Nick Saviano beams at his menu of rich-tasting, high-quality food. When Saviano took ownership five and a half years ago, people asked him what he was going to change in the restaurant. “I said ‘nothing.’ I might add stuff to the menu, but no, I’m not going to change anything because the product—everything—is homemade,” Saviano said. “Everything is made in-house and we take a lot of pride in that.”
The restaurant itself is a hand-me-down from Saviano’s father—who took ownership of Pizza Factory when Saviano was 13-years-old. Despite economic rifts in 2008 and recent renovations, Saviano plans to keep his menu constant. He believes the longstanding ingredients, old family recipes, and loyal Barrington customers have carried Pizza Factory to its 40th year.
In fact, Pizza Factory of Barrington’s successful history allowed Saviano to establish a Pizza Factory on Route 12 one and a half years ago, where the same recipes and values are fed to the Lake Zurich community. However, Barrington’s small-town traditions and its people’s embrace keep Saviano securely stationed at Pizza Factory of Barrington.
Despite its small size, the restaurant promises to accommodate orders of any size or event. Pizza Factory’s largest order was catered for an event at Countryside Elementary School—100 thin-crust pizzas, delivered in the midst of the typical Friday night pizza demand.
When the order came, Saviano was just a high school student working in the kitchen.
“I was younger then and wasn’t really involved in the decision-making,” Saviano said. His father and a business partner were reluctant to take on such a large order. However, Saviano was, and is, determined to fulfill any customer’s request, no
matter how ambitious the order may seem. “My buddy and I worked here at the time. We knocked [the pizzas] out.”
Saviano treasures the moments he can make personal connections with his customers. His most memorable story was not the 100-pizza-order victory, but the night a family came into his restaurant to celebrate their daughter’s first birthday.
The family—grandparents, parents, and the baby girl—set up camp and waited for their pizza. The father approached Saviano and told the story of June 2013, exactly one year prior. On that summer night, the couple had come in for a pizza dinner. Before they went to sleep that night, the wife gave birth to her first child, Ava. The new parents promised they would come back to the Pizza Factory of Barrington every year for Ava’s birthday.
“And they do. Every year they’re here. That was really special,” Saviano said. “They’re all good memories. If you come here on a Friday afternoon, you’ll see, everybody knows everybody.”
The Pizza Factory of Barrington is located at 101 W. Northwest Highway in Barrington. It offers a wide variety of menu items including gluten-free pizza crust. Visit www.pizzafactorypizza.com, or call 847-381-6740 for more information.
Adam Bieda is an undergraduate at Boston University where he is pursuing a degree in English. Bieda can typically be found at an airport or train station trying to satisfy his wanderlust. He hopes to be a polyglot someday, traveling the world and telling everyone about the time he compared his life to a grocery store.