Lincoln Square’s Nick’s Pizza & Pub to Shutter After One Year

In an honest Facebook post, Nick’s Pizza & Pub owner Nick Sarillo announced the impending shutter of his Lincoln Square location. The only Chicago location of Sarillo’s suburban pizzeria chain will have lasted a year. Sunday, November 4 is the final day of operation at 2434 W. Montrose Avenue.

“Our other two restaurants in Crystal Lake and Elgin couldn’t sustain paying for the losses in this new restaurant anymore and we need those two restaurants to stay open,” Sarillo wrote via the Nick’s Facebook account.

Sarillo opened his first pizzeria in 1994 in suburban Crystal Lake and he’s since added an Elgin restaurant. He had been looking to expand into Chicago for a decade. While the South Side of Chicago takes pride in square-cut tavern-style pizzas, there are plenty of North Side pizzerias, like Nick’s, which have embraced the pies.

“It was 2004 when I first dreamed of bringing Nick’s Pizza & Pub to the North Side of Chicago, back to my old neighborhood where I grew up,” Sarillo said in the Facebook video.

The pizzeria never became a destination and mostly drew local families. For those who don’t want to drive to Elgin or Crystal Lake, customers have six days to visit Nick’s in Lincoln Square.

See Sarillo’s full video below.