Name: Bertolli's River Pizza
Address: 7973 Lake St, River Forest, IL, 60305
Telephone: (708) 771-2820
Price range: $$

Bertolli's River Pizza

Super GemRiver Forest · Italian / Pizza Community-sourced, unverified

📍 7973 Lake St, River Forest, IL 60305

River Pizza opened in 1963 on Lake Street in River Forest, but it's been Bertolli's since 1981, when Frank Bertolli — a Southern Italian immigrant born in 1949 — bought the place and put his name on it.

A River Forest institution's signature paper-thin-crust River Deluxe pizza, made by the same family since 1981 — 4.5 stars.

Frank's kids run things alongside him now, and in 2009 the family expanded next door with Frank's Deli, so this has become a genuine multi-generation operation rather than a single-owner relic. The signature is the thin crust — described by regulars as “almost paper thin,” with a sausage-and-fennel-accented sauce that's specific enough to have earned a name of its own: the River Deluxe, repeatedly singled out in a local readers' poll as the most-suggested pizza in the area. Beyond pizza, the menu runs pan and stuffed-crust options, wings, calzones, salads, and homemade Italian specialties like lasagna and cannoli.

At 4.5 stars across a large review base, this isn't a hidden secret — it's a genuinely well-known River Forest institution that's held its reputation across more than six decades under two owners. Hours run late most nights (open until midnight on weeknights, 1 a.m. on weekends) and from noon on Sundays, making it as viable a late dinner stop as a lunch one. No confirmed discount special here, but a River Deluxe from the same family that's been making it since 1981 doesn't really need one.

Hours

Mon-Thu4:00 PM-12:00 AM; Fri-Sat 4:00 PM-1:00 AM; Sun 12:00 PM-10:00 PM

🥡 Takeout unconfirmed 📞 (708) 771-2820

Amenities & accessibility

❔Takeout: unverified

❔Wheelchair access: unverified

Location

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Bertolli's River Pizza

River Pizza opened in 1963 on Lake Street in River Forest, but it's been Bertolli's since 1981, when Frank Bertolli — a Southern Italian immigrant born in 1949 — bought the place and put his name on it.

Specials at Bertolli's River Pizza