Best Pizza Place In McHenry County: Readers Pick

CRYSTAL LAKE AND CARY, IL — We asked McHenry County Patch readers last week to give us their best pizza place recommendations. And the results on your favorite spots are now in.

In total, 136 readers shared their go-to pizza places in McHenry County.

It was a close call, but a local pizza hotspot inched out two chains, Lou Malnati's and Georgio's, for bragging rights as readers' favorite in our just-for-fun unofficial pizza poll. Sal's Pizza, owned by Sal Bongiovanni, received the most votes from readers in our poll.

For those who don't know about Sal's, it may be easy to drive right by on Algonquin Road. Tucked away in the corner of a strip mall at 5 Hanson Road, many who've tried Sal's pie over the years swear by it and keep coming back for more.

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Sal opened his business in 1996. He grew up in Chicago, and his Sicilian grandma, Marianne, lived with his family. She cooked for his family, and she helped teach Sal some of her old-country recipes that included regional sauces, exquisite pasta meals, and, "of course homemade pizza," Sal writes on the Sal's website.

She made everything from scratch and focused on using the finest ingredients, he said.

Readers taking our poll raved about Sal's sauce.

"The sauce is the best, great crispy crust, cheese and toppings are wonderful," wrote one reader. "A pizza that makes the whole family happy."

Others said "the quality and quantity" of ingredients piled on made the difference for them.

Readers also shared some of their favorite Sal's dishes:

• Medium thin crust with Italian roast beef, green peppers, tomato and onion mushrooms
• Thin crust pepperoni and thin crust sausage
• Garbage pizza, which is sausage, mushroom, pepper, onion, pepperoni and black olives.

Sal's full menu can be found here.

Nearly an even split of readers picked Lou Malnati's over Georgio's or vice versa. Many lauded their favorite as having the best crust and sauce, as well as the "best deep dish ever!"

Here is a look at other runners-up in this week's pizza poll:

• Pinemoor Pizza, 11 Crystal Lake Plaza in Crystal Lake
• Nick's Pizza & Pub, 856 Pyott Road in Crystal Lake
• Napoli's Pizza Place, 135 Washington Street in Woodstock
• Nancy's Pizza, 1295 N. Randall Road in Crystal Lake

As local eateries continue to find their way forward amid coronavirus, we're asking Patch readers to show love to their favorite local joints. Disagree with these picks? Sound off in comments section to let readers know which pizza place and pizza is really the BEST. Click on the links to the pizza places above to order or peruse menus.