TastyPals
Login / Sign up
Taste ID
AboutMethodologyApp
GuideUpdated July 16, 2026

10 Best takeout Restaurants in Chicago

The best 10 restaurants for takeout in Chicago — curated by TastyPals editors.

The best takeout restaurants in Chicago are Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna, Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, Chicago, Maharaj Indian Grill, and more. Start with Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna if you want the strongest overall first pick.

By James Whitfield•10 ranked picks•Published July 16, 2026•Updated July 16, 2026
Methodology•Editorial team
Zarella Pizzeria & TavernaRanalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, ChicagoMaharaj Indian Grill
10 Best takeout Restaurants in Chicago
Google

Top picks at a glance

#1Zarella Pizzeria & TavernaPizza • Chicago • value#2Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, ChicagoPizza • Chicago • value#3Maharaj Indian GrillIndian • Chicago • value

Who this guide is for

This guide covers the highest-rated restaurants for takeout in Chicago, sorted by Google rating and editorial judgment.

Quick picks

Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
Pizza • Chicago
Boka Group has a knack for making a room feel more expensive than it is, and Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna at 531 N Wells St.
Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, Chicago
Pizza • Chicago
Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, Chicago is a pizza restaurant in Chicago that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.
Maharaj Indian Grill
Indian • Chicago
Maharaj Indian Grill is an easy indian option in Chicago to suggest without needing a long explanation.
Browse all Chicago restaurantsBack to Chicago hub
Editorial details
Published: July 16, 2026
Last updated: July 16, 2026

On this page

  1. 1. Zarella Pizzeria & TavernaView →
  2. 2. Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, ChicagoView →
  3. 3. Maharaj Indian GrillView →
  4. 4. Michael's Original Pizzeria & TavernView →
  5. 5. India House Restaurant ChicagoView →
  6. 6. Chicago Curry House - Indian - Nepali Cuisine.View →
  7. 7. Flo & SantosView →
  8. 8. Opart Thai House - West TownView →
  9. 9. Indian Garden RestaurantView →
  10. 10. Star of SiamView →

How the restaurants compare

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
Google
Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
Chicago • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Tavern style pizza
Mood
Casual
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, Chicago
Google
Ranalli's Pizza Bar - West Loop, Chicago
Chicago • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Tavern style pizza
Mood
Casual
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Maharaj Indian Grill
Google
Maharaj Indian Grill
Chicago • Indian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
dinner
Mood
Casual
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Michael's Original Pizzeria & Tavern
Google
Michael's Original Pizzeria & Tavern
Chicago • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Tavern style pizza
Mood
Casual

How we chose

We looked for restaurants that feel like a strong fit for the guide topic, not just the most obvious names in the city. The shortlist favors rooms with clear mood, dependable pacing, and enough distinction to help someone decide faster. Read our full methodology →

Room tone

Lighting, pace, and general energy all need to support the reason someone clicked this guide.

Food fit

We favored restaurants that feel best suited for the moment, not just restaurants with broad reputation.

Useful range

The final list tries to give readers enough variation in neighborhood, price, and style to compare real options.

10 ranked picks

Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna — Boka Group has a knack for making a room feel more expensive than it is, and Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna at 531 N Wells St. is reportedly one of their cleaner executions of that trick. The space runs two modes: a leather-and-low-light front dining room that reads as a proper night out, and a Taverna concealed behind a pantry door that leans closer to a speakeasy than anything you'd associate with pizza. Chef partners Chris Pandel and Lee Wolen — whose collective résumé covers Swift & Sons, Boka, and Alla Vita — are the pedigree behind the menu. The price point, by most accounts, does not reflect that résumé. That gap between casual format and serious kitchen lineage is essentially the whole proposition. The menu centers on a handful of pizzas and pastas that diners consistently point to as the reason to return. The Carbonara Pizza takes a Roman pasta classic and rebuilds it on a blistered crust — smoked pancetta, pecorino, egg — with a reputation for richness that stops short of heaviness. The Soppressata and Mortadella Pizza is known for pairing Calabrian chili honey and arugula against the fat of the charcuterie, a combination that sounds like it could tip sweet or bitter but reportedly holds its balance. For anyone at the table who is skeptical of pizza as a full dinner, the Radiatore alla Vodka is the reported answer — ridged pasta built to catch sauce, and a familiar dish given room to be taken seriously. The Calamari with fried peppers and Calabrian chili aioli turns up repeatedly as the way to open the meal. Practical notes worth knowing: there is a grab-and-go window on Grand St. for solo lunch situations with no reservations required. The Taverna is the play for two people who want something quieter. Come before 7 on a weekday if conversation is the point. View restaurant →

Get the App

Save these spots to your Chicago list

Keep the shortlist handy in the TastyPals app and find similar restaurants across Chicago.

Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist
Chicago Curry House - Indian - Nepali Cuisine. — Chicago Curry House does something the city's South Asian dining scene rarely pulls off at this price point: it takes the Indian-Nepali overlap seriously, without collapsing either tradition into crowd-pleasing approximation. Diners describe a neighborhood workhorse with genuine conviction — the kind of room where families reportedly split massive biryanis at the big table by the wall while solo diners work through a paper menu, circling things for next time. It is not performative, it is not doing fusion for novelty's sake, and by consistent account it is the right answer when someone asks where they can eat well for under twenty dollars a head in this city. The starters are what the regulars lean on first. The Onion Bhaji is known for an open, lacework quality at the edges — the opposite of the dense, golf-ball version that lesser kitchens pass off as the same thing. The Shrimp Pakora reportedly draws similar praise for its batter, which diners describe as light and shattering rather than chewy, with the shrimp reportedly retaining their texture inside. The Tandoori Paneer Tikka comes off the tandoor with visible char and is consistently described as smoky at the surface with a cool, milky interior. But the biryanis are the real argument for this place: both the Chicken and the Lamb versions arrive fragrant with whole spice — cardamom pods, bay leaf — and the rice is long-grained and distinct throughout. The Lamb Biryani has the deeper reported payoff if you're choosing between them. Gulab Jamun closes things properly: syrup-soaked and yielding, exactly the finish the rest of the meal points toward. Practical notes worth knowing: the room fills fast on weekends, so arriving early is the move regulars make. Tables toward the back reportedly give you more room to actually hear your party. Order the Lamb Biryani first; build everything else around it. View restaurant →
Flo & Santos — Flo & Santos operates on a premise that sounds like a bar bet — Polish and Italian, one kitchen, South Side Chicago — and by all accounts it pulls it off without breaking a sweat. The room reads as a neighborhood dive that actually runs a real kitchen, which is a rarer combination than the price point would suggest. This is not a place oriented around impressing anyone. It's oriented around cold beer, hot food, and getting out of your own way, and the regulars who pack it on weekends seem to have figured that out well ahead of the rest of us. The menu splits its attention between the two traditions and doesn't apologize for either. The Pierogi Sampler is consistently cited as the dish that anchors the whole identity of the place — the thing that explains what Flo & Santos actually is before the pizza or pasta can make their case. On the Italian side, the Arrabbiata is reportedly the kind of tomato sauce that registers as a genuine decision rather than a default, and the Linguine Saltimbocca rounds out the pasta offerings with some ambition. The Salt and Pepper Calamari is a menu staple that diners point to as a reliable opener, and the 13th Street Italian Sub covers the sandwich corner for anyone who wants something handheld. All of it is priced so low that the math genuinely does not add up in your favor if you skip it. Practical note: the sequencing that makes the most sense of what the kitchen is doing, according to people who frequent the place, is Pierogi Sampler first, then something from the pasta side. Weekends fill with regulars fast. Come early, or plan to post up at the bar. View restaurant →
Indian Garden Restaurant — Indian Garden has a sharper identity than most budget Indian restaurants in Chicago dare to claim: the menu moves deliberately across regions, from Punjabi fish preparations to Rajasthani slow-burn meat dishes to southern deep-fry traditions, rather than dissolving everything into a single generalized curry register. At a price level that makes ordering multiple dishes genuinely stress-free, it draws the kind of crowd that tends to know exactly what they want — regulars, weekday lunch workers, South Asian families, and students who will reportedly debate the heat calibration with real investment. That debate is a decent sign. Restaurants that provoke opinions about seasoning are usually doing something worth paying attention to. The verified dishes sketch out a kitchen that covers serious range. Chicken 65, a southern Indian preparation known for its yogurt-and-chili marinade and deep-fried finish, is consistently cited as a standout — the dish's reputation depends on hot oil and a coating that adheres rather than falls away, and accounts suggest this kitchen respects both. Amritsari Machi is a Punjabi-style chickpea-battered fried fish, a preparation designed to bring aggressive crunch to freshwater-city dining, and it's among the dishes diners return for specifically. Laal Maas is a Rajasthani chile-forward lamb preparation known for building heat gradually rather than front-loading it — the dish's whole logic is accumulation. Gosht Pasanda sits at the opposite register: a smoother, richer lamb preparation that demonstrates range without abandoning focus. Paneer Ke Shooley gives the table's vegetarians something with genuine character rather than a concession. Practical approach: start with the Amritsari Machi, then let Laal Maas anchor the main course for anyone who wants to test the kitchen's upper range. The price point encourages breadth — order across categories. Lunch runs calmer; dinner opens up the full menu. View restaurant →

Explore next

IndianPizzaThaidinnerclassiccasual night

Related guides

Chicago dinner table and skyline
Google

Guide • chicago

Best Restaurants in Chicago 2026

Ten Chicago restaurants that carry the city's deep hospitality tradition and still manage to feel essential — from a Ukrainian Village Filipino breakfast counter to a West Loop Italian room, a Logan Square tasting menu, and the greatest bar burger in the Midwest.

Read guide

Get the App

Save these spots to your Chicago list

Save these spots to your Chicago list in the TastyPals app, then explore similar restaurants when you want a tighter shortlist for the night.

Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist