The 10 best restaurants in Pilsen

This guide ranks the 10 best restaurants in Pilsen, for locals picking a dinner spot and visitors riding the Pink Line to 18th Street. Here Pilsen means the Lower West Side community area, framed by the BNSF tracks on the north and west and the Chicago River on the south and east, including the Heart of Chicago blocks around Cermak Road, Oakley Avenue and 24th Place. Little Village, Bridgeport, Chinatown, University Village and the Illinois Medical District are left out.

The list favors kitchens that do one thing very well and keep doing it: carnitas by the pound, mole, British meat pies, old-school pasta. Newer chef-run rooms get space too. A royal pie on Halsted is $13.50, the Vietnamese tasting menu on Carpenter Street is $68 a person, and the top splurge is a $180 omakase on Racine Avenue.

How we chose

The order reflects how consistently independent outlets have backed each restaurant (the Michelin Guide, The Infatuation, Time Out Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times and WTTW), how long each has held up, and how likely a first-time visitor is to eat well on an ordinary night. Michelin recognition and recent reviews pushed places up; decades on the same corner counted as much as a buzzy opening. Several 18th Street taquerias already lead the best tacos list, so this list spends its slots on the rest of the neighborhood.

Hours and prices below come from each business and change without notice. Call ahead if you are making a special trip.

HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen

Chef Thai Dang and his wife, Danielle, opened HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen at 18th and Carpenter streets in 2017. The menu leans on family recipes and lesser-known regional dishes. Start with the caramelized fish sauce wings, papaya salad and the goi vit duck salad, or let the kitchen decide with the $68 family-style tasting menu, which rotates through Vietnam’s regions with the seasons. A Michelin Bib Gourmand and nearly a decade of outside recognition put HaiSous first. Happy hour runs 4 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, with $10 cocktails and $10 small plates.

Hours: Wed-Sat 4 to 9 p.m.; Sun 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m.; closed Mon-Tue.

Address: 1800 S Carpenter St, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The Michelin Guide lists HaiSous as a Bib Gourmand in its 2025 USA edition and recommends the chè coconut rice pudding for dessert.
• Thai Dang was named a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Great Lakes, according to Patch.
• The tasting menu comes with an optional $42 beverage pairing.
• Reservations are on Resy, and groups larger than 10 book by email through the restaurant.

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Mariscos San Pedro

The ground floor of the old hall at 18th and Allport streets belongs to Mariscos San Pedro, which moved in during 2024, after the previous restaurant closed at the end of 2023, and cooks Mexican seafood over wood fire. Partners Oliver Poilevey and Marcos Ascencio, with pastry chef Antonio Incandela, also run a taqueria and two French restaurants elsewhere in Chicago. Order the tuna tostada ($21) and the bacon-wrapped octopus Sonoran dog ($26), then split the whole dorade ($45); a group can go for the $95 seafood tower. Mariscos San Pedro ranks second on reviews: The Infatuation scored the restaurant 9.3 in August 2024. Bottles of wine are half off on Mondays.

Hours: Mon-Thu 5 to 9 p.m.; Fri 5 to 10 p.m.; Sat 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.; Sun 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.

Address: 1227 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• Six oysters of the day are $22, and achiote butter oysters are $15 for three.
• Time Out Chicago gives the restaurant four out of five stars in its current review.
• Weekend brunch includes surf and turf chilaquiles for $26 and bottomless mimosas for $35.
• Tables book through OpenTable.

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Pleasant House Pub

Art and Chelsea Jackson closed their Bridgeport bakery in June 2016 and opened Pleasant House Pub a month later in a former restaurant space at 21st and Halsted streets. Royal pies are still the draw: steak and ale, chicken balti, mushroom and kale, or a vegan pie, each $13.50 under a flaky, buttery crust. Add a Scotch egg, or come on Friday for fish and chips. The pub ranks third because Michelin still names the kitchen a Bib Gourmand and the pies have held steady for a decade. The doors open at 10 a.m., early enough for a late breakfast of pie and coffee.

Hours: Tue-Thu and Sun 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fri-Sat 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; closed Mon.

Address: 2119 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• Michelin lists Pleasant House Pub as a Bib Gourmand in its 2025 USA guide and points to the rarebit mac and cheese made with Trooper Ale cheese sauce.
• Take-and-bake pies are $12 each on the pub’s online ordering menu.
• The pub burger is $17, and bangers and mash is $16.
• The 8 Halsted bus runs right past the pub.

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Cerdito Muerto

Emidio Oceguera grew up in the old house at 17th and Halsted streets, where his father ran a pool hall until 2013, and in summer 2025 he reopened the building as Cerdito Muerto, a Mexican kitchen and cocktail bar with about 30 seats. Chef Becky Carson keeps the menu short. Get the duck carnitas nachos ($25), a goat birria taco on blue corn and the al pastor taco, made from a family recipe and served without pineapple. Cerdito Muerto is the newest restaurant on this list and ranks fourth on the strength of the cooking and the cocktails. On Friday and Saturday the doors stay open until 2 a.m., the latest close on this list.

Hours: Tue-Thu 5 p.m. to midnight; Fri-Sat 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.; closed Sun-Mon.

Address: 1700 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The duck carnitas nachos made the Chicago Sun-Times list of the best things its critics ate in 2025.
• The Infatuation rated Cerdito Muerto 8.5 in a November 7, 2025 review.
• The name means “dead piglet,” a nod to the owner’s father’s farming roots and to Día de los Muertos.
• Walk-ins are always welcome, Resy takes reservations, and parties of six or more book by email with a deposit.

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Carnitas Don Pedro

Pork cooked slowly in its own rendered fat is the whole program at Carnitas Don Pedro, a family-owned counter on 18th Street between May and Carpenter streets. Order carnitas by the pound with a pile of chicharrones, tortillas and the green avocado salsa, or sit down with a mixed plate. Weekends add goat birria, barbacoa and menudo to the board. Don Pedro ranks fifth for sheer staying power: Time Out Chicago counted roughly 40 years of family ownership in 2023. Seating is tight and weekend lines run long, so get there early and plan to take a pound home.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 1113 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The Infatuation rated Don Pedro 8.2 and kept the counter in its December 2025 Pilsen guide.
• WTTW’s Check, Please! featured the restaurant in a segment that premiered November 6, 2015.
• A cactus salad and two pork stews round out the weekday menu beyond carnitas.

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Casa Madai

Sushi chef Ismael Lucero Lopez had more than 20 years behind Chicago and New York sushi counters when he opened Casa Madai on Racine Avenue at 20th Place in 2024. The cooking crosses Japanese technique with Mexican flavors: hamachi, scallops with salsa macha, a sake maguro tostada, and maki such as La Baja, with panko shrimp and marinated jalapeños. The big night is the 15-course omakase at a 12-seat counter, $180 a person plus an automatic 20% service fee. Casa Madai ranks sixth as the neighborhood’s splurge pick. BYOB has ended, so plan on the sake, wine and cocktail list.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 2023 S Racine Ave, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The Infatuation rated Casa Madai 8.3 in a July 2024 review.
• Lopez first sold his rolls from a stall in a Fulton Market food hall, as Time Out Chicago reported in December 2023.
• Omakase seats book through Tock for parties of one to six.
• Walk-ins can usually get a table for the a la carte rolls, and parking is on the street.

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Bruna’s Ristorante

Oakley Avenue between 24th Street and 24th Place is the old Italian block of the Heart of Chicago, and Bruna’s Ristorante dates to 1933. The menu is old-school Italian, and the pasta list runs long. Go for Luciano’s fusilli in tomato cream with mushrooms ($20), bucatini amatriciana ($23) or the lasagna with meat sauce and béchamel ($24). Bruna’s ranks seventh as the oldest restaurant on this list, with more than nine decades on Oakley Avenue. Lunch starts at 11 a.m. on weekdays and Saturday, but Sunday service does not begin until 12:30 p.m.

Hours: Mon-Thu 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fri-Sat 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sun 12:30 to 10 p.m.

Address: 2424 S Oakley Ave, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The lunch menu lists eggplant parmigiana at $24 and mushroom truffle ravioli at $26.
• The Infatuation rated Bruna’s 7.1 in an August 2022 review.
• Time Out Chicago’s Pilsen guide singled out the rustic Sienese dishes in January 2023.

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La Luna

Samantha Sanchez, whose family comes from Monterrey, owns La Luna on the corner of Racine Avenue and 18th Street, where chef Marco Colin works an open kitchen in a room of exposed brick and living plant walls. Expect classic tacos and modern small plates on house-made tortillas. Order the quesabirria and an horchata espresso martini; Sunday brunch brings a chorizo sandwich. La Luna ranks eighth for a full bar and a garage door that opens the room to 18th Street in warm weather. Happy hour means $10 margaritas and $3.75 tacos.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 1726 S Racine Ave, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The Infatuation rated La Luna 7.9 and keeps the restaurant in its December 2025 Pilsen guide.
• La Luna runs a hands-on tortilla-making class, according to Illinois Latino News in December 2024.
• Choose Chicago lists the restaurant as Hispanic-owned, woman-owned and minority-owned.
• The restaurant’s website promotes brunch with bottomless mimosas, plus live music.

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Bob’s Pizza

There is no Bob; the owners simply liked the name. Chef Matt Wilde opened Bob’s Pizza on the corner of Paulina and 21st streets in 2019 around a crust of his own design, with Old Style beer standing in for water in the dough. The result is what the shop calls Pilsen-style pizza, a yeasty pie topped with crumbled sausage, a blend of mozzarella, Swiss and Parmesan, and pickled onions. Order that one and the pickle pizza, with garlic cream, mortadella, sliced pickles and dill. Bob’s ranks ninth for a pizza style that started on this corner and has since spread to three more locations. The Pilsen shop is BYOB, so bring your own beer.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 1659 W 21st St, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The Infatuation rated Bob’s Pizza 8.2 in a January 2022 review and keeps the shop in its December 2025 Pilsen guide.
• ABC7’s Hungry Hound featured the beer crust in May 2019, about two months after the shop opened.
• The spinach pesto and stracciatella pie is the pick for anyone skipping meat.
• The house pie is 16 inches, according to Time Out Chicago’s 2022 review.

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La Esperanza

Rosa Camarena, who learned to cook from her mother and sister in Jalisco, runs La Esperanza, a small family restaurant on Blue Island Avenue near 19th Street. Mole is the reason to come. Order the classic chicken mole or the chilaquiles de mole; carne asada and chicken fajitas are the other best sellers. Vegetarians get a plant-based chorizo. La Esperanza closes out the top 10 as the list’s fonda, a modest family kitchen where the mole carries the meal. Bring beer from home, since the restaurant is BYOB.

Hours: Check current hours before you go.

Address: 1864 S Blue Island Ave, Chicago, IL 60608

Why they made the list

• The Infatuation includes La Esperanza in its December 2025 guide to eating in Pilsen.
• Camarena shared her mole and carne asada recipes with Familia Kitchen in October 2025.
• Enchiladas and quesadillas fill out the menu alongside the mole.

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Also worth knowing

Just west of Halsted Street, Yvolina’s Tamales sells big tamales steamed in banana leaves, served with or without red or green mole, plus rice and beans. Vegans do well here, with fillings such as tofu with tomatillo and quinoa with lentils. Find the shop at 814 W 18th St.

A few doors west of Mariscos San Pedro on 18th Street, Takumi Ramen pairs tonkotsu ramen with pork belly yakitori and shrimp shumai. The shop is BYOB and sits at 1239 W 18th St.

See a place we missed or a detail that has changed? Send us a correction.