MapMuse - Locate Uno Chicago Bar & Grill Near You

...Illinois. While Sewell and Ricardo are known as the owners of the original restaurant, a 1956 article from the Chicago Daily News asserts that the original recipe was created by chef Rudy Malnati. Sewell opened a second location (called Pizzeria Due) in the same area twelve years later to handle overflow from the original restaurant. Today the corporation is based in Boston, Massachusetts. Ironically, the restaurant chain does not have a major presence in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, with only four locations in the region excluding the original Uno and Due restaurants in River North.

The company began franchising in 1980[3] As of 2005 the chain has 216 restaurants, with 85 franchises and 128 company-owned restaurants in 32 U.S. states. Franchises are also located in Puerto Rico, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. Two Pizzeria Uno restaurants were opened in Takapuna and Newmarket in Auckland, New Zealand in the late '80's but only lasted a few years. Entrepreneur magazine ranked it 174th in 2003 and 252nd in 2006 in the magazine's list of the top 500 franchises.

In addition to the traditional Uno restaurants, Uno offers a limited menu (predominately their pizzas) at service plazas and airports.

In 2005, Uno began marketing frozen pizza in major chain supermarkets in certain areas such as southern California.

Starting in 1994,, Uno broadened its menu to encompass other dishes. Uno's kitchens were updated, adding sauté stations, grills and fryers, and invested heavily in training.

In 1996, the franchise's beverage list was expanded, and by 1999 so was the portion size, reflecting a trend seen in the industry where customers are buying fewer but larger drinks. New locations were larger and featured a "Chicago warehouse" look.

In 1997, Pizzeria Uno changed its name to Pizzeria Uno, Chicago Bar & Grill; it later simplified the name to Uno Chicago Grill.

The menu, updated again in 2005, still includes several of the restaurant's traditional specialties, particularly its deep dish pizza. In the tradition of Chicago's speakeasies, more attention is paid to the bar. Uno's drink list features a dozen wines and a number of specialty drinks, including frozen, mixed and nonalcoholic options.

The expanded menu and format changes were not made at the company's original downtown Chicago locations (Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due).