Ian & Kye’s Pizza: Chicago Tavern-Style Pie Comes to Florida

Ian and Kye’s Pizza is a family-owned pizzeria in Martin County, Florida, known for serving true Chicago tavern-style thin crust pizza cut into squares instead of triangles. With locations in Jensen Beach and Stuart, the shop has built a loyal following among Florida diners who grew up on Midwest-style pizza and locals discovering the cracker-thin crust for the first time.

What Is Ian & Kye’s Pizza Known For?

Ian & Kye’s Pizza is known for authentic Chicago tavern-style pizza: a thin, cracker-crisp crust topped edge to edge with sauce and cheese, then cut into small, shareable squares. The pizzeria also serves Chicago Italian beef sandwiches, garlic bites, wings, and homemade sides, all made from scratch in a family-run kitchen with two Florida locations.

The Story Behind Ian & Kye’s Pizza

The pizzeria’s name carries real family history. Owner Kye Maiolo grew up in Jensen Beach and got his start in the pizza business at age 16, working at a local Chicago-style pizza shop in Stuart. His father is originally from southern Illinois, which is where the family’s love of tavern-style pizza took root long before it ever reached the Treasure Coast.

The shop is named for Kye and his brother Ian. When Ian passed away in 2020, Kye opened the first Ian & Kye’s Pizza on Indian River Drive in Jensen Beach that same year, choosing to put his brother’s name first even though he runs the business on his own. That first location grew a strong following, and in the summer of 2024 Kye purchased a former office building in Stuart’s Creek District, renovating it into a second Ian & Kye’s Pizza that opened later that year across from Colab Kitchen.

It’s a small but telling detail for anyone weighing whether to try the place: this isn’t a chain testing out a regional gimmick. It’s a family recipe, a hometown kid’s first job, and a tribute to a brother, all rolled into one pizza box.

Ian & Kye’s Pizza Menu: Prices and Best Sellers

Every pizza starts with the same foundation: a thin, tavern-style Chicago crust that’s crisp enough to hold its shape but still tender under the toppings. A plain cheese pizza runs in the $12 to $14 range depending on location, while the specialty pies land between $14 and $20.

The most-ordered specialty pizzas include:

• Chi Town Sausage – Chicago sausage and cheese, the shop’s best-selling pie.
• Pa Pa Pepperoni – A generous, edge-to-edge pepperoni pizza.
• Mighty Veggie – Spinach, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, onion, and garlic.
• Johnny Hancock – A six-topping combo with sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, onion, peppers, and black olives.
• Mega Meat – Sausage, pepperoni, meatball, and ham for anyone who wants meat on every square.
• Kye Willy’s Sauceless – A white pizza with garlic cream base, mozzarella, spinach, and mushrooms.
• Big City Blaze – Meatball, roast beef, hot giardiniera, and sport peppers for a spicier bite.

Beyond pizza, the menu covers Chicago-style comfort food: garlic bites with cheese, mozzarella sticks, and Windy City Wings tossed in a choice of sauces. The Chicago Italian beef sandwich, thin-sliced roast beef soaked in homemade au jus and served on a Chicago-style roll, is one of the most talked-about non-pizza items on the menu. A gluten-free pizza crust is also available for guests who need it, and the dessert menu closes things out with classic cheesecake and zeppoli, Italian donut holes dusted with powdered sugar.

What Makes Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza Different

Tavern-style pizza is often confused with Chicago’s more famous deep dish, but the two styles have almost nothing in common. Where deep dish is baked in a buttery, pan-like crust and piled high, tavern-style pizza is rolled thin, docked so it bakes flat and crisp, and topped all the way to the edge with sauce and cheese. It’s sometimes called “cracker crust” because a good slice should snap cleanly rather than fold.

The final signature move is the cut: tavern-style pizza is sliced into small squares, sometimes called party cut, rather than wedges. That makes it easy to grab a piece one-handed, share a pie across a table, and mix and match toppings from square to square. At Ian & Kye’s, that square-cut, thin, sauce-forward style is the backbone of the entire menu, and it’s what regulars mean when they say the pizza tastes like a trip back to the Midwest.

How Ian & Kye’s Pizza Compares to Other Pizza Styles

Florida’s pizza scene leans heavily toward New York-style slices and, increasingly, Neapolitan wood-fired pies, so Chicago tavern-style stands out by contrast. New York-style pizza uses a larger, foldable crust with a chewier bite, while Neapolitan pizza is built around a puffy, charred edge and a soft center. Tavern-style pizza does the opposite on purpose: the dough is rolled thin and docked with small holes so it bakes flat, crisp, and sturdy enough to hold toppings all the way to the corner of every square.

It’s also worth separating tavern-style from Chicago’s other famous export, deep dish. Deep dish is baked in a tall, oiled pan, layered cheese-first, and eaten with a fork. Tavern-style is closer to what most lifelong Chicagoans actually order on a Friday night, a thin, square-cut pizza built for sharing at a bar table. Ian & Kye’s Pizza sticks closely to that tavern tradition rather than chasing the deep-dish stereotype most people outside the Midwest associate with Chicago pizza.

Tips for Ordering at Ian & Kye’s Pizza

First-time visitors often do best by starting with a half-and-half order, splitting a pie between a classic like Pa Pa Pepperoni and something more adventurous like Kye Willy’s Sauceless or Big City Blaze. Because tavern-style pizza is cut into squares, it’s easy to share several flavors across one table without committing to a single whole pie per person.

Online ordering is available directly through the restaurant’s website for both the Jensen Beach and Stuart locations, with pickup, curbside, and delivery options at checkout. Delivery is also available through major third-party apps for anyone outside the shop’s direct delivery radius. Since every pizza is made to order rather than pre-made and reheated, ordering a few minutes ahead for pickup, especially on weekend evenings, helps avoid a longer wait at the counter. Pairing a pizza with a side of garlic bites or a basket of Windy City Wings rounds out a meal for two without needing a second pie.

Ian & Kye’s Pizza Locations in Florida

There are currently two Ian & Kye’s Pizza locations, both in Martin County:

• Jensen Beach – 3310 NE Indian River Dr, Jensen Beach, FL 34957. The original location, opened in 2020 near the Indian River.
• Stuart – 117 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Stuart, FL 34994. A second, newer location in the Creek District, opened in 2024.

Both locations offer dine-in seating, curbside pickup, and delivery through third-party apps, and both accept online ordering for pickup or delivery. Hours shift by season and location, so it’s worth checking the current hours on the restaurant’s website or ordering app before heading over, especially around holidays.

What Do Customers Say About Ian & Kye’s Pizza?

Across Yelp, Tripadvisor, and local review sites, Ian & Kye’s Pizza consistently draws praise for its thin, crispy crust and the family-run, welcoming feel of both locations. Reviewers frequently single out the Chi Town Sausage and Mighty Veggie pizzas as standouts, along with the garlic bites appetizer and friendly service from the owner and staff. Several diners describe the crust as the strongest part of the experience, holding its crunch even under heavier toppings.

Feedback isn’t universally glowing. A handful of reviewers have found the sauce and cheese flavor on the milder side compared to what they’re used to, and a few have noted longer wait times during busy periods since pizzas are made to order. Taken together, the overall picture is a small, hands-on pizzeria that earns strong loyalty from regulars while still drawing the occasional mixed review typical of any made-to-order kitchen.

Should You Try Ian & Kye’s Pizza?

For anyone in Jensen Beach or Stuart who misses Midwest-style pizza, or simply wants to try something different from Florida’s usual pizza lineup, Ian & Kye’s Pizza is worth the visit. The square-cut, cracker-thin crust is genuinely distinctive in a market dominated by New York and deep-dish styles, and the family story behind the counter gives the place a personality that’s hard to fake. Start with a Chi Town Sausage pie and an order of garlic bites, then decide for yourself if tavern-style is your new favorite way to eat pizza.

Frequently Asked Questions

What style of pizza does Ian & Kye’s Pizza serve?

Ian & Kye’s Pizza specializes in Chicago tavern-style thin crust pizza, a cracker-crisp crust topped edge to edge with sauce and cheese and cut into squares rather than triangular slices.

Where are Ian & Kye’s Pizza locations?

Ian & Kye’s Pizza has two Florida locations: Jensen Beach on Indian River Drive and Stuart in the Creek District on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard, both in Martin County.

Who owns Ian & Kye’s Pizza?

The pizzeria is owned by Kye Maiolo, a Jensen Beach native who started working in Chicago-style pizza shops at 16 and named the business after himself and his late brother, Ian.

Does Ian & Kye’s Pizza offer gluten-free pizza?

Yes, a gluten-free pizza crust option is available at Ian & Kye’s Pizza alongside the standard Chicago thin crust menu.

Can Ian & Kye’s Pizza be delivered?

Both locations offer delivery and pickup through the restaurant’s own ordering platform as well as third-party delivery apps, in addition to dine-in seating.

How is tavern-style pizza different from deep dish?

Tavern-style pizza, the style served at Ian & Kye’s Pizza, has a thin, cracker-crisp crust cut into squares, while deep dish is baked in a tall pan with layered cheese and a thick, doughy crust eaten with a fork.