Minskys Pizza Cafe & Bar

A great spot before KU basketball games. Good food and pretty quick service. Love all the pizzas, my son is a big fan of the cheesy breadsticks and they Alsace surprisingly good subs and sandwiches — my fave is the Philly cheesesteak!

We ordered pizza to be delivered tonight and crust was not cooked on either! Not a very good deal for $ 35…look elsewhere!

A KC transplant. Overall solid with a large selection and varied menu. And a gluten free menu. Not particularly cheap. But reliable and tasty. Servers are relatively inexperienced, so quality on that front is spotty.
Is there better pizza in the world? Surely, but I really don’t care. Aimed at the college crowd, this reviewer finds it a good place for lunch or early dinner with children in tow, largely because everyone in the family can order something different/​what they want.
Three televisions adorn the dining room for your sportsing pleasure. If you like that sort of thing. Helpfully, they are usually turned to different events — so you may want to take care in choosing your seat.
Patio is strangely unappealing.

I just don’t know how to rate this one. I love the Prime Cut (all meat) pizza on wheat original crust with extra sauce. I would put it in a best of Lawrence category but the rest of their food is just ok so Jeremy doesn’t like it. He usually gets chicken parmesan when I really want to go here for a pizza but says it’s watery. He’s tried other dishes too. We don’t think the appetizers are very good either. But then there is the service. They are so slow about drink refils and barely come to check on you whether they are busy or slow. We’ve been here at least half a dozen times and it’s always the same. So even though I love that pizza everything else and Jeremy’s opinion are very low.

My wife and I went for dinner last night. We had boneless wings to start, she had a 6 inch Thai pizza and I had a jumbo combo calzone. The food was pretty good and the service was very good. I woyld recommend this place to my friends.

Can you imagine driving a 1988 Yugo with a payment that is fitting for a 2015 BMW… yeah, me either.
This place tastes no better or worse than Godfathers did when they were open but Godfathers didn’t suck your weekly paycheck out of your pocket for a large bacon and chicken pizza… The place is clean, the staff is nice but the taste vs price is just NOT there… I have not tried the meatball sub but I hear that it isn’t bad and won’t break the bank…
Who should have to take a loan out to buy a friggin pizza.

This review is for take-​out. I give their pizza 2 stars for Meh and the price for what it was 0 stars for Eek, never again.
Granted, I’ve only got pizza from here once, and I usually never write a review until a few times in, but I won’t be going back having a couple much better options in town for pizza. We got the Mediterranean with lamb, which is one of our standard go-​tos at home. We both agreed the toppings were largely flavorless, the lamb overly greasy (and flavorless), the mozzarella just… blah. It’s too bad, I was really looking forward to a quality, «fancy» pizza to treat myself. I’ll treat myself elsewhere, or just make it at home.

Terrible! For the cost of this pizza, it’s the worst. They skimp on the toppings, and they’re very slow with delivery. My pizza was ice cold by the time it arrived at my door.

Stopped in last night from out of town to grab a bite before a concert down the street. We ordered spinach and artichoke dip with pita for starters, which was good, but nothing to write home about, and the 5 Star Cheese pizza to share (and added kalamata olives). The pizza was really excellent; we loved the dried Rosemary that was an unobtrusive but tasty twist on the standard cheese pizza.
I would say out only real complaint was some truly disappointing service. Our drinks went dry twice, and were never refilled again, and our server was apparently disinterested in the whole thing, never shooting us a smile or any words beyond obligatory order-​requesting, and spending most of the time chatting behind the bar. When the server delivered our entrees, she simply stood at the side of the table, not saying a word, while waiting for US to clear the appetizer from the middle of the table and replace the pizza stand that was pushed off to the side. After a previous ten years spent as a server, bartender and then restaurant manager, I was disappointed enough to leave below 20% gratuity for the first time ever.
Overall, the food and location were worth it (I would have given maybe 4 stars if only for that) and I am sure there are plenty of great servers staffed there, but I wish our experience had been more positive.

My delivery order was wrong THREE times in a row. Don’t order the ‘lamb’ gyro. It’s actually a lamb/​beef blend that looks and tastes like 4 slices of thin turkey jerky placed on a cold pita bun with veggies on top. The jumbo wings were soggy and lacked flavor. If you order anything for delivery, be very clear what you want, then have them read the order back to you.twice. They corrected my order twice, but today, the manager, John (arrogant), wanted me to pay for the delivery charge on an order that they got wrong. Really? Fine. I’ll pay it, but you just lost a customer.

I like the pizza and love the gluten — free option. I’m from Chicago and my first was in a pizza restaurant. I’m about picky about pizza and I’ve been in the industry for 20+ years so there are a few things for which I have no tolerance.
I Minsky’s quirky combos and the atmosphere. It’s not a pizza I would crave, but I enjoy it. They have great deals for lunch and always have drink deals. The staff is nice, but I’ve never had good service here. Last time, I was here during a rush and it took forever. The waiter never came back to check on me. I had to stand up and put my coat on to get the check.
Today, the waitress had two other tables. My pizza was barely room temperature and she didn’t come back to check on me so I had to wait and call her over to ask to have it heated. It was warmer when it came back but not hot. She didn’t check on my for another beer, which I would have had, until I was ready for the check.
I started to give three stars, but upon writing realized it’s not worthy of three stars. The service ruins it for me. I have consistently seen larger tables get better service, which is also disappointing. I’ve been to KC locations and had excellent service.
Wait till you’re out on the town in KC and visit one of those locations!

Minksy’s is a decent place to grab some pizza, but far from my favorite. The pizza isn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything special either. They do have some nice quality ingredients. Part of the issue I think I had was that the pizza seemed dry. That could very well have just been a result of the toppings that went onto it, so I will likely be giving them another chance in the future and getting a different pizza, but my first impression of the place was perhaps one step above unimpressed.
While I was there, I also got an order of hummus. Previously, I had been told this was the best hummus in Lawrence, and after sampling it, I found it to be… okay. Again, it wasn’t bad, but it had been talked up so much that once I finally tried it, it was really just plain ol’ hummus.
Overall, this place doesn’t deserve a 2-​star rating, but I would definitely have described it as «Meh.» However, 3 stars is more in line with my actual feelings, particularly once I took the very nice décor and the fantastic staff members into account. Our waiter was very friendly and accommodating and the service was neither super fast or painfully slow.

Minskys pizza is a good addition to downtown Lawrence. I love the wide variety of specialty pizzas and appetizers that they have, along with great beer pitcher prices.
The pizza can be had on 6 types of crust (thin to tick in white and whole wheat) and they have some great toppings like game meat, nuts, and eclectic veggies. I love the thai pizza and an the lamb sausage pizza. The sizing is also very nice – the smallest size is perfect for one person (nice when you want to grab a bite and not have to carry leftovers with you the rest of your day). The wings are huge (and according to some of the wing aficionados I know, very delicious).
The staff is always friendly and do their best to be prompt – although it can get really crowded on the weekends, I have never had to wait too long for a table or for service.
The atmosphere is ok… the tables are a little close together, but once the beer and pizza start flowing, I can overlook this issue.

Brought family from out of town to eat here. Ordered hot wings, cheesy breadsticks, and LG meat pizza. I was not impressed with anything. My guests were not happy with the food. Wings were bland, breadsticks were dry and greasy, pizza was alright. Service was slow.

I would recommend Minsky’s over any pizza place in Lawrence. This location gets four stars from me because they just aren’t as good as the Shawnee location, and that is disappointing to me. However, Minsky’s is always delicious and the service is very good. They got my order wrong once — on Valentine’s Day, the busiest night of the year for restaurants — but they still got the correct pizza to me at no charge within 30 – 45 minutes. I will always be a proud, loyal patron of Minsky’s! Also, if you like bone-​in wings, theirs are approximately the size of a pterodactyl’s wings. No joke. And one last tip: if you have leftovers, bag them. The crust tends to dry out in the box.

Oh Minskys, how I love your pizza! Since gluten free crust is required, this has become our go-​to place for Za. The GF pizza wedges are deliciousness incarnate, and you can’t go wrong with the Jumbo Combo or the Papa Minsky’s. For regular crust enthusiasts, try the Mediterranean with pesto sauce and add olives. I don’t know why they don’t just put olives on it to begin with… it’s a greek-​ish pizza, it needs olives! Still, they rarely go wrong here at Minsky’s and I definitely recommend it. Go. NOW!

I’ve never had Minsky’s before, but saw people enjoying themselves yesterday when I was in Prairie Village. Knowing there’s a location near my home, I decided to give it a try today.
I had a house salad, a Caesar salad, and a Papa Minsky’s pizza to share among a family of 3. The salads were very good (for a pizza place) — Caesar had good dressing that wasn’t overly creamy, with nice crunchy croutons. The house salad came with a nice Italian dressing that was overly oily or sour, with a wedge of sweet, fresh tomato. Overall, not as good as the house salad from Wheatfields, but definitely exceeded my expectations for a pizza place.
Then came the pizza. I’m more a fan of stone fired, very thin crust pizzas. I knew it wouldn’t be equal to something from my favorite pizza place around KC (Nordstrom Café), but didn’t expect the crust to come out as thick as it did. Worst part was the pizza wasn’t as hot as it should be. That said, the toppings and the sauce was quite good — not overly greasy or salty. In my opinion, it’s better than Rudy’s (the much beloved pizza place in Lawrence) but I think Papa Keno’s, and Morningstar Pizza (6^th & Wakarusa) make better pizza’s.

$ 8 pitchers of Boulevard, a really good chicken sandwich and they let us stay during closing so we could finish watching the Sharks playoff game. They let us turn on the Sharks playoff game which was also very accommodating of them.
Waiter was really nice and prices were very fair. Bathrooms were clean.

This was my first experience with Minsky’s. We ordered a large variety of food for delivery. Everything was awful right down to dessert. The jumbo wings were soggy and bland despite having ordered the «hot» sauce version. The thin & crispy pizza crust wasn’t crispy at all and the whole wheat crust was the most tasteless and chewy I’ve ever had. My husband claimed the taco pizza at Casey’s is much better than the Tostada pizza from Minsky’s…ouch!
The caesar and house salads were limp and dry, the carrots of the house salad had turned white with age. The garlic cheese toast was hard and dry even with marinara. The tiramisu tasted like chemical fluff; it lacked richness and flavor. It’s by far the worst food I’ve ever had delivered to my house and 95% of it is now in the trash.

The new Minsky’s location in Lawrence. Took over the former Pizza Hut location on Massachusetts Street. Fully remodeled and well-​appointed. Ca. 20 tables in a cozy dining room, full bar, televisions, and an extensive Minsky’s menu. Patio /​sidewalk dining coming soon.
We ordered a couple of different items, so here’s the rundown
Started with a house salad, I was rather impressed with the offering. Minsky’s does a good salad that uses a mix of lettuce, big wedges of tomato, a pepperoncini, croutons, and it comes with a big breadstick. A great start to dinner, and not a boring iceberg bowl.
I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Pizza, in the mini (personal) size. I really liked this pizza. It uses a traditional vinegary Buffalo wing base for the sauce, it has nice slices of chicken underneath the cheese, and the cheese itself is a good full-​bodied mozzarella. Also comes with a dipper of blue cheese salad dressing to get that traditional crossing of flavors.
My wife ordered the Thai Pizza, also in the mini (personal), and I shared it with her. Great bold flavors on it, with tastes of sesame, soy, ginger, and garlic. Definitely something that I would have again.
My friend ordered the chicken wing appetizer to eat, and they are impressive. When one usually orders wings, one gets a mix of the two traditional wing joints: the drumette and the wingette. The wings at Minksy’s are the whole wing — drumette, wingette, tip — cooked up and presented on the plate. To be sure, there’s not a lot of meat to be had in the tip, but it’s an interesting presentation, and you feel a little like you’re getting a better deal for you money — a mix of 10 wings in a basket is good, but 5 whole wings on a plate looks like a mountain of food. I didn’t have any, but they were reportedly very good.
The final element to our evening was the drinks. One half of the name of Minksy’s Pizza Café & Bar is «Bar» (well half is more like «a Café & Bar», which doesn’t look nearly as awkward as I thought it would when I was counting out letter to use this bit)… Anyway, though we didn’t have any cocktails, we did take advantage of the beer specials. Actually, not specials, rather all-​the-​time deals. This Minsky’s location has beer called Minsky’s Mass Street, which is a malty but run-​of-​the-​mill pilsner, but it’s a $ 2 draw, or $ 6 pitcher. This Minksy’s location also features a couple of Boulevard beers on tap, and I think it was ~$ 3.75 for a pint, but it’s ~$ 7.50 for a pitcher, thus making it one of the best deals on premium beer, and the perfect affordable compliment to pizza.
One final word of warning — Minksy’s uses traditional pizza table racks for their pizzas. It’s a great space-​saving device that allows a large pizza to be placed between friends, but it works best on pizzas medium-​and-​up. If you get a small pizza and put it on the rack, it’s a precarious perch, and if you are not careful you will knock it off of the rack. Happened to us, and we were quick and lucky to catch it, but also saw another table do it. Watch your pizza!