Leaning Tower of Pizza - Uptown Ankeny — Restaurant in Ankeny

3/15/21 around 4:45pm. Growing up in Ankeny, leaning tower was just the place to get the best pizza, great service, and a home like atmosphere. My husband and I have been living in des moines the last 5 years and decided to visit leaning tower. This WOULD have been a 5 star review but our experience ruined what we need Leaning Tower to be. Unfortunately, after getting our onion rings and garlic bread, we noticed a lot of the kitchen staff using their cell phones. Not only that, but with their gloves on, that they would then go on to prep/serve food with. No glove changes and no washing of hands in between. I work in food service and that's a big no no. We spoke with the waitress about what we had seen and that we were not very happy with it, nor did we want to eat more after seeing this. We did pay for the appetizers and drinks we received, but no discount was offered. Only a sad apology. And unfortunately we had to leave an order of pizza and Mac and cheese to be wasted because we were not comfortable eating there. We would have called and spoke with manager, but seeing as no one wanted to step up and have authority over the kitchen, we will be waiting until tomorrow to call and hopefully speak with someone. More than anything, I would like this to be a lesson for the kitchen staff working this evening. They may think they aren't being noticed back behind the service window, but people can see nearly everything going on. So sad that we had to leave with nearly empty tummies and bad thoughts on what...

We ordered takeout through their online interface since we needed something quick to eat while we were driving home from DSM to Ames with our two sleeping kiddos. We ordered a small Harrington and Bus Stop as well as a half order of the onion rings (with the house dressing).

Our order was ready basically exactly at the time we were quoted, and it was all hot and fresh; it was close to the end of the night, but the staff was still kind and smiling. We weren't eating in, but the warm and cozy atmosphere made us wish we were!

The onion rings were fantastic, crunchy outside and perfectly cooked sweet onion in the middle, and the breading didn't fall off completely while eating them. Plus the house dressing was PERFECT, so glad we got it on the side.

The pizzas were both delicious, Bus Stop was full of peppers and a bit spicy, and Harrington was meaty and mellow. The crust was just perfect, both pizzas loaded with toppings but somehow the crust got neither soggy nor greasy. Great cracker-crispy thin-crust with just a little char that you only get from more traditionally cooked pizzas.

It's not often that you don't feel heavy and a little gross after eating pizza and onion rings, but this really hit the spot. We felt so refreshed, and I'm sure that's a testament to the quality ingredients...

We have been going here for several years now. We drive from Altoona to Ankeny for their pizza, and onion rings. It was always worth the trip. Like the atmosphere. Service has always been good. Pizza has always been right up there with the best. The onion rings are fresh, hand cut, and in the past were always well battered, and they too made the trip worth it, but the last several times we’ve been there we have found that the onion rings have went downhill. They show up with very little, if any batter on them. I don’t know if someone is thinning the batter to much, or what exactly the issue is, but I really don’t think these are the quality of rings the owner would want sold in his restaurant. They are certainly not the quality we had come to expect in the past. That’s the only reason I gave it 4 stars, instead of 5. Might be time for a quality check. We went back to tonight. No change in the onion rings. Extremely disappointing. Watched an employee tossing them in a dry powder like substance. The powder does not stay on in the oil. I believe they use to use a liquid batter. Onion rings were so much better. After years as a customer, we will not be going back. We have found better pizza, and onion...