Handlebar Cafe — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

Great food and a couple small improvements could raise this place to five stars.

I always try and visit a place a few times before writing a review and I've been a bunch of times now. Firstly, the pizza. I've tried their pizza. They do 3 kinds. Standard thin crust, square cut with a thicker crust and Chicago deep-dish. The Chicago is pretty good but no substitute for actual Chicago style pizza. Could use a biscuit like crust but that's really a matter of preference. It's still a really good deep dish though. Not as greasy as Chicago style but some people might think that's a good thing.

The regular pizza is pretty good. Borderline great. I don't think there is anything wrong with it. It's as good as you'll find in the area but it pales in comparison to the square cut.

The square cut is the star of the show. The crust isn't too thick (but thick enough) the toppings are plentiful, the cost reasonable (especially for specialty pies-see below), lots of cheese. It's seriously the best pizza in the area.

The wedges are as good as fox's. I never really order wedges. I've never gotten a sandwich here but they look good on other people's plates. They offer oven baked subs and ciabatta. The pasta bakes are ridiculously large and the wings look phenomenal. I'm definitely trying the wings next time. They're not whole wings but I prefer that as does every person from Buffalo, NY.

The fries are fresh cut and the fish is battered. Both the right call in my book.

The ambiance is nice. It's a very family friendly place and is accommodating to large parties, especially if you call ahead. A lot of cool decorations and bike parts used for decor. And lots of cool sayings about pizza on the walls. They take a lot of pride in their pizzas and it shows.

A couple improvements in my mind could really elevate this place from great to amazing and an easy five stars:

1. Bigger portions for the apps. Specifically the pretzel nuggets. They're amazing but you get maybe a dozen little nuggets. It's just not worth the 8 bucks. I've tried the fresh chips too and it's the same complaint. Also needs more beer cheese served. They brought out a little cup and only filled it halfway both times. And the beer cheese is really really good! The value for the couple apps I've tried just isn't there.

2. Topping pricing is so weird! It's almost 3 bucks for toppings for a large pizza. But a specialty pizza is only 3 bucks more than a plain cheese. Want a meat lovers or supreme? It's an amazing deal. But you just want pepperoni and mushrooms? Better order a supreme and hold the sausage, peppers and onions. I really want to try a mushroom and anchovy pizza but it's just not worth it. So I feel discouraged from trying anything not in the specialty menu. Pizza should be about exploring and trying cool new combinations. I wish this place facilitated that a little more or added some more specialty pizzas (anchovy, mushrooms and banana peppers - call it the funky pie).

And finally, not a knock on this place at all but a personal request by me. They have three types of really good pizza. They might as well get a Detroit style pizza and put it on the menu. You have to go into the city for that. Their love of cheese and plentiful toppings would play right into that pizza type. Please...

Every detail of my experience was undesirable. The online ordering option doesn't work. They offer delivery but have no desire to actually provide the service. I called weeks ago and was told it was too late to deliver - That's fine. Tried again last evening and my phone call was taken by a boy named Liam. Liam stumbled through the process of getting my information for the order. I requested delivery. He asked for my address then immediately cut me off to tell me it has to be within a 15 minute drive. I told him I believed it was. He checked the distance, then told me I was outside of the range. I agreed to pick up the order, but out of curiosity, looked up the drive time. Each route was 14-15 minutes. At the end of the order, I asked him to confirm again why they couldn't deliver to us. He said "we looked up your address and it's 15 minutes away and our range is only 15 minutes...." So because I'm 15 minutes away, they could not deliver within their 15 minutes range. Which he then suddenly "corrected" himself to say it was actually 13 minutes. They just didn't want to deliver.

Driving up to the restaurant, there's a clear "NO ENTRY" section with multiple signs, and an entirely unmarked directional entrance, which seemed silly.

We then arrive to the restaurant to pick up the order. I provide my first name, which I told them over the phone. They couldn't find the order anywhere. They then asked me what I ordered. Halfway through relaying what I ordered, I was cut off by one of the workers who began yelling the wrong order back to the kitchen. I attempted to correct her and repeat my order, in which she cut me off again to relay the wrong order to the back. This repeated 5 or 6 times until I could tell the cashier what my actual order was and they were able to locate it.

During the brief interaction at the cash register, there were multiple workers complaining about clocking out and leaving. It felt we were inconveniencing them by being there, despite their closing time being listed 2 hours later than when we were there.

The order consisted of 2 pizzas, equivalent to a kid's 4-piece personal deep dish pizza and an order of 8 wings. It was over $40 and the pizza was subpar. The ranch container was also half spilled into the box for the wings.

Overall a disappointing experience including staff with little desire to actually provide a service, inability to provide quality customer satisfaction, poor communication among staff and to customers, insane prices and unsatisfying food. 0/10 would recommend, will not be returning. We're big into supporting small businesses and privately owned places. I'd rather just go to a chain next time.

At the end of it, all we could do was laugh - it...

Always like to go to local places over chains..found this place by accident and have never heard of it.

The place has a interesting interior, decorated nice. It's clean and comfortable.

Our hostess who is also going to be waiting on us was...cold, not very welcoming, seemed a little annoyed. Very quick and short with her responses.

Now we did not know that alcohol was not served at this place and when asked for a beer she seemed to answer like we should have known this...oh well...but did at least say that we were allowed to BYOB next time.

Cannot really comment to much on the entire menu but they offer standard pizza and stromboli and spaghetti..some other interesting dishes as well.

The food was very good...came out fast and hot..and the waitress who was cold at first started to be a little more happy. 3 in my party...all we're pleased with what they've ordered. Not cheap, but not expensive. Worth the price.

Takeaways:

Nice clean place. Good food. Moderately priced. No alcohol. Not a deal breaker...bring your own if you must. The help...good. everyone has a bad day. Who am I to judge.

Recommend you try and I...