Minsky's Pizza — Restaurant in Kansas City

We visited Minsky’s South of the Plaza with friends — a total of 11 people, but we were couples with separate tickets. This was October 25 around 3:30. The restaurant wasn’t busy, so we didn’t expect any issues. Unfortunately, our server was one of the worst I’ve ever had. It felt like he had never waited tables before. When ordering drinks, we asked to order an appetizer as well and he told us we couldn’t order appetizers until after he finished taking drink orders, and by the time we finally got our drinks, he immediately moved into taking everyone’s meal orders — so we skipped appetizers altogether.

When the food arrived, items were missing, and the drinks were awful. My Long Island had no noticeable alcohol, and the margarita was one of the worst my husband has ever had — nothing but lime juice and tequila, so tart he couldn’t finish it.

To make matters worse, a group of young men came in singing loud Irish songs with drums and instruments. They went on for three full songs, walking around asking for donations. It was so loud that we couldn’t even talk to the person next to us, and management did absolutely nothing to control it.

When it came time to pay, our checks were completely messed up. Another server had to step in to fix things while our original server suddenly claimed he “found his notes.” Then, to top it off, they automatically added 20% gratuity because we were a large group — despite the poor service. Every other place I’ve ever been adds no more than 15%, leaving guests the option to add more for good service. I am a person that will always tip at least 15% regardless of the service however, when I am forced to tip 20% for service that was completely unworthy that’s when I get mad.

Overall, this was a terrible experience from start to finish — from service and drinks to management and billing. I will never visit any Minsky’s location again based on this...

I am probably the only person in Kansas City who isn't a diehard Minsky's fan. To be fair they had more than a few chances to satiate my palate but the more I ate their pizza, the more I came to realize how bad it was. They simply don't know how to make pizza correctly -- no matter what type of crust or toppings you like, if you don't apply them in the correct order at the correct time, the pizza isn't going to be good. To start, they put the majority of the toppings underneath the cheese. This has the result of soaking up all of the sauce and grease, which takes away a ton of flavor and makes the pizza very dry. (It also lets them be as skimpy on the toppings as they want to.) Second, the timing of applying certain toppings matters! Anyone who knows anything about cooking knows you add your bread crumb topping for the last 15 minutes of cook time on your casserole. One of my favorite toppings is ricotta, and especially ricotta on my pizza, because it is the fresh and full-fat kind. Minsky's adds it on at the beginning (and it's underneath the cheese) so by the time the pizza comes out of the oven it's like eating crumbled tofu instead of the creamy, slightly sweet flavor of good, fresh ricotta (and forget the melding of the ricotta and sauce, since most of the sauce is dried up.) If you ever watch a genuine pizza maker you will see them baking the pizza and putting the fresh ricotta on the top and for the last few minutes of the bake - this goes for other toppings too, like certain veggies that simply become wilted. I guess if you sell bad pizza for long enough people will start to like it, but I'd rather...

Two days in a row, I had nearly identical experiences in two different midtown KCMO pizza parlors, where unwashed homeless men were allowed to run the restaurant... I felt horrible for the staff that appeared helpless as a mentally ill homeless man was allowed to come and go without any standards of conduct... I will never be back. This man stood at a table, shouted across the restaurant to order his food, and continued to stand for the remainder of his meal blocking the entrance, with a stare that indicated he had been off his anti-psychotics. Although he was a short man, he towered over the table adjacent to the one me and my wife were sitting at... starring at us, then counting his coins, scribbling notes in his notepad handed out at the shelter, back to starring, then counting his coins, then scribbling notes.... He did not appear to have enough to pay for the food he ordered, but we left almost immediately so we missed the conclusion... I am not paying gourmet pizza prices for a soup kitchen experience, I could go volunteer for that if I want too, just trying to eat pizza with my wife. Our servers co-workers were visibly concerned for her safety and asked her "are you okay?"... yet, management did nothing and they probably refuse to do anything... they should have at least asked him to sit down, or to stand at the bar... at the very least to clear a path for access to the entrance...total...