Vino's — Restaurant in Little Rock

Loud and unwieldy. Also a downtown legacy, host to every type of person - family, kids, suits, drunk and wild. Everything presents itself as whatever goes down and kinda gruff, tho staff remain friendly - not cheesy, but attentive without being overbearing. Work very efficiently at getting your pizza. Stays relatively unchanged since inception minus smoking; you can know exactly what to expect. Only differences since I last went over a year ago seem to be a larger menu and small improvements (like new plates and bowls it seems), and even more choice accents to things like your salad and the amount of toppings you get on everything. Plus more detail to quality. Could sum it up to quick and dirty, but it really isn't all that dirty - a far quality cry from the likes of dominos pizza wize. And all other items they offer, while not a giant list, like sandwiches and calzones...are done to amazing perfection. They have a recipe and a routine and do it well. Plus microbrewery with not as reliable taste batch by batch, but always good beer. Recommend asking for samples before you try new or different stuff on beer list. Think you can still buy growlers of beer for take home on SUNDAYS with a deposit for the glass container it comes in (2 bux maybe). Like their home made root beer, albeit as inconsistent as some of their rotational beer choices, is always nice and totally enjoyable in it's own way. Definitely a good place to support, and doesn't disappoint. Just come prepared for a mishmash of people, attitudes, NOISE, and plenty of interesting stuff to look at and take in while your at it. You don't have to pay for the "kich" here, or a simulation of a downtown new York pizzeria, but you WILL get something like it... At least they don't try to make you pay for a simulated experience with a sterile "safe-place" feeling behind it and some expensive artist designing all of the down and gritty parts of the atmosphere while being charged out the a$$ for small portions of "cutting edge" take on what they call pizza. Also live (not always good, but there are gems that come along) music in the back, plan on super loud and being crammed in! But as something to do it's a cool experience from what I remember. Hope they stay the same as they have been for like 20+ years and only change the things that need it and won't screw up what Little Rock frequents have come to at least KNOW they will get..no problem seeing new salad bowls or extra cheese and toppings. Also remember their by the slice pieces are huge, you don't need many. And I can't justify it for diet reasons, but CANNOT beat their calzones, which can be custom to the ingredient - you won't need anything else and probably will have a nice portion to take home and perfect snack. Also totally different (but awesome) cold. Used to look forward to the leftover half right outta the fridge with the marinara sauce they give you to dip. Yeah great memories, don't see em having any lack of patrons anytime soon but if you haven't, you should give em a go. Now more than ever. Also you can get in and out faster than most sit-down places (take out and curbside available too or 🪑 and wait also). I like that, don't always wanna spend entire evening just because I went to a restaurant. Stay as long as u want tho! Nice place for friends or groups to gather. Pretty small, expect cramming yourself in most of the time -but it works. Usually no or very small wait times for dine-in seating. Staff wear masks if you care about that...

Came to watch a friend's wrestling show. don't drink alcohol anymore, nor do I drink soda, so I ordered coffee at the front, and the girl working told me, "we're out of coffee; we ran out of beans" I immediately had a huge suspicion she was lying to me, but I begrudgingly ordered a root beer which I hated. Also ordered the Chicken Blt pizza slice. I asked another server, an older woman, and she told me, that they in fact, did have coffee! She got me my coffee and made sure my cup stayed full. She was wonderful. I'm not sure why the girl working the register lied to me, bc its not like she had to go start the coffee or even clean the pot. I was vastly disappointed with my blt pizza. The chicken was chopped so finely I could barely taste it. The lettuce was the ugly white part that food prep guy should've thrown out as it had no green to it at all. Tbh, CiCis pizza has better Chicken bacon/white sauce pizza than Vinos, and thats sad bc I expected more from a local spot. Now for the atmosphere. I think the peeps working there are great, except the liar at the front. Sadly, this place is very run down. They don't even have a heat lamp on the line for food that's waiting to be delivered to a table to be kept hot! I completely missed my friend's performance, bc it took about 30 min for my 1 slice of pizza to come out. I shouldve known better than to order before he came on, and they were busy, but I didnt expect that one slice would take that long.

The patio was ridiculous with their ripped plastic that probably used to keep it warm during cold months, and I'm surprised that the owner and managers let the ripped plastic just hang there instead of replacing it. The gas warmers are smooshed down and barely heat unless you're right up on it. They look old and worn out. The bathrooms were dirty and had graffiti all over the walls. I might come back if there's a good band playing, but all in all, was not worth the hour drive to get there. Someone call Bar Rescue!...

Vino's is...different. I can't quite explain to you exactly what's going on at Vino's, but I can tell you that you'll either love it or you won't. I personally love it.

They serve very inexpensive food, and it's absolutely delicious. They have their own drinks they make in-house, of which I am very partial to the root beer.

The atmosphere is interesting. It's the kind of place that attracts different types of people. Yes I'm aware this is a review on the place, not the customers, but they're as much a part of it as the staff, speaking of which

The staff are helpful, friendly, and are overall the cherry on top of the whole Vino's experience, which is exactly what this place is. It's not a pizza place, or a pub, it's an experience.

Corny, I know, but trust me please. If you're around downtown LR, give this place a try. Their food alone is worth it.

Jeez what a review. Sorry it's so long, it's the longest one I've ever posted, but I figured Vino's merited, and earned it. I will be visiting them often in the future, and not just for the pizza lol.

Thank you...