Smoky Mountain Pizzeria Grill — Restaurant in Meridian

This place has a back, rectangular room which runs the length of the building, which can be reserved for parties or large groups. There is no separation from the rest of the customers. They can see in and you can see them. However, it's more than most places have. We were here for a family gathering, which was catered. There was far more than enough food. Many took leftovers home. They were very accommodating in providing gluten free chicken alfredo and two, medium (about the size of a typical frozen pizza) gluten free pizzas for the eight or so of us who had to eat gluten free due to celiac or allergies. They did not separate the gluten free pasta dishes visibly, so there were party members who may have contaminated the serving spoon for the gluten free pasta. As such, I made sure to be near the front of the line and didn't get seconds to be safe, as I'm one of those with Celiac. The pasta was gobbled up by gluten eaters with no clue they were eating gluten free. I cook from scratch a lot, so for me...the pasta was very salty. This is how most American diners like their food. I'd prefer less salt on pretty much anything you get from a restaurant, just for context. The pizza sauce and toppings were generous and delicious. They nailed the perfect pizza sauce. However, the crust was oily and thin. In frame of reference to what else is available in Ada County, it's one of the top choices. After having New Cascadia Traditional Pizza in Portland, Oregon...I'm spoiled. NCT manages to perfectly recreate that chewy, sourdough, hand-tossed pizza pie perfection with an old school sourdough starter...no yeast packets there. If you haven't found such gluten-free defying deliciousness, this is what most expect. If I'm in the area again and want to eat out, I will keep them in mind as they are a safe place to eat for those with food allergies.

As to the ambiance...it's on par with Applebee's basically. There is some variety in the menu. They seating is very reminiscent of Applebee's...at least at this location. It may well have been an old Applebee's for all I know. There is no sound dampening so it's loud. You have to raise your voice to be heard.

The bathrooms are not gender neutral and at least the women's is old but serviceable. I definitely think they need to sink some money into replacing the outdate stalls and upgrading the TP dispensers, which are plastic and cracked. They smell old and they are directly at the back of the party wing. The place is easy to spot from the road with plenty of parking and accessible entrances and exists. The prices are, on average $15 a plate...not a cheap place, but around average for the Boise...

My husband and I went here on a double date with his brother and his wife. We were seated in a timely manner. It took our waitress a little bit to come to the table to greet us and take our drink order. My husband and I ordered the "Motherload" as an appetizer for the table. The appetizer was probably the only thing on the menu that was worth the price.

My husband ordered a salad, and my in-laws ordered the calzones. They sounded really good. However once my sister in law got her calzone she had a bit of it and realized that the chicken was cold, and that the internal temperature was far from safe serving standards. It took a while for the waitress to return, so we got the attention of someone else. We explained the situation to her and she stated that she would take it back to the kitchen and have it re made. After that lady had left, I noticed my brother in law was picking the chicken out of his calzone also. When we asked him about it, he stated that his chicken is cold. That he is not sure if it was cause he had cut the calzone open and the inside has just become cold or not. When our waitress finally came back we informed her about the cold chicken on my brother in laws.

The waitress DID offer to have his thrown in the microwave (which was a little upsetting). However, since my brother in law had eaten around what seemed like a quarter of his calzone he told them to not worry about it. He just wouldn't eat the calzone. Finally the waitress looked at the table and realized that everyone was almost done with their meal and my sister in law had still not gotten her calzone back. So she asked if my sister in law would like hers in a to go box.

The lady who took the calzone back to the kitchen came up and said that she is going to take 10% off of each calzone for us, due to the issue that we had with it being cold and very possibly uncooked. Which was very kind of her.

All in all, with a check that is over $80 including the 10% off of each calzone....I honestly would say that it was highly over priced and that we over paid.

However, we still tipped the waitress, and we ended up leaving. My sister in law and her husband had a gift card that they wanted to use. My husband and I were just going to pay the bill ourselves. We went to pay and my in laws insisted that we take their gift card. (Mainly for the fact that we most likely are not going to be...

I ordered 3 pizzas at 4:30pm to be made and ready by 7:30 on Saturday 1/22/22. I arrived at 6:45pm to see if they would be ready sooner and possibly bring the family in to eat an appetizer while we wait for the pizzas. I was told everything was backed up and the appetizers were the most backed up. I was told at 7 that my pizzas were in the oven and that they would be ready in 10-15 minutes. I go back out the the car to wait for a few minutes. I came back in to check in and was told my pizzas were given to someone else so they would have to remake them. At 8:15, I'm brought out 3 pizzas, 1 of which is correct but the other 2 were completely different pizzas than what I ordered. So I'm told another 5-7 minutes to make the correct pizzas. I ask them to put the Santa Cruz in the warmer while the others are being made. I left there with all three pizzas (one of which was still wrong and 1 that was luke warm) at 8:32 PM. 1 hour and 45 minute wait at the store for 3 pizzas that I had called in 3 hours in advance

While I sat in there waiting, I had a beer and observed the operations of the joint. There was absolutely no management, direction nor leadership! Tickets were lost, there was no organization or the orders and the staff was reacting to nearly every mistake that could be made. I saw nearly every customer apologized to and several take out orders either messed up or customers waiting an hour or more for their orders.

A cook in the back was wearing blue plaid pajama bottoms and he seemed to be more concerned about drinking his soda than cooking food as he took several breaks.

I watched as one of the male servers poured something into a condiment cup. He got some on his finger so he licks it off then immediately picks up someone's entree and delivers it to the table. DISGUSTING!!!! This guy was a heftier gentleman that seemed to maybe be part of management. My last two orders from this place (Meridian and Kuna) have been comped by the staff because of screw ups.

It's sad because these guys make my absolute favorite pizza ever in the Santa Cruz but after this experience, Smoky Mountain Pizza will not receive my...