MacKenzie River Pizza, Grill & Pub — Restaurant in Pocatello

In general this place is over-hyped and over-priced. One of the most crazy things about this place is that they charge you for the dressings that come with your salads and also the sauces that come with your fries. We were scratching our heads as we tried to figure that one out as we looked at our checks.

Here are the items that I have tried. I will start with the best.

French fries: 5/5 Nicely cooked with a great crunch on the outside. But be prepared to pay extra for your fry sauce.

French onion soup: 5/5 Very flavorful and delicious. Beautifully presented.

Sky High Cheesecake: 5/5 Texture and flavor of the cheesecake was spot-on. And the strawberry compote took this over the top. It was juicy, colorful, slightly sweet, and the strawberry chunks tasted fresh even though I am pretty sure they were frozen. Big enough to share.

Flourless Chocolate Cake: 5/5 Super dense and super rich. If you are craving a massively chocolate dessert, this is for you. It is more akin to fudge than cake. Rich enough to share with 2 or 3.

MacKenzie Meatloaf: 4/5 The meatloaf was good and the bacon wrapped around it pushes the rating for this dish up to a 4/5. The steamed veggies were very good too. The mashed potatoes needed more moisture and flavor. Plate presentation was very nice as well.

Pulled pork sandwich: 3/5 I did not try the pulled pork but my sister said it was good. The french fries were great of course. But the coleslaw was laughable. The coleslaw had zero flavor. I mean, it tasted like they took a bag of coleslaw veggies and added a bit of mayo and were done. No pep or flavor to the sauce at all, and the portion size of coleslaw was way too small too.

Fish & Chips: 2/5 The fish was okay. The batter around it was pretty dry and it was supposed to taste "sweet and spicy" but I just tasted normal batter that was too cooked too dry. The coleslaw was a fail, as discussed above. The truly wonderful aspect of this dish is the french fries.

Flathead Pizza (Gluten Free): 1/5 The gluten free crust had zero flavor and dismal texture. The alfredo sauce was equally bland. The chicken was dry. The rest of the toppings were also subpar. Really, we were waxing poetic about Costco's cauliflower crust frozen pizza as we ate this sorry excuse for a pizza. Massive fail.

Pulled pork sandwich: I did not try the pulled pork but my sister said it was good. The french fries were great of course. But the coleslaw was super bland, as discussed above.

Note to the janitor: Fix the women's bathroom door lock on the second stall. It wouldn't lock.

The menu is huge and so there is more to try, but with the higher prices, I almost feel hesitant to take the gamble to come here again. I would recommend this place for desserts but for food, I would say, proceed with caution and probably ask the waiter for recommendations of the most popular fare. If I did go again, I would probably take a gamble on the chorizo skillet, black bean burger,...

We went to MacKenzie River in Pocatello for my wife's birthday this past Monday. We were greeted quickly and seated at our booth right away. It took about 10 minutes for our server to finally come by - he did apologize for the wait. We later got our order taken and I asked for a dinner salad to come before my meal. It took about 15 or 20 minutes to finally get the dinner salad which was odd to me, because I had asked for it early and normally a salad shouldn't take too long to prepare and it wasn't super-busy on that evening. My wife ordered the meatloaf. The presentation of the dish was very good, but the meatloaf was cold. We asked the server, Jayden, to please take it back and warm up the meatloaf ONLY but the whole plate ended up getting microwaved which made the sliced veggies very hot, but the meatloaf (it's thicker than the sliced veggies) was still a bit on the cold side and I wonder if our server even passed along to the cook to only heat up the meatloaf itself vs the whole plate. Everything was slow to get to us that evening as well and no one ever seemed to want to check on us. Several staff members would walk by our table but no one ever took a moment to stop to ask how it was going, if we wanted a refill on our drinks, etc. Aside from the slow service, my biggest complaint is about the temperature of the food there. In a kitchen I think it should be STANDARD PROTOCOL for everything to be "temped" before it leaves for the dining room and that simple task would greatly elevate the quality of your food. On a couple of other past occasions, I've ordered a hamburger and it came out very undercooked and raw-looking, so this isn't the first time something has been undercooked or cold. Again, please consider temping food items before they leave the kitchen! I really like the atmosphere of this restaurant and would like for it to succeed, but at this point, I'm wondering if I will ever come back - especially for a special event like a birthday or anniversary. My wife an I left the restaurant deflated by...

Update August 2025: More visits and fun keep happening here - most recently, Kaden served us impeccably during a short-staffed lunch rush.

*Update July 2025: More great meals have happened since, when we much enjoyed attentive upbeat service from Garth, Hailey, Sam, and Tiffany. Today, Connor was fire keeping up with everything, while spending extra moments brightening our afternoon. As usual, our lunches and drinks tasted delicious.

*Update June 2025: After extended traveling away, we've returned to find MacKenie's bussin' as ever, thanks to Zoe, Sam, Tiffany, and Crystal!

*Update February 2025; More shout-outs: We keep coming back because after errand running, we can't seem to resist dining here on our way home. Caden, Zoe, Andrew, Sam, Hanna, Jaden, Tiffany, Connor, and Liberty all have served us cheerfully and impeccably by now, besides brightening winter's cloudy days! We both have several favorites on this extensive menu, and we often order more for takeout while sharing Mud Pie, Cobbler, or Cheesecake for dessert.

*Update December 2024: The last two Sundays, we've enjoyed delicious and relaxing lunches. Tiffany and Connor have provided impeccable service!

*Update August 2024: This remains a favorite - we go for the Meatloaf.

Update April 2024: This Friday afternoon visit proved just as delish, our lunches enhanced even further by Jaden's impeccable service!

*Original: Friendly attentive service and big tasty dinners with beer and whisky - meat loaf and Greek salad - refreshed, relaxed, and satisfied after a long day...