MacKenzie River Pizza, Grill & Pub — Restaurant in Washington

We’ve eaten at Mackenzie River many times in Idaho and Montana. The food overall is good. We are pescatarians and are quite limited to a small selection of menu items to choose from so my review here is limited by that. We enjoy the flatbread appetizers immensely and it’s likely the one item that keeps us returning to the restaurant.

The main complaint I have with this particular restaurant in Coeur d’Alene , ID, is the poor service. The wait times after being seated, after ordering the appetizer, then the main meal and finally receiving a check are excruciatingly slow. Every time we’ve had to ask how much longer until the food is served. Then we have to wait until the server comes around again and we ask for the check. There is no excuse for these long wait times because we generally come in midafternoon.

Today we visited at 2:30 p.m. Upon entering, a young guy, dressed in tight leather pants with chains and studs attached to them, whose hair looked like it hadn’t been washed, brushed or cut for months, was rather rude to us when, after suggesting we sit right in front of the bar at a table with hard chains, my sweet husband nodded ok but I immediately asked for a more comfortable booth in the back area. This guy responded to my request with a curt reply, “well that’s why I asked.” He hadn’t asked. We were immediately put off by his attitude and noted his continuing odd behavior throughout our visit—rushing around the restaurant at a frantic pace and occasionally yelling out some word or just a yelp perhaps although one time it sounded like the F word.

Our server was a sweet and pleasant young woman. She did her best, I believe. It took a long time to be served our flatbread appetizer but it was served steaming hot. Freshly made. As good as always. Unfortunately the black bean burger and fish tacos were lukewarm by the time they reached our table. Both are very good and I would recommend ordering them but don’t expect them to be hot out of the oven. I had ordered the tacos on a previous visit and they were cold by the time I got them.

There are numerous big screen TVs throughout the restaurant. The Summer Olympics are on and one out of three screens were airing that event. The other two had ESPN on — with commentators talking. There is no sound on these TVs. So you watch a couple of guys mouthing words you cannot hear or watching the many commercials that you’ve seen a million times.

From now on, we’ve decided we will call in an order for pickup. Probably just...

It was just okay. Had a couple experiences that reminded me of watching kitchen nightmares. I mean when you come in on a Saturday for lunch and there’s only two other tables at noon, I should have prepared for a lackluster experience. I’ll start with the worst: the bathroom smelled like a horrid mix of cleaners and urine, and the bathroom floor was sticky. It needs better ventilation and someone who is actually willing to properly clean it. The interior is weird, and carpet in a restaurant is just so gross. Could be worse, just dated. But god, the bathroom was so bad. Just set a terrible tone for my dining experience since I like to go wash my hands before I eat. It’s the only reason I’m giving it a 3 instead of 4.

The menu is huge. No way they can keep all those different things fresh and go through them all in a timely manner. I noticed a decent amount of toppings for pizza were things you don’t need to keep fresh - cured meats, nuts, sauces, etc.

The caesar salad was pretty good. No blemishes on the lettuce or anything, which I find rare for places here in Spokane. Threw me off guard, if you consider my last point. Not crazy quality either, the parmesan is obviously some prepackaged stuff.

I wad kinda sad about the pizza. Didn’t seem like it had a fresh crust at all, and was definitely not homemade based on the marks i saw in the dough. It was kinda cold when it came out. I think making all your own dough should be the bare minimum for a pizza restaurant. It was allegedly the “original” crust. If they were out, then I can understand the choice here. I was still bummed, because my pizza doesn’t look anything like the other pictures I see in these reviews. So, gotta give some benefit of the doubt here, and might come back to try the actual crust one day.

If you’re looking for an exciting and delicious pizza, this isn’t it. It’s impeccably average, suited for the...

We recently went to McKenzie River Pizza and Grill for dinner. We used to go to the one on the north side, but it's been closed for a few years...we've missed it! We went on a Friday evening- it was moderately busy. Our family loves the atmosphere here: nice large booths, rustic furniture and decor, large canvases of nature and real tree branches up towards the ceiling. Family friendly ♡ We were greeted upon entering and seated immediately. Our server brought cold water, silverware, drinks and appetizers and asked if we had any questions about the menu. We ordered poutine fries and lodgepoles (cheesy breadsticks) for appetizers. The poutine fries were delicious with plenty of cheese curds and brown gravy. The lodge poles were a little dry and flat but tasted ok otherwise. Our dinners arrived afterwards: I had a willow creek sandwich which has turkey, mozzarella, bacon, avocado, spinach and tomato on ciabatta bread...the sandwich is always really yummy but the bread had a lot of flour on it this time. Their fries have a bit of coating on them and they're crispy and delicious. I also had a small bowl of the soup of the day, corn chowder, and it was really so good! My husband had a smokehouse burger and was not disappointed. It has a 1/2 lb patty, bacon, gouda cheese and pulled pork on top. He ate it all along with a generous portion of fries. Our daughter enjoyed a fresh tomato basil pizza with some left for lunch the next day. Needless to say, we were too full to eat dessert. Service was good and our server was friendly and professional. We will definitely come back here again and highly recommend it. Btw, there were numerous takeout and delivery orders while we were there, so many others were enjoying the food from McKenzie's in...