Stayed by the Convention Center downtown. Contest between all-you-can-eat sushi and pizza. Pizza won. Need has yummy stuff. I can't do dairy nor wheat. They had options for both issues. Vegan cheese and gluten-free crust. Cheese melted and crust wasn't burnt cracker. Nice. Excellent service. Nice place. Cozy but not coffin uncomfortable. You should definitely sample their wares (No, Khajit doesn't work here, but also recommends the food). read more

On December 26th we had the worst service we've ever received in our lives. Our server, Katey, spent the ENTIRE night berating us, belittling us, & harassing us from the moment we sat down, & we were utterly appalled. When we first sat down we asked her if she had a certain beer still on tap. Instead of a simple yes or no, she rudely replied: "If it's not on the beer menu, we don't have it." The service only got worse from there. We had ordered the Breadstick Bites, which we know by name since we've ordered it repeatedly every time we visit. Everyone at the table heard us order the correct appetizer. When the appetizer came out, we got 2 orders of cheese bread. When we indicated to the staff that this was not what we had ordered, the kitchen staff indicated that she'd let our server know. Katey came by & was immediately defensive, retorting that she always confirms what is ordered & clearly it was OUR fault for not hearing her confirm that we wanted cheese bread. Instead of apologizing & putting in a correct order for Breadstick Bites, we were appalled when Katey said "Then what do you want me to do with these, have them boxed up for you to take home or what?" implying that it was our fault the order was incorrect & that we'd be paying for the incorrect order. There was no apology for getting the order wrong or any indication that they'd get the correct order for breadstick bites to the kitchen. Katey repeated multiple times that she always verifies the order, so this was clearly our fault and not hers. She absolutely would not drop it & continued to berate us. In preparation for the pizza coming out, Katey provided plates & silverware, but shorted us one plate. When the pizza was brought out we asked Katey for an additional plate, to which her response was: "Well I brought you plenty of plates already." Then she told us "I don't understand where the other plate went." After finally getting another plate, we realized we needed more silverware since she didn't bring enough, only for her again to tell us that she already brought us plenty. We said no, we still need some forks, & her response was to rudely say "I just brought you a plate. What would you like me to do?" We were absolutely SHOCKED at her behavior, and it left us utterly speechless. I have never been met with such open hostility and condescension from a server, & it continued from the moment we sat down until we left. At one point the server came to the table & asked if we wanted another beer, & when my husband replied that no he didn't, her response was "I was asking your wife, not you." It only got worse from there, with her making snide comments throughout the night such as "Well you don't have to worry about apologizing, because the other table has apologized for you." More than a couple times Katey loudly said "It's the holiday season, you think people could be nice" without us understanding what prompted it. No matter what was going on in her personal life over the holidays, this was no reason for taking it out on my family. Her behavior was absolutely inexcusable, & we have never been treated so horribly before. It was clear that this server was taking her personal issues out on us. She proceeded to loudly demean us to all of her other tables & would not stop. Katey utterly embarrassed us. The food was good, but definitely not worth the abhorrent service & constant harassment, humiliation, & berating by this awful server. Neither the server nor the acting night manager apologized for the mistakes or the harassment we received. When we tried explaining the disgusting behavior by her server, after a very short minute of us trying to explain what happened, the manager's response was to tell us that Katey was one of their best servers so clearly it wasn't Katey's fault. When we tried reiterating all of the snide comments we received, the acting manager's response was to tell us "Well I don't know what you want me to do, and I don't have time to waste by standing here talking to you." It was at this point that Katey came up to the manager & asked her to comp the meal and that she would pay for it (the charge was never reversed). Absolutely disgusting that this "acting manager" would support this server's actions and not atone for any of the horrible behavior we received. It's obvious that Need Pizza doesn't care one bit about customer service. We will never come back here & will never again recommend them to the hundreds of business associates either local or from out of town. The food here is nowhere near worth the awful harassment, belittling, & berating we received that the establishment clearly stands behind, according to the acting manager that night. I am shocked that the owners of Need Pizza employ such rude & condescending people. We were absolutely humiliated at Need Pizza, & there was NO reason for it. Never once did anyone apologize to us. The behavior of the server & the acting manager was utterly inexcusable. read more

I was blown away by the absolute yumminess of the pizza. I am in town on business and happened to be walking by the storefront. The smell was what drew me in, but I did not want to eat in. Ordered online via website, super easy and was walking up to the pick up window when I received the text the my pizza was ready. In regards to the pizza itself: thin crust which I prefer, flavorful sauce, cheese was on point. It was a little greasy, not gonna lie, but overall great taste. 8" pizza is perfect size for one dining alone. Definite must try for anyone on the fence. I will definitely be ordering pizza again when I return to town. read more

Great pizza and atmosphere! We had a big group of 12 and our server handled it well. The meatballs were really good. Highly recommend! read more

Need Pizza - Our pizza - Pizza Near Me - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Omg it was soooo good!!! It's a small menu with basically just pizza but that's all you need! The garlic cheese bread (a little surprised that it wasn't bready...more like a really thin pizza) was amazingly garlicky and cheesy! My husband and I both got different individual pizzas and both absolutely loved ours! If we lived closer we would come here all the time! It was definitely our best meal in our 6 state road trip thus far! read more

Had a side salad with ranch dressing and a small pizza with bacon and mushrooms. The pizza was very good! The toppings were flavorful and the crust was super crispy. Took the other half to go for my flight later. Super nice ladies at the door and serving. Will be back! read more

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Amazing place. Plenty of pizza! We got two large pies and split between 6 of us and there was maybe a quarter of a pie left over to take home. So many great beer selections. Very cool place. You may need to get there early on weekends or make a reservation because they get busy especially when events are going on nearby. They have baby booster seats and other kid seats if needed. Seems like a lot of families come here to eat. read more

Need's has some of the best pizza in town. It was recommended to us when we moved to the area and it never disappoints. The thin crust is always perfectly cooked and the ingredients are always high quality. They also have great side salads which seems like a small thing, but I often find it difficult to get good fresh salads from places that don't really specialize in them. If you dine in they also have great affordable drinks and the staff is always friendly. We have taken several out of town guests and thy have also been very impressed with the pizza. My only issue a with Need is that they don't deliver to most of CR and don't partner with any 3rd party delivery services like Doordash. I can understand why they may want to keep delivery in house and limit their delivery area. However, it ends up being pretty hard for me to order from them sometimes because I have a baby and if my husband is at work it's hard to pack up, go downtown and get the pizza, and maneuver everything on my own. So Needs, please work on some other deliver options! Other than delivery, I love this place! read more

This is owned by a friend of my wife. Great pizza of that style, real ingredients shine here. Good service, but they were packed! Fun atmosphere and the kiddos enjoyed drawing on the chalk boards in the back of the booth. Highly recommended. read more

I've been here a few times and I am not impressed. I expected something better with all of the positive things people have said about the pizza. I found it to be pretty mediocre and greasy, though. I like that they have such a wide variety of ways to make a pizza your way, but the final product wasn't as thrilling as I would have hoped. The cheese sticks were really tasty even though they were very greasy... comes with the territory for garlicky-cheesy deliciousness. read more

This place has the best pizza I have ever had since moving to Iowa 12 years ago, staff is nice and very knowledgeable about their menu, being downtown parking can be a pain but the food and kind service it 100% worth it read more

Pretty good pizza. No complaints tasted good. Feel very comfortable and the staff was very kind. Ordered the pizza as I was leaving a baseball game and took less than 20 minutes. Would recommend since this is one of the only pizza joints around this area. read more

We spent the night in Cedar Rapids on vacation. This place was really tasty, had great service, and was a nice clean place.

I have had the good fortune to experience Need Pizza for the first time about a year ago. Through COVIDS ups and downs we have returned to this weekly (me sometimes twice!) Downtown Restaurant. I suggest calling ahead and being patient with the staff. They are doing the best they can with training new employees and... There is a good reason why they are busy: Their pizza is fantastic. However, the Blue Nut Salad is the most amazing salad I have had in a very long time. I would be amiss to say I've eaten two of them in one week if three consumed wasn't the hard core truth. Tip: We order to eat at home a lot, and sometimes they don't have a delivery driver. Call and check as the times will vary on when you can pick up. They are good at keeping customer profiles and will start to notice those that notice them! Leave tips!! We are all in this together. read more

Lexi will give you incredible service! No rush to order, drinks kept full, and a killer attitude. Can not recommend anything more than being served by her. read more

Took a group of us here for good pizza and a awesome atmosphere. We got to the restaurant and were told that there was a 20 to 30 minute wait no big deal to us at all. An hour and a half later after us asking multiple times if we could have our table we finally got sat down. Then we sat for over 20 minutes before a server even came over to help us. I am the one who pushed for all of us to get together to go here because the people that were in our group over half of them had never been here and now they will never go back which is very unfortunate because this is one of my favorite restaurants. The gentleman at the bar that was bartending was awesome and whoever made our pizzas and everything else we ordered did an amazing job. read more

Consistently great pizza, phenomenal beer selections and staff that is both helpful and friendly. Our go to place for pizza in Cedar Rapids.

New Haven style Apizza. Pizza was good. Sauce and cheese ratio spot on. A little more flop than I like but the undercarriage was still crispy. Staff was super nice. Cool little spot with good vibes. I'll be back. Good pizza for Iowa. 7.6 on the Portney scale, one bite everyone knows the rules. read more

Need Pizza - Pizza Near Me - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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Excellent pizza, great beers and really good service! The pizza is as good as it looks in the pictures! read more

Need Pizza - Pepperoni pizza - Pizza Near Me - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

The pizza was good. My family and I were passing through on our way west. The service was good and the pizza took probably 35-45 minutes(maybe more) to be brought out. Definitely noticed lots of take out orders. Overall the experience was pleasant! read more

I don't even know where to begin to start with this place! We were in the mood for pizza, and didn't wanna do the chain place, as well as we wanted to support local business. So we saw the reviews and decided to try this place out. And it did not disappoint! We stopped at the bar and had a drink, waiting for our pizza to come, and the bartenders were very friendly, very observant, and very informative. They gave us an opportunity to try a couple of the local crafts, they were all good, and I eventually settled on one. I cannot say enough about this place, you have to try this place! It is well worth it! read more

Really good pizza for Iowa is how I'll describe it, Folks. Seventeen dollars for a huge pizza that feeds 3-4 easily. Thin crust, little bit of flop to it but not too much flop. Probably 55 pizza on the 20-80 scale. Ranch dressing is overpriced. Really really solid spot. read more

Hands down, best pizza in town! Fun, casual atmosphere. Amazing people which makes for amazing service. Don't miss this gem, you'll regret it! read more

We had Need Pizza for a family get together a couple months ago. The pizza was fresh and the service was great. We ordered a large number of pizzas and they were all ready very quickly. I ordered the pizzas to go. We will definitely be coming back. read more

Table of 4 with a server named Josh. Josh took our order and only brought two refills in a span of almost 2 hours. Our bill was approximately $42-$44. We split it evenly and tipped $15 in cash. We had an issue with the card reader. So we motioned our server Josh over. He realized it said $22 meaning a $1 digital tip. He said sarcastically "a $1 tip?" "Oh thank you very much" with an attitude and total disregard for almost a 50% cash tip. He still complained to our faces and was petty. If he wants a livable wage he can work somewhere else smh. read more

Loved the pizzas. The salad was huge. The beer was fresh. Even my picky eater was happy with the pizza and she usually doesn't like pizza. read more

The pizza at Need Pizza is super fresh and very good!! The staff is super friendly. The pizza is very filling and you get a lot. Hands down the best pizza place in the Cedar Rapids area. We will be returning and we highly recommend Need Pizza. The chocolate chip cookie with ice cream is also a hit!!! read more

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Need is the perfect place for a pre-game carb load if you are a Rough Riders fan. Surprisingly kid friendly, Need has huge pizzas and a very nice beer selection. Need is kid friendly because it has wide open seating, including long benches backed by a slate blackboard with plenty of chalk. Its high ceilings and open spaces create a lively and welcoming environment. The bathrooms and other facilities were clean, and the staff helpful and friendly. If you are eating here before a hockey game, get there before six o'clock - the line piles up fast. We met at five and were ahead of the rush, but not by much. The other thing to keep on mind is that the portions are huge... as in teo people should eat a small, a family of four a medium and save the larges for big groups. Our salad was fresh, but the meatballs were a bit underwhelming. They do have gluten free options, and my wife said that the gluten free pizza crust was in her top five ever. We will definitely eat here again! read more

Need Pizza - Located on second street, parking is scarce. Love the large windows though - Pizza Near Me - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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Every time I go to Need Pizza, I am never disappointed! They have an excellent selection of craft beer on tap that is always rotating! Also their pizza is phenomenal and probably the best in town! I frequently go to Need Pizza when I am downtown Cedar Rapids. The last time I went, there was a long line ahead of us, but they let us sit at the bar and wait for our table and drink beer. When we finally got our table, it was well worth the wait. And their pizzas come out on these giant platters that are extraordinary. I love Need Pizza! read more

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In town for work. Saw that Need Pizza was only 800' from the hotel and had great reviews. Ordered a medium pepperoni, sausage , and mushroom. It's larger than average. It was outstanding. Bravo. read more

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This place is a great local spot for pizza. I have been here on several occasions for date nights, family dining, and work get-togethers. Each time we had great service even late into the night. They have creative specialty pizzas that rotate or you can build your own. It gets packed on the weekends but is still worth that wait. Highly recommend. read more

When you need pizza, go to Need Pizza. Good pizza with unique combinations, good salads, extensive high quality beer selection, good service. Checks all the boxes. Only things that would make it better would be improved parking including not having to pay before 6 on weekdays & floors & restrooms could be cleaner. read more

I've never had a bad pie from Need. Today was the exception. I placed an order for pickup (medium, white sauce, mushroom, chicken, roasted red peppers and tomato), and was told to pick it up at 1:30. I arrived shortly after, and my pizza was ready for pickup from the take out window. Service was fast and friendly, the pizza pulled from a warming rack, and the entire 7 minute ride home was filled with the delicious smell of garlic and I couldn't wait to dig in. Opening the box, I could tell something wasn't right. The pizza itself looked cold, and nondescript. No big deal, I'm hungry - dig in! "Lacking" is an understatement. Normally light, airy, yet crunchy crust for a New Haven style 'apizza' found here was extremely flat, hard and doughy tasting. We all also noticed a lacking amount of olive oil, garlic and cheese as the sauce base, making the pizza incredibly dry. Chicken was plentiful, but also very dry and hard to chew/swallow. Overall, it was agreed by those that had a piece that the pizza lacked any flavour and not Need's best effort. Will I go back? Heck yes! Was this experience a poor representation of what I've had in the past? Yes. I'll update this based on my next visit/order. read more

Pretty good pizza. They do have a gluten free crust which is a lot better than most restaurants.

The Good: I love this place. 1. Their pizza is DELICIOUS...like so delicious I am drooling right now thinking about it. Zoey's and Need are the best in town. I have ate both in and did pick up from Need. Both times, I have been thoroughly impressed with the flavor. It puts other pizza to shame. 2. The people who work there clearly love their job. They can help you find a beer that hits the spot. The Bad: There are only three things I don't like about Need. Mind you it doesn't bring down my score so they aren't big things. 1. The places is always busy, but what do you expect when the pizza tastes this good. Obviously, don't come when you are extremely hungry or you are going to also be extremely frustrated with the wait. Pick up is always a good option, but that leads me to point number 2. 2. Downtown parking can give the most patient person a headache depending on the time of day and season. I have realized sometimes it is better to park in the ramps than to drive around aimlessly looking for something to open up. 3. Finally, in the winter the booths near the door can be pretty chilly especially when it's busy cause the doors lets all the cold air rush in. However, if you are lucky enough you will get there early (hint, hint) so you can pick a booth in the back. Otherwise, make sure you keep bundled up and enjoy the pizza. I am sure you will. read more

Oh my! This has got to be one of the best pizza's I've ever had...it's the sauce!!!! It's soooo yummy and I'm very picky!! Great craft beer list too--couldn't recommend this place more! read more

Very good gluten free pizza! Our favorite in town! Their delivery is very timely, it always arrives still hot, and their gluten free crust has just the right amount of chewiness to make good pizza great! A good easy order in dinner, my boyfriend's favorite in CR! read more

Fantastic pizza, beer and service! This is a nice little spot to eat alone, with friends or someone special. I'll be back!

I'm from NYC and moved to Iowa a few years ago. I found NEED PIzza, and was pleasantly surprised at how amazing the pizzas they make are. This place is the only place my wife and I ever order from. And will continue to recommend and eat there frequently. I LOVE NEED PIZZA!!! BEST PIZZA IN CEDAR RAPIDS MAYBE IN ALL OF IOWA read more

By far the best pizza place in Cedar Rapids their pizza is delicious and oversized, the staff is so nice and friendly took my boyfriend here for the first time told him it is the best pizza in Cedar Rapids he will ever have, now he agrees read more