Never heard of Spanky's until I was in the area to pick up my sister for dinner. Original plan was to go to a nearby Nicaraguan restaurant, but it was 7:30 pm and the restaurant was going to close at 8. I got on Yelp and started looking for something close by and Spanky's showed up with a respectable rating so off to Spanky's we went.
Pulling into the parking lot, I was surprised at how packed this place was. It was a Friday night so I could understand a restaurant being packed, but this was like PACKED-packed. I went up to the hostess and asked for a table for two and she informed me that it was going to be at least a 40 minutes wait. Whaaaa...??? This place is THAT popular? Who would've thunk it?! I told her that I'd wait and proceeded to go to the restroom. Well, what do you know?! There's a bar area with A LOT OF EMPTY SEATS!! Why the hostess didn't even bother to ask if I'd seat at the bar, I don't know. But after I finished using the restroom, I went back to the hostess stand and informed her that we'd just go ahead and sit at the bar.
Soon after we sat down, more people came in and sat at the bar. Full house at the bar as well. I felt kind of lucky that I decided to sit at the bar when I did because otherwise, I'd have to wait the full 40 minutes to get seated. Anyway, moving on! There was only ONE bartender/server at the bar and although she was working super duper hard, I could tell that she was getting overwhelmed. She came up to us and asked us what we wanted to drink but failed to hand us a menu, we had to ask for it. Throughout our dining experience, although she was around, but she was really unavailable for us because she was always serving one guest to the next from one end of the bar all the way to the other end of the bar. What is up with that, Spanky's?? Friday night, full house, and one bartender? No no no.
I ordered the fried pickles to start off and the large Special Pizzas (Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, Beef, Green Pepper, Onion) to share. The bartender asked how I would like the pizza made and I opted for New York style, because NY that's why!!
The orders didn't take too long to prepare, the fried pickles came out pretty quickly and to my surprise, they were actually really good! One of the better fried pickle chips that I've had around town. The pizza came out not too long after, and although we asked for NY style, the pizza just didn't look like NY style pizza. The crust was more on the thicker side (although very good), but it just looked like any other pan pizza that you'd get from Domino's or Papa John's, you dig?
The pizza actually tasted decent. Not super duper delicious that would make me go out of my way to come here. but better than most. However, I was a bit disappointed at how little toppings that they actually put on the pizza. If anything, they put a lot more veggies than they did the meat. For $20, they really could afford to put a bit more toppings on the pizza.
Me and my sister couldn't finish everything so we asked for a to go box. Our bartender gave us what we asked but failed to bring a lid for the ranch. Honestly though, I would have preferred for her to offer me a new container of ranch, but whatever. I waited a while before I could ask for the lid (see comment above about her being scarce) and finally paying.
As I was leaving, the bar area was not as packed anymore but the dining floor in the restaurant was still packed. I didn't see anybody waiting by the hostess table anymore but in the parking lot, traffic was busy with cars trying to leave.
Will I be back? Maybe, if I'm in the are and craving some pizza.
Will I make a point to drive all the way out here just for the pizza? Definitely not. Luna's pizzeria is a lot closer to me. Hot toppings pizza is even closer to me. And much cheaper with a lot more toppings. read more