Shot Tower Inn

As someone who grew up in Dubuque I can say with some degree of authority the quality of their food has gone way down. The second last time I went there I noticed it, but just chalked it up to a bad night. This last time, our group of four all commented how bad the food was. One person got a small taco pizza, one a small sausage, one some sort of chicken sandwich, and I had the Blackened Catfish. None of us finished our food. It really is just horrendous now sorry to say, because the atmosphere is great and has a great set up for private parties. But really, the food should be the most important part of, ya know… a restaurant. Won’t be going there any more.

Stopped in for some pizza after the races before driving home. It was excellent pizza, very fast, and we were taken very good care of. We’ll stop again when in the area. We had the thin crust and the 16″ fed 3 of us perfect.

Good food. Good service. Low key atmosphere. We loved it. We’ll be coming back. We definitely had judge it by its outside appearance before trying it. Just goes to show you, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Had the burgers which were delicious but the pizza smelled so good that I think well try it next time.

Was in town for business and wanted some pizza. So I pulled up Unilocal and found the Shot Tower Inn. I really liked the thin crust pizza and the boneless wings. Try the sweet chili sauce for the wings… delicious!!! I’d go back again!

Shot Tower special, thin crust, is the best pizza on the planet. Just ask me…
Their staff is very welcoming, nice place to stop for a drink after work.

My wife and I get Shot Tower pretty regularly; usually once per week. We oftentimes go for pizza, sandwiches, lasagna, and/​or wings. All are good in my book. We like the sauerkraut and Canadian bacon pizza. As far as sandwiches go I usually get the French dip. It comes with au jus and coleslaw. The lasagna is a great value dish and very fulfilling. I also occasionally get wings. They are usually pretty meaty, however, my biggest qualm with the wings is that oftentimes the bones are broken. That makes them difficult to eat sometimes. Overall, I like the restaurant and would recommend it to friends.

What a difference a year makes. Thus pizza was really poor. Lousy crust not unlike chef boyardee and worst heartburn I’ve ever had from pizza. Yuck.

Was back home for the weekend and wanted something I can’t get in Kentucky. My sister and I shared a grinder. It was tasty. The place however was dirty. The dust in the vents blowing down on us were disgusting. The shelf above the pizza toppings in the kitchen even worse! I couldn’t believe how dirty it was. How about a good old fashion cleaning?! Seriously.

Noisy, dirty. Good place to bring kids apparently.
Food was very sub-​par. I had the half rack of ribs, which were well cooked but the meat quality was very poor and slathered in WAY to much BBQ sauce. Fries were terrible, and luke warm at that. Brother ordered a burger, came with no toppings and was very sub par as well. My father enjoyed his lasagna but he also lives on truck stop food.
At least it was cheap.

While everything used to be good, the service has been very poor recently. Our last experience was not positive at all, and there was little assistance from the management with our situation. Not likely to return.

The food was good, as was the service! The décor is fun and a great middle ground between the Wisconsin/​Iowa rivalry, which is great for our family and friends who reside on both sides of the Mississippi! The menu had many great options. For these reasons, I give 4 stars and a thumbs up!

Overall not a bad place. I was hoping for more old school pizza with fresh toppings. Plus a full order of ribs is only three bones. Place could use a little TLC. But other wise a fair place to go.

Went for the pizza, which is always excellent. However, we are glad we added an order of boneless wings.
Great decision on our part. Excellent; the best purchased wings we ever had. Be sure to try the sweet chili sauce, too.

Hadn’t been here since my college days 15 years ago. Still a great place! Good prices and the pizza and sandwiches were excellent. Wife had the Bianca Pizza which was awesome. Nice crust and the toppings were tasty. I had the Rueben which was great also. Brought back a lot of great memories.

I used to like Shot Tower Pizza. However, I am very unimpressed with the service. We got delivery that was uncooked and cold. We called voicing our concern and the owner did not care one bit. I recommend going to Happy Joes instead because a place that is this inconsiderate and sub par quality does not deserve your business.

The artichoke dip was fantastic. It is served with deep fried pizza dough sprinkled with Parmesan. These are light and really compliment the dip. The artichoke dip was full of artichokes, very robust, and flavorful. I was disappointed by the meatball grinder. The meatballs had too much breading and were way too soft. It was like eating a mushy paste. I did not finish half the sandwich. If I went back I would try the Italian grinder which has sausage in lieu of meatballs.

Wow has this place gone down hill. Place was disgustingly filthy. We sat at the bar to eat and bartender could have cared less about whether we were there or not… really bad service! Prices had gone way up since my last visit. Tap beer was luke warm and ½ foam. I had to pick fruit flies out of my beer!
Was was really disgusting is I noticed all of the food coming out from the kitchen was set at the end of the bar for the waitresses to pick up — all of them were handling every order back and forth and the paper tickets from the kitchen were just tossed on the plates and the pizza. They would actually pick the tickets out of the melted cheese before delivering orders. Pizza crust tasted like cardboard. Skimpy ingredients. Nothing «like it use to be» I wondered we were there during prime dining hours and the place was pretty dead. Too bad — used to be great.

We sat in the «bar» side which is self-​serve. We ordered the «choose 3» appetizer opting for mini-​tacos, chicken fingers and hot wings. All were pretty good boding well for the Vegetarian Special Pizza which was still in prep.
The pizza was a real disappointment. The crust was ok, fresh and crispy, but some of the toppings had a funny taste. Not funny in a good way. Maybe they had been canned. Whatever the taste issue was, it’s going to steer us elsewhere in the future. Clearly this review is a minority view but I’ve gotta call it as it was experienced.

We went on a Saturday night anticipating a crowd. It was busy, but we didn’t have to wait.
When you walk into what I think is the front door, you won’t know where to go necessarily. There’s no one to greet you at the door. You just have to weave through a few rooms to get to the actual dining area. It’s hard not to be in someone’s way since the traffic flow of the place is so convoluted. We found a table and was promptly greeted by a waitress.
The service was just okay. My 5 year old drank all his water and mine before the server came back. She was friendly at least.
We had a large thick crust pizza — ½ meat lovers, ½ BLT. I didn’t try the meat side, but the BLT was amazing. Honestly, it was the best I’ve ever had.
The food is great. The service is just okay. The atmosphere is somewhat chaotic. I’d go back again now that I know what to do.

Family friendly, great value, quick, and clean with solid service and food that pleased the kids. Sure, there are better tasting pizza’s out there but they did what they were supposed to do and we walked away satisfied. Nothing screams out «best ever» but I would definitely come back here if I was in Dubuque.