Knuckle’s Pizza

I was born and lived most of my life eating QC style pizza, and this pizza is exactly like it in every way, except they put more seasoning on their crust at Knuckle’s which makes their crust even better than the places in the QC. The Cinn-​a-​knots are simple but very good. As for pizza, I have had pepperoni and the knucklehead — both were great. My only complaint is with the wheelhouse (cheese bread), there is no sauce that comes with it. The second time I was there, I asked for sauce and the sauce was just ok. That is the one thing places in the QC do better.

I visit Peoria a few times a year to visit friends and family and a few years ago we started going to Knuckles Pizza whenever I would get in to town. I was born and raised in Chicago and I’ve lived in New York, so naturally I have very high standards for pizza. I’ve travelled the country for work and have eaten pizza in over 30 American cities, from California to New England and most everywhere in between, and I can safely say that Knuckles pizza is some of the best pizza I have ever had.
Not only is it absolutely delicious, it’s a prime example of culinary excellence coming from a restaurant you wouldn’t expect in a city that doesn’t have anything else like it. Simply put, you can’t get Quad City style pizza in the Quad Cities that’s any better than this, and you won’t find better customer service or friendliness from employees anywhere in Peoria or the surrounding area. The family who owns the restaurant also run it personally and every time I’ve eaten there, the owners and their staff have made me feel so welcome and taken care of every detail of our order.
My recommendation? Ask for the 4 Corners! I’m not sure that it’s on the actual menu, but we get it every time we go. They make us their biggest pizza and they put 4 different kinds of pizza in each quadrant. The Grand Slam pizza is my favorite individual pizza and the garlic knots are so simple, but so good and so filling. Honestly, I haven’t had a single thing on the menu I didn’t absolutely love. They have a unique sausage crumble that is savory and adds a wonderful texture to their flavors. The sauce is excellent, I get extra sauce every time.
The bottom line is that you can’t find better pizza in the Peoria area. We’ve been eating pizza in Central Illinois for years and I’ve never found a better pie.

Pizza that is cut in strips like cheese sticks. The sausage is not my cup of tea; it’s like maid-​rite on a pizza crust. Their cinnaknots are yummy. I haven’t given up on it and will likely try again. Will update if next pizza is better.

This is a regular place for my neighbors and I to bring our kids to for dinner. The pizza is good, but what really makes this place is the cinnaknots dessert! The atmosphere gives a small town feel, which I absolutely love. I feel like we can bring a large group of kids and everyone is comfortable and friendly.

Over the past couple of years, I have had knuckle’s about 20 times, both dine in and carry out. In general, the pizza is a genuine QC style and very good. I am partial to the knucklehead, the off menu BLT, and the end zone (with knucklehead ingredient stuffing). The dining area is a major plus since its addition with two tvs, nice windows, substantial tables of different sizes either high top, low top, or family friendly mega table. I also enjoy the sports décor. The one draw back is that there are many workers which leads to an inconsistency in service and food preparation. I’ve had end zones (calzones) as big as a football with tasty Parmesan glazing, and I’ve had them flat and disappointing. I’ve had knucklehead pizza with a perfect crust and ingredient proportion, and I’ve had it with too much cheese and not thoroughly cooked crust. It never tastes bad, but it has made me very specific when I order.

The sauce was too salty, the sausage was also terrible. The only good thing was the crust. I will try them again, but definitely not the «The Grand Slam» pizza.

Had this pizza for the first time Monday night.
Love It!!!
Very nice people, Super Service and Fabulous Pizza.
It is really really good and although I wasn’t familiar with Quad Cities Pizza, the crust is something special.
Everyone went above and beyond my expectations and we will definitely go back again and again. You won’t be disappointed!

Pizza was pretty good. Had better, but its not bad. Love the knuckle knots with garlic butter. Perfect appetizer. Staff is really nice. Would definitely come back

Having grown up in the qc these pies are very comparable to Franks, Harris, or Sluggers pizza. After 15 year in this town this is the only place I get pizza now. You can even get it delivered if you use
. I suggest if you’ve never tried sauerkraut and candian bacon try it.

We do carry out from them every once in a while. Good pizza for a reasonable price. We usually get 3 — 12″ pizzas for the family. The crust is nice and chewy and if you get the cheese sauce it is good for dipping. The peperoni is a bit spicy but that is not a bad thing. Also… it makes great left overs.

Hubby and I eat this pizza weekly. In fact, this is my hubby’s go to place when I am running late or out of town. My favorite is the Hawaiian pizza and my hubby’s is the BBQ chicken. We love the super garlicky garlic knots with the garlic butter sauce! Yum! We get a small for the 2 of us and have leftovers. This place is great!!!

We visited Knuckles because it was close — never heard of Quad City pizza before and I’m still not really sure what it is or what’s so special about it, but it was good! However, I can’t really say it was that much better than any other hand made crust from many other pizza joints I’ve had. Had the Knuckle knots (garlic knots) too and they were decent, but again nothing spectacularly different. Nice décor inside, nice atmosphere. Definitely an upscale pizza place.

Had Knuckle’s Pizza last night; pepperoni pizza and garlic knots (knuckle knots). Both were delicious. While the crust was a little undercooked, the top was almost perfect, nicely browned cheese. The garlic knots were very garlicky (a good thing). They came with a garlic butter sauce that was too buttery and tasty to not clog your arteries.
One of the top 5 pizza places in Peoria area, if not top 3. We will return!

I normally would not search out pizza on a road trip, however, growing up in the Quad Cities, I had to try KNUCKLES! I would have to say it’s better than 95% the same and that is as close to perfect as you can get! The crust is soft and chewy, not to be confused with soggy! It’s the way it was… I ordered the plain sausage!
The sausage is crumbly, the same as where I grew up. I hate that so few pizza restaurants use that sausage and I ask for it every time! It’s amazing and the flavor of the fennel is so yummy! I felt for the price charged I received a wonderful memory of my youth and it’s hard to put a price on that!

Really enjoyed my sausage and pepperoni pizza. The crust was outstanding and the sausage had a little heat to it which was great. I watched Ryan make some dough rolls and ordered an order with the garlic butter. It was a great add on! Looks like Knuckles is expanding and they will have a bar in the near future

Great tasting pizza crust (handmade) and quantity and quality of toppings. Yes, it’s a little more expensive than others, but you truly do get what you pay for… For the extra 15% vs the other, this is the best value.

So a pizza place opened up in the old Chef John’s location. I decided to give the new pizza place a try and was pleasantly surprised. I liked the pizza. Thicker hand tossed crust, but your regular thin you find at so many places. Though I’ve had great thin crust pizza.
I wan’t sure what Quad Cities style was, but I did enjoy it. The sausage was in little crumbles, not what I expected, but pretty good. The 16″ large was very filling. I think for 3 – 4 people you could easily get away with a large and a home made salad for a dinner.
Right now they are take out only. It looks like they will be opening a restaurant area soon. I wish them luck. Next time I’ll try two 12″ smalls so we get a chance at different toppings.

Having never before experienced «Quad-​Cities Style» pizza I read up on it from their website and decided to take the plunge. I ordered the Knucklehead which is sausage, green peppers, onions and mushrooms in the smaller of their 2 sizes, a 12″. The larger size is 20″ and I was wavering between the sizes as I was going to share the pizza and didn’t want to be left hungry. When I picked up my 12″ pie from their to-​go only location out in the old Chef John’s across from Lake of the Woods, I was first surprised by the weight of the box and then when I opened it, I was surprised by the amount of toppings! The way the crumble the sausage evenly over the whole pie makes it look very heavily topped.
As I normally get thin crust everywhere I go, this thicker hand-​tossed crust was hard to get used to. It was a malty, dense and chewy crust that accounted for half the weight of the pie. There was very little sauce or mushrooms but generous sausage and onions. It was a very filling pie and I was happy with the price of $ 14 with tax for a dinner that satisfied two hungry people!