The Isles Pub and Pizza

I don’t know what I was expecting, but trying The Isles «Leaning Tower of Pizza» has been on my foodie bucket list for a while. When I finally had a friend that wanted to meet up in Havelock, I persisted on The Isles.
First things first, this is for sure a local (meaning Havelock) favorite and you can tell the majority of people who come here are regulars. It’s dark and outdated but in an intentional, just part of what The Isles is about, kind of way. I get that. I am from a small town. I get tradition. So I’m not knocking the décor at all. It’s a dive and they OWN it.
Our server was really attentive, kept our drinks filled, took our order quickly. Some of the clientele are a little, well, trashy. I’m not from Lincoln originally and don’t come to this area often so maybe that’s just to be expected.
Now, about the pizza. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I was literally picturing some kind of tower of pizza amazingness with cheese and sauce dripping down the sides. Like stacks of bagel bites. Something towering! The infamous Leaning Tower is just the combo of ingredients, which included hamburger, pepperoni, pepperoncini (Italian salad pepper) and onion. Our waitress also asked if I wanted cream cheese and when I asked her if I should, she said yes, always cream cheese. :)
The pizza was good. It wasn’t overly sauced, the toppings were plentiful, I liked the crust (I’m usually a thin crust kind of girl) but it just wasn’t a leaning tower of pizza. Lol. It’s not like out of this world! And, the cream cheese was too much. Big chunks of cream cheese didn’t really add to the experience for me. I’d probably rather have a take and bake from Papa Murphy’s or make the trip to Yia Yia’s. When I choose pizza, I like really unique flavors. This isn’t really that unique. But it’s their thing and let it be their thing. Overall it was good pizza and if you’re going to go out for some red beers and pizza, why not make this one of your spots. As far as bars go, I think having the fuller menu including pizza is excellent. I guess it really just depends on what kind of experience you are going for. I definitely wouldn’t invite my whole family, children and all, to come to the Isles for dinner.
I did like that you can order a variety of sizes, from mini to large, so if I’m in the mood for pizza but my friend wanted something else, no big deal. In fact, she ordered the fries and let me tell ya, I was more impressed with the fries than my pizza.
Also, just a note. When you get there you seat yourself. We also paid at the table.

This was a great pizza! We chose the wrong time to eat in, and it was very very busy, but the staff handled it SO WELL. We order their famous leaning tower of pizza and Hawaiian pizza and there were both very good. Wait time was long, but we expected that and the food made it totally worth it. Pub Pizza at its best. The atmosphere. Our server Heather was such good waitress. I was really impressed with how well she was able to handle the massive crowd and basketball team that came in as the same time as us.

I love the atmosphere in here; this is exactly how I think a bar should look. We ordered The Leaning Tower and it was very good. I really like the crust in particular.

Love, love, love the pizza!!! Always have had a great time there and the food has never disappointed.

Hands down one of the best pizza places around! Pub style pizza and bar food with a small town feel. If you’re in for the pizza; get the leaning tower! They have awesome Bloody Mary’s, strong drinks and a good selection of beer/​liquor. Also they have a liquor store built on the the building where you can also call in a pizza to go and go in and pick it up!

Great pizza and a nice pub… If you come eat the leaning tower. Excellence service and friendly service. In downtown Havelock.

Just stopped here for a quick bite for lunch and really enjoyed the individual pizza. I would definitely visit again.

The leaning tower
With cream cheese will change your world.
You can skip the pub.
Haiku review.

The Leaning Tower is amazing. Who knew that crime cheese could make great pizza incredible?

I hate to say it but I was incredibly disappointed with this place. I had heard nothing but great things but was not impressed by their pizza. I liked the atmosphere but I have had much better pizza at other restaurants. Maybe I just caught them on an off day. May try again and will update if it is better.

Best pizza in Lincoln! The leaning tower is the best. I haven’t tried any of the others. Like their ad says, maybe we should. It’s a small location so can get busy and have to wait, but it’s worth it. I can’t even remember the last time I looked at the menu. Just always order the leaning tower.
Great place especially on a week night. Weekends get busy. I highly recommend.

Been going here for a long, long time and it’s almost always been a great experience! It’s a bit dark inside but I like it, and most of the time it’s full but me and my boyfriend can always find someplace to sit. The wait can be a little irritating but with as busy as they usually are it’s acceptable. The appetizers are always nice and hot as are the pizzas. I love the topping choices to you can get almost anything.
I’ve only had one bad experience with this place and that was when they messed up our pizza order. But they quickly realized the problem and gave me a personal pizza for free. So all in all it wasn’t really a bad experience just more of an annoyance.

The is a nice old fashioned bar in Havelock. It is what it is a simple hole in the wall pub with working class people and good honest pizza.
The décor is pretty divey but the selection of beers were impressive and the service was very good. The booth seats do need redoing as they as sagging and uncomfortable but I found the 70’s red and black décor to be strangely comforting and cozy. It’s the type of pub you can walk into in the middle of the day and feel like it’s night time.
We had their Hawaiian Pizza with cream cheese for our first time and it was very good. Hot, fresh, not too salty, and with plentiful toppings. We had the second half of our pizza customized with our own toppings and they were fresh and well cooked. Crunchy edges to the pizza but not burned at all. They have the formula for homemade pizza down to an art form.
The price was $ 15 for a large pizza and we had some still leftovers to take home.
If your looking for an honest pizza pub place in an old part of town I would highly recommend it. We will be back.

This is definitely a dive bar/​like diners drive-​ins and dives. However you don’t come here for the atmosphere you come here got the food!!! Service is decent, especially if you come earlier on in the day. The place is fairly clean even though it is a hole in the wall kind of place! But it’s those kind of places that you get the best food !!!
The guys love the leaning tower. That is always a group favorite! My favorite however is the Hawaiian, really good and creamy since they will add cream cheese.
Overall you come here for the food not the ambiance!!! It’s no fine dining place but again that is where you can find some of the best food !!!

Great established neighborhood kind of place. Awesome pizza (leaning tower), good selection of beers. Will be back!

Throwback atmosphere, the place looks like it hasn’t changed since the 70s, which isn’t a bad thing. The pizza is ok, it came out hot and fresh, was a little greasy.

This is a perfect example of the power of Unilocal.I have lived in Lincoln for some time but other than being aware that it existed, didn’t really know much about it. After a couple of Unilocal friends posted positive reviews, I decided to try it.
We decided to give it a whirl with two pizza’s and two appetizers. We had the Leaning Tower of Pizza (as many Unilocalers recommended it) and the regular hamburger pizza. Both were delicious, though my crust was «slightly» overcooked on the edges. I think if they played around with their crusts like a butter Parmesan crust or something it would make a good pizza even better.
The appetizers we got were the cheddar breaded cauliflower and the gourmet crumb onion chips. Both were very good, served with dipping sauces. Given that it is becoming harder than ever to find breaded cauliflower, we were especially glad to find this.
The only reason why I am downgrading them slightly was because it is a bit expensive. The medium Leaning Tower of Pizza cost more than three medium Domino’s pizza’s. I know you have to pay more for quality but that seemed a bit steep.
The atmosphere itself was very «dive-​ish» but I think that ads to the charm. Our waitress was very good, and the service was excellent. Food came out in an acceptable amount of time and she was attentive with our drinks.
Overall, very pleased and we will definitely be back.

Best pizza in Lincoln in my opinion. Great for small or large groups. Solid appetizer selection. Get the leaning tower, doesn’t get any better!

Man, this is good pizza. Leaning Tower with cream cheese… on point. Cheese bread is solid too. If you don’t like heavy sauce, better to ask for light sauce right out of the gate.

Game day must!
This is a small-​town feel pub with one of my favorite pizzas, The Leaning Tower!
I will admit that they prob don’t have enough people on staff when it gets busy, but as long as you know this up front you can just enjoy a couple more beers before you get your order taken or your food shows up, right?
Sad to hear others having a bad experience cuz I have always had a great pizza.