HORRIBLE. Staff was slow, pizza was greasy, lacked cheese. Ordered the taco pizza, looked like someone threw a handful of hugely chopped head lettuce on top, and a tiny bit of tomato. Was this just a bad visit? might try again.....
(1)
Adam S.
Maybe I just miss the nostalgia, but I like the locations in Duluth better. I feel the pizza is better there, but admit, it could be my imagination. Sammy's has good thin crust pizza and nice sauce. I've had their lunch buffet and it's not a bad deal at all.I've never had issues with services and just a neat place to go.
(4)
Joe G.
Good amount of food but again service was not good. Place was less than half full and was still hard to get any service. Plus to top it off we had to wait over five minutes to get seated. Walked by ten open tables on the way to our seat.
(3)
Carrie C.
Don't bother going here if you have kids under 21 and you want to get the bar happy hour specials. You will not be allowed to sit in the bar nor will you be allowed to receive happy hour prices in the restaurant where you are forced to sit.
(2)
Kari E.
Lunch buffet is pretty good - surprisingly the pizza is the least impressive part - I prefer the salad bar and fried/broasted chicken wings. Disappointed, our group had coupons that said "one per person" but the waitress would only let us use 1 per table unless she split the tab. Doesn't make sense. Get the wording on your coupons right or suck it up and honor what they say.
(3)
James L.
When I bit into my Lone Ranger pizza I had a nostalgic moment. I flashback to my grade school days. Those times were simple, just like the pizza at Sammy's Pizza. I recalled all those times I ate the pizza prepared in the school cafeteria. The pizza took me on a walk down memory lane. Allow me a moment to elaborate. The pizza had a distinct smell, look and taste. The top of the rubbery and highly processed "cheese" shined brightly an orange puddle of grease. The pizza crust felt and tasted like cardboard. In fact the woody taste probably transferred directly from the round cardboard base wrapped in plastic. The odor was nothing like the sweet smell of savory melted mozzarella cheese. Truly, it smelled and look like melted candle wax poured over a crumbling and razor thin crust. For the reasons listed above I give my meal at this restaurant five stars. I haven't had a meal like this in a long time. If you want to relive the time you had fabulous school district provided pizza lunches then you've come to the right place, Sammy's "Pizza."
(5)
Randy T.
I will forever likely be disappointed in Minnesota pizza, however, I will admit, the pizza here wasn't so bad. I don't understand this funny thing of cutting round pizzas into little squares however, that's just weird. The pizza here has a crunchy thin crust, just the right amount of sauce and cheese, and the toppings were pretty good. Just cut funny.
(4)
Jeff Z.
I Hate Hate Sammy's Pizza. The Pizza is flat out horrible. It tastes like a Totino's frozen pizza. No flavor in they're sauce what so ever. The Wings and fries are good though.
(1)
Jen S.
Wow. Worst pizza delivery experience ever. We are visiting friends from out of town, they decided to order pizza for all of us from this place because they said they order from here all the time and really like it. We ordered three large pizza's at 7pm. Finally at 9: 30 they arrived....but only two pizzas were delivered. The guy who delivered then said he had no idea there was supposed to be another pizza and told us to call the restaurant. We then discovered that the cheese pizza we ordered had NO SAUCE on it - just dough and cheese, VERY DRY! Yuck! We called to let the manager know about the missing pizza and wrong order. The woman was so rude on the phone, I have never heard of a restaurant manger being so rude to a customer in my life. She told us that she would not send a new pizza for the missing one, and I'd we wanted a new cheese pizza we would have to pay for it and come pick it up ourselves. When my friend said that was not acceptable, and got understandably upset at her, she told us she didn't care if we were mad and we were welcome to take our business elsewhere. I simply cannot believe that a restaurant wouldn't want to make their customers happy, especially ones who have been loyal patrons for a long time. Needless to say we will never order from sammys again!
(1)
Mr. K.
Agree with other reviewers on the terrible service + not authentic Italian flavors, small portions, and very overpriced. Duluth Sammy's has always been family-friendly and we had high hopes for this place, but too bad this location doesn't share the same quality of cuisine or care about their customers as it's Northern cousin.
(1)
John A.
First things first, this place isn't in Minneapolis, it's in Coon Rapids, I should know, its 1min from my house. This is one of the chain of Sammy's Pizza's from Duluth Minnesota and I will start by saying how much I enjoy their chicken wings and or their chicken dinners, both of which are very good. I can't say how the pasta is on the menu but my wife seems to enjoy it. Getting to the pizza, well, I must say it's not the best I have had but it does taste pretty good when fresh and hot out of the oven, but not that good when delivered to our house. (Remember, I live about 1min away) A nice positive for them is on certain nights (Monday I think) they have an all you can eat buffet with pizza, chicken wings, pasta and salad, which is very good. There are usually 6 types of pizza out and if you ask (And I alwasy do) they will gladly make up the type you like while your there. The wait staff has been pretty good, but was a lot more friendly when they first opened down here and some of the actual family members were working around the place. All and all I say give it a shot and though you may not be WoW'd, you should have a decent experience.
(3)
T W.
I'm a big fan of the pizza, a big fan of buffets and a big fan of lunch. So I guess you could say I'm a really big fan of the pizza buffet lunch. With this in mind, and the memory of stories told to me by my Iron Range friends, I was really looking forward to my visit to this Sammy's. Sadly, I have to say I was underwhelmed for the following reasons. It was kind of expensive, the pizza was serviceable but nothing special and the service was largely lacking. Sammy's is in a nice location and it looks like somebody put some thought into how the place looks, but it won't be on the top of my list next time someone says those magic words: pizza. buffet. lunch.
(2)
Sharon B.
Personally, I would not come here for dinner and order off the menu, but the lunch buffet is pretty good. The local Blaine area circular sometimes has bogo free lunch buffets. If I find another one of those coupons I want to go back because the pizza is comparable to Carbone's and they offer chicken wings which my bf loves. Also, they offer pasta with their lunch buffet and usually I forgo the nasty buffet pasta, but Sammy's pasta was tasty. This is a decent place to bring kids to for a fast lunch if your just out running errands.
(3)
Stephanie R.
OK, I have to rebuttle the other review on here. I've eaten at Sammy's a billion times their food is GREAT and the service is great. And i'm not just saying that because i worked there for a short period of time a few years ago, lol =). The food is seriously the best home style Italian in the twin cities hands down; thin & crispy crust, pepperoni under the cheese, all that good stuff. I'd pick Sammy's over the Olive Garden ANY DAY!!! And seriously, when i did work there people came in raving about how much they loved Sammy's and remembered the first Sammy's from the iron range in Duluth from however many years ago. I even remember one lady who came in two days in a row to eat and then bought 20 frozen pizzas to take with her on the airplane back to California...because they're THAT good and she missed Sammy's food THAT much. Haha!! Fav pizza choice: Sammy's special and Veggie special. Fav pasta dish: chicken tetrazini. Outstanding and delicious! Also they have a full pizza lunch buffet every day - which is fabulous and was better than Cici's. Two thumbs up.
(5)
Brian C.
I ordered salad and pasta. The salad came at the same time as the pasta because the server "forgot to bring it". It wasn't that busy, so I was disappointed in her lapse. The pasta was acceptable, but the sauce tasted like Ragu (probably was Ragu). The garlic bread was not from an Italian loaf but instead was made from slices of generic white bread.
(2)
Kimberly C.
I'll admit I wasn't too happy when my coworkers chose a pizza buffet place for dinner last night. I was having Ci-Ci's pizza flashbacks and was preparing myself to waste a whole bunch of calories on bad food. Well...I did blow my diet last night. But in a good way! The pizza was very good. Thin crust, flavorful sauce and lots of yummy cheese! Some of the best pizza I have had in a while. I was also a fan of the wings. Cooked just right, crispy on the outside but not overcooked. If I had ordered the pasta as a meal I would have been disappointed, but it was perfectly fine for a buffet. I enjoyed my meal at Sammy's, but a few things brought the rating down. The salad bar was no bueno. Lettuce was wilty and had that "bagged preservative" taste to it and the rest of the toppings were just so-so. Also, they are a little slow with replacing the pizzas on the buffet. I was slightly irritated when the punky teenager in front of me put an entire pie on his plate and I had to stand there and wait a few minutes until another pizza came out. I heard the manager keep asking the servers how much pizza their customers were eating so he can tell the kitchen how many pizzas to make. I get that he didn't want to have pizzas just sitting there under the hot lamps if they weren't going to be eaten. But they were way off on their "pizza eating estimate" because there always seemed to be a shortage of pies on the buffet.
(3)
jenny A.
I have a sentimental attachment to Sammy's Pizza that can't be shaken no matter how many disappointing pies I have had from this mid-western chain. When I was a kid there was a Sammy's next to our church and it was the place we always went to eat for Sunday brunch a couple times a year and for birthday parties. They had a game room and they also showed old 16 mm films of the Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy. The Sammy's in Coon Rapids has that 1970s family restaurant vibe with big, big booths nostalgic decor and that window where you can watch them make the pizzas. While it's not a bad place to take a pack of rowdy toddlers (more than one toddler constitutes a "pack" more than four constitutes a one-way trip to the booby hatch, but I digress), it's not actually a very good place to eat. The pizza was greasy, the toppings uninspired and the crust was over done. I did get a little sentimental flush of excitement by the square cut pizza, but really it's not worth the trip to the outer limits of the 'burbs for that. I have eaten pretty frequently at the Sammy's in Clouqet (ya know when Gordy's isn't open) and in Hibbing and they are mediocre as well. I guess, what I'm saying is that if you are out in the middle of nowhere and the only food available is Sammy's pizza then it will do as an alternative to actually starving to death. But if you can find another mid-western pizza chain like Pizza luce or Davannis than you'd be better off.
Takes Reservations : No Delivery : Yes Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Lunch Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : Yes Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Ambience : Casual Noise Level : Average Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only Outdoor Seating : No Wi-Fi : Free Has TV : No Waiter Service : Yes Caters : Yes
Pizza is a famous Italian dish savored around the world. The entire credit for the popularity of Pizza in the United States goes to the chain of pizzerias all over the country. While the base and the texture of Pizza remains same across the globe, it's the toppings that differs from country to country. In the United States, you will find the top pizzerias serving pizzas with the toppings of mainly beef, bacon, chicken, ham, and sausage for the non-vegetarians. Other than these famous meat options, Pizzas with veg toppings such as mushrooms, pepperonis, garlic, tomatoes, spinach, etc. are also famous in most restaurants in the United States.
Irrespective of your locality, you will find a variety of different restaurants in your cities offering pizzas of all different types. Pizza is hot favorite among people of all ages in the United States. A large size pizza is enough to feed a family of 3 or 4 at large. Pizza is also the most preferred food whenever a group of friends is hanging out together. Pizza gained popularity in the United States after the American soldiers stationed in Italy returned from World War II.
Over the years, different pizzerias in the United States have developed their own respective regional variations. Pizza gained popularity as the iconic dish in the United States in the second half of the 20th century. Whether you prefer thin or thick crust pizza, you can find a pizza of your preference at the best pizza restaurants in your city.
Italian Cuisine
The immense popularity of Italian cuisine globally isn't unknown. You can find an Italian Pizzeria around every corner of almost every city in the United States. Not to forget that in every house, people enjoy mac and cheese as comfort food. But it would be wrong to believe that Italian food starts with pizza and ends with good pasta as this Mediterranean country has much more to offer other than these two dishes. In Italian Cuisine, there is a high use of fresh tomatoes, all kinds of herbs, great quality of cheese, all types of meat, seafood and fresh handmade pasta. Many find it hard to believe that Italians have been making noodles long back.
Italian and Greek cuisines are always mistaken to be same, but they are poles apart. The primary difference between the two cuisines is the use of cheese in most of the Italian dishes. Italians love to cultivate their own cheese and process them as per their food requirement. It is believed that some cheese is so expensive that cheese producers secure them in lockers.
If you are bored eating the same old pasta or pizza, you can try some of the authentic Italian dishes like Risotto, Polenta, Ribollita, Lasagna, Fiorentina Steak, Bottarga, Ossobuco, Carbonara, Focaccia, Arancini and Supplì. Another item which Italians love to relish every morning is a good cup of Italian Coffee. Once you taste a freshly brewed cup of Italian Coffee, you might not visit Starbucks ever again. Authentic Italian food is made with heart and soul, so go find a restaurant where you can relish Italian cuisine in your city.
Tarah P.
HORRIBLE. Staff was slow, pizza was greasy, lacked cheese. Ordered the taco pizza, looked like someone threw a handful of hugely chopped head lettuce on top, and a tiny bit of tomato. Was this just a bad visit? might try again.....
(1)Adam S.
Maybe I just miss the nostalgia, but I like the locations in Duluth better. I feel the pizza is better there, but admit, it could be my imagination. Sammy's has good thin crust pizza and nice sauce. I've had their lunch buffet and it's not a bad deal at all.I've never had issues with services and just a neat place to go.
(4)Joe G.
Good amount of food but again service was not good. Place was less than half full and was still hard to get any service. Plus to top it off we had to wait over five minutes to get seated. Walked by ten open tables on the way to our seat.
(3)Carrie C.
Don't bother going here if you have kids under 21 and you want to get the bar happy hour specials. You will not be allowed to sit in the bar nor will you be allowed to receive happy hour prices in the restaurant where you are forced to sit.
(2)Kari E.
Lunch buffet is pretty good - surprisingly the pizza is the least impressive part - I prefer the salad bar and fried/broasted chicken wings. Disappointed, our group had coupons that said "one per person" but the waitress would only let us use 1 per table unless she split the tab. Doesn't make sense. Get the wording on your coupons right or suck it up and honor what they say.
(3)James L.
When I bit into my Lone Ranger pizza I had a nostalgic moment. I flashback to my grade school days. Those times were simple, just like the pizza at Sammy's Pizza. I recalled all those times I ate the pizza prepared in the school cafeteria. The pizza took me on a walk down memory lane. Allow me a moment to elaborate. The pizza had a distinct smell, look and taste. The top of the rubbery and highly processed "cheese" shined brightly an orange puddle of grease. The pizza crust felt and tasted like cardboard. In fact the woody taste probably transferred directly from the round cardboard base wrapped in plastic. The odor was nothing like the sweet smell of savory melted mozzarella cheese. Truly, it smelled and look like melted candle wax poured over a crumbling and razor thin crust. For the reasons listed above I give my meal at this restaurant five stars. I haven't had a meal like this in a long time. If you want to relive the time you had fabulous school district provided pizza lunches then you've come to the right place, Sammy's "Pizza."
(5)Randy T.
I will forever likely be disappointed in Minnesota pizza, however, I will admit, the pizza here wasn't so bad. I don't understand this funny thing of cutting round pizzas into little squares however, that's just weird. The pizza here has a crunchy thin crust, just the right amount of sauce and cheese, and the toppings were pretty good. Just cut funny.
(4)Jeff Z.
I Hate Hate Sammy's Pizza. The Pizza is flat out horrible. It tastes like a Totino's frozen pizza. No flavor in they're sauce what so ever. The Wings and fries are good though.
(1)Jen S.
Wow. Worst pizza delivery experience ever. We are visiting friends from out of town, they decided to order pizza for all of us from this place because they said they order from here all the time and really like it. We ordered three large pizza's at 7pm. Finally at 9: 30 they arrived....but only two pizzas were delivered. The guy who delivered then said he had no idea there was supposed to be another pizza and told us to call the restaurant. We then discovered that the cheese pizza we ordered had NO SAUCE on it - just dough and cheese, VERY DRY! Yuck! We called to let the manager know about the missing pizza and wrong order. The woman was so rude on the phone, I have never heard of a restaurant manger being so rude to a customer in my life. She told us that she would not send a new pizza for the missing one, and I'd we wanted a new cheese pizza we would have to pay for it and come pick it up ourselves. When my friend said that was not acceptable, and got understandably upset at her, she told us she didn't care if we were mad and we were welcome to take our business elsewhere. I simply cannot believe that a restaurant wouldn't want to make their customers happy, especially ones who have been loyal patrons for a long time. Needless to say we will never order from sammys again!
(1)Mr. K.
Agree with other reviewers on the terrible service + not authentic Italian flavors, small portions, and very overpriced. Duluth Sammy's has always been family-friendly and we had high hopes for this place, but too bad this location doesn't share the same quality of cuisine or care about their customers as it's Northern cousin.
(1)John A.
First things first, this place isn't in Minneapolis, it's in Coon Rapids, I should know, its 1min from my house. This is one of the chain of Sammy's Pizza's from Duluth Minnesota and I will start by saying how much I enjoy their chicken wings and or their chicken dinners, both of which are very good. I can't say how the pasta is on the menu but my wife seems to enjoy it. Getting to the pizza, well, I must say it's not the best I have had but it does taste pretty good when fresh and hot out of the oven, but not that good when delivered to our house. (Remember, I live about 1min away) A nice positive for them is on certain nights (Monday I think) they have an all you can eat buffet with pizza, chicken wings, pasta and salad, which is very good. There are usually 6 types of pizza out and if you ask (And I alwasy do) they will gladly make up the type you like while your there. The wait staff has been pretty good, but was a lot more friendly when they first opened down here and some of the actual family members were working around the place. All and all I say give it a shot and though you may not be WoW'd, you should have a decent experience.
(3)T W.
I'm a big fan of the pizza, a big fan of buffets and a big fan of lunch. So I guess you could say I'm a really big fan of the pizza buffet lunch. With this in mind, and the memory of stories told to me by my Iron Range friends, I was really looking forward to my visit to this Sammy's. Sadly, I have to say I was underwhelmed for the following reasons. It was kind of expensive, the pizza was serviceable but nothing special and the service was largely lacking. Sammy's is in a nice location and it looks like somebody put some thought into how the place looks, but it won't be on the top of my list next time someone says those magic words: pizza. buffet. lunch.
(2)Sharon B.
Personally, I would not come here for dinner and order off the menu, but the lunch buffet is pretty good. The local Blaine area circular sometimes has bogo free lunch buffets. If I find another one of those coupons I want to go back because the pizza is comparable to Carbone's and they offer chicken wings which my bf loves. Also, they offer pasta with their lunch buffet and usually I forgo the nasty buffet pasta, but Sammy's pasta was tasty. This is a decent place to bring kids to for a fast lunch if your just out running errands.
(3)Stephanie R.
OK, I have to rebuttle the other review on here. I've eaten at Sammy's a billion times their food is GREAT and the service is great. And i'm not just saying that because i worked there for a short period of time a few years ago, lol =). The food is seriously the best home style Italian in the twin cities hands down; thin & crispy crust, pepperoni under the cheese, all that good stuff. I'd pick Sammy's over the Olive Garden ANY DAY!!! And seriously, when i did work there people came in raving about how much they loved Sammy's and remembered the first Sammy's from the iron range in Duluth from however many years ago. I even remember one lady who came in two days in a row to eat and then bought 20 frozen pizzas to take with her on the airplane back to California...because they're THAT good and she missed Sammy's food THAT much. Haha!! Fav pizza choice: Sammy's special and Veggie special. Fav pasta dish: chicken tetrazini. Outstanding and delicious! Also they have a full pizza lunch buffet every day - which is fabulous and was better than Cici's. Two thumbs up.
(5)Brian C.
I ordered salad and pasta. The salad came at the same time as the pasta because the server "forgot to bring it". It wasn't that busy, so I was disappointed in her lapse. The pasta was acceptable, but the sauce tasted like Ragu (probably was Ragu). The garlic bread was not from an Italian loaf but instead was made from slices of generic white bread.
(2)Kimberly C.
I'll admit I wasn't too happy when my coworkers chose a pizza buffet place for dinner last night. I was having Ci-Ci's pizza flashbacks and was preparing myself to waste a whole bunch of calories on bad food. Well...I did blow my diet last night. But in a good way! The pizza was very good. Thin crust, flavorful sauce and lots of yummy cheese! Some of the best pizza I have had in a while. I was also a fan of the wings. Cooked just right, crispy on the outside but not overcooked. If I had ordered the pasta as a meal I would have been disappointed, but it was perfectly fine for a buffet. I enjoyed my meal at Sammy's, but a few things brought the rating down. The salad bar was no bueno. Lettuce was wilty and had that "bagged preservative" taste to it and the rest of the toppings were just so-so. Also, they are a little slow with replacing the pizzas on the buffet. I was slightly irritated when the punky teenager in front of me put an entire pie on his plate and I had to stand there and wait a few minutes until another pizza came out. I heard the manager keep asking the servers how much pizza their customers were eating so he can tell the kitchen how many pizzas to make. I get that he didn't want to have pizzas just sitting there under the hot lamps if they weren't going to be eaten. But they were way off on their "pizza eating estimate" because there always seemed to be a shortage of pies on the buffet.
(3)jenny A.
I have a sentimental attachment to Sammy's Pizza that can't be shaken no matter how many disappointing pies I have had from this mid-western chain. When I was a kid there was a Sammy's next to our church and it was the place we always went to eat for Sunday brunch a couple times a year and for birthday parties. They had a game room and they also showed old 16 mm films of the Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy. The Sammy's in Coon Rapids has that 1970s family restaurant vibe with big, big booths nostalgic decor and that window where you can watch them make the pizzas. While it's not a bad place to take a pack of rowdy toddlers (more than one toddler constitutes a "pack" more than four constitutes a one-way trip to the booby hatch, but I digress), it's not actually a very good place to eat. The pizza was greasy, the toppings uninspired and the crust was over done. I did get a little sentimental flush of excitement by the square cut pizza, but really it's not worth the trip to the outer limits of the 'burbs for that. I have eaten pretty frequently at the Sammy's in Clouqet (ya know when Gordy's isn't open) and in Hibbing and they are mediocre as well. I guess, what I'm saying is that if you are out in the middle of nowhere and the only food available is Sammy's pizza then it will do as an alternative to actually starving to death. But if you can find another mid-western pizza chain like Pizza luce or Davannis than you'd be better off.
(2)