Ames pizza place... Trying to remember a name

[CysLoveChild]

⇧ This.....place was hot as **** and took like an hour to get your pizza....but was the cheapest for what you got!

Yeah, Lucky Pizza and Video. I was a manager there, some nights got real crazy and if you thought it was hot up front, the kitchen was twice as hot. But you couldn't beat the Fri and Sat night carry out special. Medium cheese pizza and cheesebread for $5, add a topping for a buck. Had some fun times there but I finally took a real job in Des Moines and not even two weeks later the owner closed the place down. Place was run on a shoe string budget, my first week as a manager the owner offered to sell the business to me.

 

[bgprest]

Anybody remember Minsky's?... Wasn't that the name?

 

[simply1]

rocky rococo baby

 

[CysLoveChild]

Anybody remember Minsky's?... Wasn't that the name?

Minskys had a location in Nevada, IA, don't know if its still there but it should be. Then the owner opened a second one out in West Ames then had to relocate. That's when he opened Lucky Pizza and Video right next to Dominos on Hayward. He had to move out of the location across from the West Ames Hyvee and in a hurry. The owner got screwed out of some kitchen equipment, one item being the main vent hood for above the ovens in the kitchen, a real big reason the store was always so hot.

 

[Farnsworth]

Woah Woah Woah. stop the presses. gumbys in Ames is closed? how the f do college kids survive without pokie sticks and pepperoni rolls?

 

[CLONEing around]

I was a manager at Home Team for a few years in the 90's. Most fun job I ever had. Even if I had to put up with all of your drunk ***ess coming ordering after the bars closed. Thanks for the memories.

 

[Acylum]

Minskys had a location in Nevada, IA, don't know if its still there but it should be. Then the owner opened a second one out in West Ames then had to relocate. That's when he opened Lucky Pizza and Video right next to Dominos on Hayward. He had to move out of the location across from the West Ames Hyvee and in a hurry. The owner got screwed out of some kitchen equipment, one item being the main vent hood for above the ovens in the kitchen, a real big reason the store was always so hot.

There was a Minsky's in campustown also.

 

[Antihawk240]

I was a manager at Home Team for a few years in the 90's. Most fun job I ever had. Even if I had to put up with all of your drunk assess coming ordering after the bars closed. Thanks for the memories.

When I think of campus town I can't help but think of Home Team. I remember the 3 medium special, but wasn't there a special of a large pizza and it came with 2 large glass bottles of Pepsi. That's the special I remember. Plus if it didn't get there in 30 minutes it was free?? Man, knowing what I know now, that poor delivery guy probably either had to pay for the pizzas himself or got fired. All because I was in a drunken haze and had a craving for greizza.

 

[SwirlingFloater]

Did there used to be an italian or pizza joint of some sort on the south end of campus town on the west side of the street back in the late 80's-early 90's? I thought it was kinda where the Golden Wok place is now.

 

[KneeGusto]

Did there used to be an italian or pizza joint of some sort on the south end of campus town on the west side of the street back in the late 80's-early 90's? I thought it was kinda where the Golden Wok place is now.

Valentino's had a place there in that time frame.

 

[DistrictCyclone]

When I think of campus town I can't help but think of Home Team. I remember the 3 medium special, but wasn't there a special of a large pizza and it came with 2 large glass bottles of Pepsi. That's the special I remember. Plus if it didn't get there in 30 minutes it was free?? Man, knowing what I know now, that poor delivery guy probably either had to pay for the pizzas himself or got fired. All because I was in a drunken haze and had a craving for greizza.

I remember them having a 2-topping jumbo pizza for $8. The thing had a humongous diameter, like 30 inches, but it was paper thin...like they took a small pizza and just stretched it out.

 

[HFCS]

Did there used to be an italian or pizza joint of some sort on the south end of campus town on the west side of the street back in the late 80's-early 90's? I thought it was kinda where the Golden Wok place is now.

DaVinci's used to be around that area late 90s/early 00s. Very good pizza and the best subs in town. It was a Lincoln based chain, pretty sure they still have them around there.

I think it went out of business because it was in campus town but never had the crazy college town low prices for pizza. I'd usually get a sub because I could still eat there cheap that way.

 

[HFCS]

I remember them having a 2-topping jumbo pizza for $8. The thing had a humongous diameter, like 30 inches, but it was paper thin...like they took a small pizza and just stretched it out.

Huger Huge or Hugely Huge or whatever was the largest circumference (and crappiest tasting) pizza I've ever had. I remember it being at least 3 foot across.

The thick crust at Home Team was actually pretty solid pizza. We'd order that by the slice and eat it there late night. Remember trudging through a blizzard one night for slices because nobody was delivering but they were still open.

The most pizza for your buck while I was at ISU (97-01) was probably Dominoes 3 mediums for $10. That was crap pizza too though.

Gumby's was always competitively cheap but never quite the cheapest. Like others I found the pepperoni rolls to be superior to the pizza.

 

[TRZA]

The pizza market and people tastes have changed in the past decade. You can't just open up some lousy delivery pizza place or franchise in a campus town and expect to succeed by default.

 

[Antihawk240]

The pizza market and people tastes have changed in the past decade. You can't just open up some lousy delivery pizza place or franchise in a campus town and expect to succeed by default.

Tell me about it! You see the places where the kids live now a days. Students thinking nothing of paying $500 a month rent. When I was in college $500 a month rent meant, you better find 6 guys to live with ya.

 

[HFCS]

The pizza market and people tastes have changed in the past decade. You can't just open up some lousy delivery pizza place or franchise in a campus town and expect to succeed by default.

If Sarpino's isn't in every campus in America already, it will be soon.

Chicago went from zero Sarpino's to what seems like several hundred in a couple years...and that's a place that has some incredible pizza of any variety.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

rocky rococo baby

We used to go upstairs to Rocky's Place for $2 pitchers on Thursdays.

I was a server, then shift leader at pizza kitchens in the early 90's. Great college job, for the food.

 

[HOTDON]

Did there used to be an italian or pizza joint of some sort on the south end of campus town on the west side of the street back in the late 80's-early 90's? I thought it was kinda where the Golden Wok place is now.

DaVinci's used to be around that area late 90s/early 00s. Very good pizza and the best subs in town. It was a Lincoln based chain, pretty sure they still have them around there.I think it went out of business because it was in campus town but never had the crazy college town low prices for pizza. I'd usually get a sub because I could still eat there cheap that way.

I worked at DaVincis in 03 when I got to school. Great job, met a lot of fun people. Worked the night of the Veishea riot. Watched it all unfold from inside the closed restaurant with the night manager.

Pizza was good, but it was at a premium price. Subs were awesome, and the garlic cheese rolls were the best. One of the few places in town that made a real cheesesteak sandwich, too.

Family owned place with stores in Lincoln and Omaha. Ames was always the orphan store. The building was an old service station. Still had gas tanks in the ground. They were monitored for ground contamination, and were getting closer to the allowable limit. Big bucks to dig those out. The place was also in need of a major overhaul. The family got together over Christmas and decided to shut the Ames location down.

 

[IcSyU]

Minskys had a location in Nevada, IA, don't know if its still there but it should be.

Still is there. Corner of Lincoln Way and 6th Street.

Woah Woah Woah. stop the presses. gumbys in Ames is closed? how the f do college kids survive without pokie sticks and pepperoni rolls?

Closed my junior year I believe (2009-2010). Jeff's Pizza's smotherella stix fill the void left by pokie sticks juuuuuuuust fine. And Jeff's Pizza's actual pizza is 10x better.

 

[Rabbuk]

MY favorite pizza in Ames is Black Market I think Jeffs is only enjoyable when I'm drunk.