Great pizza and onion rings x Salad are good too Nice people working. Very affordable . Thx read more

Great service! Fun atmosphere! Good food!! The taco was especially tasty. We started out with yummy onion rings & drinks. Worth the drive!! read more

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Waitress was great. My wife ordered a Ceasars salad with chicken, it turned out to be a tossed salad with chicken. I had shrimp which was good. Lots of food at a very reasonable price and the atmosphere was pleasant. Onion rings were awesome. read more

2nd time we have been here. Had pizza and wings and they were both good. Ranch was great. Love the thin crust!. Service is great. Old style decor in a small town. What's not to love? read more

Checkerboard Restaurant - Yum! - Pizza Near Me - Pleasantville, Iowa

6.9 It's my "Local" pie. It's probably the best Pizza in a 20 mile radius for sure. It is a Chicago tavern style that is well done if a bit small and over-priced. read more

This place is the best pizza in a 40 mile radius of Pleasantville. Me and my family come up here to visit our grandparents, Jeanie and Lester, and we almost always have to go to Checkerboard. The pizza is to die for, the atmosphere is fantastic, and the ranch. Mmmm the ranch. The staff is the most freindly people I have ever met. Thank you Checkerboard for hosting my most prized memories with my family. read more

Wow this place is a hidden showcase needed to shine on Yelp... Let me help as I'm not a regular but over the twenty years living in Iowa I have been a good six times...All great times and usually someones birthday, this is a birthday fun zone. Tonight was just a get together between two Indianolians and two Knoxvillagers ;)) we were a little early, lucky as this place gets popular on Saturday evening; soo we had a couple adult soft drinks and checked out the wildlife. This place never changes but it always looks great with old and new cowpoke stuff. NOT sure but don't remember the chuckwaggon salad bar guarded by the Duke and the furry stiff critters at the glassfront are always some kind of nostalgia fare. Food is always good hense the lines of people and the staff; hat a spark to thier delivery cowpoke style, this is something you don't get everyday. Prices are still in good standings for an hour at the coral, sorry we missed the famous Onion Rings this trip but we were surrounded by the smell of them yeeehahhh ~ some kind of wonderful. This place is true blue for your crew soo mosey on down to Pleasantville and enjoy a great night out. read more

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We have been going to checkerboard for years. It's an unusual place to dine into, feels like an old western saloon with lots of taxidermy...but they do know how to make some damn good pizza and onion rings! I would highly recommend checking this place out if you are passing through or looking for a fun night out to try something new! We love their pizza and their crust is like none other! Very thin and crispy! Also their onion rings are some of the best I have ever head. Definitely fresh and lightly buttered. We love to call it in as we are leaving Des Moines and heading back to Pella. Their takeout service is on point!!! read more

Well there is not a lot of choices in Pleasantville, but this place is a cornerstone. I went on a Saturday night around five o'clock. The restaurant was about half full with steady customers and adequate staff. The waitress that had our table was terrible, even when she wrote the order down she couldn't remember what table got what or who got what and if you asked for something she wouldn't come back with it and it became frustrating, she needed to be sent to wash dishes instead of waiting tables. The cheese balls are excellent, piping hot, just the right amount of breading. I am disappointed that there is an extra charge for Ranch dressing. This should be included. The mushrooms are pretty much the same and you can't go to wrong with fried foods as long as they are served hot. I love the pizza here and it was excellent. The combination was fabulous, light crispy crust with plenty of toppings. Served hot and fresh. I also got crazy and got a Canadian Bacon with pineapple on one half and Canadian Bacon with sauerkraut and it was excellent. The chocolate cake is absolutely amazing and recommended. read more

Checkerboard Restaurant - a cow skull mounted on the wall - Pizza Near Me - Pleasantville, Iowa

At one time, Checkerboard had great pizzas and service...well those days are long gone. Went to Checkerboard last Friday; very disappointing. Wife ordered taco pizza which was sub par to say the least. I ordered a steak which was undercooked. I also asked for melted butter for my veggie sides...was told by the waitress that "the kitchen was covered up and they could not accommodate me"...all I wanted was some melted butter, I wasn't asking for something overly complex. There are these great devices called microwaves that people use to melt stuff all the time (look it up on YouTube). Was also told that since I ordered a steak, I could make a trip to the salad bar, but that I had better hurry because the lettuce was running low. I didn't think that we were in lettuce rations...FYI: more is available at Walmart and Fareway grocery stores. If you want a pizza, go to George's in Knoxville or the Casey's gas station...much better food and service than this slop house. read more

I grew up going here. Somehow the owner is related or semi related to my dad's family. I haven't been here in probably 30 years so my sister and I decided to swing of the main path to Des Moines and go here for dinner with our kids. I'm so glad we did. The food was amazing, better than we remembered. The pizza and onion rings are dream worthy. And the beer was so cold. I hope to make it back again soon. read more

My family came in with a party of 12... Every single person's food they ordered was absolutely amazing! Staff are kind, thoughtful, and attentive! I highly recommend if you would like ​experience and delicious​ food! ​ read more

Checkerboard Restaurant - Dinner time - Pizza Near Me - Pleasantville, Iowa

Friendly staff, great pizza and onion rings. The fried pickle spears were also very good with the ranch. Will go again!

We went there for my mom's 80th birthday. I grew up in pleasantville so of course it's a place I have been many times. The pizza is always great and the hot ham and cheese has always been a favorite. The waitresses are always very nice. read more

Great food! We order take out almost weekly. Pizza, sandwiches, salads, onion rings, etc. It's all super good!

Another great place found thanks to Yelp!!! We were in Pella for the tulip festival and wanted an out of the way place to eat on Friday night. Enter the Checkerboard Restaurant. We arrived around 7:30 and it was rather packed but we got right in. The waitress was there right away to greet us and get our drink order. We also ordered a half order of onion rings at that time and they came out fairly quickly and were fantastic. My wife ordered the ribeye which was Fred Flintstone huge and I got the shrimp. Everything was excellent!!! And the food came out rather fast also. The salad bar was basic but had everything we wanted. The waitress said they were understaffed but we couldn't tell it. We highly recommend coming here if you are in the area!! read more

Maybe we hit it on a bad night, but the service was sub par, and the food made us all feel terrible. Used to come here often years ago and wanted to take my kids to try it. They were not really impressed and I told them I didn't remember it being like that. Menu seemed really small compared to last time. read more

We went there on a date last night. We had the usual experience there. The onion rings are off the hook, the pizza is absolutely fantastic, and the service was great. I love going there everytime. read more

If you like crispy thin crust pizza then this place is for you. I can't recommend about the other things on the menu as I've only tried their pizza and onion rings. The onion rings are the best ones I've had here in Iowa so far... read more

ok first things first. the place in Knoxville I wanted to try was closed. so on to Pleasantville. I had some work in the area, finish the job and was hungry. we looked on the net and found this place! this was not our first choice for supper... but was a welcome find!! kinda like an old west town store front.... no open sign, we almost thought it was closed!! classic rustic like a antique store inside. lots of nick knacks to look at. kinda the old west chuck wagon motif. and they pull it off well! steaks kinda pricy at first glance on the menu (20.00) but that includes a trip to the small salad bar full of good fresh things! yes the salad bar deserves the full 5 stars!! then the rib eye steaks arrived!! WOW!! a flint stone sized cut that was the size of a $100.00 tama hawk cut steak in the big city !! no kidding!! BIG would to have been a full understatement!! I ordered medium to med rare... and came out of the kitchen as most places do rare... but I like a tender steak!! and it was just that!! closer to a rare prime rib cut!! taste... well this was the best I have had in several years!! seasoned perfect, good beef taste. yea I was hungry... but I know good food!! well to say, not to be over stuffed for a long drive home. yea I ate 1/2 and the rest came home for my middle of the night supper. so if you like no blood I would ask for no blood... as for me well as long as it tastes good I will eat it!! all in all, this place is a yes!! get out of Desmoines hop in the car or truck set your gps. it is worth the drive to find it!! try the ribeye!! trust me it is worth it!! read more

Atmosphere was nice. I enjoyed looking at all the unique decor that was up. The waitress Janelle was great! Food was good. Loved the onion rings. We were waited on and received our food in a timely manner. We got there about 5 pm on a Saturday night and by the time we left it was packed and had people lined up to get in. So definitely go early or don't go on a weekend ;) read more

Went for lunch around 12:30 and one other table was there. No biggie- fast service over lunch is always a plus! I ordered the ham and cheese/fries and it was good. Really wanted the pizza but they do not serve that before 4pm. Also, they told me afterwards they are known for their onion rings- so get those! read more

Almost perfect. the steak was HUGE and the salad bar was excellent. the owner was there and very friendly to us. my only complaints are that we were seated right next to an employee rolling silverware, which made conversation difficult and we both ordered our steaks medium rare, but they were WAY more rare. still pretty bloody. overall, worth the drive. read more

A local lovely that people dig. I have been here once and probably won't seek it out again but it was good. Nice rustic decor and menu is decent. Not overly crowed or loud. Staff friendly. Clean. read more

Apparently we picked a terrible night to dine here. Haven't been here in about 5-6 years, it's went down hill fast. Management is piss poor at best. Sat at a table for about 15 minutes before a younger guy showed some initiative and came over and asked if we'd been helped. We hadn't, never even got a menu. Apparently the waiter that was supposed to be taking care of our section walked out, and management either had no clue what was going on or just didn't care, so this kid jumped in and took our drink order and got us a menu he is literally the only reason for the second star. Worth noting the owner is only allowing one paper menu per table, even though there were four of us, printer paper must be expensive? After 45 minutes of sitting there our waiter tells us he forgot to put our order in, or the kitchen lost it he wasn't sure what happened. Fast forward to an hour and 10 minutes of sitting there we finally get our food. But not the salads we were supposed to get with our meal. The beer battered cod is literally just frozen fish you can buy at Walmart, assuming either Gortons or VanKamps, not sure which, but they charge $16 for 3 pieces of it. My sons pizza burger was decent, but for an $8 burger I feel like they could include fries but they don't. I used to love coming here but it's really not what it used to be. I won't be making the trip again. I should also not that they did take $4 off our bill for the two salads we didn't get, and when my wife mentioned it when we were paying management tried blaming the waiter by saying he was new. Nope that kid was super swamped and showed initiative and was honest about our order not going in, he was a rockstar, management is terrible. read more