Short review: Dubuque "institution" aside, this place is pretty darn bad. I visited several times as a college student 20 years ago. College students don't make good food reviewers...........they'll eat anything. I don't remember it being this bad. As another reviewer said, the pizza (the main attraction) is not quite as good as frozen. In fact it's no where near as good as expensive frozen (which isn't saying much. It's much closer to cheap Totino's (remeber eating those in high school, you know, a $1 a pizza). Stay away. read more

All things considered, I think this is the best pizza in Dubuque. Let me pause here, to say that I'm not from Dubuque, and so I don't have some kind of prenatal attachment to Happy Joe's or its remarkably overpriced Taco Pizza. Don't understand it. Don't like it. But Shot Tower is a different story. The pizza is good. Really good. The crust is just about as good as I've had outside of Chicago. Beer is cold, reasonably priced, and while they are pretty much restricted to cheap domestic beers, it'll do given the fare. As a previous reviewer noted: Get an Italian Grinder. It's so damn good I hardly ever get the pizza, and the pizza is good. The IG is loaded up with spicy Italian sausage, a good helping of mozzarella, and on a toasted roll. Get the fries. Is it fine dining? Nope. But I bet you'll leave happy. And a beer, a grinder, and some fries will let you back just north of $10, and that ain't so bad either. read more

We sat in the "bar" side which is self-serve. We ordered the "choose 3" appetizer opting for mini-tacos, chicken fingers and hot wings. All were pretty good boding well for the Vegetarian Special Pizza which was still in prep. The pizza was a real disappointment. The crust was ok, fresh and crispy, but some of the toppings had a funny taste. Not funny in a good way. Maybe they had been canned. Whatever the taste issue was, it's going to steer us elsewhere in the future. Clearly this review is a minority view but I've gotta call it as it was experienced. read more

We came from the Fenelon Place Elevator and kind of stumbled on this place. I guess one half of the restaurant has table service and the other does not. We ended up on the does not side, but that was fine. The guy taking orders was super friendly. We split a pepperoni and sausage pizza and it was very good. The crust was thin and crisp (almost like a saltine). The sauce was good and the toppings were plentiful. They had a lot of sandwiches on the menu, too. Plenty to choose from. The drawbacks are that it's pretty dark in the restaurant and the decor is dated. There are display cases with cool cars in them but the cases were just streaked with greasy fingerprints. Kind of grody. read more

Going Down hill. This used to be a 30 year favorite until the last 6 months, where the cooking staff need 40 minutes to deliver a raw pizza to our table when the whole restaurant was practically empty (Deep Dish). They messed up every order, sending out cold food, and other problems (sending out iceberg on a ceasar salad instead of romaine as advertised, for example). The wait staff used to always be reliable and had great service skills but the wait staff now are practically rude, even confrontational (if you request a dish to be repaired or remade), (fries were sent out limp and cold, but the waitress was insulted when asked for a fresh order). The Owner/Manager at this establishment has recently changed, not to the better. Friends and family are reporting strange and aggressive behavior from her. Maybe some education in Hospitality would help? It's sad for us, because we usually frequented this restaurant at least weekly and in the past, had made the Shot Tower Inn a favorite gathering place to take our Family out for special dinners (parties of 14+) for Birthdays and Celebrations. We used to love this place. Sad to have to end our patronage. read more

It doesn't seem like there are a ton of great dining choices in Dubuqe... just saying. However, we used YELP to help us find this spot because we wanted Pizza. The pizza was good, not great. We did LOVE the artichoke dip. Overall the place was a hit with the kids, neat decorations. Pizza came up fast which was appreciated by my hungry children. Overall, I guess I am glad that I don't live here. I'm not sure where I would go out to eat, the choices don't seem to be very plentiful or good. read more

Well, for me to make a return trip to a restaurant, it has to be 4 stars...Shot tower missed it. This place has been around longer than I have. and while their menu is pretty large, the food is average. For $20 I got a medium pizza that tasted like a frozen pizza...and was about the same size. Even my 6 year old thought it sucked. I think what has kept them in business for so long is the size of the menu, they have over 20 kinds of beer, and the have businesses all around. So the lunch craze helps pay the bills. read more

We went on a Saturday night anticipating a crowd. It was busy, but we didn't have to wait. When you walk into what I think is the front door, you won't know where to go necessarily. There's no one to greet you at the door. You just have to weave through a few rooms to get to the actual dining area. It's hard not to be in someone's way since the traffic flow of the place is so convoluted. We found a table and was promptly greeted by a waitress. The service was just okay. My 5 year old drank all his water and mine before the server came back. She was friendly at least. We had a large thick crust pizza - 1/2 meat lovers, 1/2 BLT. I didn't try the meat side, but the BLT was amazing. Honestly, it was the best I've ever had. The food is great. The service is just okay. The atmosphere is somewhat chaotic. I'd go back again now that I know what to do. read more

This in an institution here in Dubuque. Countless folks have passed through these doors, the young, the old, the sober, the not so... Come just to see a part of the Mid-West that lives and breathes and is alive with living. And above all, enjoy! read more

I love the pizza from the Shot Tower! I think it is so delicious how they make their crust and everything else on the pizza! Lots of toppings to choose from for your pizza! I have been here twice and sometimes it is a let down when you go back a second time because food sometimes just is not as good and you get high expectations for it. Not in this case. Whenever I make it back to Dubuque I will make a point to stop here for sure! read more

DON'T EAT HERE. OWNER, PLEASE CONTACT ME. ONE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES HAS MY NUMBER, I TEXTED HIM THESE PICTURES. Pizza was a joke .. more like the Totinos Pizza you get at Walmart. Chicken had no flavor. Dipping sauce, cheap, cheap, cheap!! Manager said the reason I got rotten salad was because they got bad bags from their vendor. So, I got rotten salad because you took rotten salad from your vendor...OR....because YOU sent rotten salad to YOUR customer??? Duh!!....and that was the manager. read more

Great service good food great value. Real nice people to do business with, glad the man at the elevator suggested. read more

First time trying shot tower a lot of people recommend it. Ordered for delivery and pizza was squished to top of box. Pizza was good but company needs to reevaluate their delivery procedure. read more

Shot Tower Inn - How the pizza was delivered from shot tower in Dubuque - Pizza Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

Ate at 3pm on a Tuesday, first timers from out of town, and we got what we wanted. A decent pizza without the fuss. Wouldn't say it was anything to rave about but we aren't complaining. Could be a bit more flavorful in the sauce maybe? We got the works on thin crust. read more

Shot Tower Inn - Shot Tower Works on thin crust, the double fed two hungry people. - Pizza Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

Nice place. Had a very pretty and personable server. Totally a place for locals. I was hoping for more of a younger crowd, but at 31, I was easily 20 years younger then the patrons. Not that I mind or anything. Stopped here after hiking in The Mines of Spain State Park (beautiful place, fyi) all afternoon. Free refills on Pepsi excited me! Got some Cheddar Nuggets. They were fried to a golden perfection! Served with a side of taco sauce, and marinara (by request). Also got a thick crust pepperoni pizza (10"). It was alright. The pepperoni was nice and spicy. Good mixture and amount of cheese. The sauce lacked any real flavor. Tasted mostly like tomato paste. I feel if they worked on that, it could make this pizza up to a 4 instead of a 2. The Cheddar Nuggets were totally a 4! If I'm ever headed through Dubuque, IA again and want to stop somewhere, I'd consider it, but might try a different pizza place. (I love trying pizza when I travel more than anything else) read more

Shot Tower Inn - 10" Thick Crust Pepperoni Pizza Pie - Pizza Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

This place had an old school vibe and the pizza was good, as were the appetizers! The only complaint that I have was that it took awhile for us to be greeted and served. However, the staff was nice, and you can actually watch them make pizzas! This place is definitely worth stopping in for lunch or dinner! read more

a Dubuque staple. when we come back to visit we come here. this time we ordered a shot tower special pizza to go. they were very nice and gave me paper plates and parm packets when i asked for them. they are welcoming and inviting! read more

I know a lot of people love this place, but my husband and I will not be going back. Service was not good. Our food was brought and the waitress disappeared. We finally went to the bar for refills due to her never coming and checking on us. The food was not good. My sandwich was so tough that I only ate half of it. The juice from the coleslaw was all over the plate so fries were mushy. read more

Best pizza in DUbuque, for sure. The Shot Tower special, specifically. But the taco pizza, grinders, meatball subs....they are all wonderful. And you gotta get the cheese curds and fried ice cream too! Yum!!!! read more

The service was good. The waitress was friendly. We had the pizza which looked like a frozen pizza that had low end toppings added on. Furthermore, the pizza was not tasty nor worth the $20 we paid. Maybe we ordered the wrong food item and if we tried something else it would be amazing. read more

Just had a great pizza at the Shot Tower! I like the atmosphere there and they all are very friendly. The beer was super cold, which I really appreciate. Waitress was Julia and she was excellent. read more

Shot tower special. Great pizza. Like Shakeys when I was young. Chicken wings are good. Beer is cold.

I only grabbed a small pepperoni pizza, nothing amazing, nothing too bad either. Looked like a nice little local place in downtown Dubuque. No complaints, but could probably do better. read more

Pizza was decent. Reminds me of Shakeys Pizza when I was a kid. Garlic Cheese bread was loaded with cheese (absolutely nothing wrong with that ). If we could give 1/2 stars I'd give 3.5. Better than average, but nothing spectacular. read more

So we had Shot Tower delivery at a friends house during game night about a week ago. Now I'm not a fan of Shot Tower, considering the last time I was there they towed my car. Now I can understand if I parked in their lot & went elsewhere. This was a Friday night, the fights were at Five Flags next door so it was a perfect place to have drinks & food before we attended. My personal bill was $150, I bought a few rounds of drinks for the group and also had dinner. Now I thought it was justified to keep my car in their since I spent money there. The group I was with spent a significant amount of money there along with me and we were going back to meet more people after the fights.. But apparently you must move your car immediately because they towed my car not even 10 minutes after I walked into Five Flags. Costing me $180 to get out of towing. I confronted the owner and manager who both gave me attitude and grief, scolding me in front of customers, telling me they told me I couldn't park on their lot (which never once was said to any of us) So this was their mistake not mine. I was so angry I boycotted them, told this story to multiple friends and family members who no longer give Shot Tower their business... Now back to the beginning of my story where we were having drinks at our friends house the other night. They ordered delivery, so my boyfriend and I decided to do some appetizers. I mean, who can screw that up? Apparently Shot Tower can. Their menu online stated the artichoke dip came with pretzels. I had a very easy modification, asking for nacho chips instead. They gave us a handful of chips (total rip off, chips are much cheaper than pretzels) AND gave us a "2 oz" black dressing up with terrible artichoke dip. Which wasn't even a dip, it was artichokes sliced into small pieces, not mixed with anything and thrown in the cup. I was in complete disbelief. Our chicken strips were the size of wings, and not tasty by any means. I would never recommend this restaurant to anyone due to the lack of service, the incompetence of the management & owner, and terrible food value.. read more

Shot Tower Inn - Pizza Near Me - Dubuque, Iowa

Stopped here for dinner. Place has a different decor, looks like the owner's collection of different toys, baseball cards, and sports memorabilia. There is a line to order your food and an area for table service. We only got a pizza, but my main disappointment was they use canned mushrooms on the pizza. Other than that the pizza was pretty good. Can't comment on other menu items. Service was spotty. There was a time we didn't see our server for 10-15 minutes. read more

I used to like Shot Tower Pizza. However, I am very unimpressed with the service. We got delivery that was uncooked and cold. We called voicing our concern and the owner did not care one bit. I recommend going to Happy Joes instead because a place that is this inconsiderate and sub par quality does not deserve your business. read more

Wow has this place gone down hill. Place was disgustingly filthy. We sat at the bar to eat and bartender could have cared less about whether we were there or not...really bad service! Prices had gone way up since my last visit. Tap beer was luke warm and 1/2 foam. I had to pick fruit flies out of my beer! Was was really disgusting is I noticed all of the food coming out from the kitchen was set at the end of the bar for the waitresses to pick up - all of them were handling every order back and forth and the paper tickets from the kitchen were just tossed on the plates and the pizza. They would actually pick the tickets out of the melted cheese before delivering orders. Pizza crust tasted like cardboard. Skimpy ingredients. Nothing "like it use to be" I wondered we were there during prime dining hours and the place was pretty dead. Too bad - used to be great. read more

Noisy, dirty. Good place to bring kids apparently. Food was very sub-par. I had the half rack of ribs, which were well cooked but the meat quality was very poor and slathered in WAY to much BBQ sauce. Fries were terrible, and luke warm at that. Brother ordered a burger, came with no toppings and was very sub par as well. My father enjoyed his lasagna but he also lives on truck stop food. At least it was cheap. read more

Was back home for the weekend and wanted something I can't get in Kentucky. My sister and I shared a grinder. It was tasty. The place however was dirty. The dust in the vents blowing down on us were disgusting. The shelf above the pizza toppings in the kitchen even worse! I couldn't believe how dirty it was. How about a good old fashion cleaning!? Seriously. read more

The artichoke dip was fantastic. It is served with deep fried pizza dough sprinkled with Parmesan. These are light and really compliment the dip. The artichoke dip was full of artichokes, very robust, and flavorful. I was disappointed by the meatball grinder. The meatballs had too much breading and were way too soft. It was like eating a mushy paste. I did not finish half the sandwich. If I went back I would try the Italian grinder which has sausage in lieu of meatballs. read more

Great location, good service and well kept facility. The food was average at best. Got the Mushroom and swiss burger, Burger was decent Mushrooms were right out of a can or jar. Fries were crispy. Chicken fingers were fried way to hard. got the mixed sampler app, Everything was fried hard and lacked taste and was quite small for almost 10 bucks. All and all I'd say they take most food from the freezer fry it hard and serve it fresh to you.....blah. Pizza looked good at the table next to us.....verdict is out on that.....but why would I come back? read more

The Food was horrible, we spent 40 bucks on nothing, we could have saved a ton and went to walmarts frozen foods and got more of what we ordered, for less and prolly would have tasted better. The portions are horrible, i paid 9 bucks for a combo basket that came with 2 small pieces of chicken, 2 mot. sticks, and about 10 cheese curds, had a raw hamburger and called the manager and spoke to 2 different ones, told them how there food was and that we werent impressed and would never be eating there again, asked for money back and the guy swore at me and told me to call better business bureau. So i will make sure that people really know what kind of food, these rude people serve. DONT EAT HERE!!!!!! read more

Has got to be, by far thee WORST pizza I've ever had. Very expensive, for crap food. Ordered two pizzas that were supposed to be THIN. What we got was a doughy, bland, gross pizza. Dont waste your time, you'll be disappointed!!!!!!! read more

Visited while on a campus visit in Iowa. My margarita was a bit weak...had to ask for an extra shot of tequila. We had one of their specialty deep dish pizzas ( the Shot Tower, I think...). It was pretty good. The crust was also delicious. Will visit again, but not for the margaritas. read more

I have not visited this location in almost 15 years and two discoveries. The facilities has not been updated in that time frame (it needs some updates) but the food is as good as I remember. Long time staple of Dubuque that you need to visit at least once. read more

I would give zero stars if it would allow me to for the total lack of customer service. Their take out menu and website states they are open until 11pm and offer delivery. What a load of crap. We work at a hospital and have called twice on different occassions once at 10, and the other time at 9:15. We were told both times they were done delivering for the day. So I'm guessing they dont want our business any longer, we will just have to take our business to Happy Joes. read more

This pizza is worth the flight back from San Francisco. It was my favorite part of my birthday celebration yearly since I was a toddler. Order the sausage and pepperoni! read more

Fabulous Pizza place with lots of other varieties of food as well! The bartender Jen is a delight! She even let my nephew tell her how to make "his" kiddy coctail. She was sweet and said why of course I can make it like that. We did lunch personal pans and they were just right! :) read more

For many years we have stopped and gotten a pizza here on our way through Dubuque. Did that exact same thing last Saturday night but the pizza made us very sick. Called the manager 2 days later to ask for a refund and she refused to do it..said we had to call the night of. Well, we couldn't because we were sick! The pizza used to be fantastic. Now it tastes like cheap ingredients on top of cardboard with a bad twang. Disappointing to say the least...especially for $25!!!! Very unprofessional management! read more