MacKenzie River Pizza, Grill & Pub

I was expecting more from the food. The Thai and the Buffalo are such one track flavor pizzas — peanuts and buffalo sauce respectively. It’s like the sitcom of pizza places — enjoyable but meaningless in the end.

Great service. We’ve ordered many different things on the menu and the ones that weren’t so great have been swapped out for really tasty new options. We especially love the hummus platter and their house salad. The kids meals are big enough for an adult!

McKenzie River has a great vibe going; the outdoor elements, tree branch booths, and drift boat suspended from the ceiling all add to the décor. The tables are well spaced and the employees are always extremely nice. This is not a place you have to sit and wait for refills. Five star for ambiance and service.
The kids love the menu. Well at least the mac and cheese with goldfish. I like they offer a few healthier options for kids, like side salad or fruit vs French fries, and a turkey wrap with avocado and veggies. Plus, all kids menu items are $ 5.50 with drink and side. Five stars for kid friendly.
So why the three star rating? It really comes down to inconsistent food. We’ve been roughly a dozen times over the past couple years. Each time we visit, my opinion of the food drops slightly. Today, the fish and chips were way over cooked and dry; the burgers were just okay, nothing special. (One exception. The warm chocolate chip cookie dessert with ice cream. Damn! I’d go back just for the dessert).
There are so many good options on the hill, unfortunately, McKenzie keeps dropping lower on our list of top spots. See y’all!

I must say I was very pleasantly surprised with the food here! We tried it on a whim, I don’t usually like many chain restaurants, but the food here was delicious and the menu was unique in that they offered meals not normally seen on family chain menus. It had modern and creative options. For an appetizer we had hummus and it was delicious served with a plain and roasted red pepper version. We had the Jamaican flat bread which offered a delicate crisp flatbread. It was quite scrumptious! We also tried the pepperoni pizza and we enjoyed the sauce and the thin crisp crust with just the right chew. What really impressed me was the house salad! Of all things! I can’t express how impressed I was with what I expected to be a boring old plain salad, but this it was not! It had a nice bowl of mixed greens, grape nuts and veggies, but the dressing, Oh that dressing! It was wonderful! It was their house vinaigrette. Let’s put it this way when I asked how they make it. I was told people have tried to bribe them for the recipe so he couldn’t say but I could buy it by the pint… So naturally I did.
The service was meh. We went at lunch. Cody served us, but didn’t visit often to check on us and when we said it was our first time he didn’t offer suggestions or welcome us. He wasn’t very friendly and upbeat but he wasn’t rude or grumpy either, just kind of going through the motions but not excited to be there. I will back and I’m very glad we tried it!
Oh! And before I forget… the huckleberry sangria… To die for!

If the service wasn’t so good from Laura it would have been a 3 star! The only reason is that the clam chowder was a sad situation! It was more like chicken noodle soup with out the noodle! Everything else was good! #yolo

The food was good. The staff was friendly and service was timely. I liked the different varieties of pizzas offered. But overall nothing to get excited about. Just another pizza joint. Wouldn’t go out of my way to go back but I would go again.

Have always loved this place specifically the south hill location. Last time we came for dinner the food was a tid bit cold. We told our server (short stalky bar tender) the next time we came and he was fantastic. Bought us dessert, was very nice and friendly. We love this place and will definitely continue being return customers. The Meatloaf is my new favorite. Awesome place!

Love the buffalo Mac and cheese. Many times I feel like the staff is confused and multiple different servers wait in my table at once lol but it’s all good. Food is good. Cheesecake isn’t good though. Pizza isn’t very good either. But some of the best burgers and pasta and salads

Disgusting. Tastes exactly like Pizza Hut pizza but is probably twice the price. The service was terrible no napkins or refills. They didn’t have enough people working and the server let us know all 3 times she came to the table. She seemed to be running around a lot despite the fact it looked like only 2 other tables had people in them and there was at least one other server.

Our south hill McKenzie River is a great neighborhood restaurant, but I would drive farther to get there regardless, because the food is always tasty and the service is really consistently great! Management is excellent and the staff are happy and efficient. Yum! Janet G

Fish from fish and chips was fresh but the heavy panko crusted cod was overpowered by the spices. Maybe a traditional take would be better with the spicier version as an option.

Me and my wife go there all the time best pizza and beer in town I love all there food is awesome looking for good food and severe all the staff is great

I was excited three years ago when McKenzie came to Spokane, but the dining at the South Hill Spokane location hasn’t met my Montana experience expectations. I hoped that it was a fluke — bad service and bad food… but after three visits with consistently poor experience, I have to admit, I was wrong — and am updating my review.
All times I’ve eaten there, the service is very, very friendly — but its incredibly slow to get seated (even when they’re aren’t busy) slow to get waited on, and then the food is, well, not tasty… and when food isn’t tasty it makes the prices feel expensive. My experience eating at the Billing, MT McKenzie Pizza place for 6 years must have been a fluke — the South Hill Spokane location is not good.
We’ll not be going back, and I no longer recommend them.

Good food, and beer here. I love the atmosphere/​décor. They have a decent selection of beers on tap and giant mugs if youre really thirsty! My wife and I have not been super impressed with the food, there is one thing in particular that I have absolutely loved and keep going back for– bavarian pretzel sticks w/​white cheese sauce. It is fantastic! My wife has not liked her dishes so far, she has tried the pizza, hamburgers (2x) and a chicken sandwich. For the price we could get better burgers/​fries & sandwiches. I cannot find those pretzels anywhere else though… and the waiter mentioned last time that they are discontinuing them as a menu item. with a disappointed wife, and no more pretzel sticks, I have not been back in a few weeks.

This is my kind of restaurant. Great service and the fact that it has a cowboy theme is awesome. I love the architectural design of this restaurant — a little modern country with good lighting.
The service time is also great. My fiancé and I got our meals within 12 minutes. Very fast quality service and the food was filling. Size was also genorous. We didn’t pay much here but left very full.
I would definitely return to this place.

Now that I have been to the downtown location and the one on 57^th I thought I would review what I have had at both. I have only tried one thing here and it is the Willow Creek sandwich. This is a huge, hot sandwich on some pretty fantastic bread. Honestly I think the bread really makes this sandwich, which is just a hot turkey club. It comes with blue tortilla chips and salsa. If your looking for a pretty decent turkey sandwich to fill you up without breaking your wallet, then this is the sandwich for you. We always have half a sandwich to take home!
Both locations have been pretty empty at lunchtime, but the wait staff at both were very friendly and attentive. Kitschy woodland décor, but its charming in a weird way.

It was a little busy when my fiancée and I went and would have had a 25 minute wait unless we sat at the bar… so we sat at the bar. It took us nearly that long anyway just to decide what to get.
We both had a substitution or 2 to the pizzas that we ordered and mine included putting a pepperoncini topping on the side. When the food came out it was delivered by some guy that wasn’t our server… which normally I hate. I don’t know if this a normal thing or special to this time but I think it was a member of the kitchen staff. BUT he informed me that the kitchen got into their autopilot mode and missed the ‘pepperoncini on the side’ note. He didn’t ask me if I wanted them to make a new one for me. instead he gave me the one that had a little bit of pepperoncini juice on it and TOLD ME that the kitchen was making a new one as we speak. THAT is good customer service. I ended up eating the first one and taking the second one home with me.
Im 6’1″ 190lbs and the 11 dollar regular pizza was plenty for me. I struggled to get down the last piece. If I go to a Mexican restaurant (another of our favorites) I order 3 chicken enchiladas for like $ 14 or something. McKenzie River is NOT an expensive place to eat… but it is to drink.
We’re going back. I probably just probably wont order a drink… unless they give me a free drink voucher for this awesome review :)

Large group of us went there for the Saints VS Seahawks game on Monday Night. We are all deaf and I was impressed with how well our server was accommodating to us and making sure all of us had what we needed. He was very attentive, made good eye contact (important for deaf), and had paper and pen ready for communicating.
Food: My SO had the Buffalo pizza (thin crust) which was actually pretty good, he loved it. I normally don’t like super spicy but I liked it too. I had the BBQ pizza (original crust) which was good but not what I was hoping for — the red onion and cilantro did not have that «POP» flavor that I was looking for. It was still good. My friend sitting next to me had the Thai pizza (original crust) which was VERY good, I loved the peanut-​buttery flavor and the peanuts in it. I wish I had that instead of the BBQ pizza.
Prices were decent.

They had a prix fixe dinner menu for restaurant week. Had some good choices. My aunt and daughter went for that! Started with salads and then my aunt got the lime chicken and said it was quite tasty. My daughter had the meatloaf and the presentation was nice…
I had gluten free pizza (I have to say its always a plus when you can find a good gluten free pizza). Mine had mozzarella — only down fall is it was not fresh mozz. With pineapple, ham, and jalapeños. Spicy Hawaiian and it was good!
My cousin had a chef salad and she went to town so it must have been good. If you order ginger ale and your bill comes and lists something like cock and bull that’s what the categorize the ginger ale as… Lol.
If I need a gf pizza I will go back. But it is just a normal mediocre pizza joint. Good for families and birthday parties!

I went to this restaurant because of what the name usually stands for.
In Montana this is one of the best restaurants around and I can’t help but try to eat here once even twice if I’m there for a week. Which leads me to finding out that there is one located in Spokane so we must of course trek here for Pesto Lodge poles sand a Madison.
But I was underwhelmed by what is usually a great quality restaurant as the food was subpar to put it generously.
The highlight was the service from Alex who was on top of his game and helped to at least try and make up for the disappointment.
Don’t let this MacKenzie location be the mark you judge this chain as a whole by.