Spiedie & Rib Pit

I hate to say it but the quality has gone down… The Chicken was really tough and just tasted like black pepper. Will not be returning

Soggy pita made my entire meal completely unenjoyable. Had to ask the front employee for another pita. I came back a month later and the same thing happened to me. The chicken was also tough. I will not be returning.

The spiedie is a rare and beautiful thing. For those not in the know, it’s delicious marinated cubes of chicken on a hoagie. And it’s also munched upon by Hugh Grant in the Binghampton-​set rom com «The Rewrite.»
It’s no-​frills inside, but vaguely has the old-​time diner feel about it, too. The original spiedie sandwich is a great bet. As are their crispy and piping hot fries. A little slice of Americana.

Spedies like need them — chicken and pork with oil or spices. Chicken and burgers or ribs too, if you are in the mood. Skip the salad and get some hot fries cooked when you order and top with malt vinegar. Yes, you will come back.

This place got way fewer and less positive reviews than the location on UpperFront street. I had pulled pork dressed with coleslaw at Upper Front and a buffalo spiedie at Vesta. Two very different things, so hard to compare. I find nothing wrong with the Vesta location. More seating inside and a little brighter than UpperFront street. And it was less busy. Not being a local and having only recently learned the existence of the spiedi, my ability to pick up nuances between the too location is probably wanting.

I’m an out of towner and this is the first time here. I got the original to be safe and to see what this place was all about. It’s OK. It’s chunks of chicken on a roll. That’s it.

Since there are not all that many reviews of spiedie places, I will set the stage as an out-​of-​towner looking to try this local specialty. Sharkey’s seemed to be the default choice but reviewers say the quality and service is in decline. Lupo’s may be the only place that still serves lamb but it’s basically take-​out. With limited time after a visit to Binghamton U with my kid, I decided to take a chance on Sharkey’s… then I went up to the visitor’s parking lot at the U and found I had a flat tire.
While Monro on Vestal was attempting to fix my tire (great guys) I noticed the Spiedie & Rib Pit across the street. I was there in a flash. The ratty exterior and benches along the wall drew me in, but I was disappointed to find the inside 50’s malt-​shop chic with the checkered tiles and all.
However, I got the basic pork spiedie and it was fantastic. Asked the server what to put on it and she said «nothing» and she was right. The spices and the juice permeated the bun and it was a beautiful experience. The Speidissimo, not so much. Had it with chicken which was again tender (not as good as the pork) but the other ingredients were a distraction and the pita was a disaster to eat while I was chugging up 7 with my donut tire.
4 instead of 5 stars only because this location does not serve the cookie promised for Unilocal check-​ins, which is apparently only available at the mother ship.

Over the years I would stop in for a Greek spieidie which was an ⁸⁄₁₀ for flavor. Today (4÷17÷14) I stopped in. I don’t know what I got but it was the worst sandwich I ever saw. One bite and it went in the garbage. The come down in quality was appalling., little round chunks of meat in a vile sauce on a stale bun. I’ll have to come through town earlier so I can catch Pete’s Legacy on the Old Vestal Road.

3 to 5 years ago i used to go here a lot because i worked in that area of town. now i only go every so often and the quality seems to have gone down. i like to go to the front street one when i can, they seem to put more care into their food. it’s odd because front street is a smaller restaurant yet it seems they have more employees working during a shift than the vestal one does, maybe they put out better food because they split the work among more people, i dunno. what i don’t get is why the spiedies are cut differently at the vestal and front st locations. front street does more business and gets better reviews, so i don’t see why vestal wouldn’t do theirs the same as front street. i mean, it’s a chain restaurant, and aren’t chains supposed to be consistent?
i’ve had a lot of different things here. i’d stay away from the BBQ. the pulled pork has very little flavor and a gross texture. the meat is too shredded and sits around all day in sauce in a warming tray. i watched them make a pulled pork sandwich at front street and they take the meat (which looked like it had bigger pieces of pork) and put it on the griddle and then add sauce to it, and they toast the bun as well. as for the ribs, you can pick up a smoky flavor but unfortunately it’s a fake smoke flavor. i’ve had really tough ribs from these guys before and also ones that were just ok. the sauce is very generic. ordering wings from this place is a gamble too, it seems like sometimes they are crispy and meaty but other times they are smaller and just kinda boring. maybe it’s a freshness thing. their buffalo sauce is ok. it has bbq sauce in it or something. sometimes i’m in the mood for that style of sauce but most of the time i’m not. i’ve ordered hotter wings from them before but they didn’t come out that good. as for sides, the fries are usually pretty good. i’ve had fries there before that seem like they sat around a while. i’ve had their potato salad and their coleslaw before and both are just bland. i thought it was weird that their potato salad has carrots in it.
as for the staff, i’ve seen people there who know what they’re doing and a bunch of people who don’t. overall though it seems like they just don’t really care about their jobs. i’ve been in there before when the place was pretty dead and it was still pretty messy. the interior looks decent enough though, there’s a black, white, red, and gray color scheme goin on and the checkered floor gives it kind of a 50s feel. much better than that gross old carpet they used to have. hours are also inconsistent, if you don’t go there regularly you never know if they are going to be open or not on a sunday. i know they were always closed on sundays in the winter but in the last couple years i would go there during the summer on a sunday only to find a closed sign.
overall, this place can satisfy a spiedie craving in a pinch. if you have the time though check out their front street location, it’s much better, or if you want something a little more homemade try Pasquales on the east side or Stu’s place in endicott.

I had to have a spiedie here because that’s what Binghamton is known for. I came in and ordered a 6 inch chicken spiedie combo (with fries and a drink). The total came to $ 8. When I got the food, I was like it’s literally chicken and bread but it was amazing. The spices and herbs that the chicken is marinated in really makes the sandwich. They also do different combos and types of spiedies — could order it 12 inch as well or sandwich instead of sub. Definitely got me hooked since I had more during the weekend I was there.

My girlfriend is from the Binghamton area and she always raves to me about how delicious spiedie’s are. We were driving in Vestal and I immediately noticed the sign for Spiedie and Rib Pit. I made here pull over because I had to give it a try. I really liked the different combinations of spiedie’s there are. My girlfriend however, recommended that I try the original first. My first impression of the original spiedie was a little disappointing. The chicken was dry. I was hoping that it would be really moist due to the famous spiedie marinade. To be positive, I enjoyed the bread it came on. It was sesame and it was really soft and chewy. This is the way I like it.
Overall, like I said, I was a bit disappointed in my first ever spiedie. I am definitely willing to give it another shot though. Maybe if I go for another combination I will enjoy it a lot more.

The greater Binghamton area is known for their spiedies, and the Spiedie and Rib Pit is one of the easier places to find spiedies in the area. The restaurant is nothing special, more of a greasy spoon or grill than anything else. While they do have other menus on their item, I had the classic chicken spiedie sub, which is tasty, but nothing over the top.

Normally I look on Unilocal or check the list of Diners Drive ins and Dives when deciding where to eat. But on a business trip to the Binghamton area with the family in April 2012, we found ourselves in Vestal on Vestal Parkway near the hotel, driving around looking for somewhere to eat. I saw this place off the side of the road and stopped in.
I got a buffalo chicken spiedie, a greek spiedie, and cheese fries. The wife got a spiediessimo and a salad and we got a cheeseburger for the kid. The buffalo chicken spiedie comes on a sesamee roll. and the fries (cheese on the side, I dipped) and it was enough for lunch, I saved the greek one for dinner.
We all thought the food was really good. We were worried it would be greasy but it totally wasn’t, I would definitely go back. I honestly didn’t find anything else in the immediate area that came close to Spiedie’s.

Something happened to this place since last summer. the dining room was messy and the food was more poorly put together than what I remember and the chicken was dry. I don’t know what happened but I used to like this place. now I drive to the one on front St. Not to mention I saw an employee (wearing a spiedie and rib pit shirt) hiding behind a dumpster, smoking what one could only assume was marijuana. 1 star.

This is a very causal place to eat. The curb appeal is zero and the inside décor is the same. We stopped here from the Unilocal recommendations and my yearning for something of the Greek persuasion.
I would not go out of the way to eat at spiedie’s. They have adequate food and the Greek spiedie is fair. Most of the food was cold! Chicken and pulled pork should not be served cold! Won’t go back.

So its my first time in Binghamton and my sister tells me that she read on blogs that you have to go to this place because Binghamton is known for their sandwiches. I have to admit I had hight hopes. When we got there I asked the girl as a first timer what we should get… she said hands down just a plain chicken… so that’s what I got.
Well…the chicken was dry, to the point I was chewing and chewing and had to drink a lot of water and the taste… honestly it wasn’t anything special. It tasted mostly like pepper.
I think in furture visits I’ll be skipping this place.

It was our first time in Binghamton (on a college tour for our son at SUNY Binghamton), and I had been told by friends not to miss the spiedies. We were staying at the Holiday Inn Express just down the road. I checked the reviews for this place beforehand, and they seemed adequate. Sure, there were other places to eat spiedies, but this one was so convenient.
I have to say, my rating may not adequately reflect the food itself. The spiedies and sides we ordered were good, but from the online reviews (on Unilocal and elsewhere) and their website, I had the impression that this was more like a regular rib joint, with a similar ambiance. Nope. This place had all the ambiance of a White Castle or a KFC (or less). Counter service, paper and plastic, and you serve yourself your own fountain drinks (but free refills!) It was not a wonderful place to sit and eat for weary travelers, and if I’d known that, I probably would have looked elsewhere, or at least taken the food back to the hotel to eat.
And we had a five year old with us, and they were out of chicken tenders. :/​
But…the spiedies were quite good, and the young counter people very accommodating. I ordered a chicken Caesar, my son a pork Endwell, and my husband a Greek. Plus we got an order of Buffalo wings and a large onion rings for the table. The five-​year-​old, denied chicken tenders, made do with a plain order of chicken spiedies and some french fries.
The chicken Caesar was really, really good (and really, really drippy… get extra napkins!). I had a bite of the Endwell, and that was also delicious. However, my husband reported that the Greek was pretty much a chicken souvlaki on a pita, and since we’re from Astoria, it was nothing new or unusual (but what can you expect?) The Buffalo wings were okay, definitely edible but not the best I’ve had and not very hot.
The onion rings were perfect. Too-​hot-​to-​eat-​at-​first rings of real onion battered just right.
And the kids behind the counter were friendly (and quite apologetic about the lack of chicken tenders). So overall, I would recommend it for a fast, tasty bite to eat.

It was 3:00 PM and my sister’s graduation dinner reservation at Fuji San Restaurant wasn’t until 6:00PM so my dad and I figured we had plenty of time for food at Spiedie’s before dinner. My dad recommended us splitting one sub so we didn’t «spoil our appetite» like there could be a thing. We can always eat. After challenging his manhood, we started ordering spiedies by the handful.
Initially we ordered two subs but as we were waiting for the subs, my dad suggested ordering cheese fries. I initially turned down my dad’s suggestion for cheese fries, but then I felt as if my manhood was in question so I said, «All right, let’s have some cheese fries.» After all, I couldn’t fit into my dress pants anyway so what difference was an order of cheese fries going to make.
The Greek style spiedie served in pita was five stars. The chicken was perfectly seasoned and a great blend of feta cheese and vegetables. The grilled pita was delicious.
The buffalo style chicken spiedie was good. It was a solid three stars but I didn’t think the roll was anything special and the blue cheese sauce slightly overpowered the taste of the chicken.
The cheese fries were a solid four stars. The fries were hot, crisp, and served with melted cheese.
After we split two subs and fries, we felt the Greek pita was by far the best so we went to the counter to order another; however, as we were about to order the Greek pita, I made a last minute game time decision for us to try the chicken caesar spiedie on a pita just so between the two of us we would have tried every spiedie at this place.
The chicken caesar spiedie is also served in a pita and was delicious. This was a solid four stars. I thought the seasoning was equally as good as the seasoning on the Greek style spiedie. The reason I can’t give it quite a five star rating is the absence of cheese. It’s a chicken caesar spiedie so would have liked parmesan cheese in the pita, otherwise the spiedie was perfect.
After we had tried just about every spiedie at Spiedie & Rib Pit to the amusement of the girl behind the counter, I was stuffed and ready to leave but as we were about to leave, my dad mentioned getting Smartfood popcorn to wash down the subs and fries. I said, «All right dad, I give up; you are the better eater; just don’t get the Smartfood; I’m going to be sick.»
I’ll never question my dad’s manhood when it comes to food again. On this day, he took me to school and showed me a lesson in eating. I foolishly questioned his manhood when he initially suggested splitting one small spiedie but he clearly emerged victorious in our eating battle. A good meal and time had by all.