Nicky G’s Review: I love Nicky G’s!
11/12/07 • Posted in: Downtown Jacksonville, Reviews by Joey Marchy 15 Comments »
Photo compliments of Metro Jacksonville
I love Nicky G’s! So does everyone else. The community has chimed in, now I will.
I guess you can see how this review is going to go. Believe me though, it’s not all a sugar-coated, love-fest. To summarize: the food was amazing, the service needs some help.
I’ve been wanting to go to Nicky G’s ever since they opened last month and the Jags vs Saints game last Sunday provided the perfect excuse for ordering some take out. I ordered a medium cheese, medium chicken hawk (add spinach), wings (hot) and some garlic knots.
If you like your pizza thin with big, fat doughy crusts, then Nicky G’s is your joint. The pizza reminds me of pizza in New York or, of all places, Austin. I fell in love instantly with the fact that the pizza did not have cheese and grease overload.
I arrived to pick up my order and they forgot my garlic knots. Not a big deal since I wasn’t in a hurry. So I ordered a beer (which I ended up not having to pay for, bonus!) and took some time to absorb the atmosphere. I really like the interior. Open, clean, big TV’s, HUGE booths, although someone pointed out a potential issue with the booths. I could see myself hanging out there for the game or after a night at the bar.
As I was sitting and observing I could see things were a bit frantic. Which was weird because there weren’t that many people there. This concerned me, since I couldn’t imagine how frantic things would be if there were more people there. This illustrates the basic shortcoming of Nicky G’s: inexperience. If they can focus on the improving the customer experience and maintaining a high degree of customer service I think they could be very successful.
So you know I like the pizza. Their pizza’s are big, I mean huge. If you normally order a large, you’ll be good with a medium. The garlic knots were not the best I have had in this city. The wings are good, and I consider myself a wing fan or professional or whatever. The hot is hot as hell. Like my lips were burning hot. Like eat a wing every 10 minutes hot. I hear they have lots of wing sauces too. Angelo’s has better garlic knots, but since they never seem to answer their phone anymore, Nicky G’s is my new spot.
So all-in-all I was very happy with my Nicky G’s experience. I will continue to go there and monitor the service. I’ll keep ordering pizza beer and wings and I look forward to trying the Beer Buzz pizza. Thanks to the guy who was making my pizza who comped the beer. It was a good move and shows they are at least service oriented.
Agreed. I enjoyed the pizza as well, but here are some customer service tips for Nicky’s:
1) Greet the customer as he/she enters.
2) Identify the customer’s needs after they arrive: “Will you be dining in today? Or have you placed a takeout order with us?”
3) Thank the customer for their business. “Thanks for your business. I hope you enjoy it and please see us again!”
-JP
The daytime pizza is much more acceptable than the latenight pizza.
There’s to much sauce and cheese, plus the ingredients were all lumped in the center rather than evenly spread to the edge. This causes a very large crust, and makes it impossible to pick up a slice without loosing all of it’s contents.
The crust is good however! That’s the most important! It just needs to be prepped properly so the thickness is the same throughout the slice.
The ingredient list is exciting and appealing, but consistency will make or break a business.
Sorry for being a pizza snob, I have a long history in the biz.
And thanks to all the firefighters for extinguishing my burning apartment last week!
Nicky G’s is 50/50 with me so far. 2 experiences, the first (eat in) was A (food and service). 2nd experience (delivery) D- (food and delivery time).
When I called in for a home delivery they told me the delivery driver had lost his keys…..pretty funny
I’ve been there twice - both on chaotic occasions: 1am on the Friday night of FL/GA weekend and last Wednesday evening during Art Walk.
To echo an above comment - yes, there is no one to greet you when you arrive. We kind of sat down and eventually a server came by the first time. The 2nd time we sat at the bar for like 7-8 minutes watching everyone whizz around before someone gave us eye contact and asked if we were helped.
Food is very good - I am very happy with the pizza. Their mediums are huge - almost to the point that I wonder whether their portion control is costing them money.
I imagine the service will figure itself out over time. The food and the fact that’s it’s a local downtown business will bring me back.
Agree with all above. Been twice now and while the pizza is tasty the service is pretty horrific. They either need a host/hostess station to advise servers of customers being seated or just let people order at the counter and give them a number/postcard like Moon River. The first time we went, we sat at a booth for at least 15 minutes before anyone tried to assist. Their pizza is quite good (Beer Buzz rocks) and everyone loves Guitar Hero but poor service tips the scales in the wrong direction.
Oh, and I think they need to dim the lights too - it’s a little bright in there.
I agree with the review, and with a lot of what everyone says. Liked the pizza we had the first time we went (Bronx Bomber - keep it classic), and there was MORE than enough to go around. Service does need work, as we waited a long time for water or our orders (however, they did greet us upon arrival at the counter and asked if we would be dining in), and long pauses passed in between checking up on us, but I attribute those to growing pains.
Also, I understand that they advertise “stay open late on Fridays and Saturdays”, but it’s *as the demand fits, which didn’t help this past Saturday after we left TSI with the late-night munchies - quite disappointing. I think they should post a solid closing time on weekends like the rest of the days of the week…if they have not done so already.
Just my two cents…still good food though, and I will go back again…
Agreed on the service. Went there for lunch last wednesday.
Walked in and waiting in what I thought was the carryout/order line for 20 minutes. Then when we got to the front they told us to grab a table…instead of taking my order there. Got a table and we were able to order 10 minutes later. A couple of slices and cokes, pizza was good but burned.
I honestly couldn’t figure out the issue. I understand that a new business has to work out the kinks but seriously? 45 minutes for two slices of already cooked pizza? In a place that size it should be able to run with 1 dedicated cook, 1 dedicated order taker/manager, and 2 servers. On top of it after all that delay our waiter left to go outside and smoke/talk on the phone. We had to get another server to check us out!
I hope they turn it around, but I won’t be back for a month to see if their service improves.
Are they serving vegan pie? Plz?
We can at least all be agreed that the bad service isn’t because of your race. Everybody gets the same crappy treatment. I like it already. Kidding — but I will check it out.
if you want a vegan pie we can make one for you all you have to do is let us know what you want on it and we will arange it thank you everyone for your honesty on the food and service we have alot of the service bugs worked out now if there is any other suggestions please leave them i check this stuff alot
big john
Clear cups! That way the servers will know when you need a refill and less waste. Styrofoam is cheap, but so bad for the enviroment.
Don’t get your mouth set for late night downtown pizza, I went during normal business hours and was not served because there was a private party for the Springfield wine tasting club; this Is not the first or even second time I have not been able to eat at Nicky G’s during normal business hours. Too bad the pizza doesn’t live up to the hype.
I went there a month ago and haven’t returned. There was no clear indication where to order and about three servers at the register doing nothing. Also, when I commented on how vast the menu is, I was given a weird look as if I was stupid or something. Definitely took a while. We’ll see how things are in another month. I hope they get the service issues worked out. It’s a great place, but I’m also a quick boycotter.
We went the other night. We ordered food for 5 people, and were in and out in about 35-40 minutes (ordering, eating, paying, ect). They seem to be sorting though things.