Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night starring this week’s host, Knuckles Pizza & Sports Bar with special guest stars, Cecilia, Emily, Kelly, Ryan and Heidi, the birthday girl! And now, please welcome this week’s host, Knuckles Pizza & Sports Bar!
We’ve arrived at Knuckle’s Pizza and even though I’ve been here many times, I’m always impressed by this building! I love the clock way up top on the chimney over there. And look, they’ve put out a welcome sign for us, nice! Let’s go in and let this week’s Saturday night begin!
There’s the counter for take-out orders and next to it is a nice article in the Chillicothe Times-Bulletin about the opening of Knuckles. The kitchen is back there and I went back and got a photo of a pie being made, that sauce is homemade and delicious!
Okay, we’ll head down this hallway to the front dining room and look, it’s a birthday party! I went and barged in on their party and got a photo of their table, hey, it’s what I do! The bottom photo is the birthday girl, Heidi with her balloons. Happy birthday, Heidi!
Okay, time to head into the main dining room which just opened up about a year ago. As you can see it’s really nice and roomy in here with lots of tables, but look, the bar is pretty much wide open tonight, so I decided to sit there. And no sooner did I sit down than Cecilia, the pretty and friendly bartender on duty is there with an ice-cold bottle of beer, now that’s service!
The pizza here is fantastic and it’s the only place in town serving Quad City style pizza. If you don’t know what Quad City style pizza is, you can read all about it on their website right here. Since I was dining alone this week, I decided to go for something other than pizza and if you keep scrolling, you can see what I ordered!
Here’s a shot of my view of the back of the bar and then Cecilia let me go back there and get a photo of the different selections of beer on tap. As you can see, they have a great selection and there’s lots of styles of beer in cans and bottles as well. And if you’re not into beer, there’s wine and a full bar for all your drinking needs in here!
I went to the back of the dining room and took a photo from this perspective.
I love the ceiling in here and all this wood is re-purposed wood. It’s really rustic looking and really adds to the rustic atmosphere in here.
Knuckles bills itself as a sports bar, but there’s some cool musical photos and memorabilia on the walls in here too. There’s autographed photos of the album “Tommy” by The Who, B.B. King’s guitar, Lucille, an original Woodstock poster, a trio of John Lennon album covers and last but not least a poster for a Tommy Bolin tribute show! This is two week’s in a row that we’ve got a Tommy Bolin reference! I love it!
As I mentioned, Knuckles is a restaurant and a sports bar and here’s just some of the sports items and photos on display in here. There’s a case of vintage baseball bats, photos of Babe Ruth and Harry Caray and there’s a discreet gaming room in the back for all of you gamblers out there!
Both Emily and Kelly work here, but they’re off duty now and were enjoying themselves at the bar, great to meet and chat with both of them!
Speaking of the bar, check it out, I think dinner is just about to be served!
Yep, here’s Cecilia serving up this week’s Saturday night dinner! Let’s take a look at it!
I got the Meatball Sandwich and an order of the Roasted Potato Rounds and both dishes look so delicious! Let’s dig in, I’m starvin’ like you know who over here!
Wow, this was such a tasty and satisfying meal on a cold wintery night! You can read more about it in the review below, but the Potato Rounds were crispy, had a mountain of crumbled bacon on top and the cheese sauce was sharp and zingy! I loved the way they served the Meatball Sandwich! It’s served open-faced, so you get entire meatballs on the sandwich and there’s a layer of fresh mozzarella below the meatballs and homemade sauce and the bread is a toasted French loaf. This was so good it almost made me forget about the pizza in here!
But if you’ve ever had the pizza in here, you’ll never forget it. It’s really unique for the area and the crust is baked Quad City style and is delicious! Here’s a photo of the pizza from the luncheon buffet I took when we came here with Sarah and Brandon and had a musical lunch in here, you can see that post by clicking right here.
After dinner, Ryan came out from the kitchen and I had a nice chat and visit with him at the bar. Ryan’s family owns Knuckles and he told me that they’ve recently been having live music here in the main dining room and it’s been going great. This Saturday local and legendary musician, Greg Williams is performing here and if you’ve never seen Greg live, you should really check him out, he’s one of the most talented musicians in Peoria and he puts on a great live show! He’ll be playing here from 8PM to midnight this coming Saturday, so stop and check out the live music in here!
And now for the first obligatory bathroom mirror shot of 2017! Thanks to Cecilia, Ryan and everyone at Knuckles for a delicious meal and a fun Saturday evening. We’ll see you all tomorrow!
While Knuckles is known for their unique Quad City style pizza, there’s plenty of other options on the menu for dinner. I decided to try the Meatball Sandwich and the Roasted Potato Rounds and I was very pleased with my choices!
The Roasted Potato Rounds are made-to-order, so they take a few minutes to prepare, but they are worth the wait! They’re slices of roasted potatoes, cooked until crispy on the outside and nice and warm and fluffy on the inside. They’re served with a heaping pile of smoky bacon crumbles on top and sour cream and melted cheddar cheese to dip them in. These could be a meal all by themselves and they were fabulous!
I love the way the Meatball Sandwich is presented and plated. It’s an open-face sandwich and they serve the entire meatball on the sandwich and you get six meaty orbs on top of the bread and cheese. The meatballs are made with freshly-ground seasoned beef and topped with the homemade Knuckles pizza sauce and grated cheese. Below the meatballs are a layer of fresh mozzarella cheese and the base of the sandwich is a crispy French bread. This is a great and tasty twist on a Meatball Sandwich and I really enjoyed the meal.
SN Rating
Three and a half Galloping Gourmets—As much as I love the pizza here, this meal was fantastic! There’s other sandwiches, salads and appetizers available here, so even if you’re not in a pizza mood, there’s still no excuse not to stop out at Knuckles Pizza & Sports Bar for a fun time and a delicious meal!
Knuckles Pizza & Sports Bar
1719 W Woodside Drive
Dunlap, IL.
309-243-5900
facecrack page
Related Posts: Saturday Night @ The Lariat Steakhouse, Troy Ummel’s Connected and Jim’s Bistro.