Popular Restaurants In Cedar Falls
Reviews For Urban Pie
First time ordering from this place. Im not one to leave reviews however the pizza we received was terrible. It was clearly burnt and they attempted to scrap off the burnt bits and sent it..Im extremely disappointed.UPDATE:Urban Pie corrected this mistake and offered a refund.I appreciate the hospitality and for them taking responsibility for the situation.
Update: Cedar Falls River Place To Welcome Urban Pie
- PAT KINNEY
Left: The new Urban Pie in the new River Place building in Cedar Falls. Right: The Pink Peony Studio at the River Place in Cedar Falls.
- COURIER FILE PHOTOs
The gas powered pizza oven at Urban Pie at the new River Place building in Cedar Falls.
- MATTHEW PUTNEY, COURIER PHOTO EDITOR
- MATTHEW PUTNEY, COURIER PHOTO EDITOR
Justin Buck, the owner of Urban Pie Fast Fired Pizza, stands in the new River Place building Wednesday in Cedar Falls.
- MATTHEW PUTNEY photos, COURIER PHOTO EDITOR
NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that the restaurant will now open the week of Valentines Day, not this Wednesday as earlier reported.
CEDAR FALLS Justin Buck is fired up about River Place, the growing residential-commercial development in downtown Cedar Falls.
So much so, hes firing up a brick oven pizza restaurant there.
Bucks Urban Pie restaurant is scheduled to open there the week of Valentines Day. Itll be the final ground-floor commercial tenant, filling out the commercial space at the 200 State St. building.
Itll be a fast-fired Neapolitan type of pizza, said Buck, who moved back to the area from Arizona. We have an oven imported from Italy that rotates on the inside. It times out to about 90 seconds to 2 minutes as far as preparation time to cook.
The restaurant will have about 2,300 square feet of inside seating plus an outdoor patio.
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Leaving sunny Arizona for Iowa winters wasnt easy, but Urban Pie owner Justin Buck said it has been worth it.
He first opened the pizzeria with his business partners Derek Hamil and Blake Keating in Cedar Falls about a year ago. When they wanted to expand, they looked south for their second location and open in uptown Marion on Nov. 4. Buck moved to Marion to open the restaurant and is splitting his time between the two towns.
We really liked the community of Marion. Its a really supportive community, he said.
He had previously managed and opened restaurants for the Barmuda company in Cedar Falls, including VooDoo Lounge, The Stuffed Olive and Bourbon Street. Then he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and left the restaurant world behind. But when Hamil and Keating asked him if hed be interested in going into business, he said yes, even though it meant returning to the ice and snow.
He said the chance to own his own business was worth it.
I came back because I knew this would be something that was my own, he said. You have a little bit more passion, a little bit more motivation to do it, a desire for it to succeed.
He pointed to the growing number of eateries featuring fast-fired pizzas where customers walk through a line and pick out toppings as part of the inspiration for the business.
Everyone can get their own pizza, and nobody has to feel left out, Buck said. Its really about creating your own experiences as far as what you want to eat.
Eat up!
Urban Pie Cedar Falls
Lived in C.V. for almost 50 years. Except for 6 year Bachelor’s program in I.C. Saltiest food I have ever had. Not just pizza: Food. I didn’t have the heart to complain to my server bc so far she has been the most pleasant caucasian…Gen Z-er I’ve come across in the C.V. I can not see how someone that doesn’t smoke three packs of filter-less Pal Malls a day could stand the saltiness. Crust seemed very undercooked unless supposed to be that way. Insanely limp though. 10″ pizza. I had to hold on to it w/both hands so the piece wouldn’t flop down at the juncture between outer rim of crust and the sauce/cheese part.More
For wood fired pizza I would have liked it a little more “done”. It was good but nothing to write home about. I had the “Super Pepperoni” but I’m not sure what qualified it for super. It has less pepperoni on it than many pizzas…I’ve had. Big huge booths to accommodate bigger groups and fun that it’s on the plaza in downtown. There is outdoor seating. Live music on Friday nights makes this a keen location. Riverwalk is nearby.More
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Im hoping to employ possibly 25 to 30 people, he said, with four to 15 at any given time, depending on the day and level of business.
Buck, Blake Keating and Derek Hamil are partners in the restaurant.
I spent the last seven years in Phoenix, working for the University of Phoenix, Buck said. I had over 10 years of experience in restaurants and bars before. We talked to a couple of franchises and felt we knew the Cedar Valley better than any of those franchises. So it was something where we felt comfortable putting together our own type of concept, really, to fit this area.
Wed like to grow in the first couple of years, Buck said. Were focused on here, initially, to make sure we do this right, and then possible some other spots in eastern Iowa, maybe Marion or Cedar Rapids. Well see what happens, six months to a year, to see where we want to go.
Buck and his partners liked the River Place location, and specifically a plaza planned just north of 200 State, adjacent to their restaurant space.
We looked at multiple locations in Cedar Falls, but once we saw this location down here and talked to Mark and the rest of the crew here, what its going to draw as far as tourism or just community gathering opportunities, its something that were willing to put in the time for the next couple of years while this comes to completion to be a part of it. Its going to really grow and do a lot for the downtown.
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