Pizza—a food of Italian origin with roots going back as far as sixth century B.C.—is eaten by just about everyone in the United States today. With an endless variety of toppings, crusts, and sauces available to customize the pizza, it is easy to see why it has such widespread likeability.
It is commonly said that pizza is a difficult dish to screw up; even bad pizza is still pretty good, and we at Ridiculous Review believe this to be the truth—it is very difficult to make a bad pizza. However, even the best pizza can be overshadowed by questionable service. Our trip to the pizzeria could not be a truer example of this.
We were greeted by a cheery waiter who promptly seated us and took our orders. Despite the dimly-lit dining area and its outdated decorations, his friendly smile lit up the room as he brought us our drinks, making pleasant conversation all the while.
A glass of lemon-lime fizzy drink with a shot of sweet strawberry flavor is the recommended route for drinks at this pizzeria. It is a fresh twist on the average lemon-lime drink, and it complements the salty pizza.
Shortly after the arrival of our beverages, the friendly waiter was replaced with a cheery but awkward waitress. She failed to announce the switch but instead simply began her duties at our table with no introduction. Soon she arrived with the appetizers we had ordered with the original waiter.
We did enjoy the fried cheesy potato bites. They were lightly salty, spiced with jalapeño peppers, and were served with a ranch dipping sauce. However, these appetizers did not appease our hunger as we waited for our pizza to arrive. The portion size was far too small, especially for the price that went with it.
At this point, our new server started acting strangely. She cleared the serving dish from the appetizer, but not the appetizer plates we had stacked nearby. We waited patiently, and soon she arrived with our entrée of pizza, but no additional plates. Hungry, we un-stacked our appetizer plates and used them for the pizza.
As soon as we had pulled at the strings of cheese to free our first slices of pizza, the waitress was back at our booth carrying two cardboard take-out boxes.
“I saw you had two kinds of pizza, so I brought out two boxes right away,” she said.
We thanked her, but were appalled. Never before had we felt so unwelcome at a restaurant. It seemed that this waitress wanted nothing than for us to finish our food and leave. Perhaps her greatest joy in life was wiping pizza crumbs off tables.
But her antics were not through. As we bit into our first slices of rich and hearty meat-lovers pizza and the nearly greaseless chicken and veggie pizza (which very much reminded us of Mardi Gras with its purple and green coloration), the waitress appeared at our table once more—not to ask us if we would like dessert—but to deliver the bill.
Unsure what to say about the arrival of a bill so early in the evening, we watched dumbly as the rather large woman proceeded to lean over the booth’s table, trying—for some reason—to stand the bill holder on the far end of the table while suspending her expansive cleavage over the majority of our meal.
Unfortunately, the waitress missed the first time she set down the bill and had to correct it so that it was no longer standing on the edge of our pizza. Later, after eating the pizza, we would wonder about the unknown number of Pizza Hut customers who might have touched the faux leather bill holder before the waitress placed it on our meal.
STARS: 2 out of 5
ATMOSPHERE: Outdated and dark with pop music playing on the speakers.
SERVICE: Awkward and inexperienced though cheery.
RECOMMENDED: Meat-lovers pizza.
DRINKS: Lemon-lime fizzy drink with a shot of strawberry flavor.
PRICES: Reasonable entrées, but small portions of appetizer.