Just say "no" to Pizano's

I don't know if this is a chain restaurant or what, but there are two in Chicago...

My partner and I were in Chicago for a few days and we stopped at Pizano's, a pizza/Italian restaurant. Well, it all started with waiting in line for about a half hour without getting our names for a seat. Then we sit down and it took us fifteen minutes to get our drink order. Then after another fifteen or twenty minutes, Adam had to flag down our waiter for him to take our order, which was a Vegetarian Special (since we are vegetarians and all). While we waited for our pizza, Adam drank his beer and it was empty for AT LEAST twenty minutes. Our server didn't even ask him if he wanted anything else. Instead, he just took his empty glass and left.

After an hour of waiting for a thin crust pizza, the server brings it out and it has CHICKEN on it. I yell over at the waiter and say, "SIR!", he comes over and I say "We ordered a vegetarian special, this has chicken on it." He says, "oops, I guess I punched it in wrong." He takes it away and comes back saying it will only take about five minutes. He brings it out and I take a bite and I'm thinking to myself, "wow this tastes pretty weird". then I look over and Adam is picking a piece of chicken off of his piece of pizza. I about lost it. Adam called the server over, "Can I talk to your manager?" The server got really defensive and says, "Well, why?"

I point to the several pieces of chicken Adam had on his plate, "Do you see this? This is chicken. Thank you, now you're going to get us really sick."

He has the BALLS to reply, "We didn't want you to wait another hour for your food, so we just picked the chicken off."

While I'm grabbing my coat, I'm furious, "Are you freaking kidding me? WE ordered a vegetarian special, because WE DON'T EAT MEAT!" At this point, the whole area that we are sitting in have stopped eating and are staring at us. We walked right out of the restaurant, without paying. I stood outside fuming as Adam went in to talk to the manager. I think if I would have went in, I would have got arrested.

What would have happened if we were ALLERGIC to chicken or BBQ sauce (which was what was still on the pizza...NOT pizza sauce)??? Maybe I overreacted...but I don't think so...I mean it was a REALLY TERRIBLE experience....even before they took the chicken off of our pizza.

Anyway, is it common for restaurants to simply take toppings off of pizza if it came with the wrong toppings and reserve it with the RIGHT toppings?

 

Most pizza joints I have eaten at take the toping off the pizza... actually almost every restaurant that is not upscale just takes the topings off.

I am not a vegetarian, but I do often go through vegetarian periods... I recall eating at an Applebees or some sort of restaurant like that, maybe Chilli's and I ordered some pasta with a bunch of veggies... they ofcourse put some bacon in it. I told them to that I ordered it without bacon, so they took it back... brought it to the table in 5 minutes, and ofcourse it tasted like bacon.

I did what you did, just left. If I am payin' for service, I do expect service.

 

Amen.

That's why USUALLY, I will say I'm allergic to something they have put on it...I know they don't want a lawsuit on their hands...but...I was so pissed off at the whole situation I just lost it.

 

man i'd be pretty angry too, thats terrible

 

Oh Annie thats terribel...really, never think you overreacted. That made me sick just thinking about it. As a vegan the thought of chicken meat fullstop is sickening, but the way they showed such little respect for your stance...

I dont know a single vegan/vegetarian who would eat a pizza which had had chicken all over it. Especially as there was still some left! Sick stuff, you poor lady. Hopefully one day restaurants will wake up to the ever rising demand and start learning

-Maxi

 

Sadly there is not too much raising demand.

99% of the restaurants in the US target the average consumer...

Fat...and defenatly not a vegetarian.

 

Restaurants dont give a shit. why should they? one customer lost dosent really hurt them. most of the poeople that work in them are stoned out drunks anyways.

 

more restaurants around here are getting vegetarian foods, i found the best places to be in more liberal cities, montreal is amazing when it comes to variety of food, for both vegetarian and meat eaters alike

 

Because of lawsuits that's why. If I had the money and especially if I was ALLERGIC to something that they had "just taken off" of my pizza. You'd better bet they'd have a lawsuit on their hands.

 

we served boca burgers that was cooked on the same grill as real burgers. just so you know

 

Most places do...that's why I don't order "Boca Burgers" when I go out to eat...

 

theyre actually pretty good when you deep fry em.

 

annie, you complain alot when you go out to eat........

people do make mistakes, if you were on the other side of the table, as a server or a cook, youd think differently about the way customers treat you......

Im not agreeing with this particular servers actions, mind you.... IM just saying that maybe you should have handled things a little bit different.....

and is this "paisano's restaurant"??? Ive heard of that chain before....... we have one of those here....

and we cook veggie burgers on the same grill as we do with our chicken, burgers and steaks..... you cant really get just a separate grill just for veggie items

 

Some restaurants just suck. It doesn't mean the whole chain does.

If you go to a restaurant that handles meat, you are going to have cross contamination in whatever veggie options they offer...people with serious allergies shouldn't eat at a place that serves whatever they are allergic to.

But, if someone simply picked through my food...I would be pissed. I can pick through my own food, thanks. What you wanted was a new meal.

 

you could always just nuke the veggie burger.

 

Haha, I love that word "nuke".

First time I heard it used in reference to a microwave was this summer.

A friend's dad, Dennis, ( who is completely insane, and capable of anything... and does way too many drugs ) said that we're going to "nuke" some hotdogs.. I had no idea that "nuke" meant to microwave something.

My immidiate reaction was "Shit, where the fuck did Dennis get Uranium!?!"

 

I do?

I didn't treat anyone badly until the end of the line...I didn't treat him like crap until he tried to justify picking shit off of my food.

So tell me, how should I have handled it? Would you like someone picking through YOUR food?

 

thats hilarious that they still tryed to make it seem like a new pizza when it had bbq sauce instead of tomato sauce

I agree, its kind of gross thinking of them hand picking stuff off of it

my dad always said "nuke" so I always thought of that as dorky

 

Why would anyone go to a restaurant for a microwaved TV dinner? Might just as well stay home.

 

Sounds like you went a lousy pizza joint. Here in Colorado I went to a pizza joint called the Bea Jou, I waited an hour for the pizza and complained to the manager when I left. Didn't do any good, I haven't been back since.

Might as well go to a different pizza joint I have!





Bustramp