Upon the suggestion of Big Jim at BarCamp Orlando, we went to Dan’s Midnight Pizza in Downtown Orlando near Wall Street Plaza. This will be the first and last time I listen to Big Jim! Dan’s Sandwich Shoppes (midnight pizza) is located on 28 S. Orlando Ave in Downtown Orlando. 407.425.8881. This place is not a place I will try again.
In case you cannot understand the audio above, here is the transcript:
A man calls ASDA customer service to complain that he got a pizza with no toppings only to realize that he had opened it upside down. This is one of the dumber pizza calls I have heard.
Operator: Please wait and we will connect you with the next available colleague who will be happy to help.
Customer Service: Good afternoon you’ve reached the ASDA service team how may I help?
Man: Yeah, I’m really not happy I’d like to make a complaint.
Customer Service: Okay sir, what’s he complaint about?
Man: Well listen I’ve just bought a pizza in ASDA and I have to admit there’s actually no topping on it. That’s my dinner for the night.
Customer Service: No topping on it what so ever?
Man: Nope, just bread.
Customer Service: Just bread, not a spot of sauce?
Man: No not even tomato sauce, just bread.
Customer Service: Okay, sorry about that first of all and thanks for letting us know about this information. So what I’m going to do now is I’m going to…and this is where we’re going to give you a letter of apology and as a gesture because of the inconvenience caused by our product and the package in details we’ll be able to launch an investigation on why this happened…
Man: What about my dinner now though am I going to go hungry?
Customer Service: If you go back they’ll be able to exchange it to you.
Man: I got to go all the way back just to take this bloody pizza back. Can I get a new one with toppings on?
Customer Service: Well sorry about that sir because all I can do is…
Man: Can you get one delivered?
Customer Service: Can I get one delivered?
Man: It’s just a long way for me. It’s a long way to go.
Customer Service: Unfortunately I can’t provide that service for you. Which area do you live in?
Man: I mean just look…oh wait I…sorry I’ve opened it upside down.
Customer Service: Are you being serious?
Man: Right, right that’s why there was no topping. It’s a nightmare all the toppings are falling off. I was…
Customer Service: I’m sorry for laughing.
Man: But it’s still not dinner for me I mean all the toppings are on the bottom, can I still take it back?
Customer Service: I think you can as long as you get a new one.
Man: I mean at the end of the day I mean this probably happens all the time. It doesn’t say on the box open this way up for your pizza.
Customer Service: You carry it home…
Man: I didn’t know…
Customer Service: You can still eat it…
Man: …all the stuff is falling off.
Customer Service: Send you this letter of apology…
Man: Do me a favor if it’s a letter of apology don’t mention that I open it upside down it makes me look like a fool. Come on it’s not that funny I bet everybody does it.
Customer Service: …
Man: …so what do I have to do just take it back as is?
Customer Service: After this claim you can just throw it away.
Man: Listen I’m too embarrassed to…I know you think it’s funny but I feel deeply ashamed of myself so…
Customer Service: Don’t worry about that sir.
Man: No don’t worry you obviously know how to…so I can imagine it’s my own fault I should have opened it by the picture like you said. Listen don’t worry, I’ll just scrape it together you know…
Customer Service: No sir, I’ll still get you the letter of apology…
Man: …
Customer Service: …
Man: …sort it out.
A discounted gift card to Renzo’s Pizza in Boca Raton. This could be a sign of things to come for the economy, or show us how ripped off we were getting previously paying full price, or even just show that Renzo’s pizza was really wholesale quality pizza in disguise?
This is an interesting trend, which I wonder if we will see more of. In my personal opinion, Renzo’s has managed to cheapen its brand by including themselves in a warehouse shopping club. When is the last time you have seen busy restaurants have to offer 20% off cards to get people to dine there? Besides putting themselves in a walmart type of setting, Renzo’s is opening a few places around town currently. Wonder if they didn’t do market research to see what happened to Boboli’s, Roboli’s, Carlucci’s, Sal’s, Rotelli’s, and many others who thought because one place was doing well, that they would saturate the market, and ultimately close down almost every store they opened outside of their original one.
So, one must question what the motivation is to offer 20% off cards at Costco Mr. Renzo? Your stores seem to be busy, and the food doesn’t suck. What would lead you to associate yourself with bulk cheapness? People are normally embarrassed to shop at discount stores, in fear of being seen their by neighbors. Do you want them to feel the same way when going to your dining establishments?
A new place opened up in the former space that used to house Bilotti’s Pizza, or maybe it was Boboli’s Pizza, or maybe even Sal’s. Who knows they all looked alike once inside, and pretty much all had the same crappy taste to them. Another mom and pop shop opened up soon after, but seemed to go out of business just as fast. Now it is Mediterranean Pizza’s turn to step up and try and make this hidden location work. Mediterranean Pizza is located on 8903 Glades Road, 561.488.8883 in the TJ Maxx shopping center. You cannot see it from the road, so don’t even try to look.
My wife needed to go and get something at TJ Maxx, and I noticed that there was a sign that said pizza outside the restaurant, soon after it opened. I ventured in and walked up to the counter to order a slice to go. The waitress, must have asked me no less then 10 times if I wanted to try the Turkish Pizza instead of a “cheese” slice. I said no politely the first 9 times, and by the tenth I just looked at her sternly and said, I ordered a plain slice and that is most likely EXACTLY what I want.
The pizza guy eventually got around to finding a slice of pizza, which seemed to be sitting out for a while, and then piled on some extra mozz cheese on top of it. Right off the bat I assumed that this pizza was stale, tasted terrible, and they were putting on the cheese to hide what was underneath it. Anyways, no other places does this so I thought it was somewhat unique. When the slice came out, it didn’t taste too bad. Since it was laying around for so long, the crust was extremely crisp and managed to have a quality taste to it.
The strange part about this slice was I couldn’t tell if they had any cheese on the slice in the first place, or just left a pie laying around with only sauce and dough? As an expert I should have easily been able to tell this, but once they put the new cheese on, it made it extremely hard to tell. All-in-all it was an ok experience and I figured I would go back and try again.
During my second visit to Mediterranean Pizza, I took my son to get some new taste buds in the mix. We ordered a small plain pie from the un-attentive waitress, and started to wait. Based upon the time I ordered the pizza to when it went into the oven was a long time. This was obviously due to our waitress being unorganized. When the pizza finally came out of the oven it looked really good. This time there was no extra cheese placed on top of it like my previous time. They should learn to be consistent and serve the slices and the pies the same way. I liked how little sauce was placed on the pie and soon took my first bite. My son took his first bit around the same time and we both gave each other a look of disappointment. The dough was well undercooked, and tasted pretty bland. The cheese even didn’t have a great taste to it, and I would comment on the sauce, but like I said earlier, there wasn’t really any. Based on my experience with our server (we were there for over an hour total, for a small pie) and the lack of effort placed into this pie, I will give Meditteranean Pizza 3 out of 8 slices. If they want to put a little more TLC into their pies, they can contact me and I will happily come in again to try it.
Mmm, doesn’t that pizza look so fresh and tasty? Want to guess where it’s from? No. No. And no–I’ll pretend you didn’t read the headline. As much I love Leona’s, I never really associated its yum factor with their pizza. I finally tried it, and I was absolutely delighted.
Leona’s is always great to visit. The atmosphere is comfortable; the servers are attentive; and the food is always plentiful, delicious, and affordable. The wine list, although not extensive, is well-priced and perfectly savory. The pizza, as you can see, is packed with fresh toppings. The pizza seems to be cooked nearly until completion and then the vegetables are placed atop and cooked briefly last. It made for a very pleasant, satisfying surprise of crispy green peppers and mouth-watering mushrooms. In fact, I really enjoyed the overall “crunch” of the pizza; the crust was fantastically crispy. The layers of cheese, sauce, and toppings were well-balanced, and everything did taste incredibly fresh.
I was really happy I decided to try Leona’s pizza. Their 1950 Traditional pizza seen here cost around $13, and there was plenty for 2 people. Visit any of the 12 Leona’s locations in Chicagoland. Check out www.leonas.com to visit the one closest to you.
Leona’s Pizza gets 7 out of 8 slices
After tweeting about it for a month, we finally held the first PizzaTweetup in South Florida. Last night 34 pizza lovers from Twitter gathered at Tucci’s Pizza in Boca Raton.
A little history on how the event came to be. Tucci’s Pizza recently opened up where Red Rock Pizza used to be in Boca.
Just spoke to our latest site sponsor The Pizza Butler’s founder Manny Velis. He told me the story of how they came up with the idea and the immediate success they have had with the product after launching it at the Las Vegas Pizza Expo in March. He says:
Six years ago my family and I moved to Tampa, Florida where for the first time in my life, I got involved in the restaurant business. As the owner of an extremely well known and popular 80‐seat restaurant called Formaggios Pizzeria Restaurant, I quickly realized that owning a restaurant was a 24‐hour, 7‐day a‐week business that demanded tremendous attention.
One Sunday evening at Formaggios I saw one of my waiters struggling to balance an 18” pie with one hand while trying to reposition items on the dinner table with his other so that the additional pie would fit. I have 42” square tables yet my wait staff still had difficulty finding room for two pies on the table. This was a regular
occurrence.
That particular day while watching my waiters jockey for table space, I was struck
with an idea for a space saving tray. It was a vision I knew I could produce back in
New York at my business, Hi‐Tech Metals, which manufactures high‐end metals. So I flew back first thing Monday morning, quickly designed and fabricated a prototype, and shipped it back to Florida the next day. As soon as we tried it in our restaurant, we all knew the headaches of our space issues were over. I immediately pulled it from use and went to a patent attorney.
This little “Z” pan was perfection. I decided to call it “THE PIZZA BUTLER.”
I have already changed the tables in my restaurant. I switched all my two top, six top and four top tables, which were 42” in depth to 30” which has allowed me to
successfully add 5 more tables to my restaurant. I am now turning over 22 tables
instead of 17.
We have been using The Pizza Butler for over four months now and the pan never
ceases to evoke endless comments. There has yet to be a single customer who has
not remarked on this unique and innovative pan.
Got a tip from someone the other day, that someone who used to work at Anthony’s had opened his own place up in Lighthouse Point, named Sicilian Oven. So naturally Mikey and I, made the journey to go and try it. The Sicilian Oven is located on 2486 N Federal Hwy 954.785.4155. When we located the place, I remember it being a DiSalvos or something like that. It was a place we tried many many years ago and didn’t really care for, so when we saw it no longer in business it came as no surprise.
The Sicilian Oven smelled great when we walked in, and we were seated within a view of the ovens that they use. Watching a fully flamed oven is kind of beautiful, especially when they throw some oil in there to heat it up! We ordered a small regular pie to split, and anxiously awaited for the first bite.
When the pizza arrived, it looked fantastic. We both took and slice, and upon biting in, we both looked at each other and gave the eyes of bliss to one another. This pizza was great. The crust was tasty and crisp, the cheese tasted awesome, and the olive oil they used on top of the pie after removing it from the oven, gave this slice such a rich taste. Ideally, I would take some of the chunks out of the sauce guys. The sauce was a little too heavy for my liking, but tasted decent. So it wasn’t nearly enough of a negative to take any points away from the overall experience. This is a place we will definitely try again if we are in the area, and we recommend to anyone who thinks Anthony’s Coal Pizza is good, to try this place before making that statement. The Sicilian Oven is far better then Anthony’s.
The Sicilian Oven gets 7 out of 8 slices.
As if the first Rosa’s pizza wasn’t awesome enough, they have a second one not too far away. The Rosa’s Pizza located in Midldle Village, Queens, is located on only like 10 minutes from the other one in Maspeth, Queens.
Although this Rosa’s was seemingly delicious, it wasn’t as good as the previous slices we had at the one in Maspeth. Maybe it was due to the fact that the Maspeth location was busier and had fresh pies coming out all day, and that the Middle Village one had to reheat theirs, but if I had to pick one or the other I would pick Maspeth.
Rosa’s Pizza in Middle Village might have been one of the best slices I had that day, had I not gone to the other Rosa’s before hand. It is important to note, that this pizza was still exceptional, and well worth going to. If you haven’t eaten at Spumoni Gardens or the other Rosa’s Pizza, you might think you have found the perfect slice actually. Rosa’s does server regular slices, but they are known for their Upside Down Sicilian, which they call Red.
The fresh Mozzarella cheese is baked into the dough and the sauce is added on top, with some parm cheese. The sauce is amazingly sweet and tasty, and all-in-all everything about this pizza says quality.
Rosa’s Pizza in Middle Village gets 7 out of 8 slices.
The
Last night, I had pizza at the Mecca Supper Club in Edison Park, Chicago. The Mecca is a cozy bar/restaurant that is known for its karaoke nights as well as its loyal group of patrons. The Mecca has a number of home-cooked, hearty dinner entrees, but the pizza seems to be just as popular as the dinner meals. In fact…the pizza is definitely more popular during late-night, after-karaoke hours.
Mecca pizza tastes like a traditional pizza, but they make a few variations that make it slightly different from your usual slice. There is more of an emphasis on spices, and you taste in the sausage and atop the layer of cheese. They also bring out Romano cheese (or possibly Parmesan), but not in the dusty crumbles we usually find in pizza shakers, but like the shredded mozzarella you find at the grocery store. You sprinkle some on top, and you notice the positive addition of flavor! The cheese and sauce taste pleasant, but it’s the fresh toppings and spices that bring out the flavor. The pizza is also very affordable (a 9-inch costs about $8, and a 15-inch costs around $14).
The pizza is a good pizza, but it’s the atmosphere that makes Mecca pretty special. It is very much seen as neighborhood pub but is welcoming to all types of visitors, of all types of ages. I would like to point out that it seems as if the Mecca is continuing to make some additions to their design (with new plasma screen TVs and a few more booths). Check out www.meccasupperclub.com for more information or visit 6666 N. Northwest Highway in Northwest Chicago.
Mecca Supper Club gets 6 out of 8 slices.
