Lucia K.
Yelp
Let's start with the positives. The server was really very sweet with the two little girls (ages 6 and 8) at our table. He also didn't hesitate when I asked him to take our photo. And he was moderately patient with a group of 5 of us, including two senior citizens and two indecisive (albeit well-mannered) children, when taking our order.
Nonetheless, I was soured overall by my lunchtime experience at Piazza Pellegrini for the following reasons:
I arrived first, at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Friday. There was only one other couple in the inside of the restaurant, and they were finishing up. I told him my friend and her grandchildren were on their way and that we had a group of four. He sat me down and asked if I'd like a drink while I waited. I chirpily requested a diet coke with lime. He brought me a diet coke in about a 6 oz. glass that was mostly ice -- with lemon. Ok. Whatever.
My friend finally arrived with her grandchildren ... and her husband. I jumped up to greet them at the door and turned to the server and said, "Oh, I guess we have five. Can we move to that table?" (The one right behind the original. Again, no one else in the place. And the only thing we had to move was my drink, which I did myself). He bristled and said, "You said it was four." Like he wanted to sue me for breach of contract. I let the attitude slide just as I had the mostly-ice drink with lemon, not lime.
Ok, so then we get the kids' menus for the kids (a nice menu, really), and we all order. The pizza was good, but not great. Stiff competition for great pizza in North Beach, and we are not only all locals, but ITALIAN locals (going back generations). We know good pizza.
We found that we had to get his attention for extra parmesan, etc. And the oil on the table turned out to be a spicy oil. That would have been good to know.
Throughout our meal, he mostly just left us alone. Didn't rush us or anything. But also didn't seem to care about our experience: did we have everything we needed, how was everything. And it wasn't like he was overwhelmed with other customers.
Eventually, the time came for me to ask for a box to take home my remaining pizza. I'd only eaten one piece of it, intending all along to bring most of it home to enjoy for dinner with my husband. And he brought me--not, not a pizza box--a small box one would scoop remaining pasta into. That was a real head-scratcher. I mean, this is an Italian restaurant with a pizza and pasta menu. You don't bring me a proper pizza box?? Did they not have pizza boxes?? I'm genuinely asking! But I was kinda done trying to politely deal with this guy (who was clearly not Italian, just saying), and I just piled the pizza slices on top of each other and squished my pizza into the little box, barely closing the top over it. By this time, I was irked.
Finally, he brought the check to my friend's husband (the "nonno" / grandfather of the little girls), and my friend's husband paid.
NOW HERE'S THE KICKER. READY?
A few minutes later, he returned to our table and to my friend's husband saying (indicating toward me), "She ordered a soda before you arrived when she was sitting at the other table. She said there were only for of you. I forgot to charge for the soda. I need to charge you for that." SERIOUSLY?!?
And that's the moment I decided I would not return. Really really poor judgment. This is the hospitality business. And the ITALIAN hospitality business, at that. You need to be a lot more hospitable than that.
Do better.