Pizzateca — Restaurant in Adelaide

Round #2

So glad we gave Pizzateca another chance hoping our last visit was just a case of the post covid blues.

The pizza today was on point with lashings of fantastic toppings and a crisp fluffy base. Wifeys gluten free pizza was by far the best GF pizza in Adelaide.

We also shared the beans and lamb skewers.

Notable mention to our waitresses service, which was outstanding!!

Round #1

After all the great things I had heard about this place, I decided to round up the troops to celebrate Mums birthday here... but alas our experience didn't quite live up to the hype.

As instructed, we arrvived promptly at 12pm for our 2hr dining reservation. By 12:10pm this place was full with around 100 or so people who obviously had the same booking window... I mean this place was pumping.

The day started off amazing. The sun was shining; the kids where kicking the soccer ball on the lawn and the adults where conversing over a couple bottles of rosè. Our lovely waitress suggested we choose the $38 per head menu which we did. Within 15min our table was chokkas with antipasto and herb bread, it was great..... but unfortunately this is where things began to fall apart somewhat.

It took about 45min for our pizza offerings to arrive leaving us just over half an hour (of our 2hr window) to not only eat them, but have Mums bday cake and sing song etc.

The pizzas where traditional thin crust which was fine, but the toppings had soaked into base leaving everyone at the table to fight dreaded pizza flop. It was kind of comical watching everyone lose their toppings as they lifted slice after slice.

Another disappointment was the selection we were given. Out of the 7 pizzas presented 4 were salami and as the kids devoured the 2 margheritas and the 1 mushroom pizza, this left the adults eating the same which was a bit of overkill considering the amount of salami and prosciutto we had only just eaten from the antipasto platters. It would have been great to have been served a variety of pizzas with fresher toppings like we saw other tables experiencing. I had also ordered a gluten free pizza for my wife which was forgotten about; and when the kitchen was prompted to get it out quickly the base was blonde and undercooked making it inedible. She couldn't eat it and we had it removed from the bill.

At this stage we had only 10min to have the cake brought out, sing happy birthday and eat it; there wasn't even time for coffee and a final proper goodbye.

A nice touch however was our waitress bought out some complimentary lemoncello as a peace offering for the rushed finish and missing gluten free pizza.

In all I could see why this place was super popular... but I think on this occasion that was also its downfall. Rule of thumb; if a restaurant is going to seat that many reservations at once, they need to ensure each guest still gets the quality experience...

EDIT： YOUR RESPONSE PERFECTLY ENCAPSULATES THE VERY ISSUE WE RAISED: A COMPLETE REFUSAL TO TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY AND A DISMISSIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS GENUINE CUSTOMER CONCERNS. We did not make “unfounded personal accusations” lightly. They were based on the manager, Rossella’s, own words and conduct. Telling a customer, “you come to an Italian restaurant, you just have to wait for your food,” is not an explanation; it is the definition of poor hospitality and arrogance. We explicitly stated we understood it was a busy school holiday weekend. The problem was never the wait itself, but the appalling way it was managed and communicated. While you proudly claim to provide “respectful service to every guest,” Rossella’s statement implies that patrons should passively accept poor service as part of some “authentic” experience. The real issue is your manager’s belief that customers are an inconvenience, not a priority. Your reply dismisses our entire experience as a “misrepresentation.” Instead of addressing the specific unprofessional comment made by your staff, you hide behind corporate platitudes. This only confirms that our feedback about needing team re-training, starting with management, is critically accurate. We did not feel “welcomed.” We felt belittled. And your response, which ignores the core of our complaint, proves that the attitude problem comes from the top.

What an absolute JOKE of a restaurant! I’ve never felt so insulted and disrespected as a customer in my life.

We walked in hoping for a nice meal, but what we got was a masterclass in incompetence and outright disrespect. We waited nearly AN HOUR, and only two appetizers showed up. When we dared to ask where our pizzas were—since, you know, we actually came to a PIZZA place for PIZZA—the manager had the audacity to say they were “busy” and we’d need to wait “20–25 more minutes.”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It had already been 40 minutes since we ordered! How can you not even bake a single pizza in that time? Meanwhile, tables that arrived at the same time as us finished their meals and left. People who came LATER than us were already eating their pizzas!

When we asked the manager, instead of apologizing, her made excuses: “We’re busy,” “You’re asking for too much,” "Their is nothing we can do" and even claimed our pizza had already been served—A BLATANT LIE. It’s not my problem if your front and back of house can’t communicate. I’m just here to eat!

The manager’s attitude was disgusting—no remorse, no professionalism, just a “take it or leave it” vibe. And honestly, the way she treated us compared to other customers? I’m seriously questioning whether this was racial discrimination.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE. They don’t value your time, your money, or your dignity. Worst dining experience ever. Absolutely...

Repost： I have read your reply and I am both surprised and very disappointed. From the moment we sat down until we left, we only asked your staff once to check why our pizza was taking so long — at no point did we criticize or harass your team.

When the manager came over there was no apology or courteous explanation. Instead, we were told, “The pizza is being made — you just have to wait,” and when we raised our concerns we were told, “If you’re still not happy, then there is nothing else I can say.” That was said loudly at our table with no apology, and it felt extremely disrespectful.

At checkout I reiterated that we had no issue with waiting; what we objected to was being spoken to that way. For a restaurant that claims to “work so hard to give every guest a warm and welcoming experience,” we received the opposite today. I understand restaurants get busy and waits can happen, but the manner in which we were treated contradicts your stated values. Perhaps you are a well-known restaurant, but that does not excuse a lack of basic respect.

Finally，everything I have described here is factual

Original： I visited this restaurant today with my brother who came from Brisbane. We drove an hour to try it because it’s such a famous place. We ordered two starters and three pizzas, and asked for the starters to come first. The first starter came quickly, but the second one took almost 40 minutes — we ordered at 12:30 and it didn’t arrive until 1:10.

When we asked about it, a female manager came over and told us that our pizzas were “being made.” But by then, we had already been waiting nearly an hour, and we could clearly see that tables who arrived much later than us already had their pizzas served. When we pointed this out, instead of apologising, she became very dismissive and rude, saying: “We’re busy today, you can see that. I can only tell you your pizzas are being made. If you’re not happy, I don’t know what else to say.”

That attitude was unacceptable. We decided to pay and leave without even having the pizzas. At the counter, her behavior was still unprofessional and disrespectful. I told her that the waiting time wasn’t the real problem — what we needed was a little courtesy and a sincere apology. Instead, we were met with rudeness and indifference.

This restaurant may be popular, but the poor service and the manager’s terrible attitude completely ruined...