Department of Pizza — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

Ok well interesting that this place gets a lot of good reviews. Here’s my experience with takeaway…firstly it’s a very small pizza menu for a place that calls itself “department of pizza”, options and toppings are quite limited. Ok so they adopt the minimalist approach to pizza toppings (like the Italians) which is ok provided the product is super tasty. Unfortunately these are nothing like something you might get in Italy. Secondly, when ordering online you are given the option to tip when paying…who the heck tips for something they haven’t received yet?? What a cheek. In any case tipping is usually something you do for excellent service in-house, not for a takeaway when interaction with staff (especially when ordering online) is minimal. Thirdly, if you didn’t tip, you are left wondering, how is not tipping going to affect the quality of my pizza? Am I going to get fewer toppings, or half baked dough or something even more extreme because I didn’t tip? Wrongly or rightly, that’s what you are left wondering. Fourthly, having collected my pizza, it was nothing to write home about, dough was chewy and toppings were sparse. (Would I have got more on my pizza had I tipped?) well I don’t know but the department of pizza perhaps needs a government enquiry or something to make sure everything is above board. Anyways, others rate them higher than I have. So I am just one voice. But I have said my...

Was going for a 3.5 but rounded up.

The service really let this place down. When you have a nice fit out, reasonable menu, then higher end prices, you really cannot afford to have lazy service. Guests shouldn't have to ask for water or wave down the three FOH staff looking over

So we went with 2 friends and things started bad when we sat at the table. The table was the problem here, it was so small!!! From there it was hit and miss. Our first waitress was very good, but disappeared and someone else took over. Our drinks arrived and they were ok. The salad arrived way before the pizzas, we had to ask where they were. When they arrived, they tasted OK but some toppings were rubbery/undercooked. The bases were undercooked in the centre but nice and crisp on the outer edge. Drink orders were hit and miss too. To top everything off the atmosphere was horrible. Loud doesn't come close. Headache-inducing noise is the order of the day here. Hard surfaces and noise don't make for relaxing conversation....and the heat inside is oppressive. We asked for the bill and it never appeared. There seems to be no systems in place and the focus is definitely on takeaway orders. We were told by who we assume was the owner that we should come back when it's not so busy! Well actually no, you need to get better at...