FARO Pizza — Restaurant in Oak Bay

We called today to place a pickup order (of which we do quite frequently). In fact this time it was a birthday request to order their pizzas for a take out picnic in the park for my wife. While trying to place the pickup order, I was told that they are no longer offering pick orders till some time in the fall and that they are only offering dine in service. I questioned this as it makes ZERO sense why you would actively turn away business that doesn't take up your limited dine in space, especially during a pandemic when seating is significantly restricted. NOT TO MENTION, THEIR WEBSITE STILL STATES: "FARO is currently open for indoor and outdoor dining, as well as takeaway." Absolutely no mention of take out dining not being an option!!!

I asked why and I was actually told over the phone that they get enough business from dine in service and DO NOT NEED our pickup order business. Seriously!?! WOW!!! Good to know that you DO NOT NEED my business!! I will happily take MY business to other local businesses that DO need and appreciate my support and patronage!!!! You ruined my wife's birthday as we had no where else to go as it was last minute and completely unexpected.

One of my previous experiences here was also a very poor customer service experience. I had ordered pick up and arrived 5 minutes early to pick up my order and pay. The server rang up my order and I paid, she then told me that she had mistakenly charged me someone else's order which turned out to be $2 less than my order. I had tipped 20% on the bill so I saw this as not an issue. She advised me that she would need to get a manager to fix it. I was asked to wait off to the side. I questioned why it mattered as the $2 was immaterial and I had tipped 20%. She still insisted that she needed to fix it. So I waited 10 minutes for the manager. I again explained to him that it makes no sense to make a customer wait over $2. He tried to fix it but had the wrong machine. He then left to find another machine and came back 5 minutes later to try again to refund me and then charge me again. All in all I waited 20 minutes for them to charge me, refund me and charge me again for an extra $2! Due to all of this and the extremely poor customer service I did not tip anything on the recharge of my order so you and your staff lost out on receiving a 20% tip on a take out order all over a $2 difference and making me wait 20 minutes to fix YOUR error! Even after this original issue, we let it slide because the food was good. Now that we have been faced with several issues, we will no longer frequent this establishment. We will let all of our friends and family know as well.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE AND...

Pizza and service have gone downhill!

I have had numerous pizzas from Faro since they first opened. I didn’t mind paying their higher price because I considered them to make the best pizza in town. Over the past six months, I have noticed a significant decline in quality, consistency and service. If I had an issue with only one pizza, I would not be writing this review.

About three pizzas ago, I brought a pizza home and it was undercooked and tasted doughy. The next pizza that I ordered had crust that was extremely thin and burnt, resulting in each slice of pizza breaking like a cookie rather than bending; the fresh basil on top was also burnt. Last week. I ordered my most recent pizza. We usually get a margherita pizza with fennel sausage. I called at 1 PM to have the pizza ready for 5:30 pm and was told that they were unable to have me order in advance and that I had to call back at 5 pm. The woman I spoke with said there was a new policy that if I ordered pizza at 1 PM, it would be ready in 30 minutes. I explained that I had been ordering this way for years and asked her why they were the only restaurant in town that didn’t seem to be able to manage ordering food in advance to pick up later; after putting me on hold and presumably speaking with a supervisor, she told me that they would make an exception this one time. When I showed up to get my pizza I spoke with a supervisor, Isabella, who had no idea about this change in policy, but promised to speak with the manager, try to sort it out and get back to me. I have not heard from either the supervisor or the manager since then. To make matters even worse, when I was handed my pizza I confirmed that it was a margherita with fennel sausage and the server said yes. When I got home, I discovered that there was no fennel sausage, no buffalo mozzarella, and no basil leaves; it was simply tomato sauce with thick slices of garlic.

I don’t know if the issue is due to management inattention, poor staff training, or rotating staff. In any case, I’m no longer prepared to pay the extra amount to get their pizza if I’m not sure whether it will be undercooked and doughy, overcooked and burnt, or the...

Worst service and worst pizza I've ever had the displeasure to encounter. I was accompanied to a table that wasn't set up, I asked the waitress for a glass of water which only arrived after 30 minutes, together with some cutlery. The pizza took 45 minutes to arrive, even if the restaurant was nearly empty. The pizza dough was heavy and not stretched properly, it clearly hasn't been gone through any resting or needing like the Italian tradition implies. The tomato sauce was of cheap quality, so was the mozzarella. The basil was old and off and was put on the pizza before going in the oven (not after as it would be obvious to do), resulting in a horrible taste that together with the very bad tomato sauce, gave me a horrible heartburn and I was sick for two days. What was most unappealing, was the service provided by the curly hair waitress, who not only took a very long time to set up my table and bring me water, but skipped me when she went the the table next to mine, to fill up the glasses with water. She spent a lot of time with other customers chatting and talking about her English heritage, while meals and coffees were waiting to be brought to the tables. When I got up to pay, she gave me the Eftpos machine and left me there standing, ignoring me completely. I had to print my own receipt and then headed to the hotel. I've never seen such a careless and disrespectful service in my life. I will not recommend this place to anyone, especially Italians -this is not traditional Italian food-. Save your money,...