O'Pazzo Blaak — Restaurant in Rotterdam

For those who don't feel like reading the whole thing, this is what happened; First rude interaction: hanging up phone on me Second rude interaction: ignoring us for solid 15 min on purpose

If anyone asked me where is the best Italian pizza in Rotterdam, my answer without hesitation has always been O'Pazzo! Nice food, nice staff, UNTIL I had extremely bad experience with the staff there and decided to never go there again.

Here's what happened; I phoned them to see if they have free tables for walk-in since we were close by. The guy on the phone said "we don't book table tonight." I thought ok, they probably don't accept reservation to avoid keeping tables empty for some guests that book and never show up. I had this experience with other restaurants so I politely responded, no we do not want to book any table, we just wanna walk-in if you have free table now, since we are 15 min away from the restaurant. If you have a free table we would come there. He responded same thing but this time with more irritating tone, "we do not book table tonight". I tried to explain that we don't want you to keep a table for us, we simply just want to see if there's any empty table so we will head towards there. However while I was still mid-through explaining, he hanged up on me. Interesting... I thought he probably did not understand me so let's still go there and see if they have free table. Wrong decision. We got there, we waited at the reception table for good 10-15 minutes while 3 staff clearly saw us waiting there. We finally decided to ask the guy who has been working in the bar right next to us this whole time. Before I could even say something he interrupted me with "I told you on phone we don't accept customers tonight". I was like, no sir you said "we don't book table tonight" that's completely different from saying we are closed to new customers tonight! It was like talking to a brick wall so I gave up and went to other restaurant close by which turned out to be very pleasing and nice. I don't know who the guy was but this is not the way you talk...

Visit date: January 26th

O’Pazzo Blaak in Rotterdam stands out with its beautiful decor and spacious interior, offering a comfortable and visually appealing dining atmosphere. However, our experience there was a mix of highlights and disappointments.

We ordered beer, pizza, and focaccia. While the food itself had its moments, the service left much to be desired. Although we placed our order before other guests, they received their drinks before us. We had to remind our waitress about our drinks, as she had clearly forgotten.

When it came to the food, the pizza was a definite highlight. It was delicious, with fresh ingredients and a generous portion size. However, the Focaccia Porchetta was a letdown. Instead of the flavorful grilled sandwich we anticipated, it resembled dry bread with barely any mustard, leaving it underwhelming despite the decent taste. We ended up sharing the pizza, which fortunately was enough to satisfy our hunger.

After finishing our main course, we decided to order dessert. Unfortunately, this turned into a frustrating experience. Despite the restaurant not being overly busy, it was difficult to catch the attention of any staff. Our menu had been taken earlier, and we waited around 20 minutes before approaching a waiter to ask about dessert options. His response was dismissive and rude, as he muttered something under his breath, go to cleared the plates from a nearby table, and walked away without addressing our request when our own plates remained on the table for over 30 minutes.

By this point, our appetite for dessert and coffee had disappeared. Rather than waiting further for the bill to arrive, we went directly to the counter to pay. Even at the register, the staff showed little interest in our experience, not asking for feedback or acknowledging why we skipped dessert.

To sum up, while the pizza was excellent, the poor service overshadowed our meal, leaving us with a disappointing overall impression. We’re unsure if we’ll return to O’Pazzo Blaak...

A friend of mine booked the table over the internet for 12 people for 6pm. We were then contacted by the restaurant asking us to rebook for 8pm - well, fair enough - we thought - we will survive, though it was already 2 hours late for our dinner. We showed up at 8pm and... the table was still not ready for us. So they sat us in the waiting room and we waited so the staff could find us a table.

After one hour (9pm) they finally managed to find us a table. Unfortunately we had to wait for another hour for the main course, so we ended up eating our dinner at 10pm (the restaurant was already empty, their guests were probably preparing to go to bed). Some of us became (understandably) quite upset about the situation - it's not fun to wait for the dinner for 4 hours. Unfortunately the staff instead of being apologetic, became rude and defensive, claiming that they had a reservation for 7.30pm (nevermind it would still be a terrible service - 2.5 hour wait for a meal).

Eventually we had our "late-night" meal - while pasta was moderately OK (though suspiciously resembling Knorr's Carbonara), the pizza was rather horrible - dry, tasteless and stale.

After 11pm we had the bill - pretty hefty for the poor service and we received. And then it occurred to me: what a fantastic business strategy they have! Get people book a table, then let them wait for 4 hours while charging them for antipasti and drinks. Since this restaurant can't rely on the service or quality of food, that's probably how they make a living. Obviously the figure of Jesus standing in their toilet (hell yeah, how original) must be watching over them.

If you have a lot of time, don't mind being ripped off, and like waitresses with attitude - this is definitely the...