Hector's Artisan Pizzeria — Restaurant in Scotland

Edit: it’s been like 2 years since I reviewed this place and I randomly remembered their crazy reply, so I figured I might as well lower my rating from a 3 to a 1 because I feel like making them mad again, it’s nice that this time they’ll actually have a reason to be mad, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled, they seem to love responding to reviews in such an unhinged manner. Honestly, what a crazy response to a review😂

The original review that prompted their response:

A lovely experience that was marred by poor service. The pizza's tasted great, however the service we recieved was bizarre. Multiple servers came to our table to try and take our plates while we were very clearly still eating, even going as far to take 3 finished plates while one member of our party was still eating and also offering to take theirs! The restaurant was in no way full or rushed so I see no reason why the server's felt the need to rush us in the way they did. Following this, we ordered a 'sundae' for dessert, which frankly has to be the most expensive Mr Whippy in the UK. Literally just Mr Whippy with some chocolate sprinkles. A genuine shame given the many positive reviews I'd seen.

EDIT: Wow! That was certainly an interesting response given that I genuinely enjoyed my time at the restaurant and said so in this review!

I'm not a Karen; I'm a 21 year old girl taking my partner to visit my favourite place in the world and treating my granny who I hadn't seen in two years to a lovely pizza. It was, a genuinely lovely pizza and I genuinely had a pleasant experience so I'm a little suprised by this response. Now my response isn't me being a Karen, it's me recieving an email of your response and feeling genuinely confused and a little worried that I could've been rude to someone and wanting to reach out and apologise for any negativity I may have caused.

That being said, seeing as you appear to remember me so well, I'm sure you'll also remember my family and I laughing together and having fun creating stories about the previous life of the funky deer on the wall, no faces like slapped arses here!

Having worked in a restaurant, one of the training points for every new recruit was to always wait for customers to finish. I assumed this was honestly a given in all restaurants hence my concern with this. I also always make sure to be incredibly respectful to all servers wherever I go, I've had some truly awful customers and I'd never dream of being one of them, so I'm not sure where this apparent negativity has come from, however I deeply apologise if this was felt to any of your servers.

At the end of the day, I was a paying customer who had a good but not execellent experience- and that's completely okay! No restaurant is perfect and there's always room for improvement and growth so it's a little confusing that such a defensive response has been recieved. I really hope you can learn to value and atleast consider every opinion a customer has, even if they aren't...

Visited on a Saturday afternoon. Some servers not wearing masks. Selection of drinks is very limited. I ordered a non-alcoholic slush for £3 and it was tiny! It was very nice, but not sure it is worth £3. Pizzas were excellent although not very filling. Decided to order a "Super Sundae"... it was anything but super. £4 for a tiny bowl of ice cream that was the width of a bank card and a tiny spoon to match. Think this need rebranding as it certainly isn't a 'Super Sundae'. While we were sitting eating, workers decided to hoover the stairs (that was right beside us) and sweep and mop the floor. I understand the restaurant needs to be kept clean but it was a bit inappropriate while people are sitting eating. Asked for the bill, which they came with and put on the table then asked if we were paying by card. Paid by card right then, and when had a chance to look at the receipt there was a 10% discretionary service charge! There was only 2 of us so this is a bit unneeded. Had a look at other reviews and the responses from them owner are very rude, which is concerning as this alone would put me off...

I ate here last week with my wife, as it came recommended and had good reviews. The pizzas are fairly good, I’d rate them around 8/10 and the toppings we chose were tasty and generous.

What I would warn diners to look out for is the misleading claim that “All pizzas can be made half size, half price”, according to their website and their menu.

Either the owner doesn’t understand basic maths or, worse, he does and is knowingly tricking people.

A 6” pizza is a quarter of the size of a 12” pizza (28.26 sq in vs 113 sq in) so you are actually paying twice as much as you should for it!

Edited at 18:22 18/11/23 to respond to owner’s reply:

Thanks for your unprofessional reply, Hector.

I note you don’t offer an explanation for the misleading pricing, which suggests that it’s deliberate.

Will you correct your website and your menus so as not to continue deceiving customers about ‘half-sized’...