The Pizza Joint — Restaurant in Aiken County

Let me start by saying the food was delicious!!! So I can't justify a 1 start review. Let me continue by saying the service was disappointing!!! So I'm going with 2 stars. We arrived and were seated proptly. A server came over to get out drink order. We received the drinks about five minutes later. We ordered dough balls, which were not all that great. Just plain little baked balls of dough with tomato dipping sauce. We then ordered a pizza and a calzone. The bad service started there. After waiting for about 30 minutes with no attention from the server and no updates on the food, my wife went over to the host stand. She asked if they could check on our food. They went over and got the servers attention. She then went over to the kitchen + we were seated about 15 feet from the pizza maker) and proceeded to have a excited discussion with him. It appeared that our order yad not be put in. ( At this point the server had yet to come back to check on us). A few minutes later she finally came to out table and brought more dough balls. She said our food was cooking and would be out shortly. This was 45 minutes after we had arrived. (I looked on Google timeline to check the time we had arrived. ) At 59 minutes from arrival, the pizza came out. Our server was not around, so the cook brought it. The server came out a few minutes later to tell us she was going to get plates and silverware ( She had not yet brought plates or silverware). So after about five minutes of smelling and staring at out pizza without a way to eat it ( it was the type of pizza best eaten with a plate and fork because it was loaded with toppings) she brought out the utensils . About five minutes after that, the calzone arrived, brought be a different server. The food was great. Perfect crust and the toppings we're delicious. We finished eating. And it took here a while to bring our check. She did not ask if we wanted dessert. And to my surprise, a manager never came to see us. It took over an hour for all of our food to come out and I don't think our manager was made aware, or maybe they did not care to. I looking up the restaurant on line and emailed a complaint while I was there. I received a prompt reply from the general manager letting me know that they would look in to it on Monday. I received a reply with some excuse about the kitchen burning the food so that was why it was late, and an apology for not letting me know about the delay. But I didn't believe that story. We could here the conversation between our server and the pizza cook, and it seemed that the order had not be put it, 45 minutes after we arrived. I wasn't looking for anything for free, but we were only give a plate of dough balls,no explaination, no discount, no visit from a manager. I would love to go back because the food was great, but I feel that we were disrespected because we didn't scream a cuss. And the table near us also waited almost as long as we did,while a man that sat on the porch, after we arrived, received his pizza, ate, and left before we even...

Note that during this review I am NOT exaggerating the wait times, I checked my phone several times throughout our visit to keep track. Made a reservation for 7:00 and we were told our table was unavailable. When we asked what the solution would be, the hostess shortly responded with she was going to split our group up (6 + a child) among two tables that were separated by a wall. We waited around 20 minutes for a table large enough to seat all of us to open.

We're seated, the 7 of us receive 4 packs of silverware (ok, no big deal right now as we don't have food yet) and we wait 20 minutes for a server to come to our table. She arrives, we give her our complete order, and she disappears. Twenty minutes later the appetizer for one of our members is delivered and the salad for another, and one person in my group is told the beer he ordered is no longer available and another is told the same thing about her wine. The beer ordered is changed, and the wine order is changed to water. 10 minutes later the alcoholic drinks are delivered, two beers now, and one of them is the wrong type of beer. When this is brought up the waitress informs my friend that she knew the tap had been changed but just brought the beer anyway.

An hour an ten minutes pass before (most of) the rest of the food is delivered. We ask for additional silverware and straws for our drinks, but the silverware never arrives so we end up dividing what napkins we have among those with the messiest orders (wings, etc). The pizza ordered reminds me of the Sahara, completely dried out from what I'm assuming is sitting under a heating lamp for an hour. After another 15 minutes I get tired of waiting for my child's chicken fingers to be delivered and I walk around the restaurant until I find our waitress and mention it to her. She says "they should be up soon, she'll check on them" and I reply with "There is no chance they just haven't been cooked, you either didn't order them or forgot them on the expo line." She admits that she forgot to order them and tells me they'll be out shortly, and they were delivered to the table about ten minutes later.

About 15 minutes after food delivery all drinks on the table are empty, and we wait another 15 minutes before I finally get tired of waiting and take my wife's glass to the coke machine and fill it up myself. My waitress sees me and takes my glass to refill with sweet tea, which takes about 5 minutes (apparently they were out of tea, no big deal).

No manager approached us, no apologies were given, and the only discount was for my son's forgotten chicken fingers (around $5, gee thanks).

Do not go here. Do not waste your time and money. There's another one in Augusta that is vastly superior. I will never return to this restaurant and advise others to listen to this review - I've spoken to friends who attend for the weekly trivia night (Wednesday nights) and they have told me this is the common result when going to...

We have visited The Pizza Joint on Richland in Aiken several times. In the past the visit has been good. The most recent visit was on July 20, 2019. This visit was a classic on how to do things wrong. Upon our entry, water was standing on floor. We were pointed to and assigned to a booth that had standing water on the table, seating and floor. I went back to the hostess and told her of the situation and we will not sit there. We were told to pick another location near there. We selected a location. Our waiter was punctual and very good. We placed our order and promptly received our drinks. After a relatively long wait for our pizza, a person came over and told us our waiter had rejected our completed pizza because it was overcooked. Great waiter! Our pizza was delivered and cooked to perfection. While we were eating the people sitting across from us, at the windows opened the blinds, causing much glare for us, got up and left. We asked our waiter to adjust the blinds to reduce the glare, which was quickly completed. A few minutes later, a waitress came over and opened the blinds created an incredible amount of glare. We asked the waitress to adjust the blinds due to the glare. She asked if it was that bad, to which we said yes, it is creating an uncomfortable amount of glare. Her reaction was leaving that blind, in the position and opening two more blinds creating even more glare! At that point we decided to simply leave. We paid our bill and left. Now, my question. Is this the new level of customer service and customer care? Has the management changed and is this the new standard? It has been a month since that visit and it still stands large in my memory. I had no desire to return and not sure if i want to ever return. No, i do not recommend this restaurant based upon their hostess and waitress' customer service along with their expectation for customers to sit in a seat and at a table with standing water. The waiter that served us is top notch. Shame he is put in such a situation by the other...