J & S New York Pizza — Restaurant in Apex

Deeply Disappointed by the Racist Behavior

I came to this restaurant expecting a great a welcoming atmosphere, which is typically what I experience at J&S, but instead I witnessed and experienced behavior that was blatantly racist and completely unacceptable.

From the moment I walked in, the staff treated me differently—cold, dismissive, I was only greeted by the bartender, who happens to knows I am a very generous tipper! And she saw me walking over to the bar side of the restaurant. I seated myself quickly, as I knew it was about 7-8minutes until their closing time! I literally just went in for a chilled Jameson shot to conclude my day, like I do many nights after work, as my home & business are within walking distance from J&S.

After I was seated a minute or two, I was then acknowledged by the daughter (I believe of the owners) who very snappily yelled through the kitchen window that they were closed. Rude, one, secondly if you close EARLY you should lock the door as to not allow more customers to come in , third why was I not told that the restaurant was CLOSED when I was greeted by the bartender as she saw me walk across the restaurant to the bar to a seat. I replied “Its only 8:54!” To which she said “I am sorry we closed at 9pm!” I again reinstated “It’s not 9pm.”

It’s almost as if an instantaneous decision was made AFTER, I seated myself that the restaurant was closed! Mind you, I repeat, I was greeted by the bartender herself, with a smile as I walked in and sat down.

Also, because I am a black woman, let it be said that being adopted by white people at age 3 days old, I have experienced racism plenty, & for the most part I chalk it up to ignorance.

I am not one to pull a race card, ever. This actually may be the first time I have spoken out against it, in over 40 years of life! BUT… I will not stand for it, in any capacity!

I walked out & I said very loudly “If I was one of your white customers, you would have served me!” Smiled & walked out. No response.

I know this to be true, because while I am African American, my Daddy is very Caucasian. We have gone in J&S at the exact time of SAID closing and still been served a pour or several, because we have been frequenting J&S literally since this location opened in the late 90’s!

I guess because my white Father wasn’t with me this evening, I was not welcomed, even though it was still within business hours.

Kitchen workers were actually still making pizzas, so I do not see why a quick drink couldn’t have been made, especially being that per your website & door signage, you don’t close until 9pm, I close out my tab & go home.

We eat in or order out several times weekly, have used them for catering many times for personal events and our businesses, so this is truly an unfortunate event.

I also overheard someone make an extremely racially charged remark, which confirmed that this wasn’t just bad service—it was discrimination. I speak fluent Italian & Spanish. It’s asinine to assume, that people do not speak multiple languages these days!

We are very close family friends with the owners of Mezza Luna in Apex as well & we still have CHOSEN J&S over our own paisano’s because of the service, we were once extremely impressed with.

This kind of behavior has no place in any business, let alone a restaurant that claims to offer hospitality.

I will NEVER return to J&S sadly, and I will urge my family, friends, clients, neighbors & others to think twice before supporting a place that treats people this way.

Racism should never be tolerated, and I hope the management takes this seriously and implements...

The integrity at this restaurant is by far the worst I have ever experienced. The fish rots from the head down. The only recommendation I have is to eat elsewhere. I ordered delivery (lasagna and salad) and was given a 1 hr and 15 minutes delivery time.

Having managed pizza delivery for the better part of 10 years I am empathetic to the process of delivery. However, after waiting 2 hours for my order I called the shop and was told they had been extremely busy and my ticket got misplaced. I informed the young lady on the phone that I understood the extended wait, but what would upset me is if after waiting 2 hours I was delivered food that had been sitting on top of an oven for an extended period of time while other orders by-passed my own.

She placed me on a brief hold and then I was connected to the night manager. Again I expressed my concern, not of having to wait, but that I expected a good quality product despite the long wait. The manager assured me the food had just come out 10 minutes prior to my phone call. When my food arrived it was as I feared.

The bottom of the bag was disproportionately hotter than the top of the bag. My experience tells me this is caused from an extended period of time on top of the oven waiting for the driver to check it out for delivery. But that is not the insulting part.

The salad that was wrapped in the same brown paper bag as the lasagna was hot. The lettuce inside was limp and semi steamed from being heated for a significant period of time on top of the oven. The cup of Italian dressing had been also been heated to the point the plastic top had bubbled from the pressure of the indirect heat where it had been left sitting. I put both the salad and dressing in the freezer with hopes of salvaging them. I inevitably discarded both.

To the manager that night. I specifically asked about the quality of my order and I was straight up lied to about it. The very thing you assured me you would not do you did. And for what... $17 worth of food. How hard would it have been to at the very least switch out the salad from the lasagna that was clearly cooked an hour or so before it was left sitting on top of a hot oven. Cold salad... what an OUTRAGEOUS concept!?!?!?!

Better yet, how hard is it not to lie to customers? If you can't be honest with your customers about the quality of the food you produce, then I have to imagine you do not consistently temp the foods you leave on top of the over to ensure you're not spread food-born illnesses either. Terrible management, terrible service, terrible food. Terrible standards. The driver was very nice and I tipped him 25%.

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! I only gave 1 star because it wouldn't...

If there was a possibility to give J&S New York Pizza a zero star rating I would do so. My past two experiences ordering pizza from this place has been a great let down and disappointing, especially when they have the potential to do great with their product. The first of the two experiences was when they had the audacity to deliver me a burnt pizza and I mean BURNT, CHARRED, BLACK on the bottom. The second experience was the worst one yet. I was charged for 2 l Coke and I was sent a cup of soda with ice. The delivery guy went back so that he could pick up the 2 l soda and bring it to me but when he arrived he handed over the two-liter soda. That's when I realized thier was soda missing. I told the young man that their was soda missing from the bottle but he insisted that it wasn't and that the soda was not open. So I asked him to twist the cap to see if he hears the safety sound that's when he twisted the cap and realize that it was indeed open. He then said to me to keep the soda because nothing was done to the soda. After back and forth on the soda issue The whole thing was that he finally said the truth behind it, he said that being that a cup a soda was given to me with my order so they opened the 2liter and removed an equivalent amount from it to make up for it. I am a customer with a family of 4. So when I order food from J&S I spend an average of $50 to $60. We as a family chose to support the community by spending our money on small businesses during this pandemic. But when you take advantage of you customers and not care at all to double check the food before it leaves the restaurant to make sure you're delivering your top product to the customer. Its very Disappointing, Inconsiderate and See...