Old School Pizza Tavern — Restaurant in Arlington

Five star food, two star service.

Old School is in this great old house which has been converted into a restaurant, but they left all the original walls intact, so there are great little nooks and corners, giving the inside a cozy, funky feel which I love, and the food is amazing. I've never had a bad meal here. That said, we had a really shabby service experience here this last weekend. When we arrived, we walked up to the bar to look at the drink specials and wait for the rest of our party, and the waitress told us to sit down. Three times in about four minutes. Yes, dear. We know to sit down. We're an incomplete party at the moment, and we're looking over the bar specials because we want to give you our money. And there's barely another soul in this place. Then the other two in our group arrived, and we gave them the walk-through so they could see the place since it's such a fun restaurant, and the waitress, again, told us to sit down. Three times. In the four minutes it took us to look around. Yeah, we were meandering around aimlessly and checking the place out, but there were maybe four other customers in the entire place we weren't in the way, and we really didn't warrant being fussed at. Plus, she made a snarky comment - within earshot, I might add - as we were heading back outside to finally sit down. She was much more friendly once we were contained - I just wish she hadn't been quite so high-strung about getting us to take a seat.

All that aside, the pizza totally redeems it. This isn't fancy, artisan anything-style pizza that's trying to blow your mind with its creativity, authenticity, or innovation - this is straight-up, incredibly delicious, standard, classic American pizza-pie. Flavorful, pillowy crust (they've got a thin crust option, too), great topping combinations, plenty of delicious, stringy, melty cheese, and prices so reasonable you'll want to order the larger size so you can snack on the leftovers for a few days. My personal favorite is the Mediterranean (artichokes, spinach, garlic, and a bunch of other delicious stuff), but there are plenty of great veggie toppings and you can play with substitutions as well. I've also eaten here with plenty of omnivores, and everyone has been impressed.

They've also got a full bar, which is nice (although don't loiter around it unless you want to be snapped at by the waitress) - the pours are inconsistent (I swear my drinks got stiffer with every round), but the happy hour is decent, and they've got some interesting draft selections. The patio is also very nice (picnic tables!), and they've got a stage where they sometimes showcase local music acts.

Overall a top notch food establishment - just be aware that you might wind up being waited on by a presumably sleep-deprived, cranky...

Quite the disappointing experience, one of which we haven't experienced previously, which is why it's so disheartening. Perhaps there's been a change of command but today's experience severed years long relationship my family and I have had with this establishment. In good faith, with its current staff, I cannot recommend you support this restaurant. The pizza and service are normally pretty superior to most establishments in a college town; however last night's mixup and today's "resolution" left me disheartened. While the food can be excellent, the level of service isn't worth it.

We ordered a thin crust chicken pesto pizza, my 16-year-old picked it up, she got back home and the pizza had red sauce, cheese and chicken on it. When it was read back to us over the phone, it was read correctly. It clearly wasn't the correct pizza. I called and was told to come in the following day (today 1/22) and ask to speak with Jodie. After work today, I called to order the correct pizza, and was told by Jodie that her manager preferred we make the pizza once I was there, so I went in as instructed. Initially Jodie was pleasant, even offered me a complimentary drink but then as she went to the back all of that changed. Her pleasantries turned to joining the cook and those in the back in a bashing party, with employees coming from the back one-by-one with stares, only to return and share such sentiments as, "she'll take what we give her," "she didn't say thin crust. We don't have it in a large," "we shouldn't replace nothing," etc. I was subjected to their immature and unprofessional behavior. Jodie began to be combative, almost following me out the door. I left with an original crust pizza. They truly did give me what they wanted, and what was I to do at that point. I question its integrity, whether it has been tampered with or not, and I can't risk my family eating something that has been made by such angry and unprofessional people. I won't...

Here's my honest review of this business. Usually, I avoid expressing my opinion unless it contains important customer feedback. It's just not my nature. However, this time I may help those ordering pizza from these guys for the first time, just like me. After reading excellent reviews on their website, I decided to go for it and order pizza for 15 dinner guests and several children. I went in person to place my order so that I could interact personally with the business and ask questions. They were kind of in a hurry mood:))

Nevertheless, they took my order. It is a costly pizza place, too. I paid a good amount of money expecting something exceptional. 2000 + review counts, I thought. I ordered several medium to large pizzas as well as cheese pizza for the kids. I mentioned that I would have about four kids at the party. Most of us know that kids love cheese pizza.

The next day, my husband went to pick the pizza up. The kid's pizza came in a styrofoam food container. I rushed to open it. Voila, there was a half a 8 or 9 inch pizza with three tiny slices. I had never seen anything like that before and was shocked. They used 16-inch packaging on the 14 and 12-inch pizzas. They were out of matching packaging. Not a big deal, but presentation!!!

Upon opening, I could hardly tell the difference between the veggie pizza, pepperoni meat pizza, or chicken pizza. They all looked the same. No artichoke to be seen either that I have requested on the veggie pizza. The edges of the pizza were uneven. I was embarrassed in front of 15 people. After digging and poking, I determined which pizza was which. We couldn't identify pepperoni. I called to complain about the kid's pizza. The woman on the other end said, Oh, ah, they should have explained that the kid's size pizza is a half pizza - bread with cheese. For God's sake, why do you call it a pizza, then? Lesson learned. Never again. Old School Pizza Tavern is a tabu for me. I hope you find...