Plant Based Pizzeria — Restaurant in Atlanta

I’m always down to support vegan business as someone who’s been vegan for almost four years. An all vegan pizza joint sounds amazing! Something ATL has never had and I’ve never had in the places I’ve lived before. The deserts are really good but the pizza itself is ... okay. I think there is something pretty good about it (I think the sauce is pretty bomb) but paying $20 for something that small and not making my jaw drop to the floor is pretty underwhelming. I can understand pricing; vegan cheese is expensive, they have a plethora of topping choices, and other menu items that some of them they have to order through others. However, there’s a lot of other vegan options on the rise. Vegan pizza is easily accessible in major grocery stores and every Mellow Mushroom (which is a lot cheaper). And again, I understand starting out and not being corporately backed, but I (and a lot of others) are going to end up with what’s cheaper and tastes just as good (if not better?). I think possibly the mix matched identity of the pizzeria is what contributes to costs. They seem to have a lot of heart and ambition (offering not just pizza but deserts like banana pudding, raw cheesecake, and cookies (which the cookies are actually really good I have to add) to other food like lasagna and burgers) but it seems like a mixed up business model on top of again, the costs. I haven’t tried their burgers yet but it’s $14 for just the burger (no cheese), a simple burger. Which is pretty nuts! I’d hate to compare but places like Slutty Vegan offer a burger with multitude of toppings, including fries, for $15. And that seems to be somewhat of the norm for a lot of restaurants that offer vegan burgers or even the Impossible/Beyond burgers (unless it’s a super bougie place). I paid $10 for banana pudding which is also nuts but I was willing to pay for that because I haven’t had banana pudding since I’ve been vegan. And thats another thing, if there were a lot of items people couldn’t get anywhere else or perhaps don’t have time to invest in making for a quick crave (like banana pudding lol) they can kind of get away with charging so much. It becomes some sort of a commodity. But like I said, there’s not much items I look at and go “oh, can’t get that anywhere else!” And their food taste and quality I feel gets muffled in the “oh wow, just spent $20 on a pizza...” and I know I’m not the only person who feels this way. I feel as if a lot of their current business is booming on the fact that they’re Atlanta’s first vegan pizzeria and the new vegan wave happening in ATL. And there’s nothing wrong, business wise, to ride the wave other companies have started. It can be great and it’s obviously a win for vegans! There just doesn’t seem to be a strong business structure when it comes to the menu, the building, even how social media is ran (and maybe that’s just me being picky on the social media front since I was rasied around business so don’t take that strongly to heart). And again, it seems like the lack of structure is perhaps effecting the cost? And if it’s mostly costs in general being an issue, the focus needs to be set on dialing things back. Be a more genuine pizzeria and stick with cheese, pepporini, and veggie. Meat lovers, sure. If you’re going to offer desert, offer something simple and only have two options (cookies and brownies or cinnamon sticks or some Italian desert). Then focus on specializing the flavor and uniqueness of the pizza itself (because like I said, there is something pretty good about it). Plant Based Pizzeria just seems like it’s all over the place and the price is very disheartening, a damper, and honestly doesn’t make a lot of it worth it. Which is harsh and sucks but I really don’t see myself buying a pizza any time in the future again after what I’ve experienced when it comes to the taste versus price: what we’re paying versus what we’re getting isn’t adding up. I will however most likely continue to visit for the deserts because those are unique and delicious. I hope PBP reevaluates and...

My experience with Plant Based Pizzeria today!

Placed order online at 2 am for pickup at 1 pm today (needed to think less about food choice for day (creatives forget to eat when working) cuz tight deadline producing video for major artist & streaming platform- doing this all day). Y’all treat celebrity patrons like the world but alas, someone behind the scenes, a regular customer and NO HOSPITALITY/CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Covid test scheduled on Ponce/Highland Ave at 11:50 am. Call PBP at 12:13 pm asking if they can make it earlier cuz I’m in the area, 6 minutes away on Ponce already. Truman (employee) says yeah we can put it in (doesn’t tell me when it’ll be ready-estimated production time).

I arrive at 12:20 pm, sit in my car across street waiting for a call for it to be ready. At 1 pm I’m like okay something’s wrong Call PBP, Truman answers I say it’s Kiana when will my order be ready? I’ve been sitting outside. He says it’s ready for pick up now you can come in. I say okay how long has it been ready? He says it’s been ready for about 5 minutes, under a heat lamp. I say okay cool I’ll head in.

Literally I get the pizza, walk out touch it, it’s cold as a rock. Cold cold. No heat on any ingredient including the sauce or bread.

I call immediately at 1:03 pm and say hey can i speak to a manager? Nyasha says the manager isn’t in but can i take a message? I say sure, my order is cold. I’ve been here for the past 45 minutes and wasn’t told it was ready. Can I get a new one? Truman said it’s been 5 minutes but i don’t believe that.

Girl says yeah I can go ahead and make you a new one just bring it back in. I say okay cool, she says actually no I have the ticket so I’ll give you another, you can keep the old one. It’ll be 10-12 minutes til it’s done! (In my mind I’m thinking if it takes 10-12 minutes to be done and I called at 12:13 pm then my pizza was ready at 12:30 pm at the latest, which makes sense why the pizza was soooo cold.)

She calls me back at 1:08 pm and says actually the owner said I can’t make a new one technically. I’m like uhhhh so the owner/manager is in, you said he wasn’t before so which one is true. Owner gets on phone and places blame back on me and says we don’t call customers to let them know the order is ready. I understand that part but why did Truman omit that it takes 10-12 minutes when we initially spoke AND why did he lie and say it’s been out the oven for 5 minutes under a heat lamp. Owner then says he’ll take the food back and put it back in the oven for me. During covid??? Taking food back? Unsanitary MUCH. No restaurant takes food back from a customer during this time at the bare minimum and puts in on cooking appliances that other customers’ orders are being made on.

This is why ppl don’t support black owned business! I have a hospitality degree & organizational management consulting background. One thing we’re always taught regarding business acumen is the customer is always right. They did NOTHING to rectify the situation and I’m now down $17 with nothing to eat at 2 pm.

Best believe I’m leaving a BBB reviews, OSHA complaint (cuz why would you put the pizza back in the oven) and calling a food health inspector.

Update 6:24 pm- they blocked me on Instagram after I posted pics of my order & Google review.

Update 7/15/20- seems they have a history of bad customer service...

2nd experience: Had to change my review. I ordered in person for the 1st time and the cashier was distracted with going back and forth to the kitchen window and manager. I repeated my other several times and I stepped away from the register and had a friend pay for my order who was not aware of my food allergies. When I got home, I took a bite and noticed the crust was not gluten free (as I asked for several times). I’m highly allergic to gluten. I called the restaurant to inform them of the mistake and the cashier blamed me instead of apologizing or offering a remake. I had to ask several times to speak to a manager, of whom did the same exact thing. I asked for a remake since they don’t give refunds. I spoke with the owner once I arrived (who also didn’t apologize). When I placed the remake, the cashier asked if I wanted my crust gluten free, which was very condescending and insulting due to the fact I returned to have it made gluten free while on my way to the hospital since I don’t have an epi pen. Not gonna lie, I started going off but my voice was cracking because my throat was swelling. I held my patience through out the conversations I had up until that point. I went outside to my car because I was highly upset and hyperventilating at that point. For whatever reason, the manager then came to my car with my order and attempted to to speak nicely after arguing on the phone and in person. I told her to get TF away from my car. After recovering from BnB my allergic reaction (including the roof of my mouth peeling off), I asked friends about their experience with Plant Based Pizzeria and many of them echoed similar sentiments about terrible customer service. It’s a shame because I enjoyed my first experience with ordering food online. My advice: just place your order online if you choose to patronize this business because they may not pay attention to you in person, will blame you for their mistake because their “quality assurance” model is “well, we repeated your order and it’s not our fault. Also, we don’t give refunds”

First experience: DELICIOUS! I finally got a chance to check them out because they're usually very busy. I ordered a custom pizza online with parmesan, hamburger, jalapenos, pineapple, spinach, and their oil based sauce. I had about a 35 minute wait after placing my online order but I'm glad I prepared to wait just in case. It was TASTY!...