Vinny's N.Y. Pizza & Grill - Midtown — Restaurant in Atlanta

CUSTOMER BEWARE!!!

SERVING PESTS/BUGS as part of your entree.

I am part of an unit that frequently orders from this restaurant, but today’s experience was regretfully horrifying and made us think about previous food consumption.

A ginormous fly located at the bottom of a salad purchased from this restaurant... bigger than the common housefly that some may be accustomed.

Immediately contacted the restaurant to inform of this gruesome discovery. Asked for a manager, but supposedly he/she was not available. Pleasantly and calmly requested for a refund, even with the presented option of getting another salad.

Instead of quickly resolving the matter, which may have negated this message. The cashier/phone representative made matters worse.

While I and others calm the anxiety and care for person who is consistently vomiting and gagging from the thought of eating fly remnants from the salad, the representative requested for us to bring the salad back for evidence. She further stated that the restaurant has had many issues/complaints before, but she did not believe the a pest was in our food. Proceeded to inform that I am at work and that my break was over and offered to send a picture via the phone/email/messenger. The representative acts as if the option was atypical and unheard of.

It’s very upsetting that the restaurant made this situation difficult to resolve. It’s further an insult that she thinks that a nurse has time to walk back and forth to resolve a fault of their own.

UPDATE: Arrived at the restaurant after work @ ~4:30pm to resolve the matter. Sent my husband in to resolve the matter due to exhaustion and sore feet. THEY REFUSED TO ISSUE REFUND.

I went in to further investigate and resolve the matter (and thought that maybe she needs to see the “blue uniform” as seen earlier to recognize that I was a working professional). She stated that the transaction was 3 hours ago, and I proceeded to state as earlier, I WORK and only have 30 minutes for a lunch break. She refused to give me her name, the manager’s name, and the number to corporate. She stated that I put the fly in the salad. She stated that the salad was completely eaten; DEFINITELY untrue, lettuce withers, excessive toppings trashed, and the unenjoyable toppings trashed. The BIGGEST thing that left me completely DUMBFOUNDED, near the end of the communication she stated that I called her a “BITCH” over the phone. Not of my character and definitely not within a professional environment......A plethora of LIES thrown and DECEPTION is their motto!!!

This review is the first step. Food department will be contacted. If I easily had access to lawyer, I would have definitely proceed to...

Incredibly unprofessional!

Let me start my by saying, I love Vinny’s pizza and have been a patron for 4+ years. However, after a disgusting display of unprofessionalism I will no longer patronize this location.

I ordered my usual using the delivery option as I have many many times. I ordered at 11:49. The delivery time was 12:09 (I live 5 mins away but was working and didn’t have my car). When my pizza was late (unusual, 12:20), I called to find out how long it would take. I was notified my pizza was ready but had not been picked up by the delivery service and that I needed to contact the service, ChowNow.

Upon calling ChowNow, I was notified a 3rd party service, Zifty, was actually responsible for delivery but they could not give me live updates and to call the restaurant back. I called back and notified the restaurant my boyfriend would just pick up the pizza since he was in the area. When he arrived, they refused to give him the pizza to. Refused to answer the phone when I called 6-7x to ask for them to give him the pizza.

Around 12:30, my pizza still hadn’t been picked up or delivered. My bf went back to get the pizza and they still refused to give him the pizza or answer the phone. I called ChowNow back and allows them listen as I called the restaurant a final time. Diego finally answered but was combative and argumentative and continued to refuse to give the pizza to me. He even hung up on me.

We never received the pizza and just went on about the day.

To add insult to injury, I attempted to get a refund but was met with another argumentative and combative employee who insists my pizza was delivered and I made a mistake selecting delivery. (Ummm! I tipped the driver lol!) She also hung up on me. ChowNow cannot authorize a delivery without approval from the restaurant. Vinny’s won’t issue a refund to and are saying the pizza was delivered on time (laughable!).

Fortunately the calls to both the restaurant and ChowNow are well documented so I’ll be disputing with my bank. All this over a $20 pizza. Smh! Bad...

I like my pizzas well done. To be clear, this means that the toppings are cooked thoroughly. If the crust is dark on the bottom, I'm okay with that. I just want to know that the meats and the cheeses -- the things that typically get people sick with food poisoning -- have been baked enough. After ordering several pizzas to be cooked "very well done" via Zifty, I started preheating the oven before the pizza arrived because Vinny's is in the habit of sending me undercooked pizzas. Figuring there was just an ongoing miscommunication between Vinny's and Zifty, I called in to address the issue. I ended up speaking with the owner over the phone, and I explained the issue to him. I was careful not to be rude, and I specified that I wasn't calling to receive a discount or any free stuff.

The owner immediately began arguing with me over the phone. He claimed that he personally made my pizza and that he was sure to cook it "very well done". He said, and I quote, "I would consider that pizza burnt."

To be clear, there were nearly no golden-brown toasty spots on the cheese. The pepperoni was wet and floppy (yes, Vinny's Owner, I'm aware pepperoni is greasy, I've got six years of experience in the pizza industry). He continued to argue with me for several minutes, cutting me off, and basically insinuating that I had no idea what I was talking about.

I finally told him that "arguing with a customer and telling them that they're wrong is a losing business strategy", at which point he began arguing with me about whether or not he was arguing with me. I swear to god it was getting to be like that argument clinic Monty Python sketch.

I will NOT be ordering from this business again. It's a shame, because when their food is cooked properly I really, really enjoy it. I've been ordering from them for two years now. I'll stick with the pizza businesses who care about their business and product enough to care about...