Straw Hat Pizza Grille — Restaurant in Bakersfield

LOCATION: 9620 STE B Hageman Rd. Bakersfield, Ca 93312:

Date: Sat Oct 26 @ 4:30 pm.

Myself and my wife were extremely excited when we saw that they were putting in a Straw Hat pizza in our neighborhood. We’re both kids from the 70’s and remember the old Straw Hat’s with all the nostalgia (player piano, movie screen etc..). Now we understand that those style pizza restaurants have gone the way of the dinosaurs and will probably never return. We usually go to a couple of the local pizza establishments a couple times a month and also use their party facilities for family functions. (Birthday parties, reunions, miscellaneous celebrations and etc…).

Tonight when we arrived at this establishment and it wasn’t crowded. There were only three tables out of 25 that had customers along with a couple sitting at the bar. There was one couple standing in front of us in line ordering a pizza. The service at the register was very slow. They had two employees standing there with only one register being used. It took approximately 10 minutes for our order to be taken despite little to no line.

We ordered a large pizza, a side of onion rings and a side of fried zucchini to go. (Also be aware they do not provide ranch dressing it costs extra). Our tab came to $50 for a take out order. Coincidentally Me-N-Ed’s pizza about an half mile from here world have been around $35 for a large Pizza and two sides. So Straw Hat is considerably way more expensive than their competitors. (I don’t mind paying more if the service and food is better, but this wasn’t the case). After ordering we sat in the bar area and watched some of the World Series pregame show. (This is the only positive thing about this place is that they have numerous TV screens mounted up on the walls showing various sports). After about 40 minutes my wife decided to go up front and asked the cashier what was going on with our order. The cashier went into the back and came out with our order. She explained that she was sorry and that it had been sitting on a counter in the back for quite some time. After getting the order we noticed that the Pizza was completely cold, both side orders (Onion rings, and fried zucchini) were both soggy from sitting in the styrofoam containers for so long. Also we didn’t get the ranch dressing that we ordered and payed for. We went back to the cashier and informed her of the situation and she simply said I’ll go get your ranch dressing. No offer to replace or reheat the food or even a simple “I’m sorry we will fix this”.

After getting home we reheated the food only to notice that our 3 topping pizza had hardly any toppings on it and the sides were pretty much history. The pizza itself wasn’t that great, along with being cold and the shortage of toppings it also didn’t have much sauce.

This was really a bad experience and probably the worst pizza restaurant I’ve ever patronized. (I’ve patronized a lot and frequently). Unfortunately for this business there are four other Pizza places within a mile of this location. All four are far superior to this establishment and will probably be the reason this business will fail if they don’t make changes.

It should be noted that an employee (possibly the manager) was sitting at a table in the bar while our food was sitting in the back. (Maybe he was on a break ). Considering this place wasn’t busy (only three other small families) this shouldn’t happen. The food quality was extremely poor and very expensive when compared to local competitors. The service was horrible to nonexistent when told about the issue with the order. Then of course getting charged for something that you didn’t get and had to request. The business itself was clean and had a nice atmosphere with plenty of flatscreen TV’s for viewing. This whole experience was very...

Recently me and my bf had went here for the first and last time. horrible experience for a new place they had no one in it we ordered our food at the kiosk my bf had ordered a beer. we go pick out our table and go to the arcade area. as we are in the middle of a game the bar tender came up and asked for his ID he came from Tennessee so it’s different and then tried to pull the id as if it was fake…then asked for my id. I told him im not going to be drinking so you don’t need to see it. He tells my bf rudely “u should really get a california one man” like no you should get a different job not everyone that eats is from here. then he says okay i’ll serve you at the bar and walks away we continue playing the game and the server comes up saying the beer is ready?? did not serve it to us and left it at the bar by itself unattended. So my bf walked over there to grab it himself. while our game was still going how embarrassing for bad service i laughed. Then you heard them talking in the kitchen so loud we heard them from the table and they tossed the food and walked away didn’t ask any basic questions you would as a server…sad to say my parents know the owner and we aren’t going to be...

Horrible place. Came in for lunch for my Birthday and all tables were dirty. Stood there for 5+ minutes and not one person came up to ask if we needed help so we left. Decided to try and order take out that evening. Called, took 2 minutes to answer the phone then placed on hold for 3 more minutes. Placed an order and was put on hold again. Girl came back on the phone and asked for payment. I wanted to know why I couldn't pay when I got there? She said all pizza places do that. Round table, me n Ed's, zeppos and slice of italy do not make you pay before you pick up your pizza. I told her to forget it. Was on the phone for over 10 minutes. I called Round Table and ordered in less than 2 minutes and didn't have to pay over the phone. Disappointing, was really looking forward to this...