Pastime Restaurant — Restaurant in Baton Rouge

Edit2: Please post the footage. Also, let’s get a local reporter involved and both take a polygraph that can be aired on local news. I’m 100% serious. Liar pays. Do you accept? Put your money where your lying mouth is.

Edit: Owner(Randy) response is complete fiction to discredit my honest review. I explain EXACTLY what took place below. Randy, the initial screwup is now compounded by lying and attacking me. Own your mistakes, attempt to retain consumers, and move forward. Check your pride at the door. Your behavior the other day and on here is reprehensible. I now see why Pastime’s business has continued to dwindle down over the years. Very sad but very true. The owner is the problem, folks. Previous reviews show a very clear pattern with Randy. You crumbled 12 year’s worth of my consumer equity in 2 minutes. Really let that sink in. You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts, sir!

Rough experience at Pastime today. Will never return.

I’ve eaten at Pastime a couple times a month for the last 12 years. I called in a seafood platter and an order of onions rings for pick up. I paid and asked for extra tartar sauce(I know from experience the two tiny soufflé cups they give isn’t enough) and a good bit of ketchup. The lady gave me extra tartar sauce and said she could give me two ketchup packets(yes, the standard small ones). I told her that wouldn’t be enough, being that there was zero ketchup in the bag and those two little packets wouldn’t be enough for the fries alone and certainly not enough for the onion rings. I asked if she had a larger container. She then offered me two tiny soufflé cups. Again, I told her that wouldn’t be enough. I spotted some small cups in the “free stuff area” displaying a copious amount of ketchup bottles, parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and so on. As I was about to squeeze out an adequate amount of ketchup for the fries and onion rings I paid for, the girl came around the counter and said she couldn’t allow me to take any of that ketchup. I was shocked. I asked her if my ketchup consumption would be monitored and restricted if I sat down at a table to eat. She reiterated she couldn’t let me take that ketchup. A man came from behind the counter. I recognized this man as the manager. Things should have gotten better from there, but they got worse.

The man had an aggressive tone and look from the moment he asked me if he could help me with something(not yelling, but definitely confrontational-and he was a little too close to my face for my comfort). I tried to explain to him that I simply needed enough ketchup for the fries and onion rings. He immediately rushed to his employee’s defense without listening to me explain. He actually said “You should go to the store and buy a bottle of ketchup.” Wow. I wasn’t about to stand there and argue about it or explain that I wasn’t going home, where I have more than an adequate supply of all condiments. I simply and softly informed him that I would never return. He walked off loudly and angrily repeated “You have a great day. You have a great day. You have a great day” in a very childish manner. Handling issues with customers is literally your job. You failed miserably today.

I hope an owner reads this. Your staff completely failed today in handling a very simple and very typical customer request. You have a historic business, but customer service like this is hard to overcome. You lost a long time faithful customer today over less than 25 cents worth of ketchup. And for what? What did you gain? You lost between $400 and $500 a year in revenue from me directly, plus the revenue from people I typically bring with me, plus the revenue from those that hear about my experience both through online reviews and word of mouth. It really is a shame. Thanks for ruining our meal. I won’t give you the chance to...

so! I went to this place pasttimes after the parade with my friends and friend's friends and the way they order is like a notepad you write what they want and hand it back and you give a name to call well I put my name at the very top but we had two orders .. it was mine and a guy named Jose it was all separated off in boxes with our own names... about 20 mins later they called Jose and he got his food then a bit after they called someone but I didn't understand and no one else got up so I went. I saw a calzone sitting behind the lady at the register ( that's what I got, Jose got a burger and salad) - after this big mix up with these 2 guys named Tony and Tommy one had a pizza the other a calzone and his calzone was put out next and they said his name... then the lady grabs at the first one and I say that's his and point at his- she apologized and I said I have a calzone too and the guy in the kitchen asked me my name. I told him and he snapped I didn't call you yet go sit down so I go for 10 ish mins then I go back.. calzone still there.. guy sees me and says it's not ready go sit I don't like being stared at so I sit and another 10 mins later I'm called up- I go and tell em my name and they give the calzone I'm looking at and the burger and salad that wasn't mine and they say to pay and I say I only have the calzone and they get the printed ticket and tell me that's the entire order and I say it was sectioned off on the paper I gave mine was only the calzone and the guy in the kitchen said I don't care pay for it or leave and I just sat there saying I just want the calzone and they go back and fourth for another while and eventually they ring up 18 dollars and the calzone is 14 bucks on the menus and the girl says sorry tax I guess...I pay for it and leave. That night I went to Walmart and I realized my credit card wasn't there.. and I didn't remember getting my card back and that was the last charge in on the card and I went straight home after and isn't in the car. I signed the receipt and she didn't give it back... so I went today and the lady said they don't remember getting any like mine and she asked the bar lady and said nope none .. then this other old guy comes out and I tell him I was here Saturday and I paid and they didn't give my card back and gets defensive and hostile saying yes they did they always do I've been working here for 40 smth years, the lady that did the order looked very new and very confused she kept asking the cook for help. My friend I had with me today gave him a attitude back saying let's see the cameras and he said no it's not here and we're not letting you see the cams.. and the other lady said leave your name and number and we'll let you know if it turns up and the guy said yea leave your name number and get out... so I did and he wrote something and I walked out

Only redeeming quality was that the calzone was good but I bet it would have been a whole lot better fresh and I wasn't charged 4 extra bucks... it's 14 on the menu and I was charged 18 and some change. :(

Very upsetting both days I doubt there will be a day...

There is a place in Baton Rouge—down near the river,

Where the past of LSU linger in the damp Louisiana air—where the beer is cold, the neon hums like a hornet’s nest, and the pizza is pure, ungovernable delishiousness.

The Pastime—nostalgic in name, but built on something rawer. Here, hunger meets grease, cheese, and heat, no pretense required.

Born in the 1920s as a humble grocery, it fed laborers craving hot, fast, and cheap. By 1945, booze arrived, and The Pastime thrived just beyond LSU’s Prohibition zone, drawing students and faculty alike. The law changed, but the legend endured.

Pizza is not an afterthought here.

It is the thought.

Forget the thick, doughy, over-hyped monstrosities you get in tourist traps.

The Pastime’s pizza is thin, crispy, and cooked like they mean it—a no-nonsense testament to the beauty of excess, built for survival rather than spectacle. Take the Creole Pizza here, for example. A creation so inherently Southern it could win a parish election on name recognition alone. Their homemade spicy red sauce is a warning shot—bold, unapologetic, and perfectly paired with a reckless heap of Gulf shrimp, fresh-cut red onions, okra, homegrown diced tomatoes, and a righteous blend of cheeses.

And yet, you do it anyway. Because when that first bite hits—when the shrimp, the sauce, the cheese, and the crunch of that perfect crust collide in a symphony of excess—you remember why places like this exist.

The Pastime is an equal-opportunity enabler.

It doesn’t give a damn if you’re a broke college kid, a washed-up gambler, or a Hollywood A-lister slumming it in the Deep South. Angelina Jolie, Billy Bob Thornton, Matthew McConaughey—hell, even Willie Nelson has pulled up a chair here. LSU legends, from Billy Cannon to Simone Augustus, have eaten here. Every Louisiana politician worth their salt—Edwin Edwards, Buddy Roemer, a long line of sheriffs, judges, and senators—has sat in these booths, elbow-deep in marinara, making backroom deals over thin crust and cold beer.

Because this is where it happens. The kind of place where fortunes change, where ideas are born, where decisions are made in the hazy euphoria of one too many slices and the promise of another round.

There’s no Michelin star here. No farm-to-table nonsense,

No gimmicks, no branding nonsense—just The Pastime, standing for nearly a century because people keep coming back. Not just for nostalgia, but for the food, the stories, and the comfort of things that never change.

If you’re in Baton Rouge, order the pizza. Extra napkins. Cold beer. No regrets.

And when you wake up the next morning—groggy, stuffed, and wondering if it was a dream—you’ll know it wasn’t.

The Pastime isn’t just a restaurant. It’s an LSU...