Pizza Art Wine — Restaurant in Baton Rouge

Pizza Art Wine tries to run before it can walk. I love the ambition of the menu but the food suffers from poor recipes, average quality ingredients, mediocre execution, uninviting service, and a failure to meet expectations.

The space is well designed and very cool. Lots of art as you can imagine. The outdoor seating flowed well from the inside in a cohesive manner. Structurally and aesthetically, PAW does a good job. However, that's where the positive aspects end.

Upon entering, the hostess mumbled a greeting without any warmth or expression and seemed bored and impersonal. Not a good first impression. The server was doing her best, but needs a bit more training on the menu and making suggestions. We ordered the caponata to start and the Lil' Peppa and Tartufado pizzas. The caponata was very under seasoned. The veggies didn't have much flavor other than a bit of acid and oil. The worst part though was that the menu said it came house made focaccia. However, we were served toasted slices of an Italian loaf. This is a bit deceptive and rubbed me the wrong way. I asked our server if they were out of focaccia and she didn't know what it was. It took about an hour to get our pizzas. Not sure why it took so long since they had 3 people working the oven and there was only a medium crowd. The crust was really poor for a place specializing in high end pizza. There was no structure to the crust. It was mostly thin and flat with no flavor. I don't feel like it was given enough time for the yeast to do it's thing and create flavor and structure. It was definitely not an overnight proof. It tasted like the dough was made a few minutes before it was baked and the flour didn't have enough time to hydrate. Speaking of hydration, they have to use a

Overall thoughts and feelings: If you cannot give consistency in the service your customers deserve throughout the ENTIRE service day, then I cannot see myself returning to give my support. The food: Phenomenal! Ordered the house salad which is not an ordinary house. The twist of pine nuts, shaved parm and a balsamic vinaigrette was divine. Pizza Diavola, beautiful crispy fired crust and the spicy salami was the freshest and best I've eaten. Added pepperoni and extra cheese and I suggest doing the same! We heard that they have a new chef, keep that chef because the pizza preparation is the best thing this business has going for it. The drink: arrived around 230p for a late lunch and discovered they offered brunch. There were indications of a champagne brunch however there was zero description of what is included or the price for that option. When asking the server, he did not know and asked another employee that was also perplexed that there were no prices on the main or drink menu. The second employee returned and explained that they recently changed their menu and the price/information must've been left off of the menu, also that the server didn't "normally" work brunch and was not used to it. If a shift is worked, then there should be a short onboard to review any differences between shifts, this seems like a lead/management oversight. The atmosphere, service and management: I've been very excited to experience this business because of my love for all things in the name. I must say the space is spectacular visually, during my particular visit however I found a place with such lively walls, to be cold and silent. There was no music playing at all, the televisions were not playing anything and all that could be heard was the conversation of the only other table seated and the clanking of the pots and pans being washed in the open kitchen next to us. Our server was either not happy to be there, wasn't interested in serving us or is quiet and timid. He would place what we ordered down and move away as quickly as he arrived. I believe an owner or manager (never identified) walked over only towards the end of our meal probably only because she saw the look of disappointment about the experience on our faces. She visited our neighboring table 35-40 minutes prior and did not bother to even throw a smile our way. When we did ask our server about the lack of music or personality we were told that they were having issues with the wifi and were unable to get everything up and running. Funny thing is, 15 minutes after that conversation a new set of management and staff arrived, we assumed for the evening shift, and the music magically began to play and the accent lights were turned on and the bar and dining room area was a whole vibe...the exact vibe the art and wine deserve and that we looked for in this experience! This business is definitely serving great food but with a side of a dual...

Good for dining in, bad for take-out. I've eaten there four times now: twice at the restaurant and twice getting take-out. I'll happily go back to eat there, but I'll never go back for take-out.

The pizza is delicious! My favorite is the Tartufata. Love some truffles and mushrooms! The inside dining area is nice, but a bit pretentious. They try a bit too hard with the "art" part. The patio area is nice and bright and very pleasant.

When we got take-out the first time, we opened the boxes at home and found that the pizzas were significantly smaller than the 14" they were supposed to be. The second time, we had ordered through the app and had selected the cauliflower crust for one pizza because the person getting it has diagnosed celiac disease and cannot have gluten. I was running late picking the pizzas up and arrived at least a half hour after the order was placed. When I walked in, I saw that the restaurant was almost completely empty. The person at the front greeted me and when I told her why I was there, she quickly informed me that they didn't have any cauliflower to make the cauliflower crust. They had made no attempt to contact us to let us know that before I got there--and they'd had plenty of time to do so. Then the chef (I think) came out and told me that they had not been able to get any cauliflower from their supplier for the last two weeks, yet they were still taking orders for it. They could've removed it from their online menu, at least temporarily. Short of that, they could've gone to Costco or even the grocery store and bought some until their supplier could bring it. They chose to do nothing and we ended up having one person without food. Rarely do I not tip on even a to-go order, but I didn't simply because they could've at least let us know about the problem after we...