Screaming Banshee Pizza — Restaurant in Bisbee

I'd mention quality of the food as a redeeming quality before I get into the issues but... We did not get seated!

My boyfriend and I are visiting his family in Tucson and we went to Bisbee for sight seeing and to shop. It was already 5:45pm when we got to the Screaming Banshee and we were hungry after walking around all day.

We enter and there was 7 of us, 5 adults and 2 tweens... We're standing around waiting and someone in our party asks if we seat ourselves to which the guy at the counter making the pizza responds, "no, someone will be with you in a sec." Completely normal response, so we just stand around listening to the loud music they have behind the bar.

This (black haired) woman comes up and says "Oh look at this group of zombies who waltzed in expecting service!" and we brush it off and say there's 7 of us. She pushes past our group then another (blonde) woman comes by and the previous worker fills her in, saying "well these 7 people walked in here asking for our service!" in the most demeaning tone ever. The blonde lady says "oh well we can't sit that many right now.. we can put you on a waitlist and call you when we have an opening." We ask how long the wait is and she just says we'll have to wait.

It's also freezing out, probably like 35F and it snowed a few hours earlier so we're saying how we can wait inside since its cold, to which the black haired lady says we have to wait for a call to get served, which we assumed was her kicking us out. They were also saying they can't promise to seat us inside due to our party size.

After we left, a group of our size was waiting at the door and the blonde lady opens the door for them very politely and seats them immediately.... I'd also like to mention there was maybe 2 people sharing one table and that was all the business they had. No one at the bar, no one in any other tables, it just seemed like they did not want to do the work.

We also were going to share 2 pizzas max, but even if we ALL ordered, we'd be paying them damn well. I really do not understand what the issue is here. Rude and unhelpful service.

My boyfriend's cousins have brought their family and friends here and have LOVED the food, but this exchange is just such a bummer and they said they won't bring their service...

Before I explain my rating, I will say that this may have just been a one-time thing. But I felt strongly enough about it that I decided I needed to write a review.

I used to like this place, and I hope I might again. It has a nice vibe, good food, etc. But as time has gone on, it seems like they don't care anymore. They built their reputation, they have regulars, so they don't bother with service anymore.

I went with my family on April 15, 2017. We were sat down in front of the cooking area. We arrived and ordered one pepperoni pizza at 6pm. An hour later, and we were still waiting. No one refilled my drink, no one checked in with us, it became real boring real fast. We finally got our pizza at 7:22 (i timed it. That's how bored I was).

While waiting, I got tired and laid my head down on the table. Bad manners, perhaps, but after an hour I was tired. Sue me. Some employee came up to me and said I couldn't do that, that I needed to pay or leave (which I was trying to do! I wanted to eat a damn pizza!), and that it was "Arizona law" that you can't lay your head down in a restaurant. If that is true, I'd like to see where it's written. Otherwise, I'm prety sure it was just a threat to get me to sit up so other customers didn't see my forlorn state when they walked in the door.

While I plan to come back and see if their service improves, this experience left a stong impression on me. Strong enough for me to write a review. Which I almost never do. If you own a restaurant, there are no excuses like "we're busy" or "we forgot" or "we're doing our best". You either provide good service or you don't. And they didn't.

So to all who come in at a future date, here's your warning of what you're getting into. I hope they get their act...

I don’t know how this restaurant has so many good reviews. Our experience was awful. We were seated outside in the cold with no heating around 5:10. Our waiter took our drink and food order and left. That was the last time we would see him for almost an hour. He never even brought us our waters. He never checked in on us at all. We watched all other tables around us be served, but weren’t spoken too. After nearly 45 minutes of waiting in the cold, my boyfriend complained and asked if our pizza could be made to go. He had to ask another waiter because we couldn’t even find ours. He apologized and said he’d check but never returned. We waited another 15 minutes and finally our original waiter emerged with only one of our two pizzas, expecting us to pay full price for it. He told us our other pizza was accidentally burned, so we’d have to wait another 10 minutes. We waited another 10 mins, and finally pulled another waitress aside asking to speak to a manager. She told us she’d bring them out, but the manager never came. We finally got our second pizza. The waiter could tell we were upset, but just made excuses about being busy and how it’s “normal” to wait an hour. He seemed very passive aggressive. I don’t think he even realized he never brought us drinks. Ultimately he gave us both pizzas for free. We considered waiting for a manager, but figured it’d be another 15 min if they even came out. Extremely annoyed, disappointed and freezing from sitting outside, we left. The pizza was mediocre. Overall was not a good experience. Not worth the wait or prices. Both pizzas would have been around $45 if they weren’t given for free. I understand restaurants get busy, but there was really no excuse to basically ignore customers...