Brugos Pizza & Italian Bistro — Restaurant in Cave Creek

Neighborhood Italian Restaurant that claims award winning pizza on its sign.  Every Friday, we eat pizza and salad for dinner.  While we have some favorite restaurants, always open to try somewhere new.  Tonight, we went to Brugos.  Our Caesar salad was cold, crisp romaine cut in bite sized pieces and the dressing was perfect. My disappointment was in boxed croutons and generic grated cheese.

We ordered the Margherita pizza - my go to for every first time restaurant because I believe it is the purest pizza.  I love to taste the tomato, cheese and basil without the distraction of toppings.   Tonight's pizza was disappointing at best.  The crust had a nice chew but was tasteless.  The sauce was flavorful, but there needed to be more of it. The description on the menu said the pizza included "4 of the most expensive cheeses, Mozzarella, provolone, amazing imported parmesan and asiago."  Like the crust, the cheese was tastless.  My husband commented that he'd eaten better frozen pizzas from the grocery store.  All of the 16" specialty pizzas, which includes the Margherita, are $38.   However, they have a build your own 16" with a base price of $22.50.  After dinner, I asked the server what the difference was between the $38 Margherita and the $22.50 Cheese and he said the Margherita has 4 cheeses and the Cheese only has Mozzarella!!! Having eaten in hundreds of Italian/pizza restaurants, I consider myself a good judge and Brugo fails the test for taste and value. We won't...

First & Last time we will go here. Our server was slow and unresponsive, walked by our table several times and never looked our way, after several attempts to get her attention, she finally came over. Our 2 Pizza's & 2 Pasta dishes took 45 min to get to us. After struggling to get her attention once more, I old her I did not like what I ordered and she asked if I would like something else instead, so I ordered something else. Again an appetizer took 30 minutes to get to me. When I received the Bill they had charged me for the Pizza I did not like. She brought over the owner Christina, who proceeded to tell me that I would have to pay for the Pizza I did not like and yelled at me in a full dining room full of people, calling me names. I have NEVER been forced to pay for something at a restaurant that I did not like. And I have NEVER been yelled at by an owner of a restaurant! Food was expensive & mediocre at best. Beware if you don't like something and they offer to get you something else they will charge you for everything! So rude and not good...

We typically come here every time we visit our home in Arizona. They have fabulous food. Our favorite is Chrissy's pizza, we order it thin crust, well done. It's just perfect and it is great later. I've also had number of their daily specials which are great - especially the Chicken Parm goes fast and you have to order early. The pastas and the appetizers have been good from what I have either ordered or been offered a bite. I typically order an Italian margarita. They are sweet, but really good. The service will typically be hit and miss. They are typically understaffed, so you just have to plan on going, ordering and waiting. The bartender is awesome, the waitstaff is very nice, but just handling a whole restaurant. Don't go when you are in a big hurry, because you will be disappointed. It's great for a lazy day. Have a cocktail, enjoy the music and atmosphere and just relax. You aren't going to get your food fast, but it will be very tasty...