Pies & Pints - Charleston, WV — Restaurant in Charleston

Terrific tastes at a reasonable price.

Not everything was ideal, but the restaurant staff expertly adjusted to reduce negative effects on us (something we truly appreciated and respected them for doing).

We, my wife and I along with our twin 10 year old granddaughters, were seated around 5:45pm on a Wednesday night. The place was quite full, we had to wait a few minutes before a table was available.

We ordered the “pizza skins” starter. For taste, think of a loaded baked potato, but swap the potato out for some pizza crust. It most resembles flatbread in appearance.

We ordered two 16 inch pizzas to share, the “black bean” and the “sriracha shrimp.”

The black bean (cheddar, jalapeños, seasoned black beans, salsa, cilantro & crème fraiche) shares many features/flavors of another pizza joint’s “Mexican pizza,” but unlike other places the black bean pizza does terrific without adding a slew of cold components right before you eat it. Pies and Pints’ usage of fresh toppings makes a huge difference with the fresh toppings really bringing the flavor and texture. For context consider a canned jalapeno and a deseeded freshly cut jalapeno, there’s a massive difference.

The sriracha shrimp (fresh garlic, red onions, fresh pineapple, shrimp, scallions, basil, mint, cilantro & sriracha aioli) was the family favorite, I only managed to grab a slice before the rest was devoured. This pizza’s flavors really stood out, take a bite and you can readily taste the wide variety of ingredients; the flavors were not muddled into a single taste.

Service was slow, but our server did her best and kept us informed. We got our starter when we got our pizza box for leftovers (yes, after the meal). Our pizza took longer than it should have, things just weren’t going right for the restaurant that night.

The delay to get our food was wearing on us, but we hadn’t taken the time to complain yet when we were told by our server that they are not operating at peak efficiency and that our food would be comped or reduced in cost most likely. She kept us updated and we chose to bear with the delay. In the end a restaurant being able to adjust to reduce negative impacts on customers is a truly great quality and one of the main reasons we will be back.

Quick comment on the atmosphere - it got loud enough on multiple occasions we couldn’t hear ourselves think. The primary source of noise was a table of 6-8 men who didn’t seem to care about the dining experience of other patrons. Ideally restaurant staff would ask them to bring it down to a dull roar, unfortunately this didn’t happen. In the end if you’re wanting a meal where you can hear the people you’re dining with it is probably advisable to visit this restaurant during non-peak hours.

Pies and Pints comped the starter and gave us 25% off the pizzas. I definitely will be back, a few of the specialty pies sound too...

Before I begin, I would like to mention that this is the first time I have felt the desire to write a review.

Pies and Pints in Charleston, WV is a discriminatory, unenjoyable business with undertrained, rude staff. For myself, I attempted to eat at this location on two separate occasions. My first experience with this business was fine, but nothing to write home about. The food was subpar, the service was horribly slow, and the overall ambiance of the seating area was nothing but loud and disruptive. It was difficult to have conversations with the other individuals in my party.

My second experience has prompted me to write this review. Upon hearing that my family had chosen Pies and Pints as our location for lunch, I decided to call and inform the staff that I would be bringing my medically necessary service animal. I was told he “was probably allowed” by a staff member at the time. When I arrived at the restaurant with my family, I was sat in a high foot traffic area with disruptions and speakers playing loud music. This particular area was especially compact, so my dog did not have an area to lie down at my feet as he normally does. In addition to this, the manager (Kara (sp?)) repeatedly walked back and forth past my family’s table and “eyed down” my service dog. She also analyzed my movements as I walked to the restroom facilities. (Mind you, he was not given adequate room to lie down, so he stood still at my feet for the 2 hour period we were in the restaurant. Also, he was heavily distracted due to the area in which we were sat.) It felt like I was being graded on my assistance animal’s behavior, and it felt like they were watching for him to have the slightest mess up. With this going on, my family and I watched as those beside us were served food and checks. My table was the only table that didn’t have their orders for 2 hours. After around an hour and a half of this treatment, I decided to leave lunch with my family early.

In most cases, I attempt to give every individual the benefit of the doubt. However, I cannot help but believe that my service animal was purposefully set up to fail in a public setting. After leaving the establishment, I called and inquired about their seating policies for handlers and service animals. I was told by Kara that they do not place parties with service animals in the walkway where I was seated due to the fire hazard. Once I brought to her attention that I was in fact sat in this area with my animal, she declined that it was ever a policy.

Overall, the service speaks for itself without the discrimination and harassment from employees. If you choose to eat at this establishment, just be aware of the type of business you...

Came in on a Sunday evening and tried this place for the first time.

We were told that there was a 25 minute wait for a 2 top, but okay. We waited and went for a walk. (I don't think it took all 25 minutes, maybe 15-20)

We returned when we were messaged saying the table was ready, and we were fairly quickly seated, so all was pretty good so far.

It was quite a while before anyone came to take our order but the guy who was helping explained they were behind and took our drink order. It didn't look that busy, but okay, no biggie.

Finally the root beer and the beer sample came out to us, and I ordered a pint of the sample.

Finally our server Josh came out and took our food order, and from there it went downhill.

The food was pretty good, but definitely not worth almost $30 for a large pizza.

The beer finally came out after the pizza was cooked and arrived, and when we asked about the beer Josh stated he was going to buy the beer on his dime. (Odd way to phrase it, but okay, I guess it's on the house?)

We finished our meal, and then waited for quite a while. Josh comes up and asks us if we wanted a box and a cup. We said yes, and he disappeared.

A good 8-10 minutes later he comes back up with the check and asks if we are ready for the bill. We tell him yes, and he places the bill down.

I let him know he forgot the pizza, as he put an $11.77 bill on the table. To which, he responds "Well, if it isn't on the bill, then I won't charge you for it." (Again, a really wierd way to phrase it, but okay.)

Then he comes back with my card and sets the reciept and the card on the table and walks away.

When I look at it, he has 2 different bills on the table with my card. The $11.77 for the two drinks, and a $28.89 for what I can only ASSUME is the pizza?

Honestly, at this point, I wasn't even going to fight it. I was so done with trying to deal with people there, and I just wanted to get out.

In summary, it was pretty good food, if overpriced. 4 out of 5 stars there.

The service was so frustrating, that I almost walked out twice, and deserves a 0 out of 5 stars for Josh. The person seating us was pretty okay, and the guy who jumped in was pretty good and was straightforward, but Joshua's ineptitude and the way he kept wandering around aimlessly was annoying when we were patiently waiting for service, and the way his story never matched what he was doing made us feel like we were just getting smoke blown up our butts.

If I want to pay $40+ for a good pizza pie, one beer, and one root beer, I can think of quite a few different...