Goodfellas Pizzeria - Pleasant Ridge — Restaurant in Cincinnati

Although the pizza here is amazing, I have to write about the bizarre experience my family had here the other night. We seated ourselves outside on the 2nd floor and after we had been sitting for a couple of minutes the woman at the only other table on the patio told us there there was a baby bird under our table. We looked and sure enough, a baby bird was wobbling around and we could hear mom nearby. We decided to switch tables in the hopes the mom would come and assist the baby. We moved and a minute or two later the mom did appear next to the baby and was guiding it and chirping around it. The bartender came out soon after this to clear some plates and move chairs, my daughter warned him about the baby bird and he just grunted and went on about his work. He went back inside but reappeared a moment later with a towel in his hand and he scooped up the baby bird, my daughter said no, no, it's still alive at which he again grunted and then proceeded to ignore us and go back inside with the bird. Our table of four and the other table of two outside sat there with our mouths hanging open. It was the weirdest thing. Not one word was ever uttered by the bartender during the whole encounter. When my husband checked out, he told the bartender why he wasn't getting a tip, his lack of communication, his attitude, and the whole handling of the bird situation to which the bartender replied, "Well, it wasn't your bird". No, it wasn't our bird, we don't own a bird and we sure wouldn't bring one to restaurants if we had one, but that wasn't the point now, was it? Then the bartender told my husband he didn't care one way or another if he got a tip, he had been working for 8 straight days. We get it, guy, you are too tired/sick of work, customers, baby birds, whatever. Then quit. Stop making people's visits to the restaurant so weird and disturbing. In any case, the pizza was great but the atmosphere and the odd bartender with yellow glasses were not. Maybe we will go to another location...

We had ordered pizza and meatballs from this location before, just never dine in. We decided to go ahead and dine in tonight. The pizza was not great (half of the cheese wasn’t even cooked or melted all the way). Some meatballs on there were burned as well as the dough of the pie- was burned! We literally kept having to hand picked off the burnt part as we were eating. The restaurant was not busy or close to have more than 10 customers. (There were at least 7-9 staff including the bartender upstairs).

We ordered the pie of nonna pizza and meatballs (appetizer).

We waited about 20-25 mins for our pizza to be ready. And when the staff dropped the pizza off at our table. We let him know that we haven’t yet receive the meatballs (appetizer). He said no worries he will get that for us very quickly.

We already started eating our pizza (struggling with the burnt part already and uncooked parts)…. Still no sign of the meatballs.

About 55 mins later. We decided to no longer wait (it was not busy!!!!) We went up to the register and asked for a refund back for the meatball (not even for the whole thing-should had asked -to be honest - spend $35 for some uncooked and burnt part of pizza and non existent meatballs).

When we went up to the register, all staff just stand there chilling hanging out chatting… that’s what made me beyond disappointed, that’s just irresponsible and unprofessional. Like clock out and go home, if you’re not doing anything or check up on customers with proper orders that was already incorrect and still has not been made.

I asked the staff who was doing the refund transaction for the meatballs regarding of the time it would take to cook the meatballs. She informed me that it would take a few seconds to make the meatballs …. And I told her that didn’t explain why we had to wait over 55 mins and still no sign of...

I have been so excited about having a Goodfellas location in Pleasant Ridge ever since I heard they were coming. I am a huge fan of the OTR location. I eat there regularly for both personal quick lunches and client lunches. Having a location 2 blocks from my house was a dream.

Unfortunately, they are unable to handle any sort of volume. I ordered a pizza online and when ordering, the site said it would be an hour before I could pick it up. An hour is a long time for a pickup pizza order but I gave the benefit of the doubt since they've only been open a month. Once I paid, that time jumped to an hour and 45 minutes for pickup. I tried to call and talk to someone immediately but the number is a service and the mailbox is full. So I hopped in the car and went to the location. They had a number of orders but fewer that 20 chits hanging or coming from their printer. I was greeted immediately after coming in and they began to look for my order. The person who seemed to be in charge found it and told me it would be at least an hour and 45 minutes for the order. Upon which I told him I had already paid and would like to cancel. He agreed and told me it would show back in my account in 3-5 days and headed back to make pizzas. I asked for a receipt which really seemed to frustrate him. He processed the refund for me and was civil. The experience and service is certainly not what I've experienced at the OTR or Covington locations.

I hope they can work through their issues. I would like to try this location again but I already have a sour feeling about it. Not the company, but the location. Maybe corporate management should take a closer look at training at this location. In all honesty, the 2 stars are because of my admiration for the other locations; this really was a one...