Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza & Wings — Restaurant in Clearwater

My husband and I have dined here a handful of times before and always had a good experience. We came here for lunch on Friday afternoon, May 12, 2023. We asked to sit inside because of the hot day. There were just a few customers at tables outside and one other couple at a table inside. The other table inside had a different server. So we were the only table our server had inside. She was attentive enough at first, but very short with us. I ordered a small chopped salad and the rigatoni with meatballs. My husband ordered pizza. The salad was excellent as usual, and my husband liked his pizza. When my pasta came out, instead of "al dente rigatoni," per the menu, it was overcooked (mushy) penne in what tasted like a cheap, overly sweet tomato sauce that came out of a can. When my server first brought it out, I asked her if they were out of rigatoni. She looked at me as if I was crazy and making a big deal out of nothing, but she went and asked the kitchen and came back and said "sorry, that's all we have." She asked (whispered more like) if I wanted something else WHILE she was walking away, almost as if it was a rhetorical question! I certainly didn't want this! I decided to just let it go, but I really shouldn't have. I tasted, but didn't eat the pasta. I ate my meatballs which were not good enough to make up for paying dinner prices for a lunch that was overwhelmingly disappointing. I would never have ordered that dish had I been informed of what I was getting versus what I expected. It was obvious that I hadn't touched the enormous plate of pasta by the end of the meal, but she cleared the plate in front of me when she brought our bill as if it were my fault. I wish there had been a manager in sight I didn't see one the entire time we were there, only kitchen staff who were laughing and joking and talking with the waitresses the whole time. After the point at which I asked about the pasta, our waitress treated us like we were diseased. She came up to our table at one point and just set one soda down in the middle of the table for us to refill our sodas out of...and said absolutely nothing. Then, at one point after she gave us the bill, she was talking to one of the cooks while staring at us with a look of disdain on her face, while gesturing with her arms. My husband and I had said nothing rude and had not asked for any compensation and made no other complaint besides when I asked about the rigatoni. We said thank you for every gesture of service she gave us. We paid the full bill and tipped well, but I left very angry at the fact that we paid $60 plus tip for a lunch that was so disappointing. I feel very cheated and I...

Our group of seven met for an early dinner. Our orders: coal fired chicken wings with caramelized onions and focaccia, family sized classic Italian salad, eggplant marino, and a roast beef sandwich.

Friends warned us that Anthony's "well done" pizza actually translated to "burnt" so we avoided it.

The chicken wings were roasted in the coal fired oven. I found the caramelized onions a strange accompaniment. If you're an onion lover, go for it. If you like chicken wings, you might want to get them somewhere else.

The focaccia, which accompanied everything including bread for the so-so roast beef sandwich, was dry and tasteless.

The Italian salad was romaine with chickpeas, black olives, tomatoes and either mozzarella or gorgonzola. We opted for mozzarella which was a small amount for such a large salad.

Five of us had the eggplant marino which you could order in a small or large size. The menu said it was sliced thin. They weren't kidding. It was sliced so thin that when breaded and fried it had the texture of cardboard. I actually thought the eggplant was layered with bread until it was pointed out that the eggplant was breaded. A dollop of a tasty tomato sauce topped the eggplant, but there was not nearly enough to rescue the dish. Two of the five liked the dish and the remaining three rated at a four on a scale of one to ten.

The best part of the meal was the cannoli and cappuccino.

Clearwater and surrounding Pinellas County cities have a plethora of Italian restaurants; all much better than Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza.

Note: this Anthony's only serves beer and wine and they have a good...

Typically a 5 star experience, I was extremely disappointed with my most recent visit. My past visits are the only thing that brought this from 2 up to 3 stars. I ordered takeout on a Wednesday evening. Pizza, wings, meatballs/ricotta and garlic knots. $60+ in takeout. When I got home I realized the ricotta was missing from the meatballs. Disappointed of course, but I know things happen and I wasn't upset. I called the restaurant and all I got was "I'm so sorry that happened"....I said I'm glad you are sorry, but what about not getting what I paid for? I was transferred to a supervisor. She also apologized and said since there was no real charge for the ricotta all they could offer me a credit for 2 meatballs (my order was 4) on my next visit. Now, I'm not just disappointed, I'm upset. I told her I would not have a chance to redeem that as I would not be coming back. Sad thing is that I will probably come back, but it will be a long time until I do. I know mistakes happen. Own the mistakes. Don't make things worse over a $12.99 item that you screwed up. Order # 38669273

edit 1 week later: Lowered from 3 stars down to 2. Must be an autoreply on some reputation management to make it appear to people reading reviews that they are proactive in resolving negative experiences. I have emailed them my contact info 2 times now and no response in a week. Keep digging...