Zoli's NY Pizza — Restaurant in Farmers Branch

We used to love this place. It’s been awhile since we’ve been here and it has really fallen off. I’m a former restaurateur and I don’t like to leave bad reviews unless it’s warranted in my opinion.

We were an office party of 8 or so. We had our reso for 11:30, so we could have their special dough. When we arrived, there were 3 or 4 tables of 4 or less people. We were informed that they didn’t have any of the pan pizza. Now I can’t say they didn’t sell out in to go orders, but that seems highly suspect to me. With few tables, it still took over 5 minutes to be greeted. Half our table ordered diet coke. Our server took awhile to get our drinks, only to inform us that there was no diet coke. Half our table ordered the 1/2 & 1/2 pizza and salad. Two people weren’t brought salads initially, having to wait while others were eating. One was brought a wrong salad. Pizzas arrived before the remaining salads, the wrong salad not included. His salad didn’t arrive until he was half way done with his pizza. The pizza really has gone downhill, in my opinion. The crust was too thin and almost crunchy, in a bad way. Ingredients seemed oilier than I remember. I’s love to tell you about their special pan pizza but they were out….at 11:30 am on a Wednesday. One guy at our table got a burger. He didn’t get it until we were done with our food. Our server did do a good job of seeing he was waiting and acknowledged it. He said he went to go check. But we still had to inquire about it ourselves 10 minutes later. One guy got the pasta and the sauce was kind of broken…some of the oil separating out. He said it tasted fine so there’s that.

Manager finally came around after we paid, to inquire how things were, in a “I touch all the tables to ask” kind of way. This tells me she was unaware of any of the issues we had, which tells me they’re either complicit or she was not communicating with her staff. She may have not known. The problem with the service was that he didn’t seemed bothered by all the issues we were having. Had there been an indication of “this isn’t right, I’m so sorry” it would have been better.

I will give this note: I normally speak with the manager about the issues (In a decent manner! Don’t be mean to the staff!) but this was a business lunch and I wasn’t about to be a complaining Karen at that time. But most of the grievances I had was with things that seem to be systematic and not due to being busy or short-staffed or other such temporary reasons.

I may (MAY) give them another chance simply because I did not give them an opportunity to respond at that time, but I certainly won’t be taking my company guests again and risk being embarrassed by...

I’m only giving two stars because the pizza was good as usual. The rest of what I had to deal with is reason for a ZERO star rating!!

I placed an online order for two pizzas, a salad, zucchini fries, and fried mozzarella. Online order pickup time was 7:04 pm. I arrived at around 6:55 and was told my order would be ready in 10 minutes. Short story, order was NOT READY in ten minutes, I ended up waiting just over 30 minutes. Several disgruntled customers were waiting. We were all bunched up inside the door, because there’s NOWHERE to wait. The to-go hostess had ZERO customer service skills and no managerial support. People complained about the service and she couldn’t care less.

My dissatisfaction isn’t that the order wasn’t ready on time. It was Friday night, coming up on the weekend before Christmas so I expected there to be a “delay”. The issue is/was, the fried items I ordered sat inside the containers and were inedible by the time I got them home. I knew this was going to be the case because we all know what happens to fried foods when they’re placed in a plastic takeout container…it was MUSH. I voiced my concern about this possibility while still in the restaurant and was told by the to-go hostess, “…I can have them make it again, but that just means you’ll have an even longer wait…”! When I voiced my displeasure with her response, she said the one thing a customer NEVER wants to hear. She said/asked, “…what can I do? I. Just. Work. Here…!” I could’ve told her SEVERAL things she could’ve done, but decided to take my pizzas, (which were VERY GOOD…thank you very much) and leave. I received and email telling me that I would receive a partial refund. So, thanks for refunding me part of my money for the bad experience, but this experience wasn’t out of the ordinary for this location. I’ve had similar experiences in the past, so I won’t be going back and that’s hard for me because my family LOVES this pizza, but we’re tired of the hassle.

Maybe 1) consider new managers who aren’t afraid to address customers, 2) create a larger waiting area for to-go orders, 3) bring in more people to work when you know you’ll be busy, 4) don’t prepare fried foods to sit in sealed containers while waiting for pizza to cook, 5) split the kitchen for dine-in and to-go orders so customers who are picking up don’t have to wait so long.

All these things will cost $, but so does losing business and giving refunds to...

Been to Zolis Addison pushing 50 times in the 5 years I have lived in the area. Been supporting Zolis through the construction and remodeling of Midway Road and the surrounding area. I have been loyal through the pandemic and beyond. Last few pizzas I have ordered to go, have been slowly getting worse and I finally need to reach out. I hope the owner sees this, truly. The pizza was great initially. I used to brag about it and bring it to parties and even work lunches. The crust was crispy and slightly charred, the sauce was robust and the cheese was gooey.

Last week - I had enough. I walk in to pickup my order. Me and 4 other people are just standing around waiting. I was patient. No help and no service. I imagine a good chunk of business is via pickup and it is clearly being overlooked. This is not the first time either I have experience this. The communication between the staff and the hostess was not clear, all while you have a party waiting to be seated and 5 people waiting for pickup.

I get home. The pizza is lifeless and a step above cardboard. Seriously. I spent $45+ on a Ham Pineapple and a custom pizza. The crust was beyond tough and there was so little sauce and cheese I thought about putting it back in the oven with my own from the fridge. Talk about disappointment. I used to love Zolis! I get it - labor and ingredients aren’t free and everything is sky high. But clearly, the line has been crossed and it’s ruining the pizza. I no longer recommend Zolis and it really sucks. The competition is tough and Zolis isn’t in the race anymore. To make matters worse, I have even tried the FTW location hoping it was a location issue. Sad to report, this is not the case.

I could recommend a handful of things to bring Zolis back to its former self. I need improvement to happen before I go back. Too many better options in Addison before I grab a slice. I would seriously even offer to come in and talk to management. I want this place to thrive and become the charred goodness...