NYPP New York Pizza Pasta — Restaurant in Florida

Pizza was decent but by the time our server brought it to the table, I had lost my appetite. Like many other customers, I chose to visit this location after work, of course trying to avoid cooking dinner. However, I was unsatisfied with my experience. Immediately upon entering the building, EVERYONE turned their heads to stare at us (myself and my boyfriend), us being the only two black people in the establishment. However, we ignored it as the smell of the food was very pleasant so we figured we’d try it out. As an appetizer, we ordered the 12pc wings: half hot Buffalo and half BBQ. They were okay. Not what we’re used to and not fried as crispy. But we stayed in hopes of having better luck with the pizza. For our entree, we ordered the Large Sicilian Deep Dish pizza and added pepperoni, bacon, and banana peppers. The pizza took over an hour. Mind you, we found it odd that after 15-20 minutes, we hadn’t gotten our food yet. So many people came and went, people who’d ordered takeout had already gotten theirs too, but still no pizza for us. To make time pass, I ordered a white sangria. The ice melted in my drink before my pizza hit the table. Several times, our server came to the table to “check on us” and had reassured us that the pizza would be out soon but it took for us to flag down one of the hosts and make a complaint that we’d been waiting for over an hour for the process to speed up. When we’d inquired about compensation, they offered us the cheapest thing on the menu (dessert) but we declined as we wanted the pizza taken off. Furthermore, we were tried from work and simply wanted to go home. They continued to tell us that “They’d see what they could do” but a manager never came to check on us after the interaction. Them giving us the run around infuriated me, but I sat there patiently waiting for a proper apology from management and ultimately never got it. So, I walked inside (as we had chosen to eat outside). I walked in to express my frustration with management. They sent a cook to talk to me. He happened to be a shorter black guy. He said he was a manager, but I’m convinced they sent him to come talk to me as the actual manager refused to do so. Also, what better way to handle an upset black customer than to send the black employee to speak to her? When I explained how ridiculous it was that we’d had to wait so long and that no manager had had the decency to even come and make it right, the “manager” argued with me. I’d explained that it felt racial being that at least 20 other customers had come, sat down to eat, gotten their food in a timely manner, and left, he reassured me that “they treat all the customers the same”. I argued otherwise and expressed my frustration with the service. The manager had explained that they were backed up having received a catering order. But there were at least 10 people working in the kitchen and if they were truly backed up, that should’ve been relayed to our server and then communicated with us. He also tried to feed me some information about the Sicilian pizza taking a long time to cook (longer than the regular pizza) which is fine. But again, it’s something that should be on the menu and should’ve been communicated to us when we initially ordered it. After a heated debate, I asked him to take off the pizza, we paid and left. I left feeling as though I didn’t matter and though he took off my pizza, I was told he couldn’t compensate me my entire order even though I wasted my evening on a pizza that “only takes 30 minutes to cook”. I felt racially profiled and embarrassed as the interactaction drew attention from several customers. I got treated as the angry black woman and it’s sad that it took for me to walk up to the cash register just to get someone’s attention. Had I not done so, the manager would’ve never came and acknowledged us. I felt ignored and walked away having paid for my drink and appetizer. But, it’s frustrating how in predominately white (and Italian) establishments, we’re treated as though black dollars don’t matter. I will never be...

Maybe the best option for Italian food in SW Florida.

With that said, there are a couple of problems with the services.

Reservations during the "season" apparently require a $10 deposit per person. Fine.

Despite the reservation, no tables were available at our reservation time because "a lot of reservations came in at once", which makes no sense.

We got a table after a 30 minute wait, but the server was overwhelmed. He was polite and asked that we be patient. 20 minutes later we put in our drink and dinner orders. The food, as usual, was excellent.

It's probably noted on the menu somewhere, but a 20% gratuity was included on the check with the option of adding additional gratuity. My $40 deposit or it's refund were nowhere on the check. A staff member said deposits get refunded at the end of the night.

It's now the next day and both charges still show pending. EDIT: It is now 4 days after the reservation. I called the morning after and was told the pending charge was just a hold and it would drop off. Well, the pending charge just became a full charge and I have disputed it with my credit card company.

Management will likely reply to this post explaining the need to ensure reservations are kept and that no-shows can be debilitating. I get it. But if you're taking deposits for reservations, pay a little more attention to BOTH the reservation AND giving credit for the deposit. Why bother otherwise?

Including a 20% gratuity for a party of 4 is simply not warranted. I know the staff relies on tips and often tip well over 20%, however including 20% gratuity just rubbed me wrong, especially after the reservation/deposit situation. It's not for my convenience. The whole thing feels like a money grab from where I'm standing. It falls below the quality of the food and atmosphere, makes it seem cheap. Let ME decide what discretionary gratuity I should offer based on the level of service and I guarantee we will all do much better.

See...

Ordered a large pepperoni pizza for delivery on Friday at 7pm. The pizza was delivered at 8 pm and when we opened the box is was some type of meat lover’s pizza with a bunch of toppings. Called back and was immediately put on hold, not even able to utter a word. Was on hold for 5 ½ minutes so hung up and called back. The same thing happened, was put on immediate hold without even a chance to say anything. After a few minutes, Kayla (same girl who took the original order) gets on the phone and I explain that we received the wrong pizza. We’re put on hold for a few more minutes and then she says they’ll send out a new one and it should be delivered in a half-hour to 40 minutes. Second pizza arrives at 9 pm. I go to hand the driver the wrong pizza and he doesn’t want it, and tells me to throw it out. I told him our garbage was collected today and I don’t want a rotting pizza in my garbage can until the pick-up in a next few days. I told him to take the pizza and throw it out at NYPP in their trash. This morning I go to get our garbage cans from the end of the driveway, and the delivery guy dumped the pizza in our garbage can and left the lid up. We have a disgusting, drenched pizza in the bottom of our can. Absolutely appalling that the delivery guy would throw the pizza in our empty garbage AFTER I specifically told him I wanted him to take the wrong pizza and dispose of it at NYPP. The delivery guy’s behavior is disrespectful and appalling. Their service has really gone downhill over the past 2 years. It’s like nobody cares about the customer. They’re never polite, or say ‘thank-you’ and they treat customers like they are disposable. Deliveries take forever. You are put on hold for long periods of time. This is the last straw for me, won’t order from the again. Not worth the...