AMA Pizza — Restaurant in Hillsborough Township

I hate writing bad reviews especially for small businesses in these difficult times but the unprofessional from their manager Michael is unacceptable! To be honest, I often book events and AMA’s level of unprofessionalism and terrible customer service is still baffling to me!

I called the restaurant in June 2022 to make a reservation for a July 27th staff event. I am a managing attorney at a nonprofit firm and I explained this to Michael as well as the fact that I was making a reservation to host a baby shower/staff event celebrating a coworker. I was told that I could bring any decorations I would like. The day before I visited AMA’s for the first time and was impressed by the outdoor space, the food, and the excellent service from their wait staff. So, I made reservations for 15 people for 2:30 pm on 7/27/2022 with Michael. I asked if I could call back closer to the event date with a final headcount, expecting more guests, and I was assured that I could. I then received a reservation email from Resy. I assumed I was all set to go on 7/27.

On July 18, 2022 I began calling the restaurant to update my guest count from 15-22. I quickly began getting the run around from Ama’s staff. They were confused that I had a reservation for 15 people. I couldn’t understand the confusion because I had an email confirmation of my reservation and the staff could see it in their system. I even spoke with the owner who was equally confused. He told me that his son would get back to me. Their staff also asked me to send an email to Michael, so I did. I sent an email on July 20th when I did not hear back from anyone at AMA’s.

Two days later, on Friday July 22nd I still had not heard from AMA’s so I called again. I was told that Michael wasn’t in and I would have to yet again send an email. Mind you, this is less than one week before my staff event. I sent another email and Michael responded with a very flippant message. Michael essentially stated that the restaurant changed their hours and could no longer honor my 2:30pm reservation, regardless of the guest count, unless my company agreed to spend almost double our original budget. I was livid! I can not understand why a restaurant wouldn’t honor their original commitments or at least communicate in a timely manner the need to cancel reservations. When did they plan on informing me the their hours changed and my party could no longer be accommodated? if I wasn’t calling to update my reservation my party would have showed up on 7/27 to a closed restaurant.

Michael had no regard for the fact that my reservation is for a company event. I spent the whole weekend scrambling for a new venue and having to inform my staff and superiors of the venue change at the last minute. Moreover I sent a follow up email to Michael that was blatantly ignored. I understand that times are difficult for restaurants but communication is key to good customer service! If you are considering AMA’s for an event I would think twice unless you don’t mind a last minute cancellation, lack of communication, and terrible...

April 2022 - As noted in my review below from a couple years ago, when I gave AMA a five star rating, the food is always good. We've been here several times between then and now and always had a pleasant experience. But last night made it necessary for me to change my review to one star, not because of the food, but because of the lack of respect for the customer.

We had an indoor reservation for four at 7:30. Upon arrival, we were asked to wait just a couple minutes. That turned out to be 35 minutes and the only option then offered by the Hostess was "Outdoors with heaters or continue to wait but it would likely be another 30 minutes or so". I pointed out that there were TWO tables of four all set and empty in the dinning room and asked why we're not being seated there. She said "They're reserved". I noted we had a reservation as well, and asked why our reservation is not being honored but two open tables were being held to which I was informed - "They are for the owner's son". I expressed my dismay that paying customers, who had a reservation, are made to wait over half an hour, and are then told to eat outside because they were reserving tables for family members. Very disrespectful. Now after 8PM, we had no choice but to take the outdoor option even though it was only 60 degrees. I asked the hostess to please have the owner come speak to me about what happened. She said he would come to the table. He never came.

But it gets worse ... the outdoor heaters ran out of gas as we sat down and we had to ask twice before the tanks were replaced, providing minimal warmth for those in our party without jackets, expecting to have eaten indoors. When we finished our mains, the waiter dropped the dessert list but then never came back to take our dessert order. After 20 minutes, we said forget it and asked for our check. Another 15 minutes, still no check so my wife brought the credit card inside to pay and was told to "Go back out and wait and your waiter will come to get it as we're dealing with an issue now" .. whatever that means other than that the customer was again being slighted and not a single person on the staff could take our payment. Of course, the waiter didn't come by and a few minutes later two of us went inside again and insisted on paying so we could finally leave after having sat at an empty table for almost 45 minutes after eating.

As I said, been to AMA many times, always good. But tonight's terrible service, and above that - disrespect will keep us away for a very long time, if we ever go back. Summer 2020 - Always good, solid Italian food from cooked pasta dishes to wide variety of specialty pizzas. Owners and wait staff always very good as well. Makes for a good, easy, locally...

Great food and pizza but giving it 3 stars because others that I know have been there too and we feel that the staff is a little strange towards it’s colored customers. No direct confrontations but me and several of my friends have been to this place on separate occasions. When we talked about the place some of my friends and I agreed the place and the Staff were really nice but... some weird service. For example, one of my friends (who is Indian) ordered takeout and was waiting for a whole hour for her food. She saw many others come in after her who got their food long before she did. And she was waiting for a very long time before finally getting her food. This isn’t a direct example but just a bad customer experience. Next, my family (asian) came in with another asian family. We were waiting for a bit before we were placed on one of the tables that are on the outskirts and literally placed outside of the reserved seating areas that are prettier and well lit (not to mention it’s literally on the backyard of the area where it’s just a table on grass and filled with mosquitos). And all the pretty patio tables were empty and the staff claimed they were “reserved”. The parents sat with themselves at the table that was the farthest away from the restaurant and me and my friends sat separate tables right next to it. I wanted a two-seater for me and my friend that was on the inner, prettier side of the outdoor seating but the staff claimed it was “reserved”. So we sat on one of the outside tables that was literally just a backyard and away from the main outdoor seating area. I kept a watch on the “reserved” two seater but no one was there for the time I ate there (I was there for two hours). So I’d love and explanation as to why the staff claimed it was reserved when no one came to the seating.

This is just my personal experience but I think there’s a bit of a problem if more than one colored person says they kind of felt uncomfortable During their stay in how they were treated. Other than that, great...