Roman Gourmet — Restaurant in Hillsborough Township

Never have I given any restaurant anything other than a 5 star review because in my mind, that is just the right thing to do. And if I do have a poor experience somewhere, I will always keep it to myself, because that is also just “what you do”. However, this place may be the only exception I will ever make for this rule because everyone deserves a heads up about how unprofessional and unhospitable this staff operates. Without any exaggeration, it was the least hospitable place I have ever been. As soon as we entered, the staff didn’t greet us and we just stood around until we asked if we could seat ourselves. The whole time the staff just stared at us like they didn’t even know what to do when people walk into a restaurant. We were the only people inside and ordered a simple two slices, garlic knots and mushroom soup. There were three people behind the counter and they all heard/took the order, but they still only brought out the 2 pizza slices and forgot about the rest. After about fifteen minutes into our meal we politely asked if they could check if the rest of our food was almost ready which caught them completely off guard. At that moment they started putting the garlic knots into the oven and the one young lady brought out our soup and apologized, to which we thanked her and told her it was no problem at all and not to worry.

However, we noticed we werent served any spoon with our soup so we went up to the counter and kindly asked the gentleman who we thought was the cook for a spoon to which he nastily snapped at my fiance for even asking the question (since it was on top of the counter). At this point we were a bit frustrated but hey -everyone has their bad days so we ignored it and just continued on with our time there. As if things couldn’t get any worse, it most certainly could and did. Things took a really bad turn when the main cashier / young lady sat on top of the counter tops and started to spray this strong glass cleaner all over the pizza’s display case literally right in front of where we were sitting (we were the closest table across from the display case). The cleaning mist quickly caught onto the fans above, sprayed all over our food, and went straight up our noses and mouths. All you could smell or taste was that cleaner to the point it was making us gag as we were trying to quickly finish our food. At this point we were genuinely shocked that someone could be that oblivious to basic courtesy and restaurant norms. That was the last straw we could handle before this whole ordeal was seriously wearing us out. I completely understand if a staff has closing responsibilities, because they’re just doing their jobs. But this was beyond one or two little mishaps that you could easily look past. This staff was incapable of doing anything past the bare minimum or even pretending to care that guests should receive a basic level of human respect.

Lastly, the food was very mediocre at best with stale and slightly burnt pizza. But as we all know, that doesn’t really matter in the end when a restaurant has a strong, hospitable staff representing their business. This eatery, however, made us wish we had prepared ourselves for one of the worst experiences we’ve ever...

Recently tried these guys out and we are very pleased. The pizza is quite good and the ceasar chx salad my wife orders has had a generous amount of fresh chicken each time. Even better was the time i picked up instead of delivered and the guys were professional and courteous at check out. It doesn't take much ya know? I can't say that for every local pizzeria around here unfortunately. There is one other place that I think the pizza is better, but I don't order anymore because they are obnoxious. I really appreciate when staff acts like they care even if they really don't lol. Good food + good service = loyal customer. Thanks guys.

Edit: I took 2 stars off because the only 2 times they delivered it was waaayyyyy late. No point in setting expectations if you can't meet them. Disappointed. I guess I'm still looking for my go-to pizzeria.

Edit #2: Removing another star. Pretty disappointed I must say. Delivery almost an hour late for the 2nd time, we ordered extra chicken on the salad and paid for it....didn't get it. The portion was smaller than when we ordered the regular size. The pizza was cold and the toppings barely cooked. Seemed like a reheat even. After delivery fees + food cost + tip this stuff isn't cheap. I feel ripped off. They lost me tonight.

Final edit: few weeks after this original review we ordered and picked up cuz we wanted to give them another shot. Everything was good except they didn't cook the pizza well done like we requested - but that's certainly not the end of the world. Upped the rating to 4 stars. Will definitely...

We used to be loyal customers of Roman Gourmet and it is disappointing that I have to write such a review.

Walked in today to get a large pizza. Used a $2 coupon they send out with their menus all the time. The kid at counter gave me a dirty look and grudgingly took the coupon. Told me to come back after 20 minutes. 20 minutes go by and I walk in to pick up my order. The kid looks at me but does not acknowledge me, does not look at me again so I can ask him about my order. Three other customers walk in after me and they are all served. Finally another kid walks up from the back and hands me the pizza that had been sitting on the oven for at least 10 minutes since I had walked in. They both smirk at one another as the other kid hands me the pizza.

They clearly did that since I used the coupon - which I regret because I never use coupons.

I get home and the pizza is completely burnt on the bottom and tastes like charcoal.

This is the second time I have had a bad experience with the food and service. Just a few weeks back the chicken in our chicken cutlet sub was under-cooked and pink on the...