Tortugas Homemade Pizza — Restaurant in Hoover

Saw this place online months ago when heading back home from up North. My husband made a mental note and couldn't wait to try it, so we drove up for his birthday, coming up on Monday. Got there as soon as it opened. We received a warm welcome and picked our own seat. The server JADA, WAS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! HONEST AND PERSONABLE! Anyway... being from Chicago, I really wanted to like this place. We ordered Arnold Palmer and a Coke; 2 Traditional salads. The salads were simple and just ok. The homemade dressings; blue cheese, ranch, and italian balsamic were great. We ordered a "stuffed" pizza but got a thin slice of pepperoni to share since the stuffed pizza takes a while. The slice of pepperoni was tasty, but the crust was NOT even close to an authentic, buttery, flaky, Chicago pizza crust, so I was nervous about the deep dish... Although it was visually pleasing on the service, It was a huge letdown. The first thing I noticed when my husband got his slice was the chunky bell pepper and onion! The cheese was delicious and plentiful, but my first taste at the center of the pizza was just lukewarm! I don't know if the oven setting is too high since the crust was cooked well, but the heat is not penetrating the center of the pizza, so there is a HUGE loss of flavor there. The sausage was just ok, but I'm used to that distinctive POP of fennel from the sausage back home... I tasted SOME fennel, but it wasn't pronounced, and there wasn't much of it. The BIGGEST letdown WAS THE CRUST! Chicago pizza crust is so good I can make a meal off the crust alone. Who needs toppings! I'm a bread lover! This one was just a bland crust. It was crisp (almost too crisp) but NOT BUTTERY OR FLAKY! The server said she believed they used butter in the pan, but I tasted none, and I certainly didn't see or taste that CHICAGO staple of CORNMEAL!!! If they use any, it's not traceable in the dough, and there was none sprinkled in the bottom of the pan. If you've never had pizza in Chicago, you may try this and think it's what Chicago pizza is made of, and maybe it is, somewhere, but certainly not from my neck of the woods. It's good enough if you don't know any better, but it doesn't stand up to either UNO, Giordano, Gino's East or West, Homerun Inn, etc... I've had them all and then some. I hope I don't have to go all the way back to Chicago for that signature taste of pizza goodness but, I definitely won't go back here unless I'm in the area and just want a simple slice of, no frills, Pepperoni... My husband did like the sauce though... It was still a Happy Birthday! Thanks...

Angry, Frustrated, Disappointed... these are the only terms that come to mind with this experience. I don't typically write emotional laden reviews, but this was the single WORST experience I've had at a restaurant. We arrived at 5:37 p.m. on Oct. 12th. We were promptly seated and our waitress SEEMED attentive, but this was only a facade. My family sat in the booth until 6:40 p.m. before our server even came to check on us. At this point, we had no food and were close to walking out. An HOUR! An HOUR had passed and not even so much as a follow up with us. When our waitress finally did arrive, she explained they were busy and it would be about 5 more minutes. She also told us this same excuse at 6:47 p.m. and at 6:53 p.m. Another employee brought us complimentary bread and sauce at 6:55 p.m. No apologies, no admission of mistakes, not a single remorseful or apologetic word was spoken. We received our food at 6:57 p.m. That's right, we received our food approx. an HOUR AND 20 MINUTES after placing our order. To make matters worse, a family behind us who arrived 35 minutes after us received their food 15 minutes later. It was clear this restaurant forgot about us and these people didn't want to admit fault with the oversight. I'm not sure if this restaurant offers refills on drinks, but you would have thought this wunderkind of a server would have at least checked on us, offered a refill, or even explained she would follow up with the order. When I went to pay, everyone at the front saw me and you could see the fear in their eyes. They knew they had screwed up, but not a single solitary soul would admit fault for this abysmal experience. Not even a single "We're sorry for the inconvenience." What compounds the issue... I had small children who were saints for enduring this hellish nightmare of a dining experience. I completely understand this restaurant is under new management, but if this is what we should come to expect with their standard operations - I would warn people to keep driving and not pay it a second glance. We enjoyed this place prior to the management change, and it is a shame that we will NEVER be back to this nightmare of an establishment again. As for the waitress, I hope she has another career to fall back on, because she is a...

PREVIOUSLY…I have been ordering the same thing from this location for 7+ years and I have always looked forward to those Fridays when we would reward ourselves with pizza and lasagna or pizza and a salad. We were greeted with warm smiles from several people as we walked in the door to pick up our call-in order. It was immediately packed up with napkins and forks in the bag, and the bag tied up to secure everything. When we got home, we had food that was still super hot and we didn’t need to warm it and our order was the same as what we received in the bag.

All of that has changed .I was extremely disappointed today and the last time I visited this location under new ownership and management.

CURRENTLY…They were not busy and our order was incorrect and not good. There was a kid behind the counter with super short shorts on rubbing and shaking his hair every two or three minutes, scratching his arms, and then wanting to deal with Orders without handwashing.. He needs training. Then, The boxes didn’t get put in a bag with napkins and forks …don’t ask…just bag it. That keeps it warm. The crust on the pizza was so hard you could barely bite it. Seriously??? We ordered a slice of pepperoni and sausage, but in the box was just a slice of pepperoni. Portion Sizes of the lasagna have changed and the lasagna was cold throughout the middle. The last time we got an order about three weeks ago they forgot to make the salad and we had to stay there and wait for that. It’s just disappointing to see such a great local business change hands resulting in its quality and Customer Service deteriorating to this point.

If you’re going to hire a bunch of teens, you’re going to have to teach them Customer Service and sanitary practices and stay on them. After two piss poor visits to a previously favorite spot… I think we’re just going call it quits. I hope they get a handle on the recipes and to-go packaging and customer service, so that they can be successful as new owners. Not on the right track right now Nothing was above 1 star today. I called the restaurant to talk with one of the owners, but they said that he was on a conference call. Any business scheduling conference calls during the dinner rush or the lunch rush is doing themselves...