Lamppost Pizza — Restaurant in Irvine

Really disappointing, somebody is going to get really sick if it hasn’t happened already. I visited Lampost Pizza in the Heritage Plaza in Irvine located on Culver and Walnut for the first time in many years. I remember them having great service and great pizza in a nice atmosphere. Unfortunately times have changed. Let’s start from the beginning. We walked in around 2pm on a Sunday. The place was maybe 30% full, which isn’t that busy. We stood at the order counter for at least 5 minutes before anyone even acknowledged us. We were the only people standing there. There were a bunch of kids running this place, which seemed odd. A young man with long hair finally arrives to take our order, which I had to repeat a few times before he got it right. He told us our order would be ready in 15-20 minutes. We returned in 20 minutes only to be told a large party had arrived so they were now behind and my order wasn’t even started yet. We placed our order before the large party arrived, so that made little sense to me. We waited outside, as nobody in the building was wearing masks. We came back in another 10 minutes only to be told, “sorry I was on the phone taking orders this whole time, I’ll get your order started now”. At this point we stood off to the side with a clear view of the kitchen. This is where it gets disgusting…..not one person in the kitchen was wearing a mask or gloves. Two individuals had long hair without any type of hair net or hat, so the chances of getting hair in your food is pretty good. I watched them wipe sweat from their face and foreheads. Then they were grabbing all the ingredients with bare hands that I’m sure hadn’t been washed in some time. The young man with long hair who was working the order desk, handling money, working the cash register, talking on the phone, and opening doors to deliver food to the patio now grabs a container for our antipasto salad. He reaches into the lettuce with his bare, unwashed hands that had been handling everything mentioned above and throws a handful of lettuce into the container. He then proceeds to grab the meat for our salad with the same dirty unwashed hands. He turns and notices I’m watching him and says “we’re working on your order right now”. Keep in mind, we placed our order about 40 minutes ago. I signaled for him to come over to me where I said to him “no need, I’ll be canceling my order, I just watched you grab my salad ingredients with your unwashed, bare hands, that is disgusting”. I couldn’t believe it when he said, “do you want me to make it again”. I said no, just give me my money back, I won’t be coming here again. While waiting for my return, I continued to look around the restaurant a little closer, only to notice tables were not cleaned or wiped off, the floor was not clean, and even the video games had trash on them, including empty drink bottles, plastic utensils and condiment cups, and fingerprints all over the glass. It is obvious there is little thought put into pandemic safety, very little care taken when it comes to food safety, no appropriate protective gear advised by the CDC (masks, gloves, hair nets) & even proper hygiene in the kitchen is seemingly overlooked. At the time I was writing this review, I happened to read a couple other reviews on this location only to see similar experiences had been documented. I wish I had read them before visiting this location. All of this being said, I highly recommend finding someplace else to enjoy your pizza. There are plenty of...

Terrible staff,... rude, ignorant, unprofessional and over the top offensive...

8 Sixth Grader boys won their basketball championship and the coach invited them for pizza. They were all given clear cups at the counter and they went to soda machine, got some drinks and waited for their pizza. There were a few families accompanying the kids so we had almost 2/3 of your space occupied. 5 min after we sat, a lady approached the kids table and explained that the cups were not for soda and were for water only.

I waved to her asked her to approach me, so I could pay for the sodas! She looked me in the eye, completely ignored me and turned her back and walked away!

To my absolute surprise and shock, a few minutes later, another young lady aggressively rushed to the table and grabbed the soda cups from the kids and tossed them in the garbage!

I felt offended, and quite honestly sickened by this action, I approached the counter and asked for the manager to explain what just happened. He ignorantly shrugged it off and offered no apology! I was very very upset.

I have never ever in my life experienced a more offensive behaviour from staff at any food place anywhere in the world! and I have been to some hustile places!

I absolutely hated my experience at your establishment. It is a shame to see this...

Well... I tried to be nice and give the benefit of doubt all of 2023.

I have been coming here since 1999. Something has changed the past 1-2 years.

I have probably come here for dine-in during lunch break or some other period of time during lunch, to eat either a pizza or sandwich at least 30 times the past 6-9 months.

I have actually upon payment hit the tip button for either 18% or 20% each time.

About 20-25 times I have sat there eating pizza out of a box or paper plate, or a sandwich wrapped in paper with a plastic bag on the table. All while there are other fully grown adults over 21 are sitting at tables eating with porcelain plates, platters, and dinnerware.

Maybe 1-2 or 3 times they have actually served me dine-in with dishes, dinnerware, or whatever you would consider dine-in materials.

That's probably $60 I shouldn't have given them. I also am not middle-eastern, but have a middle-eastern appearance. It's a slap to the face. Like what is the staff trying to say? "Thanks for the tip, now take the box and walk out of here".

The food is so good here, and sadly I will never come back...