Pizzeria Ruby — Restaurant in Johnson

(Trigger warning) So I won’t talk about the pizza, because the pizza is good. But I will address the the racist demeaning treatment that we received by one of the staff members. This restaurant is filled will lgbtq flags, which you would think it is an “inclusive” place for ALL people, but it’s not. We arrived with plenty of time to be seated for our spot on the waitlist. I entered the restaurant and let the young lady at the counter know that our party was here and that we were just letting her know. Right off the bat she said that I would be better off getting my food to go and that they wouldn’t be able to accommodate our party of 13. I said that we didn’t expect be all seated together but if she could try to get us relatively close that that would be great. She again suggested that we get our pizza to go and that we could eat outside or go home. I told her that we want to eat inside and that that’s why we had placed our party on the waitlist. She said ok in an annoyed tone and then reminded me that there was still a party if six in front of me. I stepped outside with my party and continued to wait. When I saw that several tables had cleared up at once, I went inside to ask the young girl if we would be seated soon so I could gather everyone together. She said wait and walked away and started wiping a table. No problem, I thought. Then she waved two of her friends in and sat them down and acted all giggly and sweet and even made heart shapes with her hands and blew a kiss to them. Those two girls were clearly NOT part of the party of six that were on the list in front of us. The server told me again to order to go and reminded me once again about that party of six in front of me and that I should order my pizza to go. Clearly this girl, from the get go, was not wanting to serve our party of Hispanics patiently waiting outside. After talking about the situation with my group we decided to get out pizza to go, but I would have rather that we left all together. But we had told our family from out of town that this pizza was one of the good ones out here, and THEY really wanted to try it so we ordered to go. We ordered and waited outside. One of the girls in our party decided to order an additional pizza after our initial order. That was her first time walking in the restaurant so I believe that the girl didn’t put her with our group. She received her pizza way before our order of 4 pizzas but we still continued to wait. After quite some time we went in to ask the girl about our pizza and she simply walked away WITHOUT addressing us. Another server walked up to us and handed us our pizzas which had been sitting there on the counter, behind where this girl was standing. Since moving to Arkansas five years ago, I have only ONCE had to deal with discrimination from someone, but this was clearly the second time. I don’t EVER use the race card, but this situation was SO obvious. I’m so disappointed about the treatment that we received there and will not be returning, much less recommending, this establishment. I hope that the owner looks at his security footage and sees what his employee, representing his establishment, was doing to his former customers on Tuesday evening. This young girl with dark long hair in a pony tail needs to be retrained in customer service, and needs to get over her racial prejudices, or go work where she will only be in contact with others of her own complexion. If the owner is interested I can provide him with a picture of her but I think he’ll know who I’m referring to. If you’ve ever been treated with this kind of disrespect and understand this kind of humiliation, I hope that you think twice about coming to this restaurant. But on a final note, we found an ever better place in Springdale call the Odd Soul, with excellent pizza and service, if anyone...

We really do like the food here. But just know going in there are a lot of rules.

The first time we went we waited for over an hour. Many people who came in after us were seated before we were. I finally asked a server why this was happening and she explained that the super coolest perk about working there was that if you know someone who walks in that you can seat them next (in front of the guests who are waiting.)

Sometimes the music is so loud that it makes the restaurant feel more chaotic and stressful than necessary. But sometimes it is not.

Because of limited seating, you may not sit at the bar and switch to a table later when a table becomes open. If you sit outside, you must order at the counter and you must walk back inside to get your food. There is no service that extends to outdoor seating. Based on your table location, you may or may not be allowed to drink outside. Also, if you get ice water, you are to walk to the outside of the building around the corner to self service station to get your drinks, napkins and plastic ware.

If you call for a take out order you may be told that your pizza will take up to 90 minutes.

But the pizza is very good. The pasta is excellent. However one observation over the last 3 months is that the pizza toppings and the meatballs in the pasta have been extremely salty. We keep hoping this is just a fluke, but 3 visits later, we are putting Ruby’s on pause.

It could be a 5 star easily but the attitude of who is the customer and the excessive saltiness of the otherwise delicious food has changed this outstanding Italian food to a place to that we need to put on hold. In a year or so these things could change, but for now the dining experience is very hectic and loud with no assurances that the food won’t taste like was doused in salt.

As a response to the owner’s response:

I did not nor would I ever make up that the server explained the seating policy as she did. I appreciate that you were shocked by it as we both obviously were. You might want to take portions of reviews as opportunities for teaching moments when you coach your staff. To suggest that I’m a liar or the world doesn’t revolve around me is a very in condescending response to a fair review that was intended and written with good intentions and compliments mixed with concerns.

Best wishes to you and your up and coming restaurant. I genuinely want you to be wildly successful. The items on your menu are absolutely delicious minus the recent experiences too much salt. However, if no one else gives that as feedback then just throw out that part of the review as maybe my palette is off.

Reviews are invited and everybody who responds unfavorably should not have to endure your wrath. But that appears to be what happens based on reading these other reviews. We are all blessed to have the opportunities to dined share reviews. It’s all...

Pros: salad and pasta were really good and the pizza was decent (not spectacular). I got the pistachio alfredo and it was like nothing I’ve ever had before. Pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauce was bursting with flavor. The crushed pistachios gave it a super interesting texture. 1000/10 would highly recommend. The salad was fresh and perfectly dressed - not too much but just enough. The mixed drinks were interesting and tasty. Food came out fast after the 3 hour wait.

Cons: again, pizza was only “ok”. The hot Italian boyfriend needed something sweet - maybe honey or sweet peppers - to balance out the heavy pepperoni presence. The sausage and pepperoni pizza was decent but a little bland. One pizza was burnt and the other didn’t have the cheese melted completely. The burnt pizza was kinda cold… I saw a lot of pizzas just sitting for a long time waiting for the servers to come get them - like some for over 10 minutes. We were wondering if they just constantly make them and wait for someone to order that particular pizza instead of making them to order. That would explain the “sitting” time but I have no proof of that. The music was LOUD. Like, migraine inducing. I couldn’t even speak to the person across the table from me without yelling. Even the waitress was having a hard time communicating. Why?!?! The sangria pitcher was mostly ice… we got maybe three tiny half-full glasses of actual drink for almost $30 - huge rip-off. We had a table of 8 (4 were kids!) so they automatically charged 20% gratuity. I know this is a common practice in restaurants but it’s always rubbed me the wrong way. Our waitress was not great… we had to ask multiple times for refills. But she was pleasant and I always tip unless service is absolutely terrible, but I like it to be my choice. The real issue, however, was the 3% charge for the “kitchen fee”. I would think that having the kitchen make my food would be included in the (already very expensive) price. The amount of money the owners are charging for the food and drink means they are capable of paying the staff. I’ve seen the owner respond to this and I’m sorry but that doesn’t cut it. If you want to reward the kitchen, pay them a bonus based on sales - don’t make me do it. I’m sure I will get an unprofessional, snarky response for my honest review because I’ve seen how others who voiced complaints were treated. That’s a shame bc I think this place would be amazing if they’d listen to some of the feedback instead of getting defensive. It is popular now bc of social media but once the trendiness has worn off I think they will be suffering the consequences of that. Hopefully I’m wrong and they will have a change of heart and address some of their issues.

In conclusion, I doubt I’d go back and eat there. I might get the pistachio pasta for take out though… it really was out...