Zeffiro's Pizzeria Downtown — Restaurant in Las Cruces

Update: Turns out my second visit wasn't a good experience at all. I ordered take out for my family. 2 pizzas 2 calzone and an order of bruschetta. The order cost over $80, but it's worth it for quality food, right? I arrived a bit early for my order and was offered a glass of water while I waited for my order while seated at the bar. My order was brought out to me bagged up and ready to go. I checked to make sure everything was there and discovered that the bruschetta was missing. It didn't take long for the crew to find the missing item and add it to the bag and I was on my way home. Once I was home I took everything out and, other than the calzones being a bit on the small side, it all looked and smelled wonderful. We sat down to eat. After a couple of bites of her calzone, my wife discovered a hair embedded in her calzone. Yes, it was embedded, not merely laying on top of the food. She had to pull it out. It was semi long and light colored and did not come from either of us, (I have very short dark hair and she has long dark hair.) I called the restaurant and spoke to the manager. She said that the hair could not have come from them as all the cooks have short hair and wear caps and there are no women in the kitchen. I said that it didn't come from us. She asked me if I wanted them to make me another calzone. I said, no, I didn't want to drive back to the restaurant. She said she could credit the cost of the calzone to my card which I agreed to. I told her I could take a picture of the hair and send it to her. She said yes and gave me her number, which I promptly forgot (my bad) So, today I was reviewing my account and I could not find a credit for the cost of the calzone. If the credit was contingent on me providing the picture of the hair, it was not made clear to me. I have the picture, and I really don't want to go back. I think this should have been handled promptly on the day that I called. I'm very disappointed and I will not be returning to this place.

This was my first time dining here and I have to say that it was delicious. The pesto on the caprese salad was outstanding, adding a drop or two of balsamic vinegar gave it the perfect balance. The bread and roasted garlic almost made the meal complete. You can't go to a pizza joint and not order pizza, right? The Pistol Pete was baked to perfection though I feel like the chef skimped on the toppings a bit. Service was prompt and friendly. So why only 4 stars, you ask? Well, a glass of wine would have earned them the 5th star, but for some reason they do not serve beer and wine. Hopefully that will have changed by the time I go back for a...

Zeffiro’s has changed owners! With that, the once romantic and date-night friendly restaurant has changed into a bland gentrified cafe with 80’s music blaring over the speakers (which has ads?! Are they using a free account of Spotify or just radio?? And after a while the music just stopped.). The once complementary delicious bread is now on the appetizer menu for almost 5 bucks. The menu is cheap and on un-laminated paper, with hand written corrections that have been poorly photocopied. Obviously they’ve cut corners to pay for the hideous remodel. The rickety tables are unchanged, as are the uncomfortable and worn chairs.

They’ve gotten rid of many of the menu options, and the options they’ve kept are limited. For example, the build-your-own pizza is missing half the cheese options, and doesn’t even offer Alfredo as a sauce option. (White pies were the best man!) In their defense, the waitress did offer to do a white pie as an off menu option, but I politely declined. They’ve also changed from Pepsi products to Coca-Cola products.

The food wait was painfully long (30 minute wait for just our appetizers (a salad and a cup of soup), while four others who walked in after us got their meals first, although they waited nearly 30 minutes themselves.) We received our food after about 35 minutes of waiting.

The food itself was disappointing. The tomato bisque was flavorless and needed a hefty pinch of salt. The salad was brought out with cheese (one of our party is vegan) and had to be remade. The replacement was very stingy on the dressing.

They have obviously cut costs on the ingredient quality. My partner’s Ruben panini was made with cheap white bread and the pastrami was unbearably salty. My mother’s veggie sandwich bread was crumbly and had the consistency of a school lunch sub, (probably because it was purchased from the same whole-sale place schools get their supplies.) My pizza tasted flat and oily. The cheese tastes cheap and the mushrooms are small and few and far between. If you used to be a fan of the pizza crust, you’ll probably be disappointed. I know I am.

The people who got their food first finished half their meals and tried to pay, but they had an issue charging their card. The waitress literally asked for their info so they could charge them later???

This place used to be nice, although I’ve had poor experiences before the ownership change (once got unsalted pizza crust that tasted awful). But I’m amazed to say they’ve managed to ruin the charm the place once had, while ignoring the many issues that still persist. It’s a sad day when you have to mark off a once good place from your...

First let me start of by saying our waiter was wonderful, this review is not a reflection of his service. It was my first visit to Zeffiro's, and the restaurant was very disorganized. We had 5 people in our party, and a similar sized group walked in after us. Our group was sat first, and ordered first, but the other table (which was sat right behind us) ordered and got their food within about 20 minutes. They actually ordered, ate, payed, and left before we got our food. We finished our bread and was asked if we wanted more, the answer was yes because we were still waiting on our food. There was some confusion with the kitchen and our second basket of bread was held up. Our waiter had to ask a second time for the bread after another 15 minutes passed. He apologized and said the food would also be out soon, but they had a lot of Uber eats orders that came in and also have to get filled first. It was out of his control, but why do "to-go" orders get priority over the dining room? I understand that there is essentially one oven, but there has to be a better way to make sure tables get food within a reasonable amount of time. Anyway, we did get the majority of our food after an hour of waiting, but we were missing one plate that had not yet been started. Because the other plates were completed and waiting at the window our pizza and pasta arrived cold. The final plate, steak, was enjoyed even though it was very undercooked. There is a huge difference in medium and "blue" rare. This restaurant came very highly recommended, and I know that in this industry there are just some very busy and off days. As a first impression though, it was pretty bad, and the food was just okay. I read other google reviews before posting because I hate being "that guy" and complaining. However, I noticed that the owner, or whoever manages responses to reviews often has a really unapologetic (or sarcastic) tone when addressing problems in their restaurant. That, along with the lackluster experience is more than enough of a reason not to go back and give this place another shot. Luckily in this city there are a lot of really great places to get pizza and...