Little Coyote — Restaurant in Long Beach

We have been waiting to try this place. My brother likes the original one on 4th Street. He said it is a bit pricey but good. We found the same thing. I apologize in advance for the length of this review..lol.

We decided to dine there, they have an open patio, no indoor seating. We ordered soda, comes in cans and cost just a little too much for cans. We shared the Cesar salad. If you like real Cedar dressing, this is a must! It could do with some shavings of Parmesan (there is a nice amount of finely grated Parmesan). The croutons are made from good bread and the lettuce was fresh and crisp. Definitely enough for two to have a nice portion but 3 could split it also. The dressing though was the perfect Cesar dressing and made the salad very enjoyable! The pizza, I would say New York style, easier to eat folded or rolled up, was very yummy. If you are a connoisseur of pizza you can tell that the toppings are fresh, the dough was perfectly chewy with just enough sauce, baked perfectly, with a crisp bottom. The Mozzarella was fresh and flavorful! They sell one size, 16 inch, and it comes cut into 6 large pieces. Again, maybe a couple dollars too much but quality and tasty! We will definitely be returning! Just a tip...order before you come, even if you dine in...it takes an hour to get your pizza even if you are dining there...the waiter told everyone this. New York pizza takes 20-30 minutes in the a hot oven. They can only bake 12 at a time. I assume as they get used to having customers there and a decent take out business they will figure it out. (The 4th Street location is mostly take out.) I predict they will learn to balance a bit better for the customers staying since pizza is their primary revenue source. They don't have appetizers and it doesn't take an hour to eat salad. You can order ahead and then come and eat, another good way to avoid the long wait. Everyone working there is very friendly and we found the restaurant to be clean and liked the way they set the tables up so we aren't squeezing past people in their chairs. I can see they are learning as they go and we are very interested to see where they take this...

I ordered five take out pizzas at noon on Friday and paid for them at the front counter of the 3500 N. Los Coyotes Diagonal location. I told the cashier I would bring cash for a tip, unspecified amount, when I picked up my order at 3:30 that afternoon. I don’t typically include tips on my credit card, I prefer to pay cash. Ordering five pizzas at noon gave them 3.5 hours to prepare my pizzas for pickup at 3:30 p.m. I received a phone call prior to picking up my order and they told me that I owed an additional amount for gratuity. When I arrived they would not hand over my pizzas until I paid 18% gratuity, so my credit card was charged 18% gratuity on my order ($21). I had $10 for a tip because I didn’t think my order was considered a “catering order” since I dropped in and placed my order 3.5 hours in advance and then drove back to pick it up. Their reasoning for charging 18% gratuity was that an order of five pizzas is considered a “catering order”, and they want their employees to feel like they were compensated for their time to make that many pizzas. I noticed that there were no other cars in the parking lot, no other customers in line, and there was one pizza in the warmer to be picked up. I was aggravated and I voiced my opinion about the ludicrous reasoning for charging a customer a hefty gratuity for a pickup order. The manager decided to give me a $25 gift card after charging my credit card the 18% gratuity of $21. This makes no sense to me, but thanks for the gift...

Where to begin..... I really wanted to like this place. I understand that they have another location and it has high reviews so I decided to try it on a Saturday night.

Pulled up and saw a short line coming out the door and thought this place must be good. Got closer to the register and was told it would be an hour and twenty minutes for a pizza. Thought I really don't want to wait that long but I'm already here and wanted to give it a try so I place the order.

An hour and a half later I decided to check how much longer it would be and I was told another twenty minutes. Thirty minutes later it's finally ready. So after two hours of waiting for the pizza I rush home and can't wait to take a bite.

Open it up and it looks good. Take the first bite and I was underwhelmed. It's just average. By far NOT the best pizza in LA, not even Long Beach!

There are several other pizza places in the area that are much better (I won't name them so you won't think I have dubious intentions) with less than an hour wait.

Didn't even save the leftovers for the next day. Again I really wanted to like this place as it's walking distance from my home but was left really...