Rotolo's Pizzeria — Restaurant in Louisiana

Me and my mother had the most horrible experience at this Rotolo's this evening, but I kind of blame myself, because we got there about 15 minutes before closing time. The waitress told us that we could sit down to eat though. We ordered a spaghetti, to share, and about 15 minutes later, the waitress brought us out an order of spaghetti, split into 2 plates, but it was stone cold (literally, stone cold). So, I tell the waitress about it, and she must have thought I was blaming her, because she seemed to take offence at the way I was telling her about it, and told me that it was not her fault. Yeah, I understand that, but in a way, it is her fault, because she should know if she is bringing her customers a hot plate of spaghetti out, because it it should have steam coming off of the top, but no, it was stone cold. Anyways, at that point, I asked them if I could just have a refund, because I pre paid for our order, but this other lady (the bar tender) told us that they were re making the order. By that point, it was around 5 minutes after they had closed, and I really wish they would have been willing to give us a refund, like I requested. So, then I get the waitresses attention, and start asking her about the time, because I was getting worried, and she starts thinking for some reason that I am griping at her again, so she starts crying (unbelievable), and that just made the entire situation so much more uncomfortable, because it appeared that she went back into the kitchen, while crying, so we started worrying that they might do something to our food, if they thought I had upset her, which I honestly did not mean to do. Then, maybe 10 minutes later, they bring us out another order of spaghetti, but this time it was soaked with spaghetti sauce, like 3 times the amount that they had put on it before, and though it was warm, it was not hot. Anyways, all of that spaghetti sauce that they put on the spaghetti, just made it horrible, but I did not want to complain a 2nd time. Anyways, the entire experience was just horrible. I do feel really bad for the waitress though, because I did not mean to upset her. I never raised my voice, or anything like that, I just kind of griped a little, but in a calm and controlled way. She completely took what I was saying the wrong way, and did not react in a very professional manor, when telling me that she has no control over what goes on in the kitchen. She should at least know if she is bringing the customer a hot plait of food though. Anyways, terrible experience, that we should not have had to pay $12 dollars for. My mother also thought the waitress was giving us unwelcoming looks when we walked in, and that made her feel feel uncomfortable. We are both very shy people though, so it is hard for us to speak our minds. I also could see into the kitchen area, from our table, and the cooks were back there laughing and joking around. It is clear that they did not take their job too seriously, or care about serving the customer a hot plate of food. We will never return to that...

Patronized this place summer of 2015 and was impressed with the service my first time. Next few times the store was not open at noon as listed on the door and website. Went today and sat for 8 minutes before being aknowledged. Once the waitress finally came to me I inquired about the rum punch which she then walked off saying she didn't know what it was and needed to ask another employee. Fine. 10 minutes later the employee is handing me the rum punch instead of answering my question. She seemed a little agitated when I said I only inquired about the punch not that I wanted it. She replies "it has rum, pineapple, and cranberry juice. If you don't want it it's only $3". At the moment I figured I would be placing my order but then she walks off leaving me with this drink that taste like dish soap. Sitting there another 6 minutes watching the staff service others I just walked out. I used this location last year to feed my class before school functions but not anymore. I will never patronize...

As an out-of-towner, my observation is that Rotolo's is underappreciated by locals (and mostly ignored by tourists). It is easy to take for granted a local pizza chain, especially one with the ubiquity of Rotolo's, whose pizza you can find served all over southeast Louisiana.

I personally find their Muffaletta pizza to be absolutely awesome. It manages to combine the experience of eating a muffaletta with a good slice of pizza by loading it with a toppings combination of pepperoni, Canadian bacon, salami, and olive salad. One could argue that that the muffaletta pizza suffers from toppings overload, making it a little difficult to eat with hands, but I can abide getting messy for good stuff. Their crust somehow is awesome, despite it is more spongy Midwest-style than crispy Northeast-style.

Moreover, Rotolo's is cheap. A small muffaletta pizza and a bottle of Abita Turbo Dog was my cheapest dinner during my latest 18-day trip to New Orleans, but also one of my more...