DeLosa's Pizza — Restaurant in Madeira Beach

DeLosa NOT what it used to be. As longtime locals we went to DeLosa a lot, mostly when out of town relatives visit ;) this place was always sure to be "more than okay" for a quick slice at the beach, usually ending with a great cone at Candy Kitchen :-) Our NY, Boston & Philly folks were always surprised for a "Touristy Florida pizza" joint. (But Many locals prefer out of the way non-delivery Campanella's and Italia Mia and others for more authentic pizza and specialties... Mazzarros Italian Grocery: a must for inexpensive huge delicious subs and pricey but authentic premade Italian specialties, deli and bakery to go... Great for take away dinners but has NO typical "pizza" offerings or delivery. I Digress only to offer nice alternatives) BUT sadly back to DeLosa. Recently, we moved to Madeira from Seminole (our quick delivery "go-to" in Seminole was Jotos...Very good pizza, Everything else is only mediocre ... Even subs are not that great. But Jotos "fingers" breadsticks are a cheap and delightful "filler" swimming in garlic butter w/ a side marinara, yum. Obviously we r not fans of big chain pizza, they have their place but it's NOT pizza). Jotos knew us WELL ...Almost always ordered XL pepperoni with X cheese and asked they bake a little longer cuz of X cheese. Always a hit... Im Hoping they may make the little extra drive for us now since We are in a pizza crisis.) SO we remembered good pizza at DeLosa and ordered for delivery for the 1st time since our move to Madeira . We had our usual "Jotos style" order, L pepperoni with X cheese and a meatball sub. The 1st experience wasnt great only because ordering from the Braindead staff was awful and took forever with unreal "holds" even for a quick simple 2 item cash order. But 1st order was quick and correct. Sub was pretty good. Pizza was good with the exception of dried oregano flakes all over it (?WHY?) We figured we'd give it another shot tonight minus oregano overload. Just like before, ordering process was way bad. They are annoyed, grumbling, unintelligible. I spoke with 3 different kids with "I'm doing YOU a favor and I can't be bothered" attitudes. On and off hold for a simple cash order dragged on 7 mins! I couldn't fathom how 3 different surly kids made me I feel I was mostly being ignored. I believe in killing them with kindness and was Very clear, polite and accommodating... It was 9 pm on a Sat in summer so I accepted they were very busy, my friendliness was more of an annoyance to them. But when I clearly place an order, I expect brief attention. I asked for a L pepperoni with x cheese NO sprinkled oregano and a meatball sub for delivery just up the street. The young girl barked $28.16 cash or charge and delivery in 25 mins to an HOUR, a large window of time to hang around to wait to meet delivery at the security door for their convenience. Food arrived in schedule, about 45 mins. My hub gave driver $33, we ALWAYS tip. No receipt, which would have been nice since items were missing. I was dying to see how the order was written. Food was disappointing! My hub said the sub was still pretty good (good rolls help) and I had hoped for a bite or two once I saw my sad pizza. It was a regular scrawny cheese pizza, WITH sprinkled oregano, NO pepperoni, NO Xtra cheese and nearly burnt while being barely lukewarm. Plus, it wasn't even sliced! This was the most haphazard, uncared for pizza I have ever seen. Like ever. Was so lazy I've had better frozen. I am one who usually enjoys crust others may toss, but it was inedible. Dried and tough, burnt from over baking. You can see from my other reviews which are few, I only chime in when particularly disappointed. I am not a big complainer because we've all heard horror stories about "sending food back" so usually I just suck it up and never go back... Sometimes give another chance after some time has passed. My hub felt guilty his was good and mine was inedible. He called. Waited forever and was told "perhaps" manager will call another day. So we're done. Next review will be a good one when i find...

The family has been ordering from and eating here for years but after our experience today, won't order from there again.

Placed an order for 2 large pizzas, one regular cheese, one white. Specifically asked for the white one without spinach. My mother is deathly allergic to black and white pepper but since the white pizzas we ordered in the past didn't have pepper, I didn't think I had to specify it be without pepper.

Picked up the order and headed back to the condo. Everyone sat down, we opened the pizzas.....the white one had spinach all over it and half of the pizza was covered in big splotches of black pepper.

Now mistakes happen, I realize that, but it was all about the way they handled it.

First the girl on the phone began arguing that I hadn't asked for no spinach. I told her we had. She argued so much that others in the room (and my sister got on the phone to say) they were all in the room and heard me place that order and that I HAD asked for there to be no spinach. Then explained about the pepper allergy and that it can literally kill my mother.

When we asked to speak to a manager, we were first told the manager wasn't in the store....then was told to wait, was put on hold for several minutes and was told again that the manager wasn't there.....and then proceeded to tell me what the manager said....??? He obviously was there but didn't want to speak to me. Guess I'm just a lowly regular customer (local).

She told us they would have their delivery person pick up the pizza we got and we could either go the restaurant to get a replacement or have it delivered for an additional charge (+ tip).

What restaurant would send a delivery person to pick up an improperly made pizza? Right there it showed a mistrust of a customer who been ordering there for years and who's never had a single complaint. Bad form on their part.

Secondly, they're gonna send that delivery person here to pick up a pizza they have to toss but refused to eliminate the delivery charge for the correct pizza to be delivered (even though he was gonna be here anyway....really?)

I explained to them that we go a distance for their pizza and that if I were to go to them to exchange the pizza, that the rest of the dinner would be cold and inedible when I got back and that if I were to bring that pizza back, I would bring everything back so they could remake the order so we could have a hot dinner as we had paid for. They out-and-out refused. I said the rest of the dinner would be cold....they didn't care.

Then there was the fact that I wouldn't be able to eat with the rest of my family.

By the time we got off the phone, dinner was ruined anyway. We threw out the pizza, made grilled cheese, and called the credit card company to have the charge reversed because we never received what we had paid for.

The way they handled this tonight was just inexcusable. I don't write negative reviews frequently.....As a matter of fact, I've written 64 reviews and this is only my second bad one.

Will never go back nor will any...

Our family has been going to Delosa’s for 28 years, the food is absolutely delicious and we have never had an issue with anything ever but last night 7/28/2023 I encountered a very unnerving situation. To be honest it was a little scary. My husband & I were in line to order as was my daughter, her boyfriend, my niece & my nephew and the owner (the older bald man) approached us and said that we could not sit at a table until we ordered our food, we told him well that’s why we are in line to order food then we were going to sit. He AGAIN told all of us we had to order before anyone could sit at a table AGAIN we said we are standing in the line to order by this time I was confused because how can we be sitting at a table when we are CLEARLY STANDING IN LINE to order. Finally the older man walked off but as soon as he walked off there was another man standing by the door that had dark hair, mustache & was in his early 30’s & as I was talking to my husband about how what the older man was saying made ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE because we were in line to order the younger guy flips a sign around that was attached to a pole where you order, it hit my wrist and he said can you read? Read the sign it says order before you sit, I flipped the sign back around and told him he better back up & get away from me. He then proceeded to yell & I again told him to back up he finally SHUTUP & backed up. My husband was talking to another woman because she was complaining also because the manager was coming at her about the same thing & she was in line to order also. My husband turned around & told that man he better never talk to me like that again. The guy said get out but we ignored him & ordered. Before we left my husband went into the restroom to wash his hands & walked right out! It was disgusting. I told him to let the manager know but he said after the way they had already acted it wasn’t worth it. Very sad this happened we have always loved eating there but after what happened & listening to others talk in the restaurant about the same issues & how aggressive the owner & the other guy was, not feeling very comfortable about returning. Very sad! Also my nephew & his wife was sitting at a table & the owner came over to them & told them they could not sit until they ordered my nephew said are you serious, what do you think the number on the table is?!!! He walked off. Classes, unprofessional &...