Pizza Sam's Midland — Restaurant in Midland

Their pizza is 5+++ stars for sure but after a bad experience with service last night I would barely give 2 stars for that‼️‼️We arrived around 6 the day after Christmas 2019 when it was 60 degrees out so people were out & it was busy so we expected to wait a little(they said 20 minutes but it was 45+!) There were 2, 10-persons parties plus a 6-persons & then we were 5(3 adults 2 small kids). There was a big booth open when we got there. I stood at the check in for 10 min before the guy came to check us in & that booth was still empty & I told him we would fit in that(they actually fit 6 adults very comfortably) & he didn't respond. He told others it would be about 20 minutes to be seated. I watched him just walking around but didn't seem to be actually doing anything! A few more walked in & they waited several minutes to be checked in too. He still just wandered around like he was watching people eat & he went into the back room by the pizza ovens seemingly doing nothing but walking back there! After 30 minutes & after 2 parties walked out tired of waiting, I stood back at the check in booth & 5 min later he asked me if I needed to check in!! I told him I was & asked if we could have the same booth still sitting empty that whole time. He looked back & said "give me a minute". 5 minutes later he seated the 1st people with 10. And the booth sat empty. 5 minutes later he seated the other 10-person party & after another 5 minutes he came & called the 6 person party who had walked out long before & then he called us & took us to THAT booth that had been sitting empty now for at least 45 minutes in which I had asked twice to sit. It does not matter if the 2 10-party persons were there before us because with that many you have to expect to wait longer for tables to become available. And you should fill all available tables with parties who will fit no matter when they came in. We were very irritated but didn't say anything cuz we love the pizza & just wanted to eat after waiting 45 +min! Then our waitress came & we just wanted to order fast because we wanted to walk through town & take the kids to the Santa house since it was so beautiful out, but she just wanted to take our drink order! When she came back & had sat our drinks down, I started to tell her our order & she cut me off & said, "Wait a minute" as she pulled out her little ordering machine that took her a few seconds to 'boot up' then she said, "Ok what would you like". I was very irritated by that time because the kids where very hungry...Our order was 1 med 1/2 cheese, 1/2 pepperoni; 1 med bbq pizza; 1 med meat madness!! But she had to have her little machine which took way too long to put the order in. She could have written it down much faster!! Lol! After another 25 minutes our pizzas came(& by this time the place was no longer busy & there were a few tables open). We got our own drink refills which was fine but she didn't come back to check on us for about 20 minutes when we were almost done. Then we sat waiting for our check & a takeout box. After about 10 minutes & I never saw her I was starting to get up to get a box & ask for the check when she finally came out from the back & got that machine out which took another minute to print the check out. She did not get a tip last night except for the 67 cents leftover from the $ I paid with because we waited so long for everything & she didn't check on us in a timely matter & other than carrying the pizzas out & our first drinks that was ALL she did....we paid for our pizza & our drinks, getting our own refills, so we all felt that was fair. I have only not left a tip maybe 3x's in my life(58) so it takes a lot to not & this visit was one of them. That all being said...the only reason we will get their pizza again is because it is so good but we will think twice about dining in!! They lost business last night because the person responsible for seating people was very inefficient...at least last...

The last time I ate a pizza from Sam's, the store was on the other end of Main street, over an old pool hall. Yeah. A long time ago. The pizza still tastes just as good though.

The "new" place is comparatively huge, but functional and easy to navigate. It has sort of a Fast Food feel to it, with ordering at a counter instead of table service but that's okay. The staff, though not particularly friendly was not rude by any means either. They were nice enough.

The menu, in chalk above the counter is easy to read and our ordering process was relatively painless.

The bathrooms, while nothing to write home about, are clean and functional, if a long walk from the front of the store. Could be worse, right?

It took a while for our pie to be delivered, but it was lunchtime rush, so that's understandable. We had a beer and wine to pass the time. (Which also took a while to appear at the table, but again, Lunch Rush.)

While waiting, I noticed a child making his own pizza and taking it up for cooking. That's pretty cool and a great idea for engaging kids in preparing their own meal. Again though, the staff didn't seem particularly interested in interacting with the kids. (Seemed like a wasted opportunity to have fun, but hey, I'm a grandpa so interacting with a child is probably more fun for me than the cook at Sam's, who is under pressure to crank out pizza's quickly.) Still, it's a good idea.

When the pie finally showed up, it was absolutely delicious and exactly the way I remembered it. It's nice to know that some things at least, don't change. Pizza Sam's still has an...

Food is good but service is something that really needs to be worked on. Servers will just wonder off and not return for 20 minutes or more getting distracted with other tasks that other staff members should be doing like socking cups or plates in the back area behind the counter. They also tend to put pizzas in a few orders at a time vs when the oder is placed which cause people to wait longer on their food when they ordered first. I was at Pizza Sams today with my wife and daughter and we orderd one small Pizza and a sub. We waited allmost 25 minutes for our food cause they waited to put our pizza and sub in with 2 other orders all at once that came in 10 minutes after us. Thats not the best way to conduct business. If it wasnt fore the fact the my wife and daughter like their pizza so much I personaly wouldnt go to Pizza sams at all

UPDATE 5/15/2020: So 3 times now for the online ordering system when we have ordered our food online it would give us a time that our food would be ready. We go to pick up our food and its not done. They are puting tickets in out of order it seems like i got in and heard a woman on the phone say "yep frank Ill make sure that gets in right away so you dont need to wait". Whats the point of haveing the system that prioritises the first come first serve if they are just going to ignore it? Management may not know this is going on but something need to be done. Clearly the people who are working there when management or the owner isnt around cant do the...