Heirloom Pizza Co. MONTEREY — Restaurant in Monterey

If a hipster could become a restaurant it would be this place, I wish I hadn't wasted my money. I went here with a group of friends with a glowing recommendation from another friend (whose judgment I now question deeply.) I will state the positives first. The pizza was ok, not great but it was good and in a unique kind of way. Visually the restaurant looked appealing, but that was the extent of it. If you are really into clean, organic ingredients, and knowing where they are sourced this place might be for you. If you are not int that, or paying 3x what the meal is worth for that kind of product this place is not for you, it was not for me. So now let me let you in on why this place barely skated by on a 2 star for me. My meal was $45 for a small pizza, a salad and a soda. I was not impressed with my pizza, as there are many places i feel do a great job at a better price. As I said, this place was ok not great. My Cesar salad was ok. The soda (a fair trade soda) was good. My other friends that were with me did not like their pizza enough to even take the left overs home. The service was fine, with the exception of the awkward service provided by what I think was the owner. When we came in this person was seated at the bar watching tv in a dirty mad hatter's shirt and jeans. when he got up and asked us "how many?" we all had the same reaction of awkwardness. he clumsily went and cleaned a table and gestured for us to be seated. Judging by his appearance and that the tv was pulling his attention he did not seem to have much pride in what he was doing. Finally, it was uncomfortable. It was a chilly night, and over head was a massive fan on full tilt inside the restaurant. It was just as uncomfortable inside as it was outside. The women in our group were really off put by this. I assume the circulation was necessary as the space was small, but it still was not comfortable. This place gets 2 stars because it is unique in its offering, and the servers were friendly. For the quality of food and service I would have expected to pay $15 for my meal, and at that price I might frequent this place. As it stands I wish I had spent my time with my friends in ANY other restaurant...

I recently relocated back to the Peninsula and I thought I would continue my search for great pizza options. Based on reviews and a look at the menu Heirloom appeared to be worth a shot. Wife and I went on a Wednesday evening and we were greeted immediately and politely and offered our choice of tables. The ambiance and mood is casual, the space clean and uncluttered with practical and appropriate furnishings. Our server was friendly and knowledgable. We split an arugula salad which was fresh and tasty if not particularly memorable. The size was just right for sharing. Pizza is offered two ways, thin crust and deep dish. We shared a 12” thin crust sweet and spicy pizza. The dominant flavors were the pineapple and garlic. Despite both pepperoni and jalapeños it was hard to detect any spicy heat. The crust was crispy and not chewy, more like a flatbread and certainly not an artisan dough. No char so I assume it’s a standard oven for baking-not brick oven or wood fired. The pizza was fine but like the salad, it was nothing special. In the PNW I am spoiled for choice when it comes to pizza and have consumed many exceptional pizzas in my day but unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. I saw a deep dish pizza delivered to a nearby table and it looked enticing. I might return one day to try the deep dish, but otherwise I probably won’t rush back here anytime soon. There’s a Round Table down the street from Heirloom and I prefer RT pizza to Heirloom if I was looking for pizza in this area. I can’t fault the effort here-good, prompt service, fresh ingredients decent bar but the pizza just didn’t do it for me. Service 4/5 Food & Drink 3/5 Atmosphere 3/5 Value for money 3/5 Overall 3 stars from me, just...

I was excited to finally go try this place and was disappointed. Our waitress was lovely and friendly and asked us if it was our first time there, I said"yes!" Knowing that this was our first experience should have alerted her that it is a good idea to do your best to make it positive. So we ordered the broccoli app and the goat cheese/sausage/arugula/butternut squash pizza. She came back after a while and said the timing was off but here was the broccoli. I didn't know what that meant. The broccoli was good. Then about 10 minutes later we get the pizza. It looked burned on the top - like all the cheese was crispy. Now with regular cheese that might be ok, but it was goat cheese and that is supposed to be fresh and warm, not crispy for sure. We started to eat it as we were STARVING. It didn't have much flavor but I was assuming that it was because it was burnt. So when she came to check in and asked how it was I gave her an unenthusiastic "it's good...." hoping she may clue in. Then at the end when she came to pick it up to put in a box I asked: "So it is always this burnt on the top....? seems a little overdone..." She responded that actually that one was overdone as they kept it in the oven to give us time between the broccoli app and pizza. What!? So she knew it was burnt and still served it to us. I then expected her to offer a discount or even to NOT charge me for it, but no I got the full bill and no apology or credit. I won't come back to this place. If they had offered me a refund or a discount for the burnt pizza then I would have given them a second chance. The waitress should know better - that is not good...