Emmy Squared Pizza: Park Slope — Restaurant in New York

I wanted to give Emmy Squared five stars, but I did not have a positive experience on the service end. I saw online that while the restaurant space isn't open until dinner at 5 pm, the hours did say they're open for pickup and delivery from 11 am. So I downloaded the Emmy Squared app and placed a pickup order that they confirmed via app. I arrived at Emmy Squared 2 minutes after I got the app notification that my pizza was ready.

When I arrived, the door was locked. A nice staffer who was setting up tables stopped what he was doing and let me him, although he seemed confused. The restaurant was dark, and the kitchen was quiet. I showed him my app order and he asked me to wait in the entry area while he sorted it out. It was pretty obvious that they were closed and the app had taken my order in error.

While I was waiting (in total, about 20-25 minutes), another man came in and stared at me. "I'm a customer," I said. It turned out he also worked there, and he went to investigate. After some time, he came back and invited me to sit at the bar, which was in the dark, closed dining room. He told me they have had staffing issues and decided to close for lunch service, and that the app shouldn't have taken my order. I remained friendly and said I understood. These are tough times for restaurants, I get it. He offered me alcohol, but seeing as it was around noon on a workday, I politely declined and said I'd come back to try the bar another evening. He replied, "Well, there's only so many things I can offer you," which I found a very odd thing to say to a customer whom you've inconvenienced.

Eventually, the pizza came out, and when I got home, it was perfectly tasty. But they didn't offer any kind of discount or offer to comp the order or offer anything for my next visit. I've been to the original Emily Pizza and Emmy Squared many times, and this disorganized service in the Park Slope location really felt indicative of the company's growing pains as they're now franchising across the U.S. I can't say that I'll be back, which is disappointing, considering how psyched I was that they opened up in this neighborhood. I should have listened to my neighbor, who came here to dine-in recently and said the service was poor. I really hope Emmy Squared can work...

Great to have an Emmy Squared, in the neighborhood!

FOOD: Overall still legit as always. Their Detroit style pizza has great flavors especially the crust which isn't something you can say about most pizzas! The "Big Al" is a must to get. The "Le Big Matt Burger" still rings true at being good, but it wasn't as juicy as say their related Emily locations which are more succulent with the drop down your hand kind of flavor. I think medium is the default patty cook, but we weren't asked how we liked it and it felt a little more than a medium grill. I'd still order it every time, 100% The Meatball plate surprised me at the softness and flavor intensity. The Baked Ziti plate I would skip.

SERVICE: They were great and quick despite being very busy when we had gone for dinner. Opening weekend some hiccups as it seemed like our small plates were forgotten to be ordered and came much later than our main dishes after we had to inquire about them, but wasn't a big deal.

ATMOSPHERE: Beware btw 5-7p seems like the kid twilight zone. I get the neighborhood, but this took it to a new level. The 'blue room' seemed like this is where they separated majority of families into. A zoo seems appropriate to describe the scene so props to the workers for hanging, but then it also felt this placement of families was by design. The other room definitely had children, but nothing like the blue room. Also we were seated next to a guy who was coughing the entire meal without covering his mouth and sometimes in our direction while also leaving a pile of snots with the napkins on the table. Felt bad for the workers who had to clean that up. Nothing like a covid dessert. EAT LATER AT NIGHT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. Also, if u can, try to get the main room as the blue window room has no insulation. On a cold winter day you feel the draft for sure. They have two heaters blowing down, but it only helps the two tables in the middle of the room closest to them. They should install more.

There's one bathroom that unfortunately is in the middle of the short path to the kitchen. When they're busy the staff is trying to bring out plates of food and you find yourself trying to squeeze...

Now, don't get me wrong. I love the Detroit style pizza, with the crispy edges and the robust sauces. The food is great at Emmy Squared. It is an absolutely perfect place to go with toddlers and young kids b/c they have crayons and kid-friendly food.

However, tonight on my 5th time of attending this restaurant with my 2 kids and my husband, I was severely disappointed with the service. We ordered one caesar salad and I requested two additional anchovies (it normally comes with just two and my son and I both love them). The salad arrived promptly but with no extra anchovies (forgivable in isolation). At the same time we ordered the salad, we ordered two pizzas: one "Classic" and one "Good Paulie".

The more complex "Good Paulie" arrived at the appropriate time after the salad and we then waited patiently for the "Classic" for over 20 minutes. My son and I only wanted the Classic and were very hungry. We saw dozens of pizza delivered to other tables and notably dozens and dozens to the delivery orders that were arriving every two seconds (literally).

Finally, we flagged someone down to say we we were ready to go and no longer needed the second pizza. The person we flagged down kindly told us he would check on it and ten minutes later delivered it "if we wanted it" at no charge to us. This was highly respectable and I commend the restaurant for this.

However, baking pizzas is not a super complex restaurant stratagem. It is not difficult to surmise that our "classic" pizza should have been delivered to our table with the "Good Paulie" as they should have taken the same amount of time to cook.

The breakdown was in the service. Whether our "Classic" pizza was put in one of the many dozens of delivery boxes or delivered to another table by accident is of no concern to me. Having worked in the restaurant industry myself, I would guess it was the fault of the server.

I want this place to stay in business as many in the neighborhood enjoy going there. I recommend that the servers be evaluated for competency.

That's all. Food is delicious. When it...