Roberta’s — Restaurant in New York

I hate leaving a negative review, especially for a place that is actually great, but here we are.

I scoped out Roberta's Penn location a few months ago after the initial good reviews. It was an unseasonably warm night and my family enjoyed sitting outside on the deck. The pizza, about which I am a verified snob, was very good. So were the anchovies and burata. We said to ourselves, "this is the perfect place to bring out of town visitors! Great pizza, cool Times Square adjacent location."

And we were all set to put this plan in action this Saturday. Dinner with visiting family before a baptism. So, we made a reservation for six and had that sorted out.

Apparently, though they don't take reservations after 2:30pm. At least that's what the voicemail cancelling my reservation said. It's hard to believe, frankly, since I made the reservation on Resy. Unless there was some error in Resy that opened the reservation book too long on just the one day I went to make one. Unfortunate, but I understand administrative errors do happen. Maybe we'll forgo the reservation and try to walk in anyway.

Nope. The entire place is closed for a private event they inform me when I call back.

At this point, it's a restaurant version of the trolley problem: take the publicity and sure thing invoice of whatever big spender is closing the whole place down on a Saturday night and throw your regular patrons (with reservations) on the street, or tell the big spender "sorry, no can do" to honor the little guy.

To be fair, they offered to rebook us at another location. But the location was part of the appeal, and the schedule won't permit travel further out.

They've also offered gift cards via email. I haven't checked my inbox yet, but I'm sure this review will invalidate that, but I think the people have a right to know.

Speaking of the people, don't let the graffiti or the menu fool you, this pizza ain't for us.

Update: since leaving this review Roberta's has called to tell me that they've found a place for my party on Saturday night after all. I appreciate this gesture, but have declined because I'm left wondering why, if there was dining space, the reservation was cancelled to begin with. A question that I'm sure would nag...

BEWARE!! Management is SHADY!! July 3rd I was heading back to Penn Station after job hunting when I decided to stop in to see if they were hiring.

I walk in and was greeted by Rafael (who I found out was the GM) I asked if the full service restaurant upstairs was open yet and if they were looking for servers. He said yes, and to follow him upstairs, he was going to introduce me to Dani. He asked for a couple resumes, which I gave him.

He handed me off to her and hit it off. She showed me the restaurant, explained the vibe, how the outside tables will work. The interview went well!! Well enough that she said it must be kismet that I ended up there that day and that I was hired! I was thrilled. She told me I would need to bring my two forms of ID. I told her I actually had it on me. She took them, made photocopies of them and gave them back. Exchanged phone numbers and said she’d e-mail me additional information about onboarding and such.

I got home, and received the “welcome to the team“ and onboarding email from Dani. (Picture Attached) Asking to confirm my availability again, and I responded.

The next day (July 4th pic attached) I received an e-mail from Dani again. Instead of the next steps and filling out the onboarding paperwork, I get a generic thanks for meeting with me, she forwarded my resume to the GM and DOO (who I met and gave my resume to at the first time I walked in the day before) and her appreciating my interest in working there. I thought that e-mail was a bit odd since she offered me the job, welcomed me to the team, and photocopied my two forms of ID.

I responded to that email. Hey Dani! Just curious if I’m suppose to get an email to fill out my onboarding paperwork?…..I then get the response…. I can’t give the OK to hire until the GM says okay. I’ll be in touch…

That was the last I ever heard from Dani or Roberta’s. I was ghosted. I’m absolutely flabbergasted that a place does this. Just wanted to share my experience and will never give them...

I’ve been to this pizzeria three times now. The first time was great, which is why I decided to go back. Unfortunately, each visit since then has been worse.

On my second visit, I went during my lunch break around 12:15 PM, only to find it closed even though a guy was inside making pizza and blasting music. I ended up going somewhere else.

Today was my third visit, and I thought going at 12:30 PM would be safe. There was already a long line, and I waited close to 40 minutes. By the time I reached the counter, they had run out of most pizzas. One person was struggling to serve all the customers, while the other guy who was making pizzas to go had loud music playing, was singing along the whole time, and made no effort to help his coworker. The selection was minimal, so I grabbed a slice of pepperoni and a square slice, paid, and waited again for my order.

When the pizza finally came out, it was burnt. At that point, I decided to just walk out. I ended up wasting my entire lunch break 45 minutes for nothing.

This place went from being a great spot on my first visit to an unorganized, frustrating experience. Definitely not worth my...