Ramuntos Brick Oven Pizza — Restaurant in North Adams

I had a really rough day today, and because I'm a college student living on campus during the summer, I don't always have access to a full kitchen to make my own meals. So I decided to walk in and place an order for takeout - mind you, I've eaten here plenty of times before and had pretty good experiences. Today was the opposite of a good experience.

I wanted to pay with a couple of gift cards that I had been given and the lady behind the counter was having trouble with the computer. Come to find out, their whole card-reading system was down. I totally get tech issues - they happen in every industry across the world. However, a man came to help the lady taking my order and he couldn't figure it out either, so they told me to wait 15 minutes for my pizza to be done and they'd see if I could pay then. I come back exactly 15 minutes later and they tell me the price is higher than it usually is - not by a lot, probably like $2.50, but for a broke college student, every dollar counts. I asked if they raised their prices, to which the man from before said no. So I ended up having to split the payment across multiple gift cards.

Apparently, the man had said something about waiving the extra charge (each GC had $25, the "extra charge" ended up being like sixty cents or something)... maybe I misheard or misunderstood him, but I was under the impression that because he took my gift card, swiped it, and had a balance printed (which he didn't give me), that I had been charged. A few minutes later, I asked if it was at all possible for me to get a receipt since I wanted to make sure I had their usual prices right. He immediately snapped at me, saying that he didn't charge me. I must have looked confused because he continued to say "What, is that alright with you? You want to be dumb and have me charge you? Because I can do that right now."

It was purely a simple misunderstanding but apparently that was enough to poke the bear because he stormed off and started slamming things and generally acting aggressive. The lady who was originally taking my order apologized for his behavior, but at that point I no longer felt comfortable or safe in this restaurant. Suffice to say I will NOT be eating here again, especially since this man appeared to be in his mid-40s and I'm a teenage girl... I don't need a balding old man telling me that I'm the dumb one. I don't work in your restaurant, I don't know how your technology works or your policies. I will most likely only be returning in order to demand a refund for the remaining gift cards I have, which really sucks because the food is genuinely good; just not good enough to deal...

I have lived locally for close to a year and been to Ramuntos around 6 or 7 times. Overall, there has never been a time when staying home and eating a frozen pizza instead was not a better option.

That being said, Ramuntos does their best. The atmosphere of the restaurant is welcoming and modern, with comfortable seating, welcoming staff and a great selection of draft beer. All of this works in their favor, but the food is consistently disappointing, which is surprising consider I’ve never ordered anything other than pizza or pasta.

Several times, my slices have come out burnt and they had to give me another one, which is simply due to employee negligence. The last time I went in, my slices tasted like ash, undoubtedly from an oven than was in need of a deep clean.

The first time I went in for the Thursday night pasta special, my girlfriend ordered spaghetti and meatballs. The meatballs were cold. We went in on another Thursday night, and she asked for the spaghetti and meatballs, and for the meatballs to be heated up a little bit more than usual. They arrived warm enough, but the spaghetti was replaced with ziti. Again, employee negligence, and it’s surprising that the food is this consistently bad, especially given the simplicity of the dishes we asked for, as well as the enjoyable atmosphere and kind staff.

I understand that Ramuntos is a chain, and that they have locations in Brattleboro and Bennington. I’ve had a slice or two from the Bennington establishment with no noticeable issue. I know, it’s just pizza and pasta, but if its really that simple, it doesn’t make sense for the quality to be so poor. Ramuntos can do so much better. The location is fantastic, the atmosphere of the restaurant is perfectly acceptable, and everything in there that wasn’t made by the staff is enjoyable to consume. All they have to do is get their act together food-wise and they have the potential to function as the community hub this...

We want to start by saying this would be a 4 based on food and the kindness of the manager for refunding us in full. It would be a 2 based on the young lady that was not humble enough to apologize for making an error. We chose the middle ground as we like to support small busineses. The young set up our for here order as take out, 1/2 of our order was ready almost an hour later no one called out our name. After asking my husband, he goes up to the register to come back with 2 plastic bags with my salad and our wings. Pizza still not ready...after the Mohawk trail and driving 3.5 hours from the cape we were starving. I go to the register, no apology the young lady who did NOT make the error stepped up and took care of us. Plated our food and came out with the pizza another 5 minutes later/apologized on her behalf. To shorten this story, will we return again? Possibly, but hope we don't experience anything similar to the substandard experience we had. Mistakes happen and we are imperfect but 9/10 a customer just wants a sincere apology and not looking to berate anyone. There are uncouth individuals out there but as professionals and kind people we thank the manager and the other employee for stepping up and being...