La Cucina Italiana — Restaurant in North Carolina

I live in close proximity to La Cucina. And I keep trying to give them a chance to be great! But i keep getting disappointed. I moved to the area last year and since then I've been to La Cucina 5 times. I love pizza so usually I would go more. But my first visit I dined in and waited an hour and a half for 2 pizzas! So needless to say I wasnt happy with the service. But I gave them the benefit of the doubt and on a night were i didn't feel like cooking I placed an order to go. I was told itd be ready in 30 minutes. So I went to Harris Teeter to do a quick grocery shop. I returned 45 minutes later to pick up my order. I was told it wasnt ready yet. After another 20 mins. Of waiting I checked with them again. At which time I was told they had mistakenly given ky food to someone else but they were bringing it back to get their correct order. I asked if they were remaking my order then. And the lady at the register seemed confused. She said no they are bringing your food back. Why would I want food that someone is bringing back to the restaurant. After wasting another 2 hours of my life i asked for a refund which also took forever, and I left. I didnt visit again for about 6 months. But I was getting my nails done next door with a friend and she was hangry. So she ordered us some lunch from there 2 personal pizzas. I told her to get ready to be disappointed. But of course this time the foid was ready in a timely manner and it was yummy! I couldnt believe it. I thought hey maybe they fixed their issues and got better. I was very happy. So the next day I went back again for lunch with my kids! I told you i love pizza! And again thevservice and food was top notch! But this Saturday I ordered 3 large pizzas to go for my family and friends we were entertaining. I'm telling them how good this pizza is only to be embarrassed. This pizza was ready in a timely manner but it was the worst pizza we ever had in all our lives! The center crust was wet a doughy, it was undercooked and was to much sauce, the cheese and toppings just slid right off the pizza when we tried to pick up a slice! My friends kid tried to eat it but it was so bad she ran to my bathroom crying to vomit. Long story short i called back in about it but was put on hold forever and no one would come to the phone to address the issue. I was told they were to busy. So we ended up getting pizza from Harris Teeter. And I apologized to my guest for the fiasco. Im guessing lunch time is their time to shine. Cause those are the only times I had a good experience. But if you go there for dinner, forget about it! Its a disaster! Needless to say I think I've been more than fair, and I really wanted to love this place, but its a no go for me. They just lack consistency and good customer service skills....

I won't be going back. I ordered online for take out, and when I got to the checkout screen it wanted me to add a tip. It gave me choices of 15%, 25% and 35% (I think. This was a couple of weeks ago. The amounts might have been different, but I know the minimum was 15%.)

I was thinking to myself, "this is takeout. Why should I leave a tip?" If I was having it delivered, the minimum tip I would leave would be $10. But in this case I was picking it up. Who would get the tip?

I finally figured out how to zero out the tip and clicked the "order" button. The website said my food would be ready in 20 minutes. So I waited 15 minutes and then drove 5 minutes to the restaurant. My food wasn't ready. There were only a couple of other parties in the restaurant. They already had their food. I sat down on the bench to wait. I waited for 30 minutes. I had already paid for my food online, so it wasn't like I could just leave. Only three or four other people came through in the 30 minutes I was waiting. My wife called me to ask if I had gotten lost. I went up to the counter twice to ask what was taking so long. I thought they had forgotten about me. I was about to ask for my money back when the girl finally told me my food was ready.

It is my OPINION that they intentionally made me wait for my food because I zeroed out the tip. When I got home, the food was room temperature. It wasn't even slightly warm. It had obviously been sitting there the whole 30 minutes they made me wait.

I won't be going back. I believe they intentionally made me wait because I didn't leave a tip on the takeout order. And the whole time I was eating it, (after warming it up in the microwave) I wondered if they did...

12/7/24 - (First Visit) Food is good (Calzone and Wings, if looking a recommendation) but…. Placed online order because the previous reviews complain about the wait 🤣 or NYers complaining it’s not real NY style pizza 🤣Ordered at 4:30pm to be picked up at 6:30pm ($58.68 this included a TIP, no more online tips because of this service) Arrived at 6:22 and told the lady my name and she says it would be a few minutes (I’m early so I understand). 15mins goes by and I ask the gentleman to check my order and he ask my name and says a few more minutes. They were “steady busy” not extremely busy. So I’m pretty patient, 15 more minutes goes by and I ask the guy to check on my order and provide my drinks so I could make them, apparently I had plenty of time 😊! At this time, Several people had already ordered at the front after me and received their food. He then Looks for the receipt to see how many drinks and finds the receipt laying on a table with other receipts scattered across the table. Apparently the order was never placed because he asked them to get this out ASAP and provided me my cups. BOTH front staff NEVER CHECKED (this is what bothered me). 7:15pm comes around and the lady provides me my food with a “sorry” that seemed ok you can leave now, not a sorry we did not put in your order. 3 stars, Food was good! PLEASE Give my tip to the Cooks & dishwasher team, they were hustling! I watched for 45mins and they...