Best Pizza & Brew Oceanside — Restaurant in Oceanside

Don't usually write reviews but had a very unusually poor experience here. And I say that having worked for a pizza place in the past. The pizza is fine, great topping combinations and the crust is fine. The service though was quite unusual. My fiancee ordered through Doordash and when I got there it wasn't in their system. That's fine, not their fault. But zero follow-up. They're just like "You're gonna have to take it up with Doordash." Which, OK I understand that but I'm still hungry. So I said that's fine, can I order the thing I was going to order? "Sorry, but we can't get reimbursed without you ordering online." Um... what?

When I was working at a pizza shop, if someone sent in a pickup order and it wasn't there, I'd be like, "Sorry, but there's no record in our system. I could take down an order now and it'll be around 20 minutes, or you could grab some slices and I'll have that ready for you in 5.

Never have I ever worked for a place where it was acceptable to have a hungry customer inside of your location literally ask to order food and be told "no". No clarifying questions, no "yes, but we'd have to charge you again" (which is what I was planning on doing, not trying to get a free replacement for the Doordash order). Just "Sorry, no."

So anyway I went outside called the other half and confirmed slices were fine because I saw other people ordering earlier so even if for some reason they have a rule against people ordering whole pizzas in person then at least I could get some slices. So I went back inside to order some slices. And stood in front of the slice rack for several minutes while someone behind the counter ignored me.

Eventually someone else walked up and asked haltingly if I was being helped. I said "I'd like some slices." And then ordered a salad too (it was fine, nothing to complain about) and paid with my credit card. Then got an order amendment text and got some garlic knots (decent) with ranch dressing and paid in cash because that's annoying for a business when you incur two credit card transaction fees for what should have only been one.

Anyway I waited right outside and they called my name and I hurried inside, at which point I saw nobody holding anything or looking for someone or really doing anything to indicate they had just called my name. A guy asked me if he could help and I said uh yeah someone just called my name. He looked around for a bit and eventually found the pizza slices with salad and knots.

One of the weirdest customer service experiences I've ever had. Literally told me "no" when I tried to order a pizza. Something in their system screwed up and yet instead of trying to work within their power to make it right they just shrugged and decided to make what seemed to me to be a very concerted effort to ignore me for the remainder of my patronage.

But even just that probably would not have been enough to inspire a Google review. What clinched the deal is that when I got home and opened up my food, I pulled out the garlic knots and... marinara, no ranch. OK that's it, I'm putting...

Our second visit to Best Pizza and Brew in Oceanside, CA, happened. The first time was a few months back. We ordered the "Works Pizza" 12" in that early visit. This time, we ordered the same pizza combination in its 18" size. Both times we sat outside. Our first visit liked the outside heaters. This time, the nice ocean breeze made the wait easy.

Both times the pizza toppings were fresh and crunchy. Best Pizza crust adds taste to the pie and makes each bite more enjoyable. So often, pizza crust comes from cheap flour, but the flour in this pizza is different. Its difference is the need it creates to eat all the crust, even without enough tomato sauce.

We liked sitting outside; there are many tables inside. They also have a bar that serves alcohol. We asked for water with ice.

This time more people were ordering, which delayed the pizza for nearly an hour. Finally, when it arrived, we were more than hungry, which is why two slices went missing before I could get the camera out of its pouch. There is another Best Pizza and Brew in Vista. That location is closer to us. We will try their pizza to see if they inherited the skills and taste of Oceanside.

We parked on the street both times because early arrivals filled available spots first. I think canopy-covered outside tables now took additional parking spots of an earlier time. Eating outside was comfortable. The canopies covering the outdoor tables blocked the Sun and allowed the cool ocean breeze to...

Stopped here with my girlfriend around sunset for the first time to enjoy some highly reviewed Oceanside pizza. When you walk in, it was very confusing and kind of uncomfortable. There's no host, no directions... just a counter with the names (only) of the pizzas and beers they serve, and a bunch of employees scrambling everywhere. I found out that you have to order everything you want after standing in line, and someone brings it out to you. The problem with that is, if you don't know what's on their pizzas, you have to ask about every single pizza on the menu while you're at the front of the line and everyone is behind you, hungry, waiting, and frustrated. Oh, that's the same process for the beer you order too. After we ordered everything, they sent us to a separate counter to pick up our beer, and they were totally not what we ordered. So that person had to go up front and address it with the cashier. We eventually sat ourselves and waited for our food. It came out quickly and was pretty fresh and tasty. We ended up wanting to order more food so we had to get up, stand and wait in the same line for the same exact process as before. The 2nd pizza took much longer to reach our table. We asked several staff members if they forgot about it. 4 different staff went to go check on it, but never returned. Our pizza eventually came out and it was good, but at the end of it all, $70 for 2, 12inch pizzas and 2 beers with a nightmarish ordering process was not a...