Pizza Pie Cafe — Restaurant in Orem

We usually enjoy our visits here. They have a good variety of pizza, and the salad bar definitely seems improved as of late. However, their customer service was lacking on our last visit.

We brought our newborn as well as our 3 year old, and ordered a kid's meal for the 3 year old. Unbeknownst to us, a drink was NOT included in the price for the kid's buffet. A simple prompting from the cashier would have alerted us to this, but when she handed us the cups, with a small clear one for my son, I assumed that was his drink cup, and that a drink was included.

After getting our food, drinks, etc and sitting down, one of their attendants approached us and informed us that we had put soda in a 'water-only' cup, and the manager wanted to know why. We of course weren't trying to get something for free, and I apologized, saying we had assumed it was included, but they simply replied with 'No, it isn't.'

It was a very awkward exchange, where we felt like we were being accused of stealing. I quickly apologized again, and promptly dumped the offending beverage out, and the attendant left. Having worked in food service, I know for a fact that this exchange could have gone much better. For one, the drink we erroneously took only cost them mere pennies, and to then approach us in such an accusatory manner was unnecessary and not cool.

I understand the need to make sure you aren't being taken advantage of, but this draconian response did not serve so much as to educate as it did to offend and ostracize. Perhaps you could have mentioned it when we first ordered.

For example: (After placing our order...)

Cashier: "Great! So would you like to add a drink to that kids meal? "

Us: "Oh, I thought it was included... No problem!"

Cashier: "Thanks!"

Or, perhaps you could have informed us without making us feel like petty thieves, like below for instance:

Cashier: "So I'm not sure if I mentioned it when you ordered, but I see that you have a water cup, yet you used it for soda."

Us: "Oh, I'm sorry, we assumed the drink was included in the meal."

Cashier: "No worries, I should have made sure that you were aware; go ahead and keep it, since it was our mistake."

Us: "Are you sure? We can pay for it..."

Cashier: "No no, but thanks for offering! I just wanted you to know, not a problem at all."

Us: "Oh, OK, thank you!"

I'm not usually one to tell people how to run their business, but I actually like Pizza Pie Cafe, so I'd like you guys to stay in business, hence my review.

Other things of note:

We had our baby in a carseat, and they never offered a carseat holder for him, even though we saw others using them (granted, they may have been out, but if so, an offer and an explanation would be appreciated)

Usually the attendants are pretty good about clearing our plates away. This time, we were pretty much ignored (except for our fun little soda 'stealing' scenario previously mentioned), until we were ready to leave.

Thanks for what you do, but please, if you could work on these other things, we'd like to come back. Otherwise, we'll be taking or...

I want to preface this with the fact that I’m NOT a picky eater. I enjoy most things! Even diet food that most people would say tastes like cardboard. So I was very surprised that I thought the pizza here was the worst pizza I’ve ever had! It just tastes like they weren’t very skilled with the dough. You know how if you work flour too much it turns gummy? There was a lot of that, and it tasted like it was at least a day old. The pizza I watched them put out was slightly better, but only just. I’m sure that the depths of the pizza scale can sink even lower though. It was edible, but I chose not to eat more than a couple of bites of most pizzas. Like I said though-my standards are low for food I can enjoy. I will say that the fruit pizza—the one with fresh blueberries and strawberries— was absolutely delicious, but it was quick to disappear and slow to reappear so I only got to enjoy one tiny two inch square. There was one other unique flavor of pizza that was very good but I can’t recall which one it was. Chicken bbq maybe? Still, one out of about 12 options for savory flavors is pretty sad. All of the dessert pizzas were equal to other pizza places I’ve been to, they were fine, other than that fabulous fresh fruit pizza which was above par.

Ambiance was fine. I’m a sucker for ambience. It wasn’t the best I’ve seen but perfectly balanced with the price point.

There was a wide assortment of pasta that I had no access to as it was behind glass. There was no one there to serve it the entire lunch hour we were there, so I can’t comment on the pasta.

The salad bar had potential but most things were either really low or empty. The dressings weren’t labeled (other than blue cheese) so other than the obvious ones, it was a game of “dressing roulette.” One of the dressings didn’t even have a ladle. There was a nice selection of dressings, but what is the point of having choices when you don’t know what those choices are?

The limited customer service we did have was very friendly (which consisted of the cashier and the lady taking our dirty dishes and that’s it), but I have to dock a star for the fact that the pasta was inaccessible and the salad bar so depleted, since both fall under the customer service umbrella.

Bottom line, I won’t be back. I told my bestie where we went and she said “oh, I hate that place! Worst pizza ever!” So clearly I’m not alone.

There was no wait but we came after the lunch rush, and that probably has more to do with the depleted salad bar and neglected pasta than anything else, except why open it for after lunch hours at the same price if we’re going to get subpar food? I didn’t feel the price was worth being served the dregs. There were plenty of people there to serve in spite...

📅 Date of Visit: 2/6/2021

💬 OVERVIEW - 3.75 I've been here a few times before, but just realized I've never left a review, so that's what I'm doing now. Unfortunately each time we come it seems to get progressively worse.

🗺️ LOCATION - 5 Pizza Pie Cafe is located near the busy State Street which is sure to receive lots of traffic.

💲 PRICE - 3 We have dined on coupons 🎫 and their rewards program. The prices are always a little too steep for my liking. For an adult on a dinner buffet it is around $8.75. The coupons we were using were sent in the mail for 2 for $14 buffet. We have also redeemed a free adult buffet 🍕 as well as drinks 🥤 this most recent time we went.

🍕 PRODUCTS/SERVICES - 3 The pizza slices 🍕 were the luck of the draw. Some of them were beyond caramelized, they'd been sitting under the heat lamps for a little to long for my liking. Some were fresh out of the oven as well. My particular favorite is called the Spudoicious 🥔. I request one every time I come in if if isn't already under the heating lamps. Table services were on the poor side as well. We sat in a booth and we had to request that are plates be taken whereas several other tables had been cleaned of plates.

📢 POINTERS/PERKS - N/A Come during a peak hour when there is a frequent turn-over of pizzas 🍕 because people are snatching up slices like crazy. They also have a rewards program that you can earn free buffets and drinks, just by entering your phone number. You can also request specific pizzas to be made for the buffet.

👨‍🍳 EMPLOYEES - 4 Employees were friend and we were also told good-bye as we were leaving into the snow-filled night. This most recent time I went in, most of the areas were "reserved" which is code word for they don't want to clean more tables than they have too. My daughter attempted to use the restroom and she said it was gross. I told one of the female employees that the women's restroom may need attention. I don't think she bothered to do anything with that...