Pita Jungle — Restaurant in Oro Valley

Wow- what a NIGHT AND DAY experience from my first visit to my second! We came here once and had Yami for a server (whom I didn't see on our 2nd trip) and she was incredible, but on our second visit we had an atrocious experience! Exactly like the first time we came, there was a sign on the door (which seems to be permanent considering the 2 visits were months apart) asking patrons to please be patient as they are short staffed. Got it. But short-staffed does not excuse a complete lack of the basic principles of customer service- and that's putting it nicely. We came to sit on the patio as we are trying not to dine indoors. Granted, there are only a few, maybe 8 or so tables outside, but two of them were open so I waited in line at the hostess station (inside) to request a table. There was only one person in front of me so I figured my chances were pretty good. I waited ....and so did the customer in front of me....and waited....and waited as we watched no less than four employees walk by us without so much as a hello. After about 12 minutes, a young lady finally addressed the man in front of me, she asked him if he was dining in and to my amazement, he said he was waiting to pick up an order he had called in! She then said, "ok" (no apology for the wait) and walked back to the kitchen area. He appeared to be quite upset (understandably so) and we all waited some more. I say "we all" because by this time, six more people were behind me in a line that was going out the door. To be clear, with the exception of about 6 two person tables outside, there was one man at the bar closing his tab and one table of two that were paying their check when I first arrived. This was literally an empty restaurant at this point. Again, multiple employees were walking around and talking to each other as well as the girl behind the bar. Finally, another woman brings the man in front of me his food....and then leaves again!!! I am standing there in awe that nobody has even acknowledged my existence since I have been waiting for almost 20 minutes. This is not an exaggeration! Finally, the guy who has long since closed his tab at the bar gets up and leaves and the bartender comes over to the hostess stand and asks if I'm picking up an order. I said that I was waiting to be seated and we preferred the patio. (The two original tables are still open.) She immediately says to me, "we aren't seating any more on the patio." I am baffled and ask why and I see another waitress hurriedly fumbling about and walking over to one of the vacant tables and setting something down on it. Naturally, I ask why when there are two vacancies right now and she says it is because they are reserved!! No apology- nothing. This has to be some of the worst customer TREATMENT I have encountered in the restaurant industry. We will NEVER be returning. I hope Yami (the excellent waitress from our first visit) finds another job at a restaurant that treats its customers well because they don't...

I've been to this location three times, and only the first time was even close to acceptable. The food here was terrible, and I have been going to Pita Jungle since I moved to AZ 4 years ago. I've always loved the freshness and generously sized portions of food, and typically the service is wonderful, but at this particular location, they just never got it right. The roasted veggie salad is almost $12, but lacked roasted veggies, and was missing the garnishes. I also asked for no dressing on the salad, but on the side, and it was swimming in dressing (the liquid in the cup in the photo is tahini sauce, NOT dressing). Wish I had a better pic of the food, but this is what I received after waiting an hour. Garbage. Literally like 5 veggies on the whole plate, the lettuce was less than a handful, and it was warm and limp from sitting under the lamp (but somehow the roasted veggies were cold?)! The staff is totally lackluster...they stand around talking to friends before serving customers. We asked for a different item twice, and each time the server decides to socialize before focusing on her job. She also was kind of a snob and acted like we were inconveniencing her for asking questions about food we might order. Needless to say, we waited over an hour for our food, with only about 5 tables in the whole restaurant filled up, and multiple servers available. When we asked the server what was taking so long, she said "All the orders just kind of came in at the same time." That was a total lie...all the tables were in there before we came in, and only one more couple came in after us. The table next to us was a whole family of probably 8 or 10 people. There's no way that should have held up the make-line. My fiancee and I have both worked in food-service, so these excuses are just lies. We also noticed one kitchen staff member just kicking around...not really doing much of anything at all. Oh, and flies buzzing around our head the entire time we were seated. Seriously need to think about a total revamp of service people here, and CLEAN the place up. Even the manager on duty was just socializing the entire time. This location totally sucks and shouldn't even be called Pita Jungle, as it just makes the amazing company look SO bad! We spent nearly $50 and received a gift card from corporate to make up for the third experience, but the first two times weren't accounted for. If we hadn't moved back to Phoenix, we would have NEVER gone to this Tucson location again, regardless of the comped meals. Yuck...just yuck. I'm trying to be...

As part of a group lunch order, I ordered turkey pesto wrap, as it was advertised as one of the gluten free options. I have celiac and obviously am extremely careful, always double checking what is ordered. When the food was delivered, my meal looked very different from what was on the menu photo. The turkey was cut up in large squares, it was not wrapped and initially I was not even sure if this was the same meal. Eventually I figured it was just not wrapped properly, as pesto was visible on the pita that was hidden underneath. The meal itself was not tasty whatsoever, which was surprise to me, as I had Pita Jungle in several Phoenix locations and never had issues. I could not finish the meal as something was off, and about 15 minutes after eating a few bites, I started to experience stomach issues. I ended up vomiting several times and was extremely sick for the rest of the day. The food clearly was not prepared according to instructions and it contained gluten. I called the restaurant on 7/16 at 6 pm, and spoke with Paula, who reported she was the assistant manager. I explained the situation and asked her for a refund. She claimed she could not assist and asked that I call the next day (7/17) and ask for Vanessa, who could process the refund. I attempted today to call the number that I called yesterday and the call could not be completed. I tried several times and was not successful. It dawned on me that perhaps my number was blocked, so I I then tried calling from a different number and, lo and behold, was able to get a hold of Vanessa. I explained my situation again and Vanessa kindly apologized and was happy to refund my meal. Very disappointed, needless to say, in how this was handled initially, but glad there is someone there who was able to recognize the mistake and hold themselves accountable, especially when it comes to a serious...