Red Devil Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Phoenix

Holy cannoli! Literally it was love at first bite! I’ll get to that later in my review. As many of you know that follow my reviews you already know I’ll drive just about anywhere to try something new or when I’m craving something. We eat a lot of pizza in this house and while I have to be honest some days I’m over it; there’s also days like today where I’m craving it. So we looked up different areas to go on an adventure and then after talking about it we remembered Red Devil Italian Restaurant that a few of my family members had been to off Cave Creek and the 101 and we decided to see if there were any other locations. We decided to check out this location on McDowell. Located right off 32nd where it sits in an old building . There is some parking up front, but it is limited and was very busy. Luckily there is quite a bit more open parking in the back. Pay attention to the doors you do in because there’s a banquet hall and such as well. There is also a to go/pick up window if you live nearby and don’t want to dine in. Opening the door feels like you’re being transported in time. It it quite large, dim inside and gives off that old school Italian vibe with close together family size seating and believe me it was being put to use. We luckily got one of the last tables available and more and more large families kept coming. Sunday dinners together looked like a weekly thing for some. Our server was great. She came right over and greeted us, took our drink orders as well as an order of wings and a side garden salad. The antipasto salad I kept seeing come out looked amazing, but I knew we were ordering so many other things to try I opted for smaller. After a moment we had our drinks and ordered an Italian sub, lasagna, a medium pepperoni and sausage pizza. While most of our items came out quickly our waitress did come over to let me know my lasagna was going to take a bit longer that usual as the kitchen was backed up on the pasta end with the crazy rush. I’m thankful she told me in case I wanted to change my mind, but she stated if anything they’d give it to me to go and wipe it from the bill for the trouble. I was dying to try it so I enjoyed my salad, slice of pizza and a piece of the complimentary bread that was brought out. The garden salad was so much better than most places and included so many veggies; including sliced radish, cucumber, carrot, olives etc. Lettuce was crisp and fresh. The pizza was phenomenal. The crust was crispy and had a touch of the blackened spots from the oven. The toppings were great and definitely not skimpy. The flavor was good and the slices don’t get soggy as they sat. My daughter enjoyed her sandwich minus the onions which of course is just her preference. The wings were great. I like that they aren’t baked, sauce had a good kick and a bit crispy on the outside, but perfect on the inside. Just as she had advised in advance the lasagna came out as we had finished up. I had to take a bite though before leaving to get that fresh out of the oven taste and it was so worth every taste bud burned off my tongue. It was hot, sauce so full of flavor and so much meat. It included not only hamburger, but sausage as well. I boxed up the rest to go. Before leaving we went over the dessert menu and ordered a strawberry topped cheesecake and a cannoli to go. I had to taste it first. What kind of a crazy person waits until they get home to taste it? I had two different thoughts; The cheesecake came out looking a bit worse for wear which the waitress apologized for since she had to put the lid on and kinda smashed the bit of cream and strawberry on the lid. It wasn’t so much the presentation for me, but the watery liquid from the strawberry topping added. I could see the crust getting soggy by the time I got home. Flavor was ok, but not the best. The cannoli however, was off the charts. It looked delicious and planted well even in the go container. The filling was light and full of flavor and the outside was crisp and oh so yummy. Great stop and I see why it’s been...

Oh boy, and in case anyone doesn't believe me, I had my body cam audio on. Happy to share it! Proud of myself because I didn't swear, shout, nothing! I got here 35 minutes after an order and saw pizza box with my name. But they told me they hadn't started mine yet. No problem. So I'm sitting for another half hour near their outdoor pickup window before the mentally ill unhoused man across the street begins shouting and begins making me nervous. Order still not done? Its been an hour since I placed it by now. Nope! So I give up and go inside for a refund. Dealt with a rude manager who after I explained it had been an hour and I needed to get going said I kid you not: "so you havent gotten to the point about what you want me to do about it" Wow! Thats like out of a movie! I didnt actually think managers went 0 to 60 like that! Again, happy to share the recording! So the manager Refused to refund my order and said to do that I must go to the window outside to refund my order. Not that I don't love spending time with the mentally ill shouting at me, but you know, it's now been an hour and change. So the outdoor window is shocked I want a refund and check my order to see what its status was. Lo and behold, it was the pizzas sitting there from the beginning! I point out that I dont want a pizza that has been sitting there for over an hour and cost 25 per pie. You know, like a reasonable person Amiright? But they wont refund me until Monday. When a general manager is in. So effectively, and all on audio! They are holding my money hostage for two hour old pizzas. So the man dealing with me at this point (who so far is the only reasonably polite gentleman to acknowledge me as something other then an inconvenience) tells me it will be 15 minutes and they will have my food. And that was 20 minutes ago. I'm sure at this point that the pizza could be made of gold and it wouldn't make my review move to the 5 star range. So I figured I would type my sordid tale on my phone while I have the homeless raving over at the canal, and the woman next to me chainsmoking. Stay Classy Red Devil! I think you finally lived up to your name ;)

[UPDATE! I GOT THE FOOD! IT WAS AMAZING! And yet I still will never be returning or having my crew stop in here ever again for lunch or dinner. Pretty impressive that you managed to make me feel like such a piece of garbage on your doorstep that two amazing pizzas feels like nowhere near the effort and actually encouraged me to write my first ever restaurant review! I really really wish I could say I was the entitled white *hole in this situation, and I definitely was brusque at the end, but man, never raised my voice, never was outright rude, and did my damndest to not cause a scene. I'm impressed with the personalities you got going there. The only person who seemed to have an ounce of understanding or compassion was hidden behind three other paragons of the human refuse pile. Red devil indeed.

I am in retrospect raising the rating from 1 to 2 stars. No matter how terrible they made me feel, they did remake the darn things for me. The other option was coming in on Monday for a refund, so wasn't much of a good choice, but they did remake them and I should have given credit for that. One of my boys explained that to me...

So reading over the reviews before I went, I noticed all the bad ones were from years ago. Noticed the one about the guy ordering the lunch special off the website and showed up to find that there was a different rate if you weren't dining in. I took a look at the website and found everything to be clearly marked to indicate as such, and even found it to be the same with the menus at the physical location. So it appears in that instance the problem wasn't the restaurant but the ability of the individual to read the fine print, which actually wasn't "fine" but in the same font as all the other writing.

The only other really negative review was an individual who didn't like the fact the TV wasn't on his particular brand of brainwashing. And judging from how he wrote the review the problem wasn't the food. The problem seemed to be him and his inability to tolerate others political beliefs. When I went into the location I couldn't even hear the TV.

So since nothing in any of the negative reviews was about the food, I decided to try it out to give it a fair shake. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan. Now it must be clear at the outset that this is not a place that is fine dining as it were. It is a simple neighborhood eatery, so it is unrealistic to think it is going to be an authentic taste of Italy.

That being said when the food came out I was surprised at the size of the portions. I am a pretty big guy and it was enough to fill me up. I almost didn't finish it all. The food itself was very good. I did not have any dessert, so I cannot speak to that.

The atmosphere of the place was good as well. It wasn't loud and it had the right atmosphere for a family night out or a date night.

Altogether I was pleased with the experience. My waitress was polite and attentive, and the food was served rather quickly. While it may not be "fine dining" it definitely serves as a good place to go for good food at reasonable rates, with a nice atmosphere. You don't leave hungry, and you enjoy your meal while having money still left in your wallet. Can't ask for much...