Spinato's Pizzeria and Family Kitchen — Restaurant in Phoenix

Honestly, I love the food. But twice now they have served me a pizza that was NOT gluten free when that's what I specifically ordered. I'm small business owner myself but this is not ok. Here's my experience:

Living With Food Allergies - My Recent Story:🔥 Just this past week Thursday I ordered for pick up a small GLUTEN-FREE pizza from Spinato's north Phoenix near my company. I was starving & couldn’t wait to scarf down 6 of the 8 small pieces that come in that size & man it was delicious!! 5ish hours later as I’m wrapping up my last massage of the day & starting to head home, I’m starting to feel bubbling in my stomach. As I’m driving, some light abdominal cramping starts. I’m home for about 10 minutes & then have to run to the restroom to jettison Exit 2. Ok, some relief. As soon as I start walking away from the restroom I have to run immediately back to jettison Exit 1. It’s 6:30pm by now. Well folks, for 8 hours to follow, both exits violently purged themselves. I couldn’t even keep down water. I had a massive headache. My entire GI tract was very swollen & in spasm. And all of the front body muscles from my neck to my hip flexors were completely wiped from being in an 8 hour state of contraction. I was entirely exhausted & very dehydrated. While those symptoms are similar to food poisoning, or our body’s reactions to ingesting a toxic poison, this is exactly what ingesting a substance that your body is allergic to feels like. See folks, that pizza was not GLUTEN-FREE at all. They were busy that day & made a mistake. And it was costly to me. 8 hours of burning pain, my stomach & intestines feeling shredded, 48 hours of not being able to eat since that lunch, 2 days of canceled clients/missed work, & a 3rd day still trying to re-hydrate. Today is day 5 & while I don’t look pregnant with swelling & bloating at this point, my GI tract is still swollen, & I’m still having to ease gentle foods down to help the internal lining heal. I have 2 main points to make here: 🌸1) If you know someone with food allergies, please don’t think they are a Diva or being difficult. Believe them & be patient. Yeah, they’ll need to review the menu of some place you want to go together. No, they might not eat what you brought them, not to be rude, but because they don’t trust what’s in it. They have the deal with the aftermath, not you! Become a partner to them in finding some good options out there, if you like, but be supportive. ✅2) If you work in the food industry in ANY capacity, listen, check the order 5 times if necessary, tighten up your protocols, use clear communication & labeling. But make sure the damn order is right if there are food allergies & preferences for the love of all that’s holy! Please, be as mindful as you were getting that meal to the table & belly of someone You Love. Had I had Celiac Disease, I would have been in the hospital or...

This was a fun stop on a vacation trip to Phoenix- completely random for us, with a pleasant dining area, and VERY attentive and well-intentioned staff. The marinara served with garlic cheese bread was amazing. It tasted sweet, but was home-made and delicious! The pizza however, was out-of-this-world bad. I ordered a thin crust, and felt like the pizza was made on a leftover tortilla. I didn't realize this place served thin-crust Chicago-style pizza. I don't like deep-dish Chicago pizza, and add thin crust, with overly sweet family-recipe SWEET sauce to the list of no-go. So the very attentive staff and gracious manager offered something else. Much appreciated, I thought perhaps I'd misunderstood what type of pizza this place was attempting to serve, so I requested the other option of pizza they served- Sicilian-style crust with marinara. I eat a LOT of pizza- and frankly don't understand how this could pass as pizza! I thought perhaps, leftover and reheated it might be better, but I'll simply throw away 3/4 of the large pizza that we had boxed up. I feel bad that people in the mid-west think this is good pizza, but I'd much prefer a Papa Murphy's take and bake, or even a frozen Red Baron, baked in my own oven. Rated 4 stars (pretty high review) because I didn't like the pizza, but apparently this restaurant is amazing (as demonstrated by the service we received- THANKS!!) for people who like this style of pizza. It's just not my style. ...

I Know a thing or two about Spinato's and their close knit family. That means jack to my latest experience at the North Valley location. Could their even be a minus 5 stars? Geez. I order a Margherita pie. "Sorry, we're out of basil." Ok. Half cheese, half pepperoni. The wait time around 40 minutes. Ok, it's a Sunday early evening. Get there and one of the counter people looked like he was high on something and told me, "It'll be another 20 minutes." Not good. I wait as this tiny overflow to-go room is filled with Door Dash and other delivery people plus customers, some not so happy. Finally my pie comes out. The manager, complete with shiny nose ring opens the box. I stare and say, "What is THAT?" The entire medium pie was dark brown and no distinction from the cheese side and pep side save for maybe 4 small pieces of burn pepperoni. it was in a word disgusting to look at. The manager didn't much care but said she can make another one and the standard time to make a pizza is 7 minutes. What? Ok, I'll wait seven minutes. BUT NO...."sorry, there are about 12 tickets ahead of you so it will be some time." This after spending now more than 65 minutes waiting? Terrible customer service no matter how deep into the weeds they were. Much worse was the zero qualilty of the pies I saw coming out, all seemed to be bland and dark - as in burned. Ick. Never...