Dylan's Coal Oven Pizzeria — Restaurant in Port Aransas

We looked Dylan’s up on Yelp before heading there, after our dolphin watching excursion. They had great reviews, we wanted pizza, so that’s where we headed. Since we arrived at 8:36p and had seen that they close at 9, we thought we’d help THEM out and not still be there and be a burden past 9, when they close. So we ordered our food to-go.

The order was placed and paid for, I would say no later than 8:40. We went outside to wait, I got nervous when it was close to 9 and still no “phone call”, that order was ready, so I went back inside to follow up. They hadn’t even gotten to my order yet. I was told it would be fine to wait outside and I’d get a “phone call.” We waited another 15 minutes and my grandsons came back in to wait with me. THEY got tired of waiting after another 5 minutes, and left. Keep in mind, as I’m waiting at a table, probable every single server walked by me, for 21 minutes and no one said a word, asked me how I was, had I been helped, nada, zilch. At 9:30, I stopped a server and told her I had been waiting almost an hour for my pizzas and salad. She walked away and came back 2.5 seconds later, with not hot and fresh pizzas, who knows how long they were sitting under the hot lamp.

Not thinking I needed to check my order, based on raving reviews, upon leaving. I got to my car and opened the first pizza, so my grandsons could eat, they were starving, thankfully it was perfect. It was 9:30! We open the second box, my pizza and it was completely burnt and had about 85% burnt patches all around, everywhere you looked. I shlep the charcoal colored pepp/mushroom/extra cheese pizza across a parking lot, back to the restaurant, hoping they haven’t locked the doors yet.

When I walked back in, THEN EVERYONE was paying attention and attentive to me! I open the box and say, I waited almost an hour for this and it’s burnt. No one said a word and then this wonderful lady with short black hair, dressed in all black and tennis shoes, quickly came over, took the burnt pizza and immediately started re-making it. At this point it’s 9:40. When I looked at my watch and saw it was 9:40 and everyone was still running around, I thought, damn here we are trying to be considerate of THEIR time, by not staying to eat in at 8:36, and here I am am hour later, waiting for my pizza to be remade.

As I’m fuming I ask the person behind the bar, if she’s the manager, she’s states “no” and then nothing else. The kind server, who had handed me my order minutes earlier, stopped and asked if I was ok. I said I’d like to speak to a manager, she said I’ll get you one right now.

This older lady came out to the bar, her mostly white hair was tied up,I guess so it’s out of her face? I ask her, if she is the manager, she faintly states, “I’m one”. I tell her I waited almost an hour to get a burnt pizza. She states, our pizzas look like that because they’re cooked in a coal oven. Uh, no they don’t and what a crappy “manager” you are! Didn’t you learn in managerial training, the customer is always right?! Which is why I don’t think she actually is “one of the managers”. Not to mention, not ONE pizza looks burnt on YELP OR Google reviews. And there are a lot of pizza pictures on their page. Not ONE looked anywhere near to what we were served, not ONE. Like the one my grandsons had, was perfect and not an ounce of burnt to a crisp areas. Then she proceeds to tell me, well we’re making you another one right now. No, I’m sorry, I apologize, zero, zilch! I’m pissed I tipped! I want my tip back. And you know WHO DID apologize?! The tipsy guy having a bottle of wine, sitting next to me at the bar! A customer apologized to me!

Our first meal out on our vacation with our grandsons and what an awful experience. My 5 & 8 yr old grandsons said I should give Dylan’s a zero rating, but I told them I can’t, literally, and that they ate all of their pizza, so it must have been good at the very least.

No more visits, while on vacation, to Dylan’s. I’ll be going to a customer oriented restaurant...

The service was so bad, it completely ruined the evening and any positives with the food and atmosphere. As a former service worker, I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to service. I get everyone has bad or off days and I get that mistakes happen. Those types of things really don't warrant a poor review, particularly if the establishment owns up to it and tries to make it right. That said, what I absolutely cannot stand is being lied to, which is what happened here.

We were the first table sat in a backroom area that looked like it's used for overflow or larger parties. We ordered drinks, then an appetizer and our pizza. All items were ordered before any other tables were sat in the area. We got our drinks and our appetizer just fine. The server made sure our drinks remained full and the appetizer (wings) was delivered in a timely fashion and was tasty. During this time, another 5 tables were sat in the same area we were in and ordered. A considerable amount of time had passed (45 minutes) and we still hadn't gotten our pizza, but at least 2 of the other tables had. We asked our server if she could check on it. She came back and told us that the kitchen had gotten behind because a lot of tables came in at the same time, but that ours should be out soon. Several minutes pass and nothing, so we ask again. This time the manager comes out and gives a different excuse (actually multiple): one of the ovens wasn't hot enough and there was a hole in our pizza so they were remaking it because they wanted to ensure quality. By this time, 2 other tables had received their pizza. She assured us it was in the oven "right now" and will be out soon. By now, we're sitting at an hour since we ordered and we've now had 3 excuse why our pizza wasn't out, even though everyone else was getting theirs. Another 15 minutes goes by and nothing, other than the last table in our area getting their pizza and we still don't have ours. The server came out and apologized and gave yet another story (mix up with the tickets) as to why it still hadn't been brought to the table, but that it was the next one out. Not long after she said that, I saw a table that had been sat LONG after us in the main dining area get their pizza. At this point, we decided we were done and told the server we wanted our check and to forget the pizza. Then and only then was our pizza brought to us in a box with our check. To their credit, they had comped the pizza, but after an hour and half of waiting and being lied to multiple times, they should have comped the entire bill, but they probably know we'll never be back, so didn't see a reason to do so.

To be clear, if they had just owned the mistake and been truthful and actually fixed the problem quickly, we probably would have left there happy and been fine with paying the entire bill, even with it taking longer than usual. I am absolutely positive the server simply forgot to ring up the pizza and only did so when we asked what was going on. At that point, she should have owned that and the manager should have told the kitchen to make it a priority instead of putting it at the back of the line once it was entered.

We took the boxed up pizza back to the condo and ate it. It was okay, but certainly not worth...

Like many of the other reviews have stated, it’s horrible service for mid, overpriced burnt pizza.

The service was so bad, it completely ruined the fun day we were having up until then. As a former service worker, I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to bad service. I get that people have bad days. That said, petty disrespect, and eye rolling is not an excuse for your bad day & to take it out on your guests, which is what happened here.

We came in after the lunch rush, around 1:30 on a Wednesday. 2 servers for the whole place. There was one empty 8 top table available, there were several empty, dirty tables available & 4 seats open at the bar. There was one 2 top in before us (party of 6). They sat the two people at the big 8 top table, instead of cleaning one of the smaller dirty tables or offering them immediate seats at the bar. It made no sense, especially when you’d think they’d save that larger table for a big top, like us. So we had to stand & wait with all the hungry kids for the only 2 servers to bus the tables, close other checks & serve their tables food. There’s no waiting area & it’s really hot inside, so we had to stand for about 20 min. until they got around to bus one of the now many empty tables. Meanwhile, I see a manager standing in the back, rolling dough, instead of helping the waitstaff. I even asked one of the waitresses if we could sit with the 2 top, as a communal table and she rolled her eyes and walked away. Meanwhile my kids are crying and hangry. I had stopped the 2nd waitress and asked if we could at least have some water while we waited, which she said no because she’s about to clean off our table. To add to the stress of being ignored & standing with little kids while waiting for a table, it was a delight when one of the waitstaff’s friends who was eating at the bar, started talking crap out loud to the manager and waitstaff about how my children were behaving and crying (because they were tired, hungry and having to wait unnecessarily) and they all had a good laugh at our expense. When we finally did get to our table, it took another 10 minutes for anyone to come ask for our drinks. Then another 10 min for them to arrive once ordered. Mind you, there’s empty tables all around, it’s not busy. We ordered 1 pizza which didn’t take too long to come out, but it was just burnt all over. My kids didn’t want any of it, they were totally grossed out. I basically took all the topping off and they ate the cooked dough with sauce on it. I will say our waitress seemed like she was somewhat trying towards the end & probably pulling the other waitresses workload, but read for yourself the other reviews and you’ll see too, it’s overpriced, burnt food for crappy service.

As someone that owns here, we won’t be bringing any...