Al Forno Port St Lucie — Restaurant in Port Saint Lucie

I visited Al Frono Pizza recently, and while the pizza tasted great, the overall experience left me frustrated. Ordering is unnecessarily complicated. The menu is limited, and it’s not clear what ingredients each pizza includes unless you step aside and take a closer look. If you don’t have a menu on hand, you’re out of luck.

Initially, I tried ordering a three-topping extra-large pizza, which came to nearly $30. To save some money, I had to opt for one of their specialty pizzas and remove toppings, bringing the total down to about $24. This workaround is frustrating—why not have fair and straightforward pricing for customized orders? It shouldn’t feel like a puzzle to get what I want at a reasonable price.

While the service was decent and the pizza itself tasted great, the confusing ordering process, combined with the effort required to make things affordable, really diminishes the experience. The vibe of the place and this level of inconvenience make me consider going elsewhere where I won’t have to jump through hoops.

Regarding the Ownership Transition: I’ve also noticed that under the new ownership, prices have gone up significantly while the quality of service has declined. The vibes are off, and you’ll find more recent negative reviews than positive ones. It’s clear that focusing solely on profit while neglecting customer experience won’t work in the long run.

With Estalla’s Pizza just up the street and big chains like Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Pizza Hut all within a half-mile, the competition is fierce. The larger chains might not always match the quality, but if orders keep getting messed up and there’s no effort to fix them, how is Al Frono any better? Treat your customers poorly, and we’ll stop coming. Who will keep your doors open then?

Additional Context: I’ve lived in this area for over four years and have visited many local businesses to support the community and provide feedback where I see room for improvement. My reviews aren’t meant to harm anyone but to give honest feedback and encourage growth.

Update: I’m adding an extra star ⭐️ because Chris, the owner, took the time to respond and seems to genuinely care. I’m willing to give the place another try and will update this review based on the outcome. If improvements are made, I’ll gladly revise this review. However, if the same issues persist, it will remain as-is with explanations.

For now, Al Frono gets 4 stars for good pizza but an overall frustrating experience that needs serious attention. Photos added to show that I did go in person and give them...

Ordered from this new place about 4 weeks ago because they did delivery without going through a service like door dash.

We had side salads, chicken parm, angel Hair with vodka sauce. Some bread on the side. The delivery driver failed to bring our drinks and returned later with them.

1st experience was great! My wife loved the chicken parm and I devoured my angel hair with vodka sauce. It was just all quite simple but seasoned well, most places slaughter angel hair pasta because it cooks so fast but this was perfect. So great, we have a new place!

Ordered again and this time my got fettuccine Alfredo and I got angel hair with vodka (always my go to!) sauce. We go with delivery again. This time no salads were included (1st delivery they forgot our drinks) but our entrees and bread was there so we didn’t call about the salads.

The vodka sauce and angel hair was inedible. Not even close to the dish I had the 1st time. It tasted like someone has dumped a bunch of sugar in the sauce. It was just gross. Sweet vodka sauce is not something I would wish on anyone. My wife said the fettuccine was ok, not as good as the chicken parm but she didn’t hate it like I did mine.

The delivery team needs to do better in terms of quality control, verifying and reverifying orders, etc. Hiccups happen when opening a new location, I get it. We had delivery issues both times so I would make cleaning that process up a priority.

Consistency in flavor and entree size. The first time I ordered the pasta with vodka sauce was stellar! Probably had 3 servings in my 1 order and I was thrilled.

Second time ordering not only did it taste disgustingly sweet, there was what appeared to be a lunch size portion in the tin. Not that I cared because I threw it away, but both times ordering the flavors were different and the portions were vastly different.

I wanted this to be...

Ordered for our family a couple of nights before Christmas (12/22) for ease and to keep the kitchen clean. Pickup was supposed to be ready at 6:49, arrived at 7:10 as we know store can get backed up on a Fridays. Upon arriving overheard a customer calling to complain they got the wrong pie. Turns out, they received one of ours. Wasn’t assisted up 7:15, told them that they apparently gave one of our pizzas away. Girl up front spoke to the gentleman baking in the back, after a few minutes I got an “I’m sorry” from the back but no one directly apologizing for what had happened not offering any kind of fix. Proceeded to wait until 7:50 (an hour after order was to be ready) when the other pizza was remade and given to us. When my wife asked if we would have our order credited back for the wait and mix up, the young lady (presumably new) said “I’m not sure, let me check” went to the back where the gentleman cooking told her, they got what they ordered, offer them a percentage off their next order. The manager on duty never came to speak with us first hand but instead sent the young girl to deal with it. Knowing it wasn’t her decision nor fault we weren’t going to continue to argue. We informed her we likely won’t be back as this isn’t the first issue we have had ordering from you all but this is the most unprofessional way in which it has been handled. Over and hour and a half wait, mistake was on the shop’s end yet we have to wait for our order much longer due to an employee mistake while family/guests were at our house. A weekly customer that typically spends $50 a pop was basically showed the door as we had paid ahead of time. Shame as we always enjoyed the food but can’t abide by...