Flying Pie Pizzeria. — Restaurant in Portland

I have been going to flying pie pizza in the Mount Tabor area for many years, however this one pales in comparison. The food was prepared wrong, pizza and the other items we ordered were burnt, as well, and The cider that I ordered to drink, STEVE told me they were out of, talked me into buying another cider that I did not enjoy, and then the man poured himself a glass of the cider that I had ordered, telling me "oops, I guess we have this after all". He never offered to replace my cider, and he made the comment that since it was slow that day, he might as well drink for a while and get drunk behind the counter, since there was nothing better to do. Luckily for him, I was not an OLCC inspector. Long story short, if I never see STEVE at their checkout counter again, it will be too soon, and if flying pie does not do something about the quality of pizzas coming out of this location, compared to some of the other locations, they are not going to do their reputation any favors, either. It seems to me this place needs a major personnel and food prep overhaul, otherwise, their prices are rather spendy, and the pizza I ordered was only a large, which fed three people, and it cost me over $42. It was not worth it, especially since it was not prepared to order. I hope you have better luck, if you go to this place! Hopefully the one at Mount tabor, which I believe is their original location, will keep to its higher standards. Good luck!

Update. 06/06/24. I originally gave this place three stars, even with the poor review above, but I have now lowered it to one star, as I had called and talked with the owner Kieran, who works out of the Mount Tabor store normally, I have been told. I explained to him what had happened with STEVE at the counter at the Lombard store, when I put up the review. After hearing what I had gone through, he actually told me he would replace the pizza, and the two calzones I had ordered, and that he would call the North Lombard location and let them know that I would be coming in at some point. I told him it might be a few weeks because I don't live in the area, my elderly parents do, and he said that was fine, that he had had some credits for people that he had had for years, and people still had not come in to retrieve those. Long story short, I called today, June 6th, 2024, and told STEVE that I was back visiting my parents, and we would like to go ahead and take them up on their offer to replace the pizzas. STEVE, on the phone, said that he did not have any credits waiting for anyone, but he knew my name, and said he remembered me from when I had been in before, that he was the person that had served me behind the counter. It amazes me that he had no credits waiting, but he knew who it was calling, without me having yet told him my name. Long story short, I ended up calling the main store on Stark street, yet again. The reason I called them, was because when I called in to get the order replaced, STEVE told me that I was an "F-ing Liar", and that I told his boss he had drank a whole glass of cider. I told his boss No Such Thing. I said he poured himself a glass, which he did, and then he continued to tell me that it was slow, so he might as well get drunk behind the counter. Whether he meant that to be humorous or not, it was an inappropriate thing to say. Also, having been in customer service most of my life, other than being a Pastor at my church now, I would have offered to replace the cider, if I had poured something else that the customer did not want, and then discovered that we actually still had it, I would not pour myself a glass of any size, and drink it in front of them while they drink a cider they were not that impressed with. I was NOT offered that courtesy. Long story short, STEVE'S tone of voice was horrible, I am in my 60s, and I am used to being treated with respect, especially being a Pastor, and I have a good reputation in the Portland Area. The lady I spoke with at the Stark store, apologized, and told me she'd have the owner call me. I will let You know if...

So some initial caveats; my family eats here all the time. We obviously like it enough that we keep going back. FP's take on pizza is definitely unique to PDX, e.g. "you want toppings? HOW'S THIS FOR TOPPINGS HUH!? CAN'T HANDLE IT, CAN YOU?!" as opposed to "look at how symmetrically we distributed the duck confit on this gluten-free pie that was delivered by bicycle!". And the decor is a) charming 70's throwback, and b) 100% authentic. You can't fake little league team photos like that.

But I'm putting on my persnickety reviewer hat here and knocking of 2 stars because I think that FP is under the illusion that their old school pizza joint schtick gives them the leeway to make dumb decisions. And maybe it does, but dammit, this is the Internet, and I shall be heard.

1 - You say that you don't have any slices at night because the Academy Theater takes them all to sell in their lobby. Bullshit. You don't sell slices at night because you want people to buy full-sized pies. You could makes slices for the Academy, and have your own, and people would buy them in both places. Sending me over to the business next door to buy the slices you made, when you know the Academy will just order more when they are out is just making me waste my time, and when I'm looking to shove food in a 4-year-old's mouth at 6:45 at night and can't wait 30 minutes for a full pie comes across as shitty.

2 - The crazy toppings are crazy, but sometimes in that "lets call clean and safe, this guy on the streetcorner might hurt someone" crazy. Case in point; your hawaiian has about a full christmas ham on it, and a kids lunchbox plastic cup portion of pineapple. You must strive for balance in the force.

3 - This in and of itself is probably the reason I'm knocking 2 stars off; you jacked the price of the Fast & Furious arcade game from $0.25 to $0.50? And then your staff mumbled something about how "we just rent it, the cost probably went up"? My son brought 6 quarters to play that game of his allowance. He was less than pleased to only get 3 games out of it. I'd have to agree with him. That game isn't worth half a dollar a play. I'm not the one who hung my hat on 70-80's nostalgia for my restaurant's theme. You made that call, and you stay true, don't cop out and jack up the cost on a stand-up arcade game that was sub-par for cabinet driving games in 2004 when it came out.

So, in closing, see you...

Honestly, I would give this place a 2.5, but either way I still feel it's avg. pizza and food in general. I am reviewing the Neapolis pizza and the Chickita Mesquita Sub I ate from our family dinner we picked up for take out from Flying Pie Pizzeria. I know it's small things, but I am realist and maybe I am wrong, but I saw the mushrooms on the pizza itself, it looked like canned mushrooms I would use in ramen and on the website it says fresh mushrooms. So $28.50 gets you a large pizza with canned mushrooms, olives and roasted red peppers. I understand the olives and red peppers, they are usually canned, the whole pizza was avg., what I thought would be good flavor combinations was a terribly put together pizza where I could mainly taste roasted red peppers and canned tomato sauce for pizza sauce and the Chickita Mesquita wasn't even that good either, I added some provolone cheese and some chopped chives and Italian seasoning to make feel more Italian and eatable and to soften up the bread a little bit as well. If this is what goes for Pizza in town and anything Italian suggestive, I am doomed for the rest of my life living here. The food was worth half the price total, that's the only way I would suggest anyone to bite into it. Maybe, I am too critical or you could debate me as a realist. I have eaten pizza from many places from Phoenix to Chicago and all the claims of Portland being an awesome place for food, disappointment ran deep with this place. You are better off going to Papa Murphys, because they are gourmet times 10 compared...