Rudy's Gourmet Pizza — Restaurant in Portland

I'm sorry to be writing this. Rudy's used to be my favorite pizza place but they have gone downhill. Last time I enjoyed the pizza here was 2019.

I ordered a vegan pizza with mushrooms and artichoke hearts. The pizza that was brought out to me was so soggy that when I grabbed a piece, everything on top of it sloughed off, sauce and cheese all. The whole thing was so oily that the bottom of the box became wrinkled. The Follow Your Heart cheese that they use is already heavily oil-based, and it seemed like the whole entire thing had been slathered heavily in oil all over. The sauce was bright red and very wet as if the sauce hadn't been cooked (my other pizzas have had sauce in deeper red with a bit of crisp after baking), and there wasn't enough of it so I asked for a side of sauce. The crust was rather large (large crusts have unfortunately been a feature of Rudy's for years).

I usually eat very healthy, so when I eat unhealthy it had better taste really good to be worth it. Rudy's pizza didn't come close. Even though I was eating the pizza immediately out of the kitchen, it was quickly devolving into a ball of soggy bread-sauce mush in my hand. I could not even tear pieces off it because it was so soggy.

My heart was breaking because I had spent extra money to try to support a local place, when I could have easily gotten a vegan pizza cheaper at a chain, or gotten an oven bake pizza at a grocery store. I was hoping the higher price would reflect in higher quality, but the pizza was so bad that after eating half of it, I disposed of the other half.

I added a star because I let the manager know directly of my experience and she was kind enough to give me a gift card for half of what I spent. I gave the gift card away to a friend because I can't stomach going back here for food (except maybe for cookies, which look like they're made out-of-house).

Other details:

Not too loud for a pizza place, thankfully. They have some screens with movies and stuff but it's not overwhelming like other pizza places I have been.

At one point there was a potent bleach smell, I'm guessing because the table next to me had been sanitized. It seemed to subside after about 15 minutes.

No menus, QR codes only. I had spent a long time looking for a menu before realizing, and felt a bit cheated. My phone was dying so I couldn't access it.

The one thing I really like is that they have a display of the different pizza sizes so you know what you are ordering. No prices listed though. Gotta scan a QR code for that.

I felt as though I had to flag down staff many times to make requests, as they were usually all back in the kitchen (ring a bell for service) and they didn't notice when my water was empty. I do not go out to eat much so I don't know if this is standard for pizza places. If the staff is very busy, it would be nice if there were more of a focus on self-service (seating yourself, filling your own water, etc).

Side note, the reason my pictures contain a pizza box is because I asked for to-go and then decided to dine in. Their presentation is different for...

I want to make it clear from the beginning, I am not a vegan, but holy hell.

Tldr: The vegan cheeseburger pizza is amazing! 11/10 Will definitely eat here again. You should too.

I recently moved here and moved in with friends who are vegan, no problem. Great food and amazing people. I have been eating a lot of vegan dishes over the past 2 weeks and can honestly say it's all pretty damn good. One night I was told about this mystic pizza that they had stumbled upon during burger week. "Just imagine a pizza, you with me? Not only is this a vegan pizza, it's a cheeseburger pizza." They said Rudy's Gourmet Pizza was life changing. Here I'm thinking I'll try it, but even the non vegan cheeseburger wasn't anything special. So fastforward to September 6th, the day my life changed. We are going out for my friend's birthday. I remember the day, well, like it was yesterday. We had just left a pub and we're on route for some pizza. The sun was shining, nice gentle breeze, sounds of downtown, and a yelling toddler who wanted to catch cartoon fish on a phone app. They had mentioned they were getting some vegan cheese pizza because of national cheese pizza day. We arrived at the pizza place. I wasn't paying attention of where we went. The waitress asked what kind of menus we wanted; they have a vegan and a non-vegan menu. My friend asked for a regular menu for me just in case. We were looking at what to order, and I really wanted to get a meaty calzone. My friend looked at me with a grin. "this is the place that makes that cheeseburger pizza. " I put down my menu and I knew what I wanted to eat. It wasn't on the menu because the menus were not updated with that majestic beast of a pizza, but they were definitely able to make it, and made it they did. This pizza was everything they said it was. The wonderful creamy sauce, the slices of veggies that burst with flavor, the crust. Everything was perfect. I remember thinking to myself, I'll be damned.... This tastes better than anything vegan that I have had in my life. We pretty much ate it all, it was that good. This pizza is great and can be enjoyed by all diets.

Remember the toddler? This pizza is so good that it puts toddlers in better moods! No joke, come get a pizza if your kid is hangry. You will not regret it!

The waitress let us know about a taco pizza special coming in early October, and I just can't freaking wait to try...

i've been a customer of rudy's since 2011 when i first stepped into their old location and immediately fell in love with the awesome vegan options. sadly, over the years and new location they have slowly gone down hill.

i don't live in portland anymore so when i'm in town i have to eat here, but that has now changed. my husband and i walked in and sat at the bar and waited and waited, all while people from the back would come out and "help" whomever was closest to them, not noticing us.

i noticed that they had a bell to ring but it said "for pick-up orders ring bell" so i didn't ring it, we wanted to dine in. i tried to look around for their menu and couldn't find it where it usually was on the counter near the cash register.

we waited about 20 mins and watched as 7 people got "helped" after we had already sat down (at the bar).

i couldn't take it anymore and we should have just left, but we came all this way (we live 45 mins away) and decided to stand near where the employees were coming out and i grabbed the attention of one of the employees.

now i will cut the long and terrible conversation that ensued. but the highlights were: "can i see a menu?" and i was told they don't have a paper/ real life menu anymore, you have to scan a barcode with a smart phone. i told the person i don't have a cell phone (i only have a landline). i wanted to browse the menu and order a ton of stuff, but since we couldn't we left (sorry i don't have your menu "memorized").

don't they understand that not everyone has the desire/need/want/money/etc. to have a cell phone? i personally know 6 people would do not have cell phones, so i don't get it? what restaurant doesn't have a menu? my family back home owns a restaurant and this is insane to me, not to have at least some cheap paper menus that people can grab and take home with them.

this place is also chronically understaffed, i only noticed 3 people working on a saturday night, with all there cash flow they can afford to hire a hostess and server for the front of house. such a same, as we usually spend upwards of about $85 here and will never come back again. these people hate money and their jobs, so sad to watch another awesome place go down the toilet and they have lost 2 loyal...