Papi's Pizza — Restaurant in Raleigh

Overall Score: 6.2/10 – A clean and fresh pizza place offering high-quality food with good flavors, though some menu and pricing concerns detract from the experience.

Atmosphere and Service: 6.4/10 – The restaurant has a typical eat-in pizza place vibe, with a clean and fresh interior that reflects its newness. The food was ready on time, enhancing the overall experience. However, the website could use improvements, especially with the lack of specialty pizzas listed on the online menu.

Cheese Pizza: 7.4/10 – A very tasty pizza with perfectly cooked dough and added oil and seasoning that elevate the flavor. The crust was fairly crispy with minimal flop, making it satisfying to eat. However, the lack of a medium size option felt limiting, as only personal or 18-inch sizes were available. The price was slightly high.

Alfredo Pasta: 6.7/10 – A fresh and flavorful dish with perfectly cooked penne. While the taste was excellent, the portion size felt small for the price. Offering optional add-ons like chicken or broccoli would have been a great way to improve both value and customization.

Bruschetta: 3.5/10 – The ingredients were fresh and the flavors were good, but the bread was soft rather than the crisp, crunchy texture expected from a proper bruschetta. This inconsistency significantly detracted from the overall appeal...

Their pepperoni pizza was really good. The salad was cold and fresh and served on a real plate. The furnishings and designs and artwork were all new and all just fine. The people were really nice and well trained.

They had a "Cold Beer" light on the wall but, alas, they're not yet selling beer or wine. You order and pay at the counter and tend to self-service drinks and such. Then they'll bring you your order.

The atmosphere was casual. For some, the lights might be too bright, and the music might be too loud. The noise from the kitchen and between employees shouting at one another was definitely too loud. The chairs are smallish, too small for me but I'm a 2XL for sure.

I didn't like being asked for a tip on their point-of-sale system before they made my pizza and before I knew if the service would be good. I could avoid that by paying cash, I guess. It was odd that apart from the cold salad plate, everything else was Styrofoam and plasticware. It was a little pricey.

But, like I said, the pizza was really good, and the people were really nice. I hope they make a success of it; it's a LOT nicer than Salvio's was so, yes, definitely worth adding to your...

Their web site refused to take my credit card. (The "Toast" payment system does this to me consistently, despite no other payment system causing me any problem at all.) So I called to place my order. The person who answered the phone was apparently unfamiliar with the menu, had me repeat every item I ordered, had to have an extended discussion with someone else at the store about every one of them to figure out how to enter it into their ordering system. When I tried to order the "cheesy garlic knots", which are clearly on the menu, I was asked if I meant "cheese bread". I had to explain that there was a separate menu item. The phone call felt like it took about ten minutes. After I picked it up and I got it home, I discovered that I got non-cheesy garlic knots. The pizza I got was bland, and had the box pushed down into the cheese. (Pro tip: pizza savers have been commonplace for literal decades.) The food was … fine, I guess, but it's simply not worth the effort (or price, really), and, honestly, if they have this much trouble taking orders, I am not sure I trust them...