Romano's Chicago Pizzeria — Restaurant in Riverside

My network of friends and co-workers have frequented Romano's as our favorite dinner/happy hour spot for many years. We had a special event planned for a retirement celebration on 12/1/22. We had previously made reservations for our large party (30+) as per the instructions from a server that we inquired with from a previous visit. When we arrived the day of the event, the Manager was very rude. It was a cold day and we were told that none of us can go inside. We explained that some may want to sit inside due to the weather but were told again that our party was not allowed. She embarrassed our group by kicking our group outside in a very condescending manner. We were treated like we had the plague and could not be inside because the area was for people that wanted to watch football. First of all, there are many in our party that also watch football and wanted to line dance that night. After hearing about our fiasco upon arrival, many of our party hesitated to go inside to watch the game and line dance in fear of being shooed away by the Manager again. Sadly, throughout the course of the night, when using the restroom, we could clearly see that a lot of the tables were empty, that could have easily accommodated our group inside. Since when does a bar kick paying customers out?????? Just didn't make sense that night and still doesn't two weeks later. Especially on a cold night!!! When we asked to speak to a manager, Rachel told us that she was the manager. With 30+ people in our party, we continued to contribute our hard working money with Romano's since we like to support local businesses. Apparently the manager for this location doesn't appreciate the business or doesn't want to work (not sure which it is). Either way with 30+ people, many drinks and food ordered, why would any business shun their customers away like this. I am sadly disappointed in the service by Rachel and feel that if she continues to make us and other customers feel unwelcomed, that she will single handedly drive this business to the ground. We easily dropped at least a couple thousand dollars to host our event at this establishment. We and other patrons of this bar/restaurant should be treated as a customer, not as scum of the earth. This experience has made our large networking group of co-workers and friends think about looking at other small businesses to support. I hope the owner Mr. Gary Romano is made aware of how his business is being poorly handled by their manager , Rachel. Despite us being unable to move our party to another location, in light of this bad experience, our server (Delaney, I believe), did treat us well and her service was great!

Another note, is at the end of the day, we were given a slip to sign for our charges, but never received a breakdown to verify that we were charged correctly. This also appears to be shady and wasn't taken well by those in our party nor with others that shared the same sentiment that we had just met that evening in the smoking area.

Hope this establishment takes this review into consideration for positive changes, so we and many others can feel good about visiting what we used to feel was our favorite happy...

One star for beer....Really, really AWFUL service. Went in at 8 tonight (friday) 09/21/18 Our server did not even say hi for 15 mins. So we ordered our beers through the bar. Then our serve took our order, did not write anything down and said our stuffed pizza would take 30 minutes. Ordered an appetizer that took 20 mins to come. Food runner said he would get us plates and silverware and never returned. Had to ask bartender for silverware, apparently plates were "coming". We never got those plates.We had to order our 2nd beers again through the bar, because our server had yet to be back to our table since. 55 minutes later we our first visit back to table by server apologizing for kitchen issues. 1 hour later he served us a Chicago pizza(not our order) that was doughy and undercooked. Server obviously forgot about our table, tried to fire a pizza quickly once he realized too late. Told the manager (who poured my beers when I had to go to bar). Said she would be right back. We waited another 10 minutes and left. Were eating del taco because it's now 940 and nothings open. Wont ever be back!!!!!! Check your cameras managers, your Friday night Male server in orange shirt that neglected his name is bad...

Since we are from Chicago, it's always good to get a thin and crispy crust Chicago-style pizza once in a while... In fact, we search for it every time we order pizza. Once we find one, we stick with it. We decided to check out a new place this time. While no pizza outside of Chicago (even a Chicago pizza national chain) doesn't taste like the ones we get at home. This has to do with the ingredients used (brands vary from region to region). My USDA meat inspector father-in-law told me this once,

We chose Romanos Chicago Pizzeria in Riverside, CA, this time. The pizza was good. We were about 30 miles from home.

The problem with taking it home this time was that by the time we got home, the crust had stuck to the bottom of the box and was hard to remove without ruining the crust, which was a tad bit soggy due to it cooling down (this made it hard to get off the bottom of the box.) A little cornmeal on the bottom of the crust while baking would help crisp up the bottom and keep it from sticking. Using a box liner would help with this.

Overall, the pizza was great. The sausage had just the right amount of spiciness to it, the sauce was really good, and the pepperoni was good as well. We will...