Onyx Pizzeria - Wood Fire Pizza, Sandwiches and Salads — Restaurant in Saint George

The view is incredible, but the service was painfully slow on a Wednesday night. It was also disappointing that they didn't have any beer. The staff was anything but personable or friendly. They gave off a kind of flustered, nervous stoner vibe. Parking in the back is extremely limited, maybe 5 or 6 spots.

When the two women in front of me picked up the menu, they asked the kid at the counter what vegetarian options they had. He said everything on their menu had vegetables 🤦 Then he told them that basically anything on the menu that doesn't list meat in the ingredients would be vegetarian. Not exactly helpful. He didn't know the menu at all when i ordered.

We showed up at 7:30p and ordered 3 things at the counter for $90. 4 items on the menu were already 86ed.

We sat for literally one hour. I went in and observed the open kitchen for a few minutes. Nobody noticed and asked if i needed anything. As a matter of fact, the staff was generally avoiding eye contact with customers unless absolutely necessary.

The kid putting the pies together looked like he was high as a kite. I saw him repeatedly spend way too long scanning the prep station for each ingredient. He seemed totally lost. If i wasn't so hungry, it might have actually been funny. I should have taken a video.

When i asked if a one hour wait is customary, the guy working the oven didn't apologize but instead glared at me, and only made snarky excuses.

"When you're right next to a national park and you're slammed, yeah, it can take a while." I looked over my shoulder to only see maybe one 4-top and 2 couples. There was one couple outside in addition to our party of 5. I looked back at him in disbelief. Not what i would call "slammed." They didn't have a lot of folks when we arrived either. It's a pretty small place.

Back in college, i worked in a pizzeria next to a baseball stadium. When games would let out, we would get "slammed" by foot traffic. We would crank out flatbread in under a minute. The time it would take to stretch a ball of dough, assemble a pizza, and cook it in the 1000-1200°F wood-burning brick oven would be about 4 minutes, tops, from start to finish, maybe another minute or two before it hit the customer's table. We could cook up to 3 pizzas in the oven at once. We could crank out about 50 high quality artisan pizzas an hour. You could feel the heat on the customer's side of the counter. It was an inferno. I got no such vibe at this place.

I don't think the staff here understands how to use the oven properly. The pizzas came out burned and the toppings were almost cold. Good pizza should hit your table piping hot, straight out of the oven. Ours almost felt like leftovers.

My guess is that they're cooking at way too low of a temperature for a wood-burning oven, maybe around 500-600°F. There's a sweet spot based on the type of wood you're burning, the oven itself, moisture content of your dough, the toppings, and so on. These guys definitely do not have it dialed.

The dough was thin and uninspired with few blisters or evidence of any significant amount of fermentation or proper gluten development. I've had a lot of brick oven pizza from all over the world and this was a pretty sad representation.

Their one saving grace was their house dipping sauce, which was a kind of vinegary bbq sauce with a little heat.

To top it off, they apologized to the other couple seated outside and gave them a free margherita pizza for their wait. I swear it was to spitefully snub us because we complained about the wait 🤣

They didn't strike me as the kind of folks that can take any criticism, let alone could have a conversation with someone or (gasp) apologize 😱 so i wouldn't put it beyond them. Pure class 😉👌 So basically sit down and shut up and wait over an hour for mediocre pizza?

No thanks. Go elsewhere.

I would definitely label this place a tourist trap, there are plenty of other dining options in town. If you like good pizza, wait until you get to another town 🤷 this ain't it.

Oh, and...

We decided to check this place out for our date night tonight, and we had a great time. The location is a little small, and it gives off a mom & pop pizza place vibe. The staff was really accommodating and nice. They made sure to check up on us at one point, and they fulfilled anything we needed during the meal.

They have a pretty unique menu, and I decided to go with the Carolina pizza. At one point, I was debating adding another topping to a pizza, and I decided against it to avoid the upcharge. The owner decided to give it to me on half the pizza so I could try it the original way, and the way I was initially wanting to try it. So that was a cool little way that they took care of us on this visit, and I always appreciate the little things like that.

They make everything fresh in-house, so you know you're getting quality pizza every time. The sauces are also made fresh in-house, and the South Carolina BBQ sauce was so good, we decided to get a pint of it to take home with us. It worked perfect for dipping. The ranch and sweet chili sauces were also delicious and unique.

Lastly, they make their own sodas in house. My wife got a homemade root beer, and it was pretty incredible. Had a very creamy taste to it, almost like a cream soda. I got the Lime Ricky, which was the only disappointing thing about this experience for us. It just didn't have enough grape flavor, so it was mostly just a limeade. Regardless though, we loved this place, and we'd happily come back to support places like this that do everything right in making their food. You can tell that they're offering the best quality on every visit, which is always worth the little extra money in our opinion. Highly recommend trying...

Visiting family and we needed a place that has Gluten-free and vegetarian options... Google offered this place.

First, with that lead-in... this restaurant has NO gluten-free options for pizza dough. Funny story lol the employee literally laughed when we inquired about that, "haha! this is a PIZZA joint...!"

DO note - they are a wood fire oven... and im guessing they don't wanna get wrapped up in celiac cross-contamination vs contaminated gluten-free dough as all the pizzas get cooked on the same surface (in the oven)

They DO however offer salads which are indeed gluten-free. Sister ordered the strawberry salad.

We ordered medium Veggie pizza (6 slice) and also a strawberry salad and a Lime Rickey (split with hubby). Brother ordered the small Butcher pizza and we had a great lunch!

Atmosphere is clean and pleasant. There are tables outside for warmer days (though it's a lousy road to sit near for visiting/relaxing... I would certainly never choose the outside tables for dine-in, but they seem great for carryout waiting).

All employees seemed friendly/helpful... though it is a very different order/service experience.

Very chill, very laid back... Hard to articulate exactly what made it so different. It seemed like there was no "system" like everyone was randomely doing things and oddly calm. Our food was great! Timing was typical! They definitely have a system that works! I think like it better than the standard experience. 👍

I can...