The Original Padington's Pizza North Salem — Restaurant in Salem

On Saturday, June 21st, 2020, I ordered two pizzas over the phone at 3:43 p.m. Employee stated pizzas would be ready at 4:30 p.m.

I walked into Padington’s (Pine Street location) at 4:30 p.m. and saw my pizza order sitting in the warmer. I waited in line for 20 minutes to be helped. The front-counter person was intermittently helping the front counter, talking to employees, cutting pizzas, checking orders, etc. She was not paying attention to the lobby and moving the customer traffic through. There were six to eight customers waiting in the front lobby area for their pizzas. There were two of us waiting in line to order/pay. During the 20 minute wait, five additional customers got in line behind me. They were not maintaining social distancing. During this time, there was a mentally ill customer that entered/exited twice, checking on his pizza. He was wearing an oxygen mask with a saran wrap cover.

There was no Padington’s staff managing the lobby traffic. Completed orders were not being called out to see if customers had arrived. When it was my turn to pay, the counter person got my name wrong. (We were both wearing masks.) She couldn’t find my order. A second counter person asked my name. I pulled down my mask, stated my name and order, and she found my order in the warmer. The first counter person said, “You said Conley!” Her attitude was unacceptable!

I will not be purchasing Padington’s pizza for a very long time, if ever! You need to figure out/improve your lobby procedures. You need an employee at the front door directing and monitoring customer traffic. You need a dedicated front-counter person who will take orders/payments and instruct customers to find a table and sit down. Once customers receive their order, they should exit via the east door and not through the front doors where customers are waiting to be helped. Customers should not be congregating in front of the front counter where you place your order and pay. I called in my order. I don’t want to stand in your lobby with a bunch of strangers for 20 minutes. If you can’t manage your front counter and the flow of customer traffic, then move to curbside pick up only, so that you don’t increase the spread...

Who wants to be served a delicious meal with a side of rude? If that's you, then Padington's Pizza on Pine St is the place to go! Service, and I use that term extremely loosely in this case, is horrific! We had (Note: HAD) been loyal, regular customers for nearly 12 years. Until today. We ordered a pizza, and arrived at the parlor in 15 minutes (although we were told over the phone 20 minutes). The pizza had no toppings the last 2" around the outer portion of the pie. But the most disturbing sight of all was the dried, hardened red 'sauce' around those 2". It looked like it was cooked last night instead of freshly made. When we asked if another pizza could be made, (we were willing to more than patiently wait the extra time) the 'manager' (again, using another term extremely loosely) said he wouldn't make another one because this one looked fine to him (because after all, he IS the customer now, isn't he?!?). Absolutely appalling excuse for any type of service, let alone customer service. Evidently, Padington's has so many customers lined up for their 'so-called best pizza in town' they don't mind losing numerous potential and current customers in the process. I don't know what the man's name is that is there when the owner is not, but he has salt & pepper curly hair, round-framed glasses, is about 60 years old, and has the 'tude of a surly, spoiled rotten brat teenager. The best thing the owner's could do for this location is to either fire him, or send him through some extensive, intensive, customer service training seminars. There is absolutely no quality control over what any given pizza should weigh, or look like, let alone any certain amount of sauce that a pizza crust receives. Quality is sketchy, at best. Which young pizza maker is making your particular pizza at that moment at Padington's is the chief determiner of what level of quality you will receive. Hello! Food is not the only thing that makes for a...

We went to North Salem Paddington's Pizza, to use a gift certificate for a small pizza, which was given to us when they made our large pizza incorrectly in the past. So we drive all the way back to the North Salem Padington's location, and then we were told, after waiting in line to order, that they no longer redeem gift certoficates there, and we would have to drive all the way to the South Salem Paddington's to use the gift certificate, because they don't redeem those gift certificates at the location were they were issued anymore. So the place makes your pizza wrong and as a gesture of good will, gives you a gift certificate for a small pizza because you said, "it's okay, you don't need to remake our large pizza, mistakes happen" and then the manager does a nice gesture of coming to your table and giving you a gift certificate for a small pizza, even though you've said you don't need anything ---- why on Earth when you come back, and try to utilize that gesture of good will, would they then send you from North Salem, clear across town to the other restaurant in South Salem, to use something that was supposed to be an apology and a thank you? We didn't even know there was a Paddington's in South Salem. If we hadn't had the time to go running all over town this would have been very inconvenient. However we did have time on that day, and on an up note the South Salem Padington's Pizza, who allowed us to redeem the gift certificate issued by the North Salem Padington's Pizza, was very nice, very helpful, and the pizza was delicious. If not, I would have given the North Salem Paddington's one star for poor customer...