Nomad East — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

UPDATED (original review below)

Sad to have to update my review as we’ve been loyal customers for a few years now, but after many recent terrible visits, Nomad East has lost my business. As a Local Guide here on Google, I feel a responsibility to share the issues.

The pizza is still great, but the service has truly taken a nosedive, which unfortunately ruins the experience.

As many reviewers have said, the staff truly seem like they don’t want to be there, let alone create a welcoming and positive environment for guests. They consistently act rude, short, and annoyed (even over the phone). It’s happened a lot over the past several months and each time, we’ve tried to give them the benefit of the doubt (the service industry is hard!), but it’s just happened too many times. There’s either a training issue, or management just flat-out doesn’t care about their guest experience.

The nail in the coffin for us was tonight when our bill for takeout came out higher than usual. After looking at the receipt, I noticed that the price for one of the pizzas was higher than what I’d seen on the website. I raised this with the server (hostess?), Brittany, who’d rung me up. She half-ignored me and said “she’d have management look into it”. I took a little time to pull the menu up on my phone and sure enough, the website said $18 and my receipt said $20 (I have photos of both). I showed her, and without apologizing or even making eye contact she angrily tapped her computer screen and said “I’ll refund your card”. I stood there another second expecting to get a receipt and when she repeated herself trying to shew me away, I kindly said “am I a nuisance to you for not wanting to be over-charged?”. To my shock she said “YES, OVER ONLY TWO DOLLARS!”. I was stunned. No apology. No ownership taken for the mistake. Just belittling me for pointing out an error and wanting back what seemed in her eyes to be a small amount of money. I’m concerned that others have also been overcharged for this mistake.

Brittany has been named in other reviews, so it’s clear I’m not the only one who’s had a negative experience with her. My wife also recalls poor interactions with Britany and a couple other staff.

We live in the neighborhood and have spent thousands of dollars here over the past couple of years. We’ve brought friends and family here. But they’ve lost our business and I hope others will consider taking their business elsewhere too. There’s plenty of other kind and considerate restaurants in town.

———————————- (Original review)

Our favorite neighborhood pizza joint! The food here is so good that my wife and I have made a weekly ritual of getting takeout from Nomad East every Monday night. The staff are always so friendly and make you feel welcome every time you dine here. And the pizza flavors are incredible! I think I've tried every single pizza by now. Though I have some favorites (Children of the Corn!), you really can't go wrong with...

TLDR = Don’t go and thank me later.

I’ve given this place two chances and won’t be back. The salads are fantastic (and if that’s all you’re interested in then this place could work ok). The food all looks good but pictures lie. I’ve honestly never had worse pizza in my life. Mediocre pizza is not that hard. Good pizza takes a little bit of work. Bad pizza takes a lot of work. I’ve now had the “Pretty in Pink”, the “Talk to the Palm”, and their version of pepperoni with jalapeños and honey (I’ll give ‘em credit for fun names for their pies). Hands down all of them lacked flavor and were not good. The crust tastes like a frozen pizza crust… you just want it to go away. The sauce is tasteless and the toppings are terrible. Maybe I’m not enough of a hipster to appreciate what they’re going for here. Then again, do hipsters have tastebuds? I’m pretty sure I could make papier-mâché taste better than any pie at Nomad East. Tonight I ordered their version of garlic bread as an appetizer. Super easy to nail this one I thought. Turns out these guys managed to screw that up too! I asked for some ranch to go with our bread…”oh we have great ranch the server says.” Nope… watered down cream nastiness with some chives in it. Please hipsters - get yourself some real wood fired pizza. Some real garlic bread and knots. And for all that is holy - some real ranch! Try some pizza elsewhere and this place won’t be hard to beat. Many of the reviews read like someone stuck in a cult…. “I’ve always wanted a husband with multiple wives.” I’m not sure I believe you… Break away from the cult and go towards the light! There are so many genuinely good pizza places in the valley… spare yourself the disappointment and go someplace else! If what you’re looking for is overpriced hipster food, where the best decor in the place is found in the bathroom, then this place might be for you. If what you want is actually good food, you’ve been warned ;). I’m guessing the owner might see this and reply with some apology about not getting it right the two nights we were there. My question to the owner - have you tried your own pizza? Have you had wood fired pizza elsewhere? Do you honestly think that your stuff comes anywhere close to what great pizza should taste like? I’ll challenge you to a blind cook off anytime and I guarantee that any guest will pick my pizza over whatever nastiness you’re trying to pass off as pizza. Can you tell I really, really don’t care for...

I was excited to try Nomad East because of the good reviews. I chose this location for a small reunion of college friends who haven't seen each other for 15 years. Our server, Benjamin, was excellent. He was knowledgeable about the food and wine, made great suggestions, and was overall charming and friendly. When our meal was complete, he brought us the dessert menu. My friends and I planned on ordering dessert and more wine. At that point, we were approached by someone named Lucy who rudely interrupted our conversation (did not even say excuse me or wait for a pause in conversation) who informed us that we had 10 more minutes before we would need to leave. We were very taken aback. We had just been brought dessert menus and were planning on ordering more food/spending more money. She went on to inform us that there is a policy that people can stay for only an hour and a half, so we had 10 more minutes before we would need to leave because they needed our table. We were not informed of this policy when we were seated or we would have either planned accordingly or chosen another restaurant. Additionally, we had just been brought menus by our server. My friend left the table to discuss this with Lucy, whose rudeness escalated. We asked if we would not be allowed to order dessert? Lucy told my friend to take her seat back at the table. Having no other option and not being allowed to order dessert, we were forced to leave. I have attached a picture of the tables surrounding our area. They were all unoccupied and hadn't been bussed yet. In the waiting area, there was ONE party of three guests waiting to be seated. My table seated 6. We are not sure why Lucy was so adamant that we leave when there were many smaller, unoccupied tables surrounding us. Never in my life have I been asked to leave a restaurant - especially when I had done nothing wrong, AND I was planning on spending another $50 or so with a small business. Lucy, we will not be returning. Benjamin, I suggest you find a better place to work. You...