Oliver's Pizzeria — Restaurant in San Rafael

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not an artisanal pizza connoisseur. I was raised on Shakey's Pizza and normally get my pizza from a nearby Dominos. So, having said that and keeping in mind the high marks everyone gives Oliver's, my sausage pizza experience was completely unexpected. When it arrived, it looked good. When I went to separate a piece, the thin crust seemed gummy and limp and I literally couldn't pick it up and eat it out of hand. Maybe you're not supposed to, like not good pizza eating etiquette, but the only way I could have picked it up and eaten a piece would have been to roll it up from tip to crust and eat it that way. Instead, I used a fork and knife, which is fine with me, no complaints there. The flavor was good but even with the first piece I knew it was too spicy hot for me. Again, I don't know how it's supposed to be but for comparison purposes, if I go to a Vietnamese or Indian place and they ask me how hot I want the food, I'm a 4 or 5 guy. This was more like an 8. Only got about halfway through it and then just ate the crust and picked off the sausage pieces. In the first photo, you can see how the tip just rolls over and in the second you can see how limp the piece is (I'm partially supporting it with my 2nd finger).

Again, not the serious pizza eater but this isn't my kinda thing. I'm going back to low brow,...

We’ve been waiting to go this place for a while. Since they don’t accept reservations so we had to go early to avoid the crowds. We got there a bit after 5 pm and we were about the second or third customers but after sitting down, people kept coming and the whole place was full in no time. Their menu only contained 5-6 pizzas with one salad. We ordered 2 caesar salad for 4 people but I liked it so much I had to order one more just for myself! We ordered 3 pizzas, TOMATO PIE (Tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, parmigiano reggiano, olive oil), MARGHERITA (Tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil) and SAUSAGE (Tomato sauce, pork sausage, calabrian chilies, parsley, herb cream, parmigiano reggiano). We liked all of them a lot, the crust was thin and all the ingredients tasted very fresh. I also had a cocktail, BOLOGNA MIND (Gin, lemon, grapefruit, bitter aperitivo, soda, cucumber) and it was refreshing. The place felt very cozy and even there was only one waitress when we were there, but she did a great job. We definitely go back...

This was by far one of the most insulting visits to a restaurant I have had in a while. I went to dine here with a party of 6 and was not seated until 2 hours after we arrived. Our party attempted to check-in on our wait for our table with the hostess but was greeted with attitude and dismissive behavior. Once we were finally seated- an ordeal we had to individually facilities as she, the hostess and waiter of the establishment ,did not come to collect us once our table was ready. Once seated, she refused to serve my party and made the bartender serve us. The only reason this was a 2 star rating was because of the excellent serve by the bartender, Tony. Tony, thank you again for providing us excellent service when others were unwilling. The pizza was also pretty good, then again we were starving by the time it arrived. I sadly will not...