The Place Pizza — Restaurant in Saratoga Springs

We've been here twice, so I'll share for both visits. The first time we came in the Fall, the atmosphere was better. It felt cozy, was fairly busy, had a good vibe, staff were friendly and interactive. I used the hand sanitizer on the counter and it got all over my clothes. We enjoyed most of the food, but the croutons on the Caesar salad were literally so burned, I couldn't even eat around it. I had to request a refund, they didn't offer it directly when I told them about the problem. I really enjoyed my pizza, though, and so did my husband.

This visit, we came for my son's birthday. The atmosphere was not great. It seemed they made the take out pizza before ours and only one pizza oven was working. It didn't feel cozy. Staff wasn't personable like last time, didn't interact much. I had unfortunately forgotten about the crazy hand sanitizer and it squirted me directly in the eyes. Thankfully, I was wearing glasses (which were actually made unwearable by the alcohol messing up the lenses) or this could've gone very badly. Neither time did the staff acknowledge the craziness of the sanitizer, but I highly recommend they get rid of it and replace the bottle with one that works.

On to the food review. We all loved our pizza, but they forgot to make my husband's pizza until the rest of us had almost finished eating. I loved the vegetarian with pepperoni and mozzarella. The kids loved the gluten free pizza. I didn't really care for the cheesy bread sticks. They tasted like Alfredo sauce. Their ranch dressing was fantastic, and I loved dipping my pizza in it. It was a fine experience overall except for the blasted sanitizer. We spent about $70...

I enjoyed the pizza. KILLER PIZZA. I really enjoyed mine, my wife was disappointed in the mozzarella. It was a crumble or grated cheese. I loved mine but she was pretty bummed when hers came out. She was expecting sliced mozzarella.

Always fun to see a small business vs a chain pop up in your area. If you're planning on eating here, I would recommend taking it out.

The dining experience is the opposite of what you would imagine a pizzeria to be like. Ice cold - the room temperature and the vibes. When we walked in it was crickets and almost every table was full. Customers whispering. I've heard more conversations in the library. The establishment sets the tone. I think it's human nature to be a little quiet when going somewhere new, the least you can do is be warm and inviting to make people feel comfortable.

The staff talked quietly amongst themselves. No one greeted us or anyone else when we walked in and we were confused about where to order. It was Friday around 5, Friday afternoon felt more like a Sunday Morning. Liven it up a little bit guys, you have a great product. You're not just serving pizza, you're selling them too. Sharpen up those sales skills. People aren't just coming to eat pizza, they are getting out of their homes to go enjoy the evening.

It will also be nice when they upgrade their beverage area. The 8 oz styrofoam water cups sucked and there was no ice. They have a small water dispenser and a mini fridge with drinks. Excited to see what they do with the place inside.

We are going to try back in a few months and see if it was more of a...

I don't like to give critical reviews, but I love trying new places and I'm hoping I can offer some constructive feedback to a smaller establishment.

First the good... The service was good, the ingredients are a step up above their biggest competition which is probably Mid Pizza.

Now the bad. The slightly better quality of ingredients doesn't justify the price. A supreme pizza with 6 toppings is $14 or $15 after tax. I can go to mod pizza and get 10 toppings for under $12. Building my own pizza is unjustifiably expensive because it's a flat $1 a topping. Quality control is a little rough, my pizza was fairly black on the bottom and hard to ignore the burned taste, I saw other pizzas coming out with similar issues and I know it's hard with this style of oven, but $15 for a burned pizza is rough.

Suggestions: find a way to reduce prices. Maybe charge 25 cents for cheaper toppings like bell pepper, Onions, pineapple etc... And more for meats? Maybe offer free garlic butter or seasoned crust, and some a few other things to add value to what your offering.

I would also suggest focusing a bit more on quality control and train staff to proactively offer to remake badly burnt pizzas.

You have good reviews overall so I think people like you're resteraunt, but it was pretty slow, so my bunch was sales are going down.

My intuition is it's probably because your competition charges 3-4 $ less for unlimited...