Lake Tahoe Pizza Company — Restaurant in South Lake Tahoe

Well, being a long time local here, I am sad to say that the quality of food places around here have gone down hill. But none of them quite fit the distinguishing star of terrible than Lake Tahoe Pizza Co., who take it to a whole new level. I've heard some pretty bad stories from other locals who made the poor choice of eating there, but I didn't think it could be that bad. Nope, it most definitely was. With the pandemic, they are offering window service and to-go only. Knowing this, I phoned in a simple order to them, just 2 large salads. Mind you, Lake Tahoe Pizza Co had the reputation for having the best salads around the lake. As I was talking to the guy on the phone, it struck me that this guy must have taken a hit of crack, or done a couple of speedballs before starting his shift. The guy was talking a million miles an hour, could barely make a coherent thought, let alone a full sentence, and made small tangents here and there about stuff that did not even make sense. After finally getting an order in, and somehow getting him to read it back to me, we headed over to pick the salads up. As I approached the guy standing on the porch, who I pretty much already pegged as the guy who was on the phone, I told him what I was there for, as to no surprise he had taken the wrong name down. But he knew what I had ordered, and then proceeded to tell me that the stuff that I had ordered on the salads, they don't normally put on there. Anyone who has eaten there knows that artichoke hearts, the pasta salad, and virtually anything else is on the salad bar. But apparently artichoke hearts, and the pasta salad, are no longer being put on the salads. I'm not exactly sure how this makes sense, unless it's a cost issue, but even then, you could put it on yourself when you were allowed to go in to get it. So on top of this guy once again going 90,000 miles an hour, talking so fast I barely could understand him, and him nervously twitching like somebody was watching him every second, I tried to make sense of the crazy statement he had just made about not offering certain items normally on the salad. So I go over and quickly pay because I just want to leave and get away from the place, I take the salad and we go home. Upon opening the to-go containers, to my astonishment, the salads were completely different. A salad that apparently comes with everything, comes with a ludicrous amount of olives, and everything except pasta salad and artichoke hearts. Yet somehow he made the other salad with artichoke hearts, and put the pasta salad in a side container. Now it doesn't make sense to me that whoever made the salads would put that kind of special attention on one salad, but not give it to the other salad where everything was requested to begin with. That was only half of the surprise that they had in store for us, the one salad that had the special attention paid to it, was comprised of disgusting wilted lettuce, immediately it went into the trash. The other salad that had the ludicrous amount of olives, after looking through to make sure the lettuce was also not wilted, had a nice long tasty hair inside of it. Needless to say, the rumors are true, the service is poor, and the food matches just that. It's a shame, when the original owner had it, the food was immaculate, the service was fantastic, and ever since it passed to the son, it has gone straight into the gutter. The quality has gone down, the food is nothing compared to what it used to be, and the staff has just steadily gotten worse the few and far between times we have gone. Just one more place around Tahoe that we won't be going to any more. as if all of that wasn't bad enough, it was almost $30 for two large salads. That's an outrageous price, might as well have set the money on fire instead. Take your...

The gist of it: Worst pizza pickup experience of my life. Never got our pizza after waiting forever. Rude treatment from the woke cashier. I don’t recommend, there are so many pizza places in Tahoe. Save yourself the headache and choose another.

Full story: So we ordered ahead. 40 minutes we were told over the phone. Excessive but fine. We got there after 45 mins and were told there were still 10 more mins to go. The cashier asked if we wanted to pay now or when the pizza was ready. We told them, sure we can pay when the pizza is ready, thanks. As we’re turning away they go well actually you have to pay now…and we are like. Ummm…you just gave us the option though, you just asked us. And we said we prefer to pay for the pizza when we see that it’s ready and correct, just like you offered us to. They muttered some snide remarks. So we just shrugged confused and walked away. Waited the 10 mins and came back. Was told still another 10 minutes because we never paid. If we would just pay he/she/they whatever can tell the kitchen staff that we have arrived, and it would speed it up our pizza. I was in shock. You haven’t told them we are here yet? And, had I known that my pizzas readiness relied on my payment, I would have paid. I assumed because we were given an option, and because that’s typically how it works. They make the pizza first then you pay, that would have no bearing on them finishing it or not. It was supposed to be ready 15-20 mins ago at this point. They kept going on that we just need to pay. And they will give our pizza away to someone else if we don’t and then we will have to wait longer. I said wait what?! lol! Why? You complicated it by offering us an option to not pay. Pretend we havent arrived yet. You would make the pizza in the quoted timeframe? Correct. Then we we get here, the pizza is ready, we pay, you hand it us. So, why would you give it away to someone else without allowing us to pay for it when it’s ready, simple because we chose to pay when it’s ready like you offered. Like I was so confused by what this person was trying to convey. So I said fine we will pay now but when does that mean our pizza will be ready? An hour from now? 10 mins from now like you said 15 mins ago? I don’t know what the misunderstanding was but they were extremely rude, battling me. Rolling their eyes. I had no words. Just. Yikes. Then a customer behind me I guess heard even though there was no yelling on my part, just trying to simply get the pizzas I ordered. She gets involved and said JUST PAY ALREADY OMGGGG DO YOU WANT YOUR PIZZA OR NOT ITS THAT FREAKING SIMPLE!!!!!! The worked just stood there. I was just in disbelief at the circumstances of this visit! Unprofessional all around. I just want to pickup my dang pizza, what is going on?! lol! After that, I just left. Never got clear answer on why my pizza wasn’t ready after an hour, why I was told to pay when it’s ready then made to be a problem when I agreed to those terms they offered. Wasted so much valuable vacation time and then went back to camp starving. Won’t ever come back here again nor will I ever suggest this to any of my friends who visit Tahoe frequently. Thanks for reading and good luck...

I have been coming to LTPC for over twenty years. And, aside from price increases and some small tweaks to the menu, this place is as it has been since it opened in the 70s. For some, that might be a bad thing. For me (and the group of us who come here annually), that makes it like a can’t miss experience every time we are in SLT. If you want faux-rustic or upscale 'foodie' fare, drive further into town. You will find it and pay for it (I mean that in a couple of ways).

The place feels lived-in, in a good way. This isn’t a cookie-cutter chain, with décor that feels like it was tacked onto the wall when the mood arose (and not through some deliberate sort of planning). The front dining room is cramped. The bar is often packed. The back room is really the least interesting place to eat, as it feels like a room for groups and is decorated like it was an afterthought. On a hot day, the back patio is an excellent choice (esp. if the inside is busy). On a cold day? Grabbing a spot in the bar near the fireplace is an excellent choice. Servers have always been uniformly friendly, even when the place is busy.

The pizza? A solidly constructed version of the usual, with red sauce that has a slice spice to it and crust that is cracker-like. Depending on who does the folding, the meat or veggie options on a slice are often folded underneath the crust, which is a pleasant surprise. The salad bar? It feels like you are stepping into a time warp every time you walk up to it. The Italian pasta salad is hilariously old school and needs a good dose of s/p to ‘activate’ it. The various veggie selections are fresh and constantly refilled. It isn’t fancy. But who wants fancy when you are at a pizza place like this? There is a nice range of both non- and alcoholic drinking options. Can’t speak to non-pizza and salad options. But I have to assume they are good.

LTPC isn’t trying to reinvent the pizza peel. Thank goodness!!! Appreciate you staying the same. Recommended to anyone who is coming to SLT.

[If you are worried about some of the negative reviews, I urge you to reread them carefully and then apply the word ‘hyperbolic’ to most of them. Sure, mistakes happen. Sure, people have off days. But in many of the most egregiously over-the-top negative reviews one of two things are apparent: you could have asked and had the problem resolved and/or the problem resided with the reviewer and not with the establishment....