Faccia Luna Pizzeria — Restaurant in State College

If you're not familiar with this place, you probably will NOT like it. I tried it about 2 weeks ago when I was in SC and wanted pizza, but not a franchise deal. Granted I am a very picky eater, but how can you mess up pizza? Don't know if you don't try it, right?

I called ahead of time because I was at the doctors. I asked to have an order made and then asked if I could eat it when I got there because I didn't have the time (or want) to sit there while they made it. I was told 'we do not do that because we don't know who your server is'. I hung up, looked at some of the other pizza places but decided I'd give this one a try still. Just ordered a take out order and decided I would eat while driving home (a little over 1.5 hours away) because I didn't have the time to sit.

VERY glad I just got take out, I got to the place at noon on a Wednesday and it was PACKED. The staff didn't seem to know how to run the place either, like this was the most customers they've ever had at one time or something. Also the parking is very limited as it is shared by a hotel or something.

Okay, so on to the food.. I got a large pepperoni pizza, a tomato brushetta, and an order of breadsticks. The pizza didn't taste very good, and on top of that their sauce has large chunks of tomatoes in it. I don't like tomatoes (the only way I will eat them is if they are in [as in make up, NOT chunks] pizza sauce). Very disgusting, I couldn't eat more than one little bite. The tomato brushetta was for my mother, I've never had it from anywhere else but she has. She said it's not what she was expecting, didn't taste that great, and had way too much oil in it. The breadsticks were dry, a little over cooked (not that bad though) and had absolutely no taste, they had sauce with them but I don't normally put sauce on my breadsticks..and after the bad experience with their pizza sauce I didn't want to puke in my car. My mother, who loves tomatoes could barely even eat the pizza, said it tasted weird and she didn't like the texture of the tomatoes with the cheese and crust.

We ate one slice of the pizza, and about half of the breadsticks and brushetta. Worst...

I was here in State College, one of my favorite towns anywhere and decided to try out this smallish, but fun looking place.

When I arrived the place was in a tacky strip mall and had a nasty smell upon entry. But the bar looked kind of cozy, so I headed that way.

Since I was dining alone, I took a seat at the bar, which was totally deserted on this Summer Wednesday night, when Penn State is out and there is not that much going on in this, otherwise, sleepy town.

After arriving, then sitting for 5 minutes, with no greeting, eye contact, or menu given to me my the bartender---who was wearing a trashy look of basketball shorts and a formal dress shirt---- I called him over and tried to order a Yuengling, my favorite beer on draft... despite the empty bar and restaurant, he waved me off and said, "look I'm pouring drinks and answering the phone," Basically, shut up .and wait

Five minutes later he finally threw me a menu and walked away. When he finally returned I asked him what was "good"---and he curtly said "Bolounese." One word. No explanation, elaboration, or conversation.

Another five minutes and no sign of the bartender (his name is MATT---my advice is to RUN out of the place if he is on duty when you get there.) Finally I placed my order and took his recommendation for the pasta.

So sitting there waiting for me dinner, I noticed that all three TVs were blaring sports---mostly talking heads and reruns of old games. I asked Matt if he would please change one of the channels to a news network and he barked back at me, "I DON"T PLAY POLITICAL TV IN HERE." First of all, I didn't realize it was his bar and what happened to the idea that "the customer is always right.?"

At that point I was so offended, I told the server to cancel my order and bring me the check.

He returned with the news "he could change the channel." Whatever. The dinner---and the nice evening meal---had been ruined.

When the food finally arrived, it was mediocre at best.

My advice, stay away from...

This place is a bit dingy inside: super outdated, stained/threadbare carpet - the whole place just feels depressing and dirty.

The hostess was a sullen teen who started to seat us outside without asking. I am heat intolerant, so I had to ask her to seat us inside. Then, in a mostly empty dining room, she showed us to a very tight table in a wall space with a huge family seated right in front - you couldn’t even pull the chairs out. So, we moved ourselves to another table to avoid inconveniencing the family that were already seated and had young kids with them.

Then, the waitress wore a pair of gloves for the entire time we were there and did everything with the same pair of gloves on. So gross. It’s unhygienic. I’m in medicine and have no problem with people wearing gloves. But you have to change them every time you do something new. Wearing the same pair for serving, clearing, cleaning etc., just spreads the dirt around. And it’s a DOH violation.

I hate to say it but we ended up watching to be sure her gloves didn’t touch out food before we ate anything.

Food review: We had “baked mozzarella sticks” which were lukewarm and soggy-basically frozen sticks that were microwaved (but the marinara sauce was excellent), a custom pizza that was so under done/not heated all the way through and a “cheesesteak” that was the cheapest meat ever - worse than minute steak. We are really disappointed. We are new to the area-this place was recommended by colleagues.

Location: Easy to find, off a main road and visible from the road. The restaurant is adjacent to what appears to be Section 8 housing.

Maybe there are other dishes which would be tastier but we will...