Oregano's — Restaurant in Surprise

-A COVID-19 botched arrangement - We had a party of 10 people, we called ahead to reserve seating and were told we could not reserve seating due to our party size and COVID-19 restrictions. My Wife and I showed up within 20 minutes after the phone call. We were informed it was a 1-1/2 hour wait and the place was not busy, as a matter of fact we could have easily been seated immediately. We were informed our party would be broken up due the number of people due to the Coronavirus restrictions, we informed them we were all family to no avail. We waited patiently for the entire 1-1/2 hours, plus a few additional minutes. 2 people from our party ending up leaving because they have a child and it was too long of a wait for them. "Finally" We were escorted to a large round table and seated, wait... What about the "Rona restrictions" 6 people was supposed to be the maximum amount at one table... Oh well??? Our drink orders were placed immediately and we informed the servers we were hungry and ready to order immediately. Our orders were taken and our drinks arrived a few minutes later. We waited 28 minutes before our food arrived. At this point I'm pretty dissatisfied, however I've heard great things about the food so my dissatisfaction took a back seat once the food arrived. I ordered the Chicken Parm with Fettuccine. I dove on in to a tepid warm meal, the Marina sauce was partially set due to the low temperature of the food and sauce. The Fettuccine was overcooked, like big pasty stringy gooey gobs when rolled up on my fork.... ah, nasty! The Chicken had obviously sat in the sauce for too long, it was also gooey and there was no crispness to it at all, however it did have a good flavor but overall "not good". Send it back! Oh, I wanted too but our server was less than available, all though she was very sweet and gracious she was just not aware of our need for refills, by the way, the place is now close to closing and there was only 2 customers in the entire restaurant. I forgot to mention, she did come back after we were served and asked if the food was good, the rest of the party was satisfied so I just bypassed sending it back, I'm not a picky eater and it's just one meal, so it's not that big of a deal for me. Okay, so you maybe asking why such a long drawn out review? After waiting 2 hours, when it should have been 20 minutes tops for seating was absolutely ridiculous and unexceptale COVID-19 restrictions and all, still unexceptale. I'll chalk up my food order as a mistake, it happens sometimes, no big deal. The wait and attitude of the receptionist was a deal breaker, the long wait for the food was also unexceptale as well. I do plan on calling the restaurant manager and voicing my displeasure so hopefully they will correct the issue so other patrons can avoid a crazy long wait time. Will I try Oregano's again, sure! Obviously they just had...

This is one of the hardest reviews for me to make. I’ve been to an Oregano’s in Tempe that wasn’t a very good experience. Chain restaurants hinge upon how they’re managed. I came here tonight looking for one of two things; and that was hot soup. The three best soups to me are… French onion soup; Broccoli-Cheddar; and Italian wedding soup. Reviewing their menu and seeing that was the inspiration for coming here. The restaurant is spacious, clean, warm, and inviting. I arrived after 8:30pm and was welcomed. Seeing the bar, I took a seat there and was waited on by Briley. I ordered a Sprite and the soup, and then perused the menu for what pizzas they have. Being from Chicago and seeing that they make Chicago style pizzas, I’m going to be a little skeptical. The soup arrived. It was a huge bowl of soup. Something unusual I’ve never seen before was a large meatball. I asked about the kind of sausage they use for their pizzas, and ordered a 14” thin crust cheese and sausage. I tasted my first spoonful of soup, and I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t very hot; it had a lot of those little pearls of pasta; and tasted like a low-sodium soup. What I had enjoyed of the soup were the tender pieces of meat (not the meatball as it was left intact), and the spinach. There was so much that I asked the rest to be placed in a container. The pizza arrived hot and fresh. If anyone follows David Portnoy and his reviews, I’m as much a snob as he is with pizza. The crust was thin, crispy, and had no fwop. A good sauce, and good cheese. The sausage held a good flavor as well. If I had to score it on el Presidente’s scale of 1-10 I’d score this pizza a 7.7. The pizza saved the food rating as the soup was a bit of a disappointment. Unsure of that garlic cheese bread that accompanied the soup too. I think the bread had two cheeses on it. Briley was fine as she was attentive despite cleaning and getting her station ready for closing. I appreciate not being rushed. This is a much nicer place compared to the Oregano’s on Elliot and Priest. By all means give this location a try. There’s plenty of parking too; and a very nice patio to sit and enjoy an evening dinner. My check after tax...

Took my family & friends out to dinner tonight on Friday 3/31/23. There were 8 of us total. To start they put us in a huge booth by the front entrance & all the seats were really dirty with food on it. Then the server brings us a stack of 8 small plates out for appetizers & if want to share our meals etc. Well half of the plates were very dirty with food all stuck on it like it missed the dishwasher! Waitress played it off & joked about it but it was pretty nasty & she only took 6 of the plates back really!? You should have took them all back! Anyway, We Ordered a 14” thin crust pizza with pepperoni and it was way over cooked & some of the cheese was burnt!! Pepperoni was all under the cheese like they forgot it at first then covered with cheese & was barely any meat. We should have sent it back but our guests & kids were hungry after a 45 min wait on your food & restaurant wasn’t even busy! Terrible service as well! Also the baked Zany Ziti pastas we ordered (2 in all) was very dry, & like warm, barely any meat, & bread bowl hard & cold! There’s more but I’ll keep it short & honestly say I won’t ever come back to Oreganos in Surprise, AZ ever again. I’m so embarrassed that I brought our 4 friends from Oregon here for dinner tonight to try it out & what a huge mistake! I will warn my friends & people I know to stay away! One of the worst experiences & locations I have ever had at Oreganos. The workers seem like they don’t care either & just seem like they are not happy to work. I can’t believe our waitress had the nerve to even serve that nasty looking pizza really!? Maybe you just wanted to leave after not so busy night? I still tipped 15% too only cuz u brought a few refills out and yeah your service was not great & your restaurant is just terrible & I would rate it a 0 star if I could! Cold nasty food we waited almost 50 minutes for is just unacceptable, no apologies or stopping by to say hey how’s the food?etc, cause if you did ask, I would of told u straight up how it was how bad the cooks were! The Worst restaurant experience I have ever had since living in AZ...