Pizza Forno — Restaurant in Swansboro

Ordered online for curbside pickup. Showed up at the time the order said it would be ready (20 minutes after ordering). Called the number to let them know I was there. The person answered the phone and immediately asked me to hold. I held for 10 minutes and eventually hung up. Called back and line was busy so I went inside (which I did not want to as there were lots of maskless people inside). No one bothered to ask me what I needed so I got someone’s attention and they asked who the order was for. Everyone ignored me for the next 20 minutes and here I am still waiting with no one acknowledging I’m here even though I’m standing next to the register. 30 minutes after my order should have been ready (50 minutes after I placed it) someone finally asked me why I was here and the say the pizza is going into the oven now.

EDIT: Feel I need to respond to the comments from the owner. First of all, I appreciate that the owner took time to respond and I appreciate they were busy that night, however here's how the experience could have been MUCH better:

First of all, there were two customers standing in line near me waiting for pizzas (one for at least 10 minutes) not wearing masks, so the statement that only people eating were maskless is wrong.

No one acknowledged that my order was delayed when I arrived (and mind you this is after all the issues of trying to get a hold of someone on the phone for my curbside order for 10 minutes waiting outside). If someone would have just said "We're very sorry. We haven't even started on your pizzas and it's going to be 30 minutes before we can get them done, if you don't mind just hang out in your car and we'll bring them to you when they're done." I would have gone and just played some games on my phone. Instead I was standing there wondering if anyone had actually received my order or not or if there was some problem with the online ordering system and also had no idea on how long it would take. Placing someone on hold and then ignoring the call is unacceptable.

It was a full 34 minutes from the time my order should have been done to the time I received my pizzas, not 15 minutes.

The only time an apology came was after I wrote the review and the woman who gave me my pizzas did apologize and did offer me a free desert which was a nice gesture, but an apology and expectation setting 30 minutes sooner would have been much better.

I'm leaving these comments in the hope that customer service can...

Update:2023, Management has changed and the vibe is MUCH better! Staff seems much happier, which makes for a better experience. Thank you to the owner for recognizing there was a problem. Nice place, good food. The pizza gets a 4 sometimes even a 5, unfortunately, attitude of employees, gets a 1. We went in twice this past week, because the pizza was really good the first time. I’m a northerner, I like good pizza! First time my margarita pie, was excellent. Except for the large whole cloves of garlic, sliced or crushed would be a preference. The sauce is excellent, light and sweet, the crust is fairly thin and very tasty. My second visit, the guy making the pie was so surly, I was Uncomfortable asking him to make any changes. I asked for a little more cheese, he looked at me and threw a handful of shredded mozzarella on the pie. He had put four small slices of cheese and then four slices of tomato. That is not a margarita pie. Unfortunately, the attitudes of all the employees is horrendous. They are not rude, but they certainly are not pleasant. Pizza Forno offers a make your own pie, and they give you a nasty face when you order it, like it’s too much effort. There were no descriptions on the glass by the topping options, to name what they are. So you have to ask the miserable employee in front of you what every item is. I’m not aware if the owner is miserable, and his attitude is wearing on all of his employees, Or if there is no management and they don’t care. It truly is a shame, because customer service is half your business. They will continue having business because the pizza is good and it’s worth the...

Sorry. I'm from Chicago and therefore I just have a bit higher standards when it comes to pizza. For NC, this pizza was better than most you will find. I love the idea of personal pizzas you can choose your own toppings. They have a wide variety of toppings, some of which they dont offer back home which was refreshing. Some tips for the owners: your sauce is watered down. It doesn't even taste like you have sauce on there. It tasted like you slopped on a bit of red water and called it sauce. Cheese should be placed on top so that it can seal in all the toppings chosen vs. placing it right after the sauce so it seals in moisture which then makes your crust (that was supposed to be crispy) soggy in the middle. You offer many drink options, but the manner to which they are presented when you pay was very unorganized. Maybe I didnt have enough time to really gather all options but it was kind of overwhelming trying to figure out if I wanted alcoholic drink (which I didnt know what exactly was on tap) or a regular beverage. Perhaps a drink menu would have been nice. I dont like that you do not offer various sizes of pizza. From what I gathered you have kids and an adult but you dont advertise the sizes when ordering so someone who can't eat a 12" pizza by themselves is stuck wasting food bc there is only 1 size. I also found the price to be a bit expensive. I paid over $20 for 1 pizza and 1 drink. I get the exclusivity of such an idea in NC, but you dont need to jack up the prices...