San Marzano Brick Oven Pizza & Fresh Pasta — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

I've gone to this restaurant about 2-3 times a year for at least 15 years now. I don't know what happened, but the last two visits were so poor that they were my last. First, the restaurant has a nice rustic decor, but the chairs/benches are so uncomfortable. No cushioning, flat (not contoured) wood or metal. Second, there's no salt/pepper on the tables (you have to ask for them), and no bread is provided while you wait for your meal to come (not even offered). The eggplant parmigiana dinner comes with bread, but if you ask for a side of spaghetti instead of bread, they tell you they don't do "sides", they can only add a full order of spaghetti if wanted. (Seriously? They can't halve the full order and just charge 1/2 for it?) They changed their menu and now have absolutely nothing on it that's vegan, so I ordered a plate of spaghetti with plain tomato sauce. The amount of spaghetti I got was about the amount you'd get in a small can of Spaghetti-O's, and the sauce tasted like that's where it came from. When we got the electronic bill, I selected 20% for the tip (I didn't want to penalize the server, as I didn't feel any of the problems were her fault), but when they gave me the itemized print-out of the receipt, I noticed they applied the 20% to the entire amount, including the tax. Why would I tip the tax? The entire experience was the most disappointing I've had in a restaurant, especially a restaurant I...

I love brick oven pizza but this was a true disappointment. I ordered the food online because that's what people do. I placed the order at 5:30 p.m. and the expected delivery time was 7:05 p.m. I asked for plates and plastic ware. When the food arrived at 8:00 p.m. it was ice cold and no plates or plastic ware. I normally don't mind eating cold pizza, but this tasted like plastic. The garlic knots had a great taste, but were just above room temperature. The good news is that the soda was nice and cold. It was interesting trying to eat the piece of chocolate cake without a utensil. I'm sure going to the restaurant would be a different experience......hopefully. Everyone apologized for being busy and very late. Thanks for the apology. My recommendation in the future would be to comp the meal and make sure you're on the same page with your drivers. Also, make sure the drivers...

I have been here twice. Both times the food has been great and the service has been good. Casual atmosphere is a major attraction to this place. If you have a large group (more than 4) this probably isn’t the place for you because they don’t take reservations Friday through Sunday. Instead you have to go and compete with other large groups for the one large table they have right in front. I tried to go last night at 6:30 and was told “well there is another large group sitting there waiting for their last person to arrive, whoever has their full party show up first gets the table.” Our larger group had to wait outside and we didn’t get the table. The difficulty with a successful restaurant is that as much as you are attracting people you are also turning many away. The way you handle turning people away is key. The man, who seemed to be the manager, did not handle that...