Pizzeria La Sorrentina — Restaurant in Vancouver

We drove nearly 30 minutes from our home, arriving just two minutes after their 2PM "closing" time due to unexpected traffic. We were hoping to sample their offerings because, having lived in Naples, Italy for three years and being married to an Italian (my wife's family still lives in Naples and we visit quite often), I love authentic pizza Napoletana and was curious to see just how authentic theirs was.

When we arrived, the oven was still going strong and the two employees were still there prepping for dinner with the door and window open. We stood there for a minute while the woman looked at us without saying a word, so I finally asked her "Are you closed?" to which she responded only with a "Yes". I was a bit shocked because there was absolutely no reason to turn us away and they did not even bother to tell us why they would not serve us at 2:02 PM.

If this was a sit down restaurant, I could understand why we would not be served. However, having eaten many pizzas in Naples and attended a "pizzaiolo" (pizza maker) course in their this past February, I know that a Neapolitan pizza takes less than 90 seconds to prepare and about 60-90 seconds to bake at 485 degrees Fahrenheit. I understand that they were "officially" closed and may have had things to do, but taking 3 minutes to make a pizza for a customer was, I believe, not too much to expect.

The restaurant business and customer service are all about making customers happy and turning us away so rudely was, in my opinion, uncalled for. Having spent a great deal of time in the business and owned a very successful mobile food operation myself, I would have never turned a customer away in similar circumstances, but that is just me.

After leaving a tip on Yelp regarding my experience, someone (whom I am assuming was the owner or manager) sent me a compliment with a "You're Funny" tag stating:

"I'm not going to serve pizza anyone even 1minutes late. Please come during business sir. Thank you"

With literally millions of readers annually across several platforms, including Yelp and my popular blog, my responsibility to readers is to provide an accurate, honest "opinion" based on my experiences, so I did not appreciate being laughed at ("You're Funny") because I take my responsibilities and commitment to my readers very seriously. A more professional and customer-oriented response would have been much more appropriate in my opinion. For example: "I am very sorry that we had to turn you away, but our employees were busy prepping for dinner and could not take the time to serve you. Please accept our sincere apology and come back to visit us very soon!" would have been a much more appropriate response and they would have likely gained a return customer. Unfortunately, based on our negative experience and the business's insulting reaction to my tip, I will not be returning any time soon. Not an unreasonable person, if an apology is forthcoming, I may consider giving them another chance and revising my review/rating.

CombatCritic Gives Pizzeria La Sorrentina 1 Bomb Out Of 10 And A Spot On My "WALL OF SHAME" ... More...

My family tried this place for the first time this last week. I gave them a shot as they have woodfired, gluten free pizza. I called ahead and asked about seperate cutting and handling utensils. They are very good and aware about minimizing direct contamination. However, it is fired in the same open fire oven as the gluten. If you tell them you have a gluten allergy, they take care to scrape the stone surface down and is much appreciated.

I called shortly after 6pm on Friday evening and ordered a pepperoni and mushroom and a white pizza with sausage and eggplant...both gluten free. A young lady greeted me with a smile and told me it would be ready at 7. I showed up at 7 and was told 10-15 minutes. I was able to pay by the door with her portable card reader. I grabbed some chili flake and parmesean packets by the door and sat down to wait.

They have a decent amount of indoor seating, as well as additional seating out back.

There are two allergic who ate the pizza. Neither of us suffered signs of contamination. For reference, eating any product cooked is a fryer vat where gluten/flour was cooked makes us sick with rashes, migraines, joint pain, nausea and more for weeks.

The crust was chewy and hand tossed thin with a good, air pocket filled crispy, twisted dough crust. This is Italian style. There is far less cheese than American pizza. This more a flatbread with a thin veneer of sauce and a few mozzerella balls scattered across it. The red sauce with pepperoni was well covered. Their pepperoni was good quality....not the oversized, oily mainstream junk. The white pizza had just a pinch of sausage across the whole pie with a single bit on each slice. The eggplant was 1" thick, giant slices. A few days later, we reheated the pies to find the crust turned mushy when reheated in a toaster oven on pizza setting, so I can't say the gluten free reheats well.

A tip: though gluten free, this crust is not wheat free. It is made with wheat starch, in a popular European gluten free baking mix. Unfortunately, I am apparently unable to handle wheat in addition to my gluten allergy, as I suffered bloating, gut pain and nausea within minutes of eating it both days and in both cases it eased away over 24-36 hours. The first time may have been a fluke...not twice. They did warn me. It was a...

I’ve been trying to come here for a while but they’re always closed on my “cheat meal day”. Finally got in on a Saturday. Absolutely packed at 5pm. The atmosphere is fine. The service was perfect. They visited just enough, not too much. Now, the pizza. The style is Neapolitan, and they’ve done a great job with it. If you like Lovely Fifty Fifty but don’t feel like dropping $34 on a pie that “serves two”, well, Pizzeria La Sorrentina is the place. I walk in and see a few different bags of Caputo flour and I get excited. That stuff is the best of the best, and in the right hands will yield an incredible crust. Which is exactly what I had. Pictured is my diavolo. The toppings were not too heavy. The ingredients are of extraordinary quality. The price was completely within range of “reasonable”, which seems to be a fleeting concept at restaurants lately.

The only reason I have docked one star is that the pizzas for my table were just slightly undercooked. The middle was not very stable so it had to be mostly eaten with a fork. I thought that perhaps that is just “how it is done” here, but as I looked around the room and observed other tables, it became clear that our pies were the exception, not the rule. Everyone else’s crust were darker and much more robust on the underside. The place was very busy so I understand. I will be back and cannot wait to give it a second try. Next time I will play it safe and ask the waiter to bake the pizza “crisp” or “extra crisp”. It is how I prefer my pizza anyways.

TLDR: if you like great artisan pizza, just get here. But make a reservation...