Paisano's Pizza — Restaurant in Virginia

Paisano's just opened down the street and claims to be voted the best pizza in the area by some radio station and its listeners (Can't remember the name right now). It also claims to be a top choice for pizza in the DMV. So, being a huge pizza lover I decided to try it out and ordered myself a large cheese pizza.

Let me preface this by giving a bit of my pizza background. I have been eating pizza all my life and pizza of all kinds. From frozen Tony's pizzas at the grocery store to the best pizza places in NY. I have a preference for NY style pizza (which is what Paisano's supposedly does) and frequently make my own at home, which I might add is damn good. I know my pizza and more importantly, I know really good pizza.

At first look, my large Paisano's cheese pizza was basic. The cheese and/or sauce was extremely greasy but not in a good way. It just didn't smell of a great cheese pizza to me. I dove in with the first slice. Right off the bat there was some parmesan flavor but there the mozzarella flavor was virtually non-existent. I enjoy a perfectly melted and bubbly cheese with a slight bit of char, but I want it to be soft enough to have that signature stretch when you bite into it. This was pretty much caramelized to the pizza and didn't budge. The texture of the crust was ok but it definitely wasn't amazing. It was a pretty average and flavorless crust. The sauce was also unimpressive and didn't have flavors that made me think "damn, that's good sauce." It was there, but it's so bland, it might as well not be? If that makes any sense.

Overall, my large cheese pizza from Paisano's was average. It's better than some places I've tried in the area, but definitely not a top choice in my book. Honestly, if I wanted a pizza with flavor, I would probably order papa john's if I was too lazy to go anywhere over Paisano's. If you are a true NY pizza lover, you probably won't enjoy the pizza here that much. Instead, if you have time, I suggest going to Valentino's instead. They have two locations, but the closest to Lorton is the one in Lincolnia. Their pizza is as close as it gets to NY style. You get flavorful sauce, great crust, and the perfectly melted cheese. Not only that, but the pizza is huge with a standard 20" large size. Sure, it's more expensive than Paisano's, but in this case, you get what...

Extremely disappointed with this location. I’ve attempted to place multiple orders via Grubhub and both experiences have been terrible (for additional context, this location manages their own deliveries placed via Grubhub — so not Grubhub’s fault!). During my first attempt I was notified by the restaurant approximately 40 minutes after confirming my order that were unable to accept electronic payment at the time and needed to completely cancel my order. I understand that their system being “down” is beyond their control, however, I would have appreciated more timely notification. My second experience, was much more worse! I placed an order for a contactless delivery (text me upon arrival) that was scheduled to arrive within 40-50 minutes. After approximately an hour and 15 minutes with no updates (app showing my order was scheduled to “arrive soon”) I called the store for an update. I explained the situation and let them know my order was still being shown as “arriving soon” and I didn’t receive a text, so I wanted to know the delivery status. The gentleman I spoke with was extremely rude and only responded “it’s on your doorstep”. As I went to go check I explained to him that I requested to be notified and never received a text, call, or other notification. He simply repeated “it’s there and arrived 20 minutes ago”. When I checked my door step my order was there but was covered with ants, to the point that it was inedible! I never received an apology or explanation as to why I hadn’t been notified by their delivery driver (again, the store manages delivery of orders placed via Grubhub so it’s their responsibility to contact me). If I had been notified, I could have grabbed my order as soon as it was delivered. The pic below is only one item from my order. The rest went directly Into the trash because the dumpster because it was covered in ants. I will not be ordering from this location again!! Extremely disappointed because I’m typically a huge fan of...

This is by far one of the worst pizza places I have encountered. I live rather close to this place, I order online, I tip well and I cannot tell you how many times I have ordered a hand tossed crust pizza and when it's delivered, it is thin. In fact this one is so thin in the center of the pie, you can almost see through it to the bottom of the box. You call and tell them you ordered hand tossed, they check the system and say yes, I see it clearly says hand tossed, they apologize and have someone make a new one to send to you - when will you teach your cooks how to actually make hand tossed crust to avoid this constant back and forth?? This is the last time I will be ordering anything from this Paisano's.

Update 1: The "manager" called back stating he just called the cook who had left and he says it was hand tossed, so now this "manager" is asking me to send pictures to his cellphone.

Update 2: A real manager called now and this time tells me this is how hand tossed is made because they do "New York Style". However if you look at one of the screenshots below you see they have two separate options, Create Your Own (says nothing about New York Style and the one I use) and the one under that which is for New York Style pizza. This is the same as when you look at their menu online as well. If they are going to claim it's always this thin crust regardless of which option you select, they need to clarify that on their site and...