UNO Pizzeria & Grill — Restaurant in Virginia

I was a chaperone on a recent field trip that ate dinner here (lots of notice was given and the restaurant had prepared ahead of time for this).

On the bus as we arrived, the manager Lance came on our bus without advanced notice and told all the students they were not allowed their phones and if he saw them out those students with their phones out "would eat last". He did not ask the chaperones on this trip before announcing this as a rule to the students. We had had a long day and the students had visited two very emotional museums / historic graveyards that day and needed to decompress from this emotional day in whatever way they felt comfortable. We would have loved for students to be able to use their phones as they paid for this trip and teenagers nowadays use their phones to decompress. I understand the manager wanted the students to talk to each other, but he did not directly tell the students the reasoning behind his rule was to increase connection between the students by having them focus on their conversations with each other rather than on their phones. Again, not a decision for the manager to be making rather than the chaperones in charge of keeping the students happy and safe.

Lance and staff were loudly yelling (screaming might be a more appropriate word) at the students in a way that was reminiscent of a military bootcamp. General UNO was preparing them for war at the temporary buffet, it seems. At the buffet, they would only give both students and chaperones one small (SMALL) piece of pizza and a small spoonful of salad and an option of three drinks: pepsi, lemonade, or water. If anyone asked for anything else, the staff refused. Lance and staff then continued to make military-style announcements throughout the entire meal, scaring both the students and the chaperones. Staff was also less than helpful when asked questions about when we could grab drinks, when we could go to the buffet, why certain tables had not been called up to the buffet yet, etc. I cannot even imagine being a family just trying to dine here randomly during this time at the same time as our field trip group. There were plenty of people present who we did not know overhearing the yelled announcements.

I cannot believe the service we received here. It was so bad that it was almost comical. I had to take a few days to cool down before writing this review.

If you are the director or chaperone of a field trip, I hope you see this in time! If not, enjoy the bootcamp style buffet at your local UNOs.

Here’s my unsolicited advice for UNOs: prepare a list of 3-5 meal options for the students and chaperones to choose from either on the spot or in advance. Then, go around “taking orders” from the students and chaperones to see what they ordered in advance and what can be brought out for the table from a batch of the pre-prepared meals in the kitchen. I am not sure why a restaurant without a buffet would ever think making a DIY buffet and screaming at students of how to walk around the restaurant most efficiently was a good idea. Take orders for the drinks since they clearly came from the fountain, and so long ago that they were mostly flat, and bring those over straight from the fountain. It is not that difficult, since we only took up about half the restaurant. I am willing to bet this restaurant has been more busy on a lively Friday night before and can handle the rush of about 130 people. Again, there were a LOT of empty seats in the restaurant. They have the capacity and the staff, that much was very clear! Field trip students and chaperones are happy to wait, we know it is a large group, we are not happy to be yelled at. If you cannot accommodate a field...

Pros: it's hard to mess up pasta so the food is passable. The table top tablet has games for the kids. Cons: took 10 minutes for server to show up and take drink orders. Another 5 to explain the particular beer is out. Another 10 to come by to take food orders. 5 minutes later explain the bartenders are really backed up. 10 minutes after that I look at the bar and they don't appear slammed, but the table next to me is trying to get the manager to remove the wine they haven't received for 30 minutes from their check so they can just leave. 5 minutes later my salad comes out but I have no silverware or salad dressing. 10 minutes later some other employee brings our food (no beer) out, and I finally get to request silverware and dressing. They don't have Italian dressing, which seems odd for a pizzeria. The kid's mac & cheese is, I promise you, straight-up Kraft out of the box with the orange powder, or worse, a generic -- see the photo, it looked nothing at all like the gooey, creamy concoction on the menu. (Which is fine for a kid but still.) My ziti & chicken was tepid to warmish. 5 minutes later I see our server again and ask about my beer, which she finally, easily brings.

I did the Uno-to-go thing where you order one dish and get a second to take home. They brought both out at the same time, which was a relief from the perspective of not having to wait another half hour, but less great from a food safety perspective. I also learned that the language on the menu is purposefully ambiguous: when it says "enjoy a classic pasta dish with a side salad," the prices listed do NOT INCLUDE the salad. It means, "if you order one of these dishes at the listed price AND order a side salad at an extra $3, THEN you get the take-home dish." The cost of the salad is explained nowhere on that page of the menu.

The final insult upon leaving is that when I picked up my to-go plastic container, it felt a little damp. In the car my kid asked, "What smells like fish?" Well, my hand did, for starters. And so did the bottom of my to-go pasta container. Stank fish juice. I dunno where they had it sitting, but I don't think I'll eat it now.

This place...

Late night snack! 😋 Friend got the flat doughy bread pizza 🍕 I got the calamari 🐙 and some francais fries 🍟 on the side. To quench the thirst, got it was the bottomless drink of lemonade 🍋.

The flat bread 🍞 was aiite. My friend enjoyed that the most. I enjoyed the calamari, lightly dusted in golden butter 🧈 and yeilding the gentlest bite-🍤 springy yet tender. It was heavy tasty like the sea, was just delish seafood with a 2nd wave of tasting when you bite into the banana peppers accompanying the calamari. Like the funny sarcastic social girl that dates the nerdy intellectual football player. The yellow vegetable? Fruit? Was tangy and delivered a forward zing that cut though the fried richness with refreshing punctuation. Cherry tomatoes were blistered just enough to coax out the natural dugars bursting in my mouth like a cool wind/breeze on a hot summer night. The oil drizzled over the dish sunk to the bottom of the serving plate and taking your fork and soaking the individual bites gave the whole thing pristine diversity. 🍟 The fries were crisp, and if they were upright they would stand at attention. Each bite crunchy and mouth burning that you would have to wait. Btw waiting time for your foot is not even an issue. Came in less than 10 min but high quality production. ⏰ Busiest times are from 12pm to 130pm and 6pm - 8 pm, i think. ⌚

I was there at 9:30 pm to 10:11pm. 🌃 Barely anyone there.

Met the server Michael. Rising medical field individual. Almost done with his bachelor's but his interest in you and memorization skills are of decorum. He respects your space and orders while relentless to be on the look out for detrimental or malevolent behavior from myth and look out for your needs. Interacts to be a part o the dimension of reality that is occuring. The settings holistic experience of eating at UNOs. Life Coach...