O+O Pizza — Restaurant in Webster Groves

So I think this was really more of a 2-star experience, but I'm not a regular complainer and I'm gonna feel confrontational about leaving a review at all, so I'm giving this 3 stars just to feel better. But I think I have to share my experience so it might guide others.

So just to set some context, I didn't even have lofty ambitions here, this wasn't a special occasion, it wasn't some fancy night out, it was just another date night for me and the wife. We eat out a few times a week all across the city. And we're happy 99% of the time. This time we were so disappointed.

So let's start with appetizers. We got the gnocchi and arancini. The arancini themselves were actually good, nice crisp exterior, fairly light interior, creamy & warm flavors. But the bed of tomato sauce was so weirdly, cloyingly sweet... a theme which will return. My country-raised mom used to put sugar in our Prego sauce to make it sweeter, but I still think it didn't hit the sickly sweet notes of this sauce. It just overwhelmed any acidity from the tomato that would be quite welcome to brighten an otherwise heavy dish. On to the gnocchi, the gnocchi themselves were also acceptable, rewardingly doughy and weighty, but once again bedded in a weirdly sweet broth. The menu did clearly indicate there was honey in the sauce, but it was just too much, with no balance to speak of at all. I just kept saying to myself, "why is it so sweet?" as if my brain couldn't really process it. At this point I was still expecting to like most things, so I was dealing with some cognitive dissonance.

We also ordered a Ceasar salad. Strangely, even the dressing there lacked the tanginess I expected, and came across just a hint too sweet. But it was accompanied by a rather delightful toasted sourdough that had a great interior chew and a hearty flakey crust. That was without doubt the highlight of the meal, and perhaps the only thing I really loved.

I know I'm coming across like some crazy dude who hates sugar or something, but I promise I'm not a weirdo. We eat all across the city and have great experiences. I expected the same here, but it just felt like every flavor landed on your palette with a single note, either overly sweet or salty (we'll get to this). There was no balance, there was no journey through a dish. It was all one note, and played loudly.

So that brings me to the pizza. My god the pizza. Listen, I'm a chubby dude. I will eat darn near anything. I couldn't finish a second slice of this pizza. I took a bite before my wife, made a face, and she asked, "what's wrong"? I said "it takes like a frozen pizza". I know you're thinking, wait wait wait, that's way too harsh. I promise it's not.

The texture of the crust was so unappealing cardboardy. It was a thin-crust pizza, which I normally love, but it lacked any crisp at all. You could get a tiny hint of crunch on the very exterior edge, but the body of the pizza had this strangely layered and tough dough. I don't know if it was overworked or what, but it was so tough to bite through. It really felt like layers of cardboard, like tough to bite through, distinct sheets of dough all densely packed into the crust. I think that's what made it feel like a frozen pizza, just the density and toughness.

On top of that is was sooo richly cheesey. I'll admit this may come down to preference, I'm not as into cheese as some, but the pecorino just overwhelmed the taste buds and shocked the palette with a heavy saltiness, leaving no room for the sauce to come through at all. It was once again completely one-note, with a texture problem to boot. If you really really like a strong cheese, this may not bother you, as long as you're okay with it being served on cardboard.

We also got the cacio e pepe, which was ultimately just fine. It frankly came across a little salty as well, but the pasta had a fantastic bite and there were some other notes coming through the dish.

There were some hickups on top of all this (waitress spilled water on me), but that stuff happens, I get it. It was the food that really...

Not likely to go back. The negatives outweigh the positives.

Drinks: the online menu is not up to date. The cocktails are a dollar more than listed there (but that's common these days). The drink called Sing To Me Paolo was like sweet, fizzy soda pop. The "OG" martini was much more interesting, more subtle than a conventional martini. The server recommended what she called the new house red called Vento di Mare. It was drinkable but dull and one-dimensional. We don't recommend it.

Food: delicious Italian bread was served with unusual herbed olive oil, complex and distinctive. My companion and I shared "house made" toasted ravioli, certainly better that the frozen stuff you get at most local Italian restaurants but not memorable and not worth $15 for 6 pieces. My companion had a generous portion of eggplant parmesan which she enjoyed. I considered the pizzas, which were big enough to share, but shied away due to mixed reviews. Two of the pizzas had honey - clearly some people like that but I thought was an awful idea. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs, which was good but not memorable and certainly not worth $22.

Major negatives: the sound level at the back of the room was intolerable. My companion and I had to lean into one another's faces to converse. It was difficult to communicate with the server. On our way out we noted that the front of the room was much quieter, which would have made a difference. And then there was something new about the bill: it had a QR code to shoot, leading to a payment page. Good for the restaurant since the server didn't have to deal with the bill and credit card, but bad for the customer, since you had to manually type in your credit card number, expiration date and CVV. We resented the...

I’ve been to O+O Pizza twice to have dinner with my family. As the only vegan in the family, I have a very very hard time finding options, ordering food, and receiving the right order. There simply aren’t any options. The first time I went, I asked if they had vegan cheese and was told they “haven’t figured out how to melt vegan cheese”. There are over a handful of restaurants that do pizza with vegan cheese. The second time I went to O+O it was a disaster. I ordered the Chopped Salad without some ingredients, no cheese, and a different dressing. I made sure our waitress was aware I was vegan. She was extremely understanding and confirmed that the dressing would be changed after checking with the kitchen. However, I got my salad with shredded cheese and the original dressing. After asking for it to be changed, I got lettuce with lentils and the same dressing. I want to emphasize that the customer service was good, but the communication with the kitchen or something was just awful. Overall, the experience is simply frustrating and makes me want to convince my family to go anywhere but...