Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza & Wings — Restaurant in Westwood

ACFP was my go to for a really long time, but in recent months they have gone down hill in ALL areas. If a favorite restaurant has an off night, I am generally prepared to let that go. But when having an off night seems to be the new standard to which they aspire, then I feel that is not acceptable. A month ago my husband and I ordered 2 pizzas for pick up. When my husband picked up the pizzas it was clear that either there was no manager on duty that night, or the manager was simply not doing his / her job. The chef was on his phone while cooking, the restaurant was in disarray and despite it being practically empty the order took 45 minutes. After all that, the pizzas were inedible! So much so I emailed ACFP to give them some feedback, since I figured they would appreciate that more than a poor online review. They were quick to respond and offered to send a giftcard, giving their assurance that our next experience would be better (incidentally the giftcard they sent did not cover the cost of our original order, but I was happy with the gesture none the less and prepared to give the restaurant another try). Fast forward a couple of weeks and we place another take out order for 2 pizzas. My husband had asked to substitute the hot peppers for sweet peppers on his pizza, but when he checked his pizza before leaving the restaurant found that they had indeed put the hot peppers on. Rather than ask that they make another pizza he asked that they simply remove them and replace with the sweet peppers - it took 15 minutes for this to happen. I had ordered the burrata pizza, and when he arrived home with it I found it had been made with NO BURRATA?!!? I once again wrote to ACFP offering them my private feedback, but letting them know how dismayed I was by the lack of care and attention shown by the staff at their Westwood location. I also enclosed a photo of my cheeseless pizza. This time their response was decidedly more brusque, with barely an apology made. Unfortunately it seems to me that their total disregard for customers and lack of pride in their product comes from the top down. There are plenty of other, much better options for pizza in the area, and I will not be frequenting...

Mediocre pizza at best. I'm genuinely confused with any good reviews here.

I tried the "Pauli's Pie". The flavors were decent, but the execution of toppings was just confusing. They just threw several entire peppers on there, instead of, you know, maybe using an invention called a "knife" and chopping them up for me. I had to take them off, cut them up, and put them back onto the pizza. Pizzas need homogeneity with their toppings! It was bizarre. Same issue with the ricotta: instead of a nice even spread or sprinkle, it's just plopped on in a few different spots as big globs. The entire thing feels like no effort was put into it, just whole ingredients thrown onto it without a care in the world. The crust couldn't even hope to withstand the weight of the toppings, it got soggy and floppy to the point where I needed a knife and fork to eat it. It was beyond the "fold" strategy, this just needed to sit on the plate while I ate the toppings off of it with a fork.

The "Arugala" had the same flimsy crust. I understand thin-crust, I understand soft crust, but this is just soggy crust. The arugula needed more dressing; I could tell that the dressing was "drizzled" on after the arugula was already on the pizza, instead of tossing the arugula with the dressing first. The end result is an uneven (seems to be a reoccurring theme here) coating of dressing, where some pieces wouldn't even have any dressing. Again, just seems like there was very little effort put in.

The final kicker is the price tag. Each of my pizzas were about $20 for a small (12"). $20 for each circle of hot garbage.

It's really just a couple of steps above buying a frozen pizza from the Wegman's across the street. Save your...

Update 9/6/19: Spoke with the new manager and went by. He was very upset about the bad experience and wanted me to go back so they could make it up. He is very friendly and if you ever have a problem make sure you speak with him so it can be sorted out. Since as I said in the previous review, the food is good and now they also pair it with excellent customer service, I've changed my rating.

Left my old review so you can know what this place is about.

Old review; "This review is more about the service than the actual food. The food is mostly very good but there are times when it's not and God help you if you complain about it. I've been there several times and 3 or of 4 times everything was good but as I mentioned sometimes it may not be. Being coal fired pizza means it tastes amazing and will often have a bit of a dark side and you may think it's burnt but it's not.. Except when it IS burnt as sometimes this can happen. Which it does and one time we mentioned it when they asked us if everything was ok. Then the manager came and was extremely rude. First he proceeded to explain (with a very condescending tone) how coal fired pizza may look burnt but it's not.. Which I told him I knew as I had eaten there several times. Just that this time it actually was burnt and tasted like actual coal. His answer, how did I know what coal tasted like. My answer, tastes just like it smells and like the pizza we just had.

As I said this review is about the service. You can't rely on just having a good product, you have to also have...