Mandy's Pizza

Review: My family and I were visiting friends in Pittsburgh on November 7, 2015 and we visited Mandy's Pizza for dinner. They make great claims about gluten-free food, of which my wife needs to eat due to [redacted]. That evening, we ordered pizza at 5:50pm and an order of gluten-free pasta. It took until 6:40pm for my regular pizza to come to the table. It took another 15 minutes for my wife's gluten-free pasta to arrive. We paid in advance including a $5.00 tip, as per the restaurant's policy. As per the restaurant's request, we paid the $32.00 via a bank debit card instead of a credit card because they say it costs so much money for them to accept credit cards. Unfortunately, by paying with a debit card, I have no recourse for the lousy service. Huntington Bank has already said they cannot intervene because it was a debit card. The service was lousy. The woman at the counter claims to be the manager did not help us. The woman with the dark blond hair who was waiting tables that evening snapped at us when we inquired where our food was and said that gluten-free takes MUCH longer to make. That was not true. Other people around us had their food much sooner than we did, including gluten-free items. When my wife's food finally came out about 6:50-6:55pm, the meal was missing the meatball. We inquired about that and were grumbled at again. Another 10 minutes passed and they finally brought the meatball barely heated and without apology. I know we were lied to that night. They could have told us the truth. They must have misplaced our order but would not be honest about it. The food was not that good, especially with the paid in advance lousy service. No one has bothered to resolve this matter with us yet from the restaurant. I contacted them via their website's contact-us link on November 19th, November 25th, and November 30th. After no one even acknowledged my complaint, I wrote to them via USPS mail on December 3rd, including a FULL explanation and my payment receipt for that evening. I figured direct contact via USPS would be the way that they would not ignore me any longer. I was wrong. I have given them two weeks more to respond to me and they have not even acknowledged my complaint. I live more than two hours away from the restaurant, otherwise I would drive over there personally and have the manager make this right. I am turning now to the Revdex.com to see if anyone can help me solve this matter with a restaurant staff who cannot be bothered to acknowledge my complaint, let alone resolve it.Desired Settlement: I want a full refund via my debit card or via a check from the restaurant. Their service was terrible. The food was not good. No manager of the restaurant seems available to resolve the situation. We will not be returning to this restaurant at any time in the future, so a free meal or replacement meal will not be appropriate resolution. Had they taken five minutes to follow-up with me at the time of the meal or after my first contact with them, I would have accepted a replacement meal, but if their policy is to ignore complaints and disavow my contact attempts, then I do not wish to return to their restaurant ever. Full refund is the only acceptable means of resolution now.

Business

Response:

December 21, 2015[redacted]Revdex.com400 Holiday DrivePittsburgh, PA 15220Dear [redacted]:This is in reference to your letter to our business with ID [redacted].I want to start off with the fact that while it states that we have ignored this customers previous attempts, our website; social media; and our email server all have "keyword rejection". More specifically there are keywords that are rejected and after looking one of the words is "lie" and all of its maturations.Now over a month later, I have met with the staff that worked that evening; reviewed my security camera footage; and pulled reports for the time listed within your letter, and there are some points which I will address:1. We are NOT a restaurant, and in no way do we infer that that having (6) small tables make us a restaurant. We are however a very, and yes at times too busy pizzeria who's mainstay is takeout and delivery.2. The "blonde girl": This is my SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER, and quite frankly is the only point that is quite untrue, yet truly an exaggeration of her attitude. a. We DO NOT have waitresses, as my humorous custom-made wooden sign dearly states above the register, it say's "There are no hot waitresses, or waiters, so please place your order here." b. My daughter, while she is young, I could provide you with far too many compliments of how she's i. Very sweet ii. Levelheaded iii. AND COMPLETELY UNDERSTANDS THE NEEDS OF THOSE WITH FOOD ALLERGIES SINCE IT'S HER YOUNGER BROTHER WHO SUFFERS FROM [redacted] [redacted]. If anything she's more concerned with those like her brother than those without the issues iv. Lied To: This customer has used the work "lied" pretty easily and the last major benefit of this young lady is she doesn't have a dishonest bone in her body. In no way would she "lie" or even stretch the truth to a customer. IT'S JUST NOT IN HER DNA.3. The Issue of Being "Lied to": Again, we are not a restaurant, and merely have the tables since many children who have food allergies have never gone out to a pizzeria and sit with their parents to have a safe meal. Now, while this customer did choose to eat-in, yes they deserve the same consideration as any customer who is sitting at the table.I pulled the records for the period this customer was in the store, and unfortunately the new menu came out that previous week AND I ran an announcement of our new allergen-friendly pasta. THIS and THIS ALONE caused the backups since there were 3 other AF/GF pasta orders that were in previous to theirs as a scheduled delivery; and frankly there was one more waiting after his that was for a deferred order later that evening.WHY does/did it take so long? My daughter was 100% correct in her answer by stating that it takes longer to make these items. WE TAKE SAFETY/CROSS-CONTAMINATION VERY SERIOUSLY. This special menu is not a line-item for profitability, it was created BY and FOR our son, and in the end we offer to our customers.We will not rush the production of these items because this is the easiest way to introduce potentially dangerous shortcuts WHICH COULD EFFECTIVELY SEND MY SON FOR INSTANCE INTO [redacted]. So, with that in mind, these items are made on their own burner; using a dedicated pot; a dedicated strainer; with dedicated tools. EACH time a pasta is made the pot and strainer must be cleaned. It's my rule and it will never be changed just so that we can speed up the cooking process.THIS DELAY, A TRUE DELAY WAS ONLY CAUSED BY OUR STAFF FOLLOWING MY SAFETY PROCEDURES WHICH CAN, AND WILL, CAUSE DELAYS IN HIGH-VOLUME, MULTIPLE MENU ITEM ORDERS.4. Could service have been better? Sure it could. Should I expect more from my staff, and my daughter? Not at all. a. They were inundated with various allergen-related food orders (mostly deliveries) during the period referenced within this document. b. They followed my safety procedures c. My daughter did apologize when explaining why there was a delay. d. I had (2) regular customers in the store at the same time and while they were a bit foggy about this specific day, they BOTH found it odd that they were do critical of the explanation and know at times that it's too busy for such a small footprint, which is a mid 1900's gas station...very small.Lastly, based upon the information provided by the complainant, and corroborated by my staff, at no time did they ask to cancel their order, or to have a refund made to their account. Furthermore, please note the time between when they frequented the store, and when they say they first reached out to us, 2-weeks had passed and then it became an issue.While we could have resolved this via other means, I take great offense to the comments that "we lied" and "were rude". It is for that reason that we cannot offer this person a refund, moreover they consumed the food and left without incident. A manager was on-staff, and again this place is the size of a shoebox.My family, and staff, take the safety of our gluten-free and allergen-free customers a bit too serious, and I personally know that this policy is few and far between in our industry. THIS was the main reason for the delay since we will never lax on our safety issues and at no time was this person lied to, nor was his order lost since there's nowhere in this place to lose an order since it's just too small.Cordially,Mandy's Pizza