After seeing photos of the Eckington's Pizza from Bacio Pizzeria on IG, I decided to take a drive all the way from Alexandria, VA, across the bridge, to try it for myself. Big mistake.
I arrived and was seated in the upstairs portion of the pizzeria. I wasn't asked or given much choice on where I'd prefer to sit. To me, upstairs was very cramped and small with not a lot of space for people to move around. But, I figured it was better than sitting outside. Also, the restroom was literally right behind my chair. So, people kept scooting directly in back of me to go into the restroom. All that restroom air being pushed out everytime the door opened and closed. But I didn't complain.
My server was busy. At first, I gave him the benefit of the doubt because I know how it is me being a former server and all. He took my order within about 10 minutes or so, which wasn't too bad. My food came out in a fairly decent amount of time. The pizza was good but it wasn't great. I've made better pizzas at home in my own kitchen. It was lacking flavor and the toppings were sparse. It didn't really look like the pizza I saw on IG, and that photo I saw wasn't from a food blogger or critic either. I just figured maybe it didn't look as good because I got the Small 10" and maybe the one in the photo was the 14" Large. I thought maybe the size had something to do with it.
So, I sucked it up and I was going to pay my check and leave with no complaints and leave in peace. Until...it took over 20 minutes to receive my check. So, I initially sat for about 15 minutes quietly while my server zipped right past my table. Finally, he stopped and asked me "Would you like anything else?" and I told him "No thank you, you can bring the check, please". He left like he was going to get my check but instead when he came back he just went to the other table to take their order. So, I waited for another 5 minutes before another staff member saw me waiting patiently and asked "Is everything okay?" and I told him that I was just waiting for my check. He said he would bring me my check.
Another person (not my server) ended up bringing me my check. I open the check and they already added on 18% gratuity to the bill. I usually wouldn't have a problem with that, if I wasn't a party of one and if it was on the menu. It wasn't listed anywhere and it was unusual that they would add gratuity for a party of one. This made me wonder if everyone was charged this automatic gratuity or just me. Before it took over 20 minutes to get my check, I was actually going to tip the server more than 18% because I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. So, to add it on the bill was offensive, in my opinion. Especially because my server was not the one to bring the food to my table or give me my check. So, I basically was tipping him for taking my order and that's all.
The manager did stop by to ask if everything was okay. Not sure how he could tell because I don't usually wear my emotions on my face. I told him about the situation and he did offer me dessert or a drink. He at least seemed to try to make it right. At the end of the day, there were way too many things that went wrong to give them anything higher than one star. From the poor seating location, to the unattentive server, to the mediocre pizza that I thought was going to be great, to waiting over 20 minutes for my check, and then being charged 18% gratuity for it all. read more