We have been customers of Pizzeria Testa since they opened and have eaten here regularly for years…read more Our kids grew up having pizza nights here. Unfortunately, after our experience this week, we will never return.
While dining at Testa on Friday, we spoke directly with the longtime manager we regularly see there, as well as our server, about holding our daughter's 11th birthday party in the small private room the following Saturday.
We explained exactly what we wanted: the room for a few hours, a couple of their meter pizzas, appetizers and nonalcoholic drinks from the regular menu, and a birthday cake or cupcakes that we would bring.
We were told in person that the room would be around $100, that we could order from the regular menu, and that bringing the birthday cake/cupcakes was fine. We were instructed to contact their special-events person to arrange it.
So we did.
That put us in contact with Holly, Pizzeria Testa's Sales Manager.
What Holly initially presented to us was completely different from what we had been told in person.
She told us the room was actually $150 PER HOUR, plus a 20-person group-dining-menu requirement. After we explained what management had told us at the restaurant, Holly offered instead a $620 food-and-beverage minimum, with the food required to be preordered.
For a three-hour 11-year-old's birthday party, that meant $450 for the room plus a $620 food-and-beverage minimum -- $1,070 BEFORE the 20% gratuity and tax.
We repeatedly explained to Holly that this was materially different from what their own management had told us face-to-face just days earlier.
What was particularly disappointing was Holly's response that she would speak with Efrain, Pizzeria Testa's General Manager, "to ensure that our servers are not giving out incorrect information."
Except this information did not simply come from a server.
We had repeatedly explained that we discussed the party directly with the longtime manager we regularly see at Testa as well as our server.
Holly then spoke directly with General Manager Efrain about the situation. After that conversation, her final response was that Pizzeria Testa was "unable to accept reservations at this time."
So after years of being regular customers, we were left with this: management told us one thing face-to-face, Holly quoted us something entirely different, and after Holly escalated the discrepancy directly to General Manager Efrain, the restaurant still would not accommodate anything resembling what had originally been represented to us.
For us, this isn't about whether Pizzeria Testa is entitled to charge $150 per hour for a private room or establish a $620 food-and-beverage minimum. Of course they are.
It is about whether longtime customers should be able to rely on what a restaurant's own management tells them face-to-face.
Had we simply been told Friday, "The room is $150 an hour, there is a $620 minimum, everything must be preordered, and you'll be over $1,000 before gratuity and tax," we would have thanked them and selected another location. There would have been no issue whatsoever.
Instead, we relied on what we were specifically told in person, followed their instructions to contact the events department, and then encountered an entirely different set of terms.
After being customers since Pizzeria Testa opened, this was an extraordinarily disappointing way for the relationship to end.
We will not be returning.
The pizza was never the reason we stopped coming. The way this was handled by Holly, Efrain and Pizzeria Testa management is.