After being in the area for almost a year, I was so excited to finally try Ninos. With many…read morespectacular reviews both online and through those I've spoken to in person, I had such high hopes that I was going to find my new go-to pizza spot, but I don't think I will ever return after this encounter.
We dined in on a snowy evening when there were no other patrons in the restaurant. Very few stopped in to grab to-go orders, but we were the only group to actually sit and eat dinner here. Upon reaching the counter in search of a menu, our first negative encounter occurred. We asked an employee if we could see a menu, and he dismissed us quite quickly in a rude manner, telling us to look on the counter as if we were blind. No menus there, nothing was there actually, leaving us standing confused. Once he realized his mistake, menus were thrown onto the counter without another word spoken.
During this time a family did walk into the restaurant to pick up a to-go orders, which was not yet prepared, leaving them to stand and wait. When we decided on our order and approached the counter once again, we were told we had to wait 5 minutes for them to take our order. Understandable if the restaurant was busy and the front of house staff were in the middle of doing something, but no - the person who told us to wait 5 minutes was just standing there, doing nothing. This employee was not actively making the other guest's order (as there was a back kitchen responsible for that), leaving us even more confused as to why we had to stand there waiting, face to face with the employee, who was just standing and staring at us. After a few minutes of standing in confusion, the other employee who we encountered prior began arguing with this one, in front of the guests waiting for food, leaving us in a very awkward position. Only after the employee was scolded by his coworker was our order officially taken down.
Once we received our food we sat at the few tables Ninos had to enjoy our meal. Throughout our dinner the two workers remained arguing with each other, outwardly discussing staffing issues and leaving us to feel unwelcome.
Upon leaving, we packed up our leftovers and returned to the counter in search of a bag to place our food in. When asking the staff for a bag, we were thrown a stack of paper bags and told to take what we needed. Since the bag looked to be on the smaller end, we asked if this bag would fit the aluminum tray of food that we had leftover, to which the staff replied "I don't know, go figure it out for yourself."
The food was decent, the pizza was crispy but nothing to write home about. During the time we dined in the options for pizza were a bit limited (understandably). The penne vodka was just okay, we felt as if it was pretty bland and heavy on the cream. The best thing consumed here was the Philly cheesesteak - messy and cheesy in the best way, but also lacking flavor and could have used a sharper cheese or even some salt. The bread was fresh and soft, which would be great for other hero sandwiches they serve.
With the food being mediocre and the service horrific, we definitely did not feel welcome when dining in here. Throwing items at customers seems to be a common activity here, along with dismissive remarks and constant arguing between the staff making you feel as if you've intruded on personal matters. If the service were better my group would have considered returning, but this experience has left a bad taste in our mouths overall.
