Great show, poor restaurant. Stick with watching The Sopranos on the television. Oh, and the restaurant? Fuhgeddaboudit!
My family and I moved down from Connecticut to Palm Bay in July near the Bayside Lakes area. The transition from New England to Florida has been difficult finding great customer service and food. Soprano's was originally located conveniently down the street in the Publix plaza.
We were craving pizza in Palm Bay. Seriously, we have plenty of opportunities to choose from around here. We gave them a chance. The server was a young kid with dark hair. He looked Italian. No wonder he got the job. It's no different if they hired an Asian for a buffet or a Latino for an Aztec looking Mexican restaurant. I felt the Italian vibes. Good job. However, customer service was already starting off poorly. He was missing his pen to take our order. My dad and I ordered two root beers. The root beer was as flatter than roadkill. I was curious about the calamari but they ran out. Why didn't he mention this before I ordered? We decided to order two pizzas.
When the pizza came out, they looked decent. They weren't brick oven style. They were very doughy. More dough than toppings. Generally, you pay lots of dough for less dough and more toppings. Am I right? We never went back after that experience.
The Bayside location has closed for several months, but they recently moved into the Winn-Dixie plaza off of Minton and Malabar. I live near their old location, but I work right next to their brand new location. The old Radio Shack separates our two stores. After a long ten hour shift, I decided to go next door and give their new location a chance.
When they moved there, I heard they were giving out discounts for anyone who worked in the same plaza. That was one incentive for coming back. As I arrived, I walked up to the front cooler desk.
"I am here to sit down, eat, and leave."
The lady stared at me and laughed. She said some rude comment about knowing that there is a payment process involved. Well, of course. I am not coming in to eat and leave without paying. Anyway, I sat down myself. Yeah, it's not like the old location where they invite you to sit down. That was awkward, not inviting, and I sat there to wait. The menu was delivered to my table. I looked it over for the 4th time because I glanced at it via their mobile site prior to my trip. I was craving a stromboli. I knew the local competition has really good strombolis.
After I ordered, I told the new server about my poor experience from the old location. She wanted my family to give them another chance. She admitted that the kid left and she took his place. She "kissed the soda machine goodbye" when they were moving out. Well, why didn't he tell me that it wasn't working properly? Anyway, my stromboli came out. It was nearly an $11 Veggie Deluxe hot pocket. It wasn't loaded. It was oozing more cheese than peppers and vegetables. The breading was okay, but there wasn't anything to it. The drink alone was $1.99. I paid $13 before a tip! I even gave her a $3 tip. No appreciation. They didn't honor anything for my poor experience. The discount for working in the same plaza was only for grand-opening specials. Now, I know where I stand. I am taking my business across the street. Fired-Up has better pizza, better strombolis (feeds 2 people), and much better service.
Have I recommended any of my customers to go next door?
Fuhgeddaboudit! read more