We normally order from the New York Pizzeria in Calimesa and have had good experiences, but tonight…read moreour DoorDash order was somehow placed with the Beaumont location instead. Unfortunately, the entire experience was extremely disappointing.
We ordered two pizzas -- one Canadian bacon, pineapple and cashew, and one pepperoni and jalapeño. One of the main reasons my husband chose New York Pizzeria is because he knows how much I love cashews on my pizza, and they are one of the few places that still offer them.
We waited about an hour for delivery, which honestly wasn't a problem at all. It was a Friday night, and we completely understood that both the restaurant and delivery services would be busy.
The problem was how our pizzas arrived. BOTH pizza boxes had apparently been carried and left at our door upside down. When we opened them, the pizzas were completely smashed over to one side of the boxes, with the cheese and toppings stuck to the lids. They were ruined. My husband had actually caught a glimpse of the DoorDash driver carrying our order and thought it looked like the boxes were being carried like regular packages rather than pizzas, but he wasn't certain until he brought them inside and we opened them. I'm including the videos of us opening both pizza boxes with this review so you can see exactly how they arrived.
I completely understand that the restaurant did not deliver the pizzas and isn't responsible for how a DoorDash driver handled them. However, we had never dealt with something like this before and weren't sure where to start, so I called the restaurant first.
I was immediately placed on hold, which again was completely understandable on a busy Friday night. What bothered me was the interaction once someone came back to the phone. The woman I spoke with was difficult to understand and, more importantly, was very unfriendly and dismissive. I was basically told that it wasn't their problem and that I needed to take it up with DoorDash.
I actually suspected that DoorDash would ultimately be responsible for the delivery issue, and I wasn't expecting the restaurant to take responsibility for something the driver had done. I was simply calling the business we had just ordered food from because I didn't know the proper process. A little kindness or even, "I'm so sorry that happened. Unfortunately, because DoorDash delivered it, you'll need to contact them for a refund or replacement," would have made the interaction completely different.
After all of that, we still tried to make the best of the situation. We scraped the toppings and cheese off the lids, put a couple of slices back together, and tried to eat them because we were hungry and had already waited an hour for dinner. Unfortunately, the pizza itself tasted bad. That had nothing to do with how it was delivered. Even after trying to salvage it, neither pizza was enjoyable, and we ended up extremely disappointed with the food itself as well.
I don't like leaving negative reviews, and I especially don't want to blame a restaurant for something that was clearly the DoorDash driver's fault. But the delivery damage was only one part of this experience. The unfriendly response when I called and the poor taste of the food were separate issues.
We've always had a much better experience with the Calimesa location, so that's where we'll stick to ordering from in the future.
