Na ja.... the pizza was good, but the service left something to be desired. We were in this part of town for an appointment and my son wanted pizza. We decided to check this place out. He always gets the same thing: Margherita. Since I'm vegan, I always order a marinara, sometimes with vegetables added on, unless it's a place with vegan options marked on the menu.
So we show up. There's no marinara on the menu, but no problem. I ask if they can make me one. Just bread, sauce, nothing else. They say it's fine. OK, so we order our drinks first. I asked for tap water for my son. Was told they don't have it. A bold-faced lie, I know. I will never understand why restaurants pretend they don't have it. But oh well, I'm not in the mood to argue, so I ordered a small bottle for him and an Aperol Spritz for me.
The server comes to take our order. I order margherita for my son, marinara for me, and I ask if they can add olives and artichokes. All good.
So we wait, and wait. A bit long, it felt like, for being the only people in the restaurant. The food comes out. My son's pizza looks great. Mine... looks great, but smells fishy. Literally. I pick at a piece of something with a fork and ask, "What is this?" The server tells me it's octopus.
I am kind of shocked but I say, "OK, but I ordered a marinara." He then proceeds to mainsplain (pizzasplain?) that "marinara in Italian means seafood." I'm like, "Um, sure doesn't." I responded much more politely, but really? He's arguing with me. I don't feel like arguing. So I just say, "OK, OK, it's fine, but you can take the pizza back because I don't eat meat."
He looks at me and exclaims "It's not meat! It's fish!" Bro, it's 2024, in BERLIN, and you still think fish is not a kind of meat? Again, I don't want to argue, so I just say "OK, whatever, please take it, I'll pay for it, I just don't want it."
A few minutes later he comes back, insists the customer is always right, and tells me they'll make the other pizza, with just sauce and vegetables. We clarify that means no meat, no fish, no cheese, etc. etc. I thank him. That should be it, right? But he pulls out the menu, points to Pizza Carciofi, and insists I ordered that. I'm like "No, I never ordered that." And besides, that pizza come with cheese, olives, artichokes... no fish. Soooo I don't even know at this point.
The pizza comes out -- the one I initially ordered. It's really good, which is the part that sucks. Because I would have otherwise come back. But the way I was talked down to, argued to? It didn't feel good at all. The server is friendly, but also is like "Oh, so where are you from? England? America?" Maybe he was being nice, but it also felt like some kind of message, like OBVIOUSLY I don't understand what pizza is because I'm not from Europe? I don't know, maybe I imagined it.
In the end, the check came. They didn't charge me for both my pizzas -- just my son's and one for me. They did, however, charge me for a Pizza Frutti di Mare, plus extra for my vegetable toppings. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So like 14,50 for a pizza that should cost 10 max. What can I say? I paid and left.
And again, excellent pizza. But really really poor service. Sooooo, yeah. read more
