1st Ave Pizza

They say they have 'award winning' calzones?  what award did they win?  the calzone with the most cheese and barely there topping?  a whole lotta cheese and a whole lotta of no topping...the pep cheesy bread was not even cooked..I had to stick it back in my oven for 10 mins so the cheese would melt onto the bread. It was my 1st and last time ordering there.

1st Ave Pizza advertises that they are an award winning pizzeria. Truthfully, their pizza is adequate at best. I've ordered from here enough to give it a fair and honest review. Ultimately, most of their specialty pies are bland and/or overpriced.

For instance, I ordered their BBQ Bacon Chicken Ranch pizza. It sounds like it would be a tasty pie, right? Wrong. All I could taste was dry, flavorless chicken with an occasional hint of bacon. There was very little BBQ or ranch flavor. To add insult to injury, the pie cost me almost $20 after tax. Never again.

Their signature "Grandma" pie is tasty, but the quality is inconsistent. The first time I had it, it was delicious. The second time, they burned the crust to the point that I threw most of it away. The third time, the crust was too thin to support the toppings, and it ended up being extremely messy for me and my friends to eat.

I have also had their eggplant parm dinner entrée, which was nothing special. The entrée included eggplant parm, a small side salad, and bread for $18 after tax. No pasta was included; I had to order it separately. I'm sorry, but for $18, I expect to receive pasta with the dish.

The final thing I will mention is their customer service. Most of the employees are pleasant enough, but there is a middle-aged man there who is one of the rudest, most obnoxious people I've had the displeasure of interacting with. I assume he is the owner based on how he bosses the employees around.

One time, I went to the pizzeria to pick up a pie I ordered after work. As I approached the counter, I decided I would take my wallet out of my coat's side pocket. The man very rudely tells me, "Don't EVER walk up to my counter pulling something out of your pocket again. I thought it was a gun. I could have killed you." I couldn't believe he was talking to me, a paying customer dressed in a suit no less, so condescendingly. And no, he was not joking. He continued to lecture me like I was a child or a thief.

Needless to say, I have started looking for alternatives. I would suggest you do the same. There are far better pizzerias out there with more reasonable prices and better customer service.

**UPDATE 4/20/12**

Response to Butch S. (owner),

I think the tone of your response speaks more to the validity of my review than anything I could write.

To clarify a few things:

1) I live in Atlantic Highlands, not 10 miles away.

2) I have ordered multiple times from your restaurant because I believe in giving a place a fair shot before critiquing it. The last straw for me before I decided to write a review was your BBQ Bacon Chicken Ranch pizza. I have not ordered from your restaurant since then, which was early March 2012.

3) When I said that the Grandma's crust could not support its toppings the third time I ordered it, I was referring to the default toppings: sauce, cheese, basil and garlic. I have never ordered the Grandma pizza with any additional toppings.

4) If you say you do not offer pasta, then I misspoke. I still stand by my claim that I was charged about $18 after tax for your eggplant parm. If that is the incorrect price, then I was overcharged, perhaps accidentally. Even at $11.99, your eggplant parm is overpriced. There is a pizzeria in Red Bank that charges $8.99 for their eggplant parm, AND they give you pasta with it.

5) Your recollection of the weapon/wallet incident is incorrect and, to be frank, rather insulting. Yes, I was pulling my wallet out of my pocket as I approached the counter, but I was not wearing a green military jacket, I did not walk into your restaurant looking up at the ceiling, and I did not find the situation funny in the slightest. The girl at the counter wasn't scared or upset as she rang me up for the pizza. In fact, she was quite pleasant to me. She only became uncomfortable AFTER you made your ridiculous comment about how you thought I had a gun.

I have visited your restaurant and sampled your food enough times to write a fair review. Calling my review "worthless" only makes you seem close-minded, which is never good for a business owner. Yes, I had many complaints, but they're valid from my point of view. You also glazed over the fact that I did say positive things about your Grandma pie, such as it being "delicious" the first time I had it.

Bottom line is that you are in the service industry. People are going to critique you. You are obviously entitled to disagree with my assessment of your establishment, but you should never respond to or treat a customer the way you have responded to and treated me. It shows a lack of business acumen and professionalism.

Have a nice day.

Pizza