Pinocchio's Pizza & Deli, Pasadena

Pinocchio's Pizza & Deli

1427 N Lake Ave Pasadena, CA 91104

626-791-7591

Yesterday I cruised around the world wide web for places in the San Gabriel Valley that serve buffalo (style) wings. I have had some pretty awful ones lately-- Pizza Hut's Wing Street and Papa John's, to name a couple. People on Yelp and Chowhound had their opinions and I always enjoy the really detailed reviews. Being that I wanted to try a Mom & Pop joint very close to home, we decided to try Pinocchio's on Lake. We could practically walk there. I'm just tired of driving to Monrovia or Arcadia to eat every Sunday.

Other reviewers were correct to say the service sucks here. The crappy thing is, there is absolutely no reason for it to suck. Our server only had one table: us. Yet she stayed behind the bar, head bent down, possibly using a calculator, I don't know. I am a great patron so when I have to stoop to the level of an annoying patron by raising my hand or staring at my server to get them to look at me, it is embarrassing. I would have liked a lot more attention but instead she acted like she just didn't care. I'm sure somebody who actually needs to earn a living would care and do the job right. That's another subject.

Pinocchio's has a great happy hour everyday before 7pm, in which we partook. It's a great deal. Each appetizer is only $4! We ordered the hot wings which are served with ranch and fries and we ordered the mozzarella chili cheese fries. The wings were good, or at least fit the bill of what my taste buds were craving. They were crisp on the outside and cooked perfectly. I would have rather had them tossed in wing sauce instead of served naked. I don't like having to dunk the wing in a little ramekin of wing sauce--it just isn't the same. The ranch was bland and the fries were good. The chili cheese fries were disappointing because the chili tasted canned. No thanks.

Hubby chose the seafood pesto pizza. It was OK. The crust looked pre-packaged. It definitely didn't taste handmade. The toppings were shrimp, red and yellow bell peppers and pesto sauce. The shrimp was not cooked all the way and was previously frozen (you can always tell by the lack of flavor). It wasn't a bad pizza but when I go to a place that has the word "Pizza" in the name, I expect the pizza to be good.

We waited for our bill. I stood up with my 1-year-old who was very ready to leave, which should have given the server the hint. She kept ignoring us so I approached the bar and asked her for the bill. I HATE having to get up and approach the server for these regular steps of service to be met. Hubby actually left her a very good tip, like, 25%. I would have left only 15% if it were my wallet but he said he felt bad for the restaurant because it was empty and he thinks this server just needs to be trained. He's super nice, isn't he?

$4 is a great price for appetizers. That would be the only thing for which I'd return. I would order the wings and if I do go again, I'd like to try the fried calamari, the bruschetta and the fried zucchini.

BJ's in Montebello

BJ's Restaurant

1716 Montebello Town Center

Montebello , CA 90640

323.201.5290

323.201.5294 FAX

I meant to start posting blogs on Food Ripple, like, 2 years ago. What ever happened to that idea? I don't know but here I am. Now let's begin.

Some of you may know I worked for BJ's for four years a while back. It is actually how I met my husband. I feel I know a lot about the company and being that I still eat there, I can see they haven't changed much. That's too bad.

I still eat there because the food is pretty good. So, why "too bad"? Because service sucks at just about every location. This time we're talking about the one at the Montebello Town Center. Service at this location is stifled by the inexperience of it's wait staff. My most recent trip to this location was November 2008. We waited at least 20 minutes for a server to greet our table. We were completely ignored for so long that I asked my husband if we should just go elsewhere to eat but just as we were discussing that, an apologetic server arrived and started taking our order.

Our entrees arrived before the appetizer. The food runner did not realize we hadn't received our appetizer so when our server came by we let him know we still wanted it. My husband's entree came out with a baked potato but he'd ordered mashed potatoes. Somebody brought out a side of mashed for him. As for me I'd ordered the Classic Baked Potato as my entree and I requested salsa instead of butter and sour cream (I'm on Weight Watchers trying to lose weight!) but my baker came out with butter and sour cream instead of salsa. Somebody went and fetched my salsa.

Meanwhile, we still didn't have our appetizer, which was the Lettuce Wraps (they are DELICIOUS. I get them every time.) and our table was full of stuff we did not order and nobody bothered to remove these things. The Lettuce Wraps arrived and we enjoyed them. A manager came by and sincerely apologized for the entire evening starting out bad and continuuing down that path. He comped our appetizer and I think he even comped our child's meal, which was really nice. But the thing is, BJ's has always comped food for customers who've had a bad experience. They have been doing this at least since the time I started with the company, which is about ten years ago. Why haven't they improved in that many years?

So, we have established the service to be a 4 out of 10, right? Now for the menu: BJ's has changed their menu a bit in the last several years. They've even changed the recipe for certain items, not for the better. Namely: the salsa. I think it's got some kind of chipotle or smoked spiciness to it now. I don't like it at all. It tastes like its from a jar. Something else that has changed is the tortilla chips. Their nachos used to be awesome but these newer chips they use are black, red and white and not as tasty as the original chips. They are even worse when they get burned in the salamander (where they melt the cheese).

You can tell by the menu that BJ's idolizes The Cheesecake Factory. They are trying to come up with more trendy dishes and present them in a classier style because a big hunk of withering kale just doesn't cut it anymore. I think they have good intentions with regards to the menu but before they can be that restaurant they should pay a lot more attention to the quality of service they are providing to customers who come to spend their very hard-earned money (more true than ever these days).