Go for the pizza but don't expect good service
Written: Mar 07 '01
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Pros: Good Pizza, good cocktails
Cons: POOR service, Smoky
The Bottom Line: I would recommend Bill's Off Broadway to a friend, but I would warn them of the POOR service and the smoke filled restaurant.
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| phroggey's Full Review: Bill's Off Broadway |
I have been eating on and off at Bill’s Off Broadway for the past 10 years. I generally really enjoy their pizza and on a good day, they are one of my favorite pizza places. However, there seems to be some inconsistencies in their food quality. I have mostly had really great pizza at Bill’s and I have occasionally had not so great pizza at Bill’s. I seem to think this inconsistency has to do with who’s cooking on any given day. For the most part (about 80-90% of the time), the pizza comes to my table with a nicely browned crust, melted (and slightly browned) cheese, good amount of toppings and great aroma and taste. On the rare bad occasions, the pizza comes to my table with burnt sauce dripping over the edge of the crust, overcooked crust and a mushy pizza center (too much sauce?). The quality of the pizza seems to be more consistent when I get a smaller personal size pizza.
The service at Bill’s Off Broadway is consistently SLOW. If you are in a rush or don’t feel like spending a lot of time for dinner, do not attempt to eat at Bill’s. I don’t recall ever being able to go into Bill’s and order a pizza and a drink and getting in and out in under an hour or more. The restaurant is seat yourself style, with a bar-like setting. It tends to take the staff quite a while to even notice that you have come into the restaurant. Once they bring you your menu and take your drink order, it often takes them 10-15 minutes just to bring over your drink and take your order. Once they take your order it takes an additional 30 minutes or more to get your food. I have been there on several occasions where I can see my pizza sitting on the counter for 10 minutes or more before my server decides to go pick it up and bring it to my table. In addition to the slow service, the servers are generally not very friendly and seem to not care about you or your order.
Non-smokers beware:
The final thing that I dislike about Bill’s Off Broadway is that no matter where you sit, there is always a cloud of cigarette smoke wafting by. The restaurant does have a bar (they make good drinks!) and a majority of the restaurant is rather bar-like. The bar like setting doesn’t bother me, but the vast majority of the restaurant is SMOKING. The NON-SMOKING section is in an elevated area (about 2 or 3 steps up from the other areas of the restaurant). Of course the smoke from the larger smoking area tends to rise and ends up wafting around the entire restaurant in effect making the whole restaurant smoke filled.
I tend to go to Bill’s in phases. I will go several times and when I get really, really worse than poor service, then I will put them on my “do not go back” list. I have had periods of over a year that I will not go back mainly because of the awful service. Then, for one reason or another, I get a craving for Bill’s pizza and end up going back. I generally will end up going there several times over a 1 to 2 month period before the poor service reminds me of why I don’t go there on a regular basis.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: No
Best Suited For: Friends
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Epinions.com ID: phroggey
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Location: Seattle, WA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
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