U.S. Pizza in Little Rock, Arkansas Suffers from Poor Service

Pizza has evolved from a special treat to an everyday lunch choice, especially with the proliferation of national chains. The national chains provide a consistent experience, but none of them provide a unique pizza experience. It is small local pizzerias that bring back memories of truly great pizza. In Little Rock, U.S. Pizza has been around for years, long before the invasion of Domino's and Papa John's. Once known for consistently great pizzas, U.S. Pizza still has a few hits, but the quality of the menu items has started to decline in the last few years, as a recent visit showed.

A dining companion and I visited the U.S. Pizza location at 3324 Pike Avenue. The restaurant wasn't crowded, but it took over five minutes before we were greeted. Once were finally greeted, our server was efficient, but hardly friendly. The menu is more varied than you typically find at a pizzeria, with a wide selection of sandwiches and salads complementing the pizza offerings, which included the usual fare and more unusual options like the Artichoke and Roasted Garlic Pizza and Trey's Chloroplast Blast. We stuck with the tried and true and picked the Supreme Pizza with Pepperoni, Beef, Sausage, Green Pepper, Onions, Mushrooms & Mozzarella.

In spite of the lack of business, it took over a half an hour for our pizza to arrive. We received no explanation or apologies, and our pizza was inexplicably lukewarm, as if it had been sitting unattended for several minutes. Our drinks were empty, but the server didn't offer to refill them. We had to go to the counter and ask for our refills. The pizza was greasy, but tasty, even if it was cold. It would have been better to if it hadn't been serve room temperature. The toppings were plentiful and the sauce was just spicy enough to give the pizza some kick. It was disappointing that a pizza that looked so wonderful and had the potential to be great was ruined by a low serving temperature.

Between the cold pizza and the bad service, our visit to U.S. Pizza was one of the worst restaurant experiences that I have had in many years. U.S. Pizza still has the ability to provide a great experience, but the food is uneven and the service is worse. If you are truly craving pizza, order your pizza to go and take it home to reheat it.