Cafe Pizzaiolo

CLOSED as of June 2014. Good thing, they were bad. Supposed to reopen as an English Pub soon. We’ll see how that goes.

Their food is good but horrible service. Phone service is bad and every time we come they screw the order up some how or are trying to save the sale. Very frustrating.

This is the 3^rd and last time that I will try this place. The food is always good, so I keep coming back, but the service is consistently awful regardless of when I’ve gone there. This time, we arrived at 7:45 PM on a Friday and waited 5 minutes just to see a hostess. Then, when we were being seated, we were told that pizza was going to take 30 minutes because they were only using 1 oven. We said OK and got ready for a 30 minute wait. 1 person in our party ordered pizza, but everyone else got food as it was ready. Mac and Cheese came out in 15 minutes, salads and sandwiches in 20 minutes, then pizza in about 30 minutes. So most of our group as done before the pizza even came out. Not great timing — they should have brought all the food out together and suggested something quick from the app menu. If they can get their kitchen and servers working more efficiently, this could be a great restaurant.

Went with friends last night for a Lupus fundraiser. First, kudos to the restaurant for committing 10% of last night’s sales to the 2014 DC Walk to End Lupus Now.
Big, bright, bustling open space. As others have mentioned, very family friendly, and definitely not an intimate «date night» space. That said, our service was great, the server easily and without question divided our check at least 6 ways (we would have been willing to figure it out, but it’s so much easier if a restaurant is easily able to do it).
Easily some of the best pizza that I’ve had in the metro area. I realize that that may not be saying much, since in general I think we have awful pizza. I had the Bella, which is prosciutto, mozzarella, arugula and parm — thin NY style crust with just the right amount of «bite» and char, super tasty — in fact, the leftovers are downstairs calling my name right now. BF’s Carne Mista was also fantastic.
We’ll definitely go back — or at least do carry out. I have my fingers crossed that the reviews that talk about the quality of the food being inconsistent are wrong.

Good food, love the pizza and the chicken tenders are a favorite with my son. Last time I was there, I went with several other families and we were able to use the back room. We all had a great time and the kids were able to move around and watch TV. Service was good and I had a chance to meet and talk with the new manager and some of the staff. I was very impressed and will be going back soon. They offer a great pizza special on Tuesdays and a wine special on Thursdays. Great family atmosphere!!! Going to try out the brunch next. Glad to have them in Cameron Station.

Pizza as always is very good– can’t figure out why service is so slow and outright unacceptable! The only thing consistent with the service is that it’s horrible– the staff are nice– but horrible at service– refills take forever– seems very disorganized– do they have a manager or leader or sorts in charge– couldn’t tell! Seems all the staff can do is apologize for their lack of skills and leadership– does this stem to the kitchen staff– why are they always behind on getting appetizers or salads out? This place needs a leadership overhaul !!

Like the other reviews said, this place is kid-​friendly. Like children-​running-​around-​the-​restaurant-​screaming-​loudly friendly. If you can get by that and the incredibly mediocre service, the food is actually pretty good. They pour a decent cocktail too.

Take out review: on time. Quick. Friendly Service. I give it 4 stars because the pizza was a 4 star kind of pizza. It’s good and very convenient living in cameron station.

Good-​but-​inconsistent/​expensive pizza, mediocre service, and bad management for not addressing the first two. The italian sub is pretty great, though, and the only thing I’ve had consistent success with.
Good bar. I agree with posters indicating the bar is the only place to get good service.
Other reviews re: noise level/​screeching homunculi are accurate, but don’t bother me; it’s a family place.
Wouldn’t be a patron if they weren’t 1.5 blocks from my house.

Sit at the bar for good service. Fried zucchini app is tasty. Bruschetta platter is yummy. Love the traditional neopolitan pizza. With a glass of Sangiovese, it takes me back to Tuscany. The Bella is also a favorite with proscuitto, fresh mozzarella Abd arugula. Carries local favorite port city beers on tap as well. Always a bonus.

We all got gyros and we all thought they were really good. Meat was flavored very nicely. The service was pretty quick when we went and didn’t have to wait long to get our drinks and food. The décor is a little odd. There are random paintings on the wall for sale but they looked like paintings I could do — and I’m very far from being a good artist that could sell my artwork. It did give us something to talk about.

Came here for a Art By The Glazz class (wine and painting).
Although I did not dine in, I did order the bruschetta platter and it was surprisingly very fresh and delicious. The Café Pizzaiolo staff was friendly and accommodating as well.
Would dine here based solely off of that. :)

Very very very slow service our waitress was terrible! we waited over 2 hours for our pizza. Yes, the pizza was good, but we will never be back here again!

Came here for lunch with friends and experienced the slowest service ever, which is not how a lunch service should be run. It took 20 minutes for us to even get glasses of water!
I was not impressed with my prosciutto sandwich either, which also took forever to for them to make. At least my friends liked the pasta that was the special for the day.

This is a great family restaurant.
THIS IS NOT A DATE NIGHT PLACE!
This is not the place to go and whisper sweet nothings in your lover’s ear.
This is not the place to go for a quiet evening out.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people say things like ‘not to hate on the bib & highchair set’, but come on. If you simply read the Unilocal review before you go, you would see that Café Pizzaiolo strives to be a family restaurant. That’s why you can find stroller parking out front during the summery. And it is right next to a pretty nice park too.
As for the menu, like any other place that does not set it’s cheapest plate at $ 50, some things are better than others. Here are my recommendations.
Antipasto: The Brochette Platter includes six pieces two each of tomato caprese, pesto and mozzarella, and roasted peppers. The Caprese Insalata is one of the best I’ve tasted with just the right amount of balsamic to no overpower the taste of the cheese. The meat, cheese, and olive plate is always good, though I can’t eat olives.
Pizza: The Diavala is simply amazing, having just the right amount of heat to give an interesting taste. The Carne Mista is really good, though I do admit I like a bit more spice in my meatballs. The Bacon Pizza is one of my go too choices.
I also recommend the calzone, if you know what to put in one, and any of the gelato.
Look, if you are looking for Two Amys for pizza and ambiance, Café Pizzaiolo is not the place to go. It is that kind of place and it doesn’t try to be that kind of place. What it is, is a good place for families to bring young children and get good food.

I’ve got to agree with Jason P: not to hate on the bib-​and-​highchair set, but good lawd, this place was full of them.
Our pizza (white with garlic, spinach, basil) was actually delicious, the service delightful. They have pasta dishes too, and a good selection of beers on tap (about 8, including several options brewed in Virginia — my Lost Rhino IPA was lovely).
But if you’re looking for date night, you won’t find it here. What you will find is a very patient server who didn’t even flinch when a tot batted his sippie cup off the table so hard it broke in two pieces on the concrete floor (no lie).
«Good for kids?» I’ll be checking yes.

I wasn’t a fan of Food Matters. At all. I was relieved when they finally closed, hoping a fantastic new restaurant would move in since this is one of few places within walking distance of our house. But I was *majorly* disappointed to see the «Coming Soon: Café Pizzaiolo» signs a few months later. After several poor experiences at the Fern Street location, I was not looking forward to an outpost moving into the neighborhood. I wasn’t at all tempted to give it a try.
But then. Husband and I went on a long walk one afternoon. Really long. Towards the end of it, as we passed through Ben Brenman Park, husband said he was so famished he could barely take another step. I looked up, and there she was: that cursed Café Pizzaiolo. «Pizza?» I asked, hoping he’d say he could make it home. «Yes!» he responded. And so it was, that I ended up here entirely against my better judgment.
In terms of ambiance, this CP location blows Fern Street out of the water (not that that’s saying much). It’s much larger, more open, and brighter, if a bit stark. The food is about the same — that is to say, average. We ordered some bruschetta to start and a small White Pizza to split for our main. The food was fine, tho the pizza crust was a little bland and slightly too crunchy (also a problem at Fern Street). Most egregiously, tho, our plates were dirty, and my fork had food stuck to it, which is so, so beyond gross to me.
But what is *much* better about this CP location is the bar. So my three stars are entirely for this sizable, well-​stocked area at the back of the restaurant. They have some nice draught beer options (Dogfish Head, Port City, Five Point), and some great bottled choices (Starr Hill, Bell’s, Shiner Bock, Allagash). And you can get pitchers. I *love* pitchers. Our bartender, Keegan, was super: chatty, attentive, and efficient — despite having to tend bar *and* wait on half the tables in the joint. He switched the bar tubes to the NCAA tourney for us, too. Pitchers + college ball = two happy campers.
I also noticed they sell six-​packs and bottles of wine to go. Bonus.
Would I come back? Not for the food alone. For the bar? Yup. Not too many bars I can walk to in my ‘hood, so that counts for a whole lot.

Oh, dear… people, people, people. No, no, no. This place was horrendous. I don’t even know where to start.
How about we begin with the stale bread. I’m sorry but this is unacceptable for a place that claims to serve Italian fare.
Next, the pizza. We have had better from Mama Celeste. It was soft, soggy and the crust had zero flavor. This bread also tasted stale, but the big problem was there was no salt in it. Bread needs salt.
On to my salad. Caesar with grilled chicken. The dressing — which is what really makes a caesar salad — was CLEARLY the vineagrette bottled stuff from Ken’s. I’ve bought it before thinking it wouldn’t be too bad. It was worse than bad and I would know that boring, bland, sorry excuse for caesar dressing with my eyes closed. The chicken on top was fine and the lettuce was fresh — just so you don’t think I don’t give credit where it is due.
Service was extremely slow but that probably had to do with not having enough servers on hand. Plenty of people in the kitchen, though, cookin up some really awful food.
Décor was yuck. Great space with a lot of potential that was lost. Lots of junk just laying around — roll of masking tape, planters without plants in them, empty pizza boxes for decoration. They clearly went to a used restaurant supply company for the furniture. If the food was good I wouldn’t care in the least, but, things being as they are, it just made the night worse.
This is not good food, not by a long stretch. Any chain pizza place would have been better than this, and we HATE chain pizza. I have to believe the folks who gave this place high marks just don’t know good food. The salad was plucked right from a refrigerated shelf at 7 – 11. I’m actually disturbed that the average is 4 out of 5 stars. What is happening? I actually want the address of some of these reviewers so I can send them my tab from tonight. I believe they owe us a refund.
My boyfriend is on the bed muttering about tonight. He had a rough day and really needed a good meal. Some key comments from the other side of the room include «horrendous», «abysmal», «I thought the pizza I had in Saudi Arabia was bad until tonight.», «I’d rather pull a diaper out of a dumpster and eat it then go back to Café Pizzaiolo».

Had eaten at the Fern Street location and was very disappointed with the sandwiches — Reuben was not edible.
However, have eaten at Cameron Station location nearly every week. Appetizers are great. Love the Steak & Cheese and the Chicken Marsala.
Wait staff are very friendly and helpful. The waitress we had on a couple Saturdays made us feel at home and remembered us. Glad they opened this location

Tonight, hubby and I went to our neighborhood restaurant for dinner. I thought it was JUST okay. Hubby thought it was good.
We shared the muscles in white wine appetizer. Maybe 14 mussels for $ 9.89. I had to order a side of garlic bread ($ 2.95) so we can soak up the white wine sauce. That’s a very expensive appetizer for a neighborhood restaurant.
Hubby had mushroom Alfredo with chicken for $ 12.48 and I had gnocchi with Italian sausage for $ 13.99. Hubby said his meal was good. Mine came with cheese — even after I had asked NO CHEESE! when I ordered it. So, they made another plate and it was not good. The gnocchi didn’t taste like potato dumplings and the some of the sliced sausages were cold.
Hubby had to ask to refill my water glass and I waited at least 15 minutes after we arrived to get a glass of water. Hubby asked for water when he ordered his wine and never got his water.
I guess the restaurant needs to improve their service BUT they’ve been open for two weeks!