Za Pizza

Za Pizza, located right on Broad Ripple Avenue, should be a slam dunk. When it opened a few years ago, it served New York style pizza by the slice, staying open into the wee hours to accommodate the hungry late-night party crowd trying to sober up before heading home.

Eating romaine lettuce with a plastic fork is not easy!

When I tried it, I liked its industrial and modern vibe. Honestly, the pizza didn't wow me for the price, but I did not feel strongly one way or another. They pride themselves on "the biggest slice," but it just seemed average in size to me. Perhaps actual New York street pizza ruined me for life? (I hear distant applause from all of my New York friends cheering...) Anyway, I was excited to hear that they were opening upstairs shortly before the Super Bowl. Slated for the second floor was a full-service pizza-pasta-salad eatery with affordable wine and local draft beer. It sounded like a winner!

Jeff and I wandered in right after they had opened (upstairs) one night. We each had a drink and found the staff to be friendly. The atmosphere was sports-bar casual and fun.  With an abundance of dark orange paint and brown accents, Jeff commented that it resembled and A&W root beer stand (in a good way).  The prices on the beer and wine were great. The menu looked basic, but we were excited to come back and try the full experience.


As someone who has worked in the industry, I know that every restaurant has a bad night once in awhile. For some reason, however, I have a hunch that the meal I'm about to recount was more than just a bad night. 


We walked upstairs with a party of four to find a couple other tables seated. It's a small place, only 8-10 tables. On Saturday night at 7:45pm I was a little concerned for them but selfishly relieved that we would got a table so easily. Service was slow and sloppy from the get-go.

For starters, our drinks (except for my glass of wine) were served in clear plastic solo cups. Our silverware was also plastic. (Curiously enough, the dinnerware was ceramic.) This was bewildering, as they were not busy enough to have run out of the real stuff.  The conclusion I was forced to draw was that someone actually made the decision to use plastic cups and silverware in a full-service restaurant. Wow.


We wanted to try a little of everything, so we ordered a specialty pizza, a calzone, ravioli, salad, and garlic knots. I'm not going to harp on every detail, but suffice to say there were dozens of service gaps (no menus after drinks arrived, no refills, had to ask for silverware, dressing on the side ignored, garlic rolls came after entrees, etc). At one point the cook came out of the kitchen, asking each table who it was that ordered the calzone with pineapple. Apparently they were out of pineapple and needed to find out which replacement topping the patron wanted. 

Ravioli "Marinara" that was laden with meat sauce and meat balls

The salads came (not as ordered) and were fine. The rest of the food was a different story. The pizza was pretty terrible. At $18 (for their smaller, 14" pie) I was expecting the Greek Pizza, billed as a specialty, to be.... well, special. Canned black and green olives, barely any fresh spinach (maybe 6 leaves?),and a crust that seemed pre-made and on par with Chuck-E-Cheese all made this pizza a severe disappointment. The ravioli marinara (I had asked if there was any meat and told there was not) was really cheese ravioli bolognese with meatballs. This was a problem because we had a vegetarian at the table and that was one of the things he planned to eat. The ravioli itself was okay. I doubt it was truly homemade as advertised; it tasted like every other cheese ravioli dish I had eaten in a casual Italian diner.

Greek pizza

The service was unapologetic. Our server complained to us that she was the only one upstairs, but then told another server/busser who was helping that she didn't need her help (it was an awkwardly heated exchange for customers to see). At $80 with tax and tip (2 glasses of wine, 1 soda and the rest water), the whole situation seemed ludicrous. Typically I would try to give some constructive feedback for such an experience, but it was clear that they were not interested in what we had to say. Too bad, because Broad Ripple could use a funky little by-the-slice pizza place. I am sad to say, but Za Pizza gets 1/5. Dismal, but I am confident that no one who was in the dining room with us that night will be back soon, if ever. Cheers to better luck (and better pizza) next time!