This review is for Abbot's Pizza Company II, on Pico in Santa Monica; I haven?t been to the original location on Abbot Kinney in Venice. Their bagel crust pizza is fantastic and very unique, and their version of NY-style pizza is also excellent. The pizza is inconsistent though. You'll go one day and the pizza is great, the next time it's not. I went last Wednesday (1/28/09) and every slice I ordered was burned on the bottom and had clearly been sitting out for a while. Everybody there, mostly regulars, were complaining about it as well. We would have demanded new slices but the useless staff up front shrugged their shoulders and said they weren't making any more pizzas for the evening. The last time I went (Friday 1/30/09) I ordered a whole pizza in advance to make sure I got a fresh pie, and I instructed them that I would not pay if the bottom was burned. Hilariously they wrote ""do not burn bottom"" on the pizza box as a note to the cook. He doesn't know that he's not supposed to burn the bottom? That is pathetic. Anyway, this time the pizza was excellent but it took 45 minutes before I got it; they had told me 25 minutes. When I finally got it the lady told me that they thought it was for take-out, so my pizza had just been sitting there. Thankfully it was still hot when I got it, although they gave me NY-style instead of bagel crust which is what I ordered. Not wanting to wait for another 45 minutes to get what I wanted, I let that one go. The staff is generally dreary and unfriendly; they stand around the back area and pretend you're not there when you're standing at the counter. With Joe's pizza so close, why should I have to put up with all this? I may give the Venice location a try, I hear it is better, but right now I?m really frustrated with Abbot?s and won?t be going back for a while. It's too bad because when the pizza is made right it is excellent, but unfortunately that's not enough to overcome the many flaws of this place.
Pros: Excellent pizza when made properly, ample seating
Cons: Inconsistent pizza quality, terrible service, pricey
more