Vesuvius

The service is bad. The pizza is great. Had a young girl serve me and had a bad attitude about serving me. I asked for a slice of Hawaiian pizza. She grabbed it with her unwashed hands after handling money. Threw it in the oven then when I was watching her she asked if that was enough time to reheat it. I don’t know maybe she should have. It was cold. Wanted to eat there she gave it to me and was told to have a nice day and then continued to have her conversation with her friend. I like the one one in Marblehead better avoid this location.

Really Vesuvius? You can’t make a pizza with a topping on one quarter only? I have had such high hopes that the silliness I have experienced and others have noted would end and finally a place would succeed in this location. Clearly not.
We won’t try ever again. At least the person on the phone agreed with me.

All the comments about the bad service in this restaurant are true. When I enquired about how long it was taking for my burger I was just laughed at. When they brought it to the table it was literally thrown on the table and not a word was said. At which high school did the owner find these kids. He needs to put them through some sort of training on how to treat and speak to people, besides on how to serve. The burger was very mediocre and my wife’s pizza was just ok. Not even worth going back to.
Should have gone with my original idea of going to Five Guys where the food is good and the service is 100% better.

I love this place, I probably eat here more than i eat at my house. I love their pizza, and my favorite sandwich is the Chicken Special. They make their own Foccacia bread, and its fantastic. I just grabbed lunch from here today again, no issues, never have issues really. Shit, i will probably grab dinner too, #fatguyproblems…I saw some of the reviews talking about an immature staff, and having to wait for food… the kids that work their are young, but again I never have any issues. And the place is freaking good, so of course your going to have to wait a bit

We loved the pizza at first when it opened but the last 2times the food was not great
Spaghetti sauce bitter and pizza very salty We are not going to order from
here again

This place has the best pizza around, a true NY style pizza! But the staff is atrocious! I have only seen such sophomoric behavior on the back of a school bus. These kids will ruin this business unless they are reeled in. They were more interested in their own conversation then taking my order. They were rude and childish and almost ruined the fabulousness of the pizza! There was no hello/​welcome, there was no suggestions like you have to try our «X», there was no up sell. I did hear «OMG I need to pee» and «did you hear what Johnny said to Gina!!!»
I hope this owner realizes that by getting cheap high school kids, he is getting cheap high school kids… For a few dollars more an hour he could get adults who act like adults, treat the customers right, and can up sell and make the register ring!
Tonight the pizza was way off… The crust was like matzo… paper thin and cooked like a cracker… There was barely any sauce… And super light on the cheese… Really discounted… I had such a great experience the first couple times.
The staff seemed angry about something, subdued and short with customers. Again not well skilled in making a customer feel welcome, nor did they seem proud of the product they served, nor did they make any recommendations.
Very disappointed

I like it for what it is which is a sandwich/​pizza shop. I got a grill chicken with garlic mayo which I like. The bread was a little too hard for my tasting but not bad. The staff really isn’t that great so I can see where people are coming from on that part.

We loved it when it first opened. Then the issues started. Wrong orders on pick-​up. Missing items. Worst of all food quality went downhill. The pasta was rubbery and the eggplant soggy on last order. All the other reviews of service are also correct. The place is full of teenagers and often friends are hanging out. They have such potential. I hope they get better staff soon.

Very similar experiences here, as well. The food is great, but the service is horrendous. Zero attention to detail. My family has eaten here about 20 times, and they have messed up our order half the time. Not a great percentage. They have forgotten to toast the bread after offering it to me twice and repeating the order back to me, they have not included salad dressing with a delivery order, etc… We continue to go there, but they are making it very hard for us to give them our money. Stop hiring morons who don’t give a rats ass.

As the other reviews said, this place is not worth trying again. We have tried it twice and both times were disappointed. I’m not sure, but $ 20.00 is a lot to us and probably most people. More importantly, satisfaction is more important than money. We ordered a shrimp scampi pizza to be delivered just 1– ½ mile from the restaurant. Upon arrival, we paid for the pizza and found it to be ice cold, not hot, not warm, COLD! It was not delivered in a pizza bag as all pizza shops use. We heated it in the micro and it was terrible. We called and asked for the owner and he never came to the phone. We were so upset, we had our son call them and he waited 3 minutes to be taken off of hold then another 3 minutes to be told the owner was on the phone with another customer and he would call back. Of course he never did. Not only is the product substandard but certainly the owners customer service is worse. We will never call them again and will spread the word in and around Swampscott and Salem that this restaurant is not worth patronizing.

While I think the food is excellent, the restaurant’s stance on delivery leaves a lot to be desired. We previously ordered from Engine House as our ‘go-​to’ pizza/​sandwich shop, but once we tried your food, we were immediately converted customers, as the quality/​variety of your menu was fantastic. Over the span of 3 weeks, we probably spent a couple hundred dollars on delivery, however, we were informed one Sunday evening that a new policy was just put into place, and our address (near the Hawthorne Hotel), was out of range. It’s unfortunate and disappointing because we would have continued to order from you regularly.

I have zero regrets about the deliciously juicy bacon cheeseburger with cheddar, barbecue sauce and homemade potato chips that I had. NOM NOM.

Better off going to a fast food restaurant. Order was messed up and cold. 2^nd time going and most likely won’t go again.

Even though I’ve given 2 stars, I will probably try the place again, but my first visit was a mixed bag of ups and downs. Here is how it went: my wife and I walked in and the place looked similar to the restaurant that was there before; modern and clean. Placing the order was not an issue, the cashier was friendly but minimal. We ordered two chicken ranch wraps, an order of fries and two waters to go. The total was just over $ 22. The place was not swamped or empty, so the 30 minutes before the order was ready was quite unexpected, especially since a few people who ordered after us got their food before us and their food was more involved. The guy behind the counter was polite but impatient. We took the food and went home, when we arrived at home we opened the food and found that they got half the order wrong — one chicken ranch, one turkey bacon wrap. I have to wonder how that can happen, they were the same wrap? The food was tasty, even the one that wasn’t ordered. However, both my wife and I were not feeling well 20 minutes after consumption. Again, I’m not sure if it was the food, but it seemed that way. The symptoms passed fairly quickly with the help of some tums.
As I said, it was a mixed bag and I’m not settled on its worth as time moves on. I have another experience like this one, I’ll never visit again.

Did not have particularly high hopes walking in here because of the reviews, but this place is extremely friendly, patient, and delicious.
I say patient because my parents and their language barrier can sometimes take a little longer to order, but the staff walked them through any and all questions.
The set up is very open and friendly to large groups. If you’re looking for some great comfort food, give it a shot!

This place is a hit or a miss. Some days the food is awesome and tasty, others it’s not so great. I’m not sure why they advertise «pasta». I came in 2 in the afternoon, was told the guy that makes pasta wasn’t in yet, 4 pm the same thing. Another day I called to place an order at 9pm, they said the pasta was done for the day. How hard is it to make pasta? Please, don’t advertise it if you don’t want to serve it. The subs and pizza are pretty good. I advise you to stay away from their over priced and not so great salads. I ordered a steak tip salad that came with a handful of lettuce, two cherry tomatoes, some carrot shavings and literally 4 small little pieces of over cooked steak tips, and they want $ 8.50 for this?
I was excited when this location of Vesuvius opened, but the service and some of the food has disappointed. I can’t give them a «1 star» because I did like their pizza and the meatball sandwich, but that’s about it.

I saw some of the reviews below and was expecting something terrible but, I decided to give this place a shot. When I walked in the door I was greeted by a warm welcome, friendly smiles, and a clean modern atmosphere. I ordered the chicken Parmesan sub and a slice of buffalo chicken pizza. The chicken Parmesan was different than most. Instead of a savory robust red sauce, it was of the lighter and sweet variety. The Chicken itself was moist and coated in Italian seasoned bread crumbs. Also, unlike most restaurants who use bagged shredded cheese, you get a great portion of FRESH mozzarella. When I took a bite of the pizza (which is also sold by the slice) the crust had an excellent NY quality consistency. All in all, give this place a shot, it’s a great addition to the north shore restaurant community.

I live a minute or less away. Ordered on the phone for pick up pasta and a burger. Told it would be 20 minutes. Arrived 10 minutes later and was told, as I expected, that it would be a couple more minutes. Paid for food and it was ready several minutes later. Immediately returned to vehicle and was home in less than 2 minutes enjoying soggy and obviously old French fries and lukewarm pasta. This is the second time that something like this has happened at this location with our order.
Between my wife and I we have a combined 30 years of experience in the food service industry. It is obvious given the complete lack of attention paid to the order in which food is prepared relative to the time it takes to make it and its hold time, and the inexperience of the counter staff (where the hiring requirements seem to be under 20 and female) that the management of this restaurant has little clue what they are doing.

Went in to give it a try. Waited 20 minutes for a sandwich and burger which were cold and soggy by the time we got them. Marinara sauce was bland and condiments were inconvenient for a sit down restaurant, packets of salt and pepper (instead of shakers) and ketchup in the little pouches like you get at the drive thru! Also the staff was too busy talking to each other to realize that we were sitting there for a lifetime and our food was sitting there at the counter getting cold! Won’t be going back!

I have never been to the original Café Vesuvius location in Marblehead, but I can say that this is the best pizza I’ve had in the Swampscott/​Salem area. They have a great variety of specialty pizzas. So far, I’ve had the Tuscan (ground sausage, red pepper, onion, garlic) and the Al Fresco (Fresh tomato, fresh basil, mozzarella, olive oil and fresh garlic). The ingredients are fresh and the crust is amazing– chewy/​crispy and just the right amount of salty. In an area that is full of mediocre pizza joints, this place is a welcome addition. Looks like they’re also looking to add pasta soon and they recently added desserts. Give it a shot– you won’t be disappointed!