Boludo

We have been a patron of Boludo's since they opened the counter only service on Nicollet next to NightHawk's restaurant. Pizza and service were always excellent. We have also gone to the new location on 38th - service with Oscar was always wonderful - pizza and empanadas were great. In the past couple years, we've had not so great service and food experiences at the Uptown, Dinkytown and even on 38th when Oscar was no longer at that location - the orders were often incorrect, the pizzas were sometimes burnt and the service was not what it was so we hadn't been back in nearly 2 years. Tonight we decided to try the location on S 4th Street Downtown. There were 2 problems - We arrived a little after 8pm and were told by the person taking orders that we could only order take out despite the fact that they didn't close until 9pm and it was lovely outside on the patio. We said that was fine and placed our order. After we ordered and were waiting for our food, a gentleman came in, placed an order with a different counter person at the counter and was given a number to sit on the patio. We then watched the person at the counter take 2 salads and a tray of empanadas to the gentleman and his companion on the patio to eat there at the restaurant. Next, the same counter person took two pizzas outside to the patio to another lady, who had ordered just before us. So I approached her and asked why we were told we could only order takeout. She didn't have a good answer or explanation and told us we could sit on the patio if we wanted. I asked my partner if he wanted to sit outside and he said at this point he didn't want to stay - so I told her we would just take our food to go. The second issue was with our order. We got a small order tonight - just the De La Casa Salad and the Margarita Pizza with extra sauce - which I stated to the person taking our order 2x - once when I placed the order and then checked again when we paid. When we got home, the pizza had NO SAUCE and tons of Cheese! Getting our order wrong has also happened several times before at other locations. Even when we ate regularly at 38th Street, would go into the restaurant to place our order as it was often wrong if we placed online or in person. Had to toss tonight's pizza. We also started ordering the gluten free crust about 2 1/2 years ago, right before we stopped coming the 1st time. The initial gluten free crust tasted a lot like the empanada dough and wasn't very good. We were also anxious to see if the gluten free crust had improved - it looked like it had but we couldn't eat the pizza with no sauce. We used to eat at Boludo's at least 2x a month when it opened until a couple years ago, but the poor service, inconsistency with the food and inability to get the orders correct are not worth the time or $$ - too many other places in town.

The gluten-free pizza and empanadas are so good!

I'm maybe obsessed with this food. We went before the vikings game so it was at capacity but they were still turning over tables, the staff is friendly, the empanadas?! Delicious. I'm gluten intolerant and they had GF options in pizza and empanadas so I didn't feel left out at dinner. And it might be some of the best pizza I've ever had. I will be coming here again.