Awful experience Sunday at 6 PM after our Disneyland trip. We walked in to an empty Pieology line, which we thought would be a plus, but turns out they are empty during peak dinner time for a reason. I haven't been to this one in years but I was really disappointed I didn't just go to the blaze closer to me. There were 6 employees there and yet we had to wait over 5 mins for anyone to help take our order with no one saying a word to us about what they were doing, waiting on, or what we should expect. It's ok to make customers wait, just talk to them.
The first employee was cleaning up the underside of sauces section with a rag and no cleaning spray. She just kept pushing it around until it looked clean, but I figured that since that was under the trays, it wasn't a health issue. I could tell someone was very messy with the ladles as one of the marinara sauce trays had pesto, cheeses, and butter/oil pooled on the sides.
The second employee was pressing and placing the dough on the trays. She seemed to be the only employee actually working the line.
The third was scattered and asking the other two what to do, she tried her best to help but she was clearly new or undertrained to handle the customers all by herself
Employee #4 was just standing in the veggies/meat section waiting and doing noting to help his team.
Employee #5 was listening to music on her airpods while working the empty register, and she had an attitude when I paid and then asked for a cup and lid for my daughter's apple juice. She seemed to think I was going to steal some soda so I said "ok, no problem."
Employee #6 was folding boxes, and a lot of them for an empty restaurant with only 2 pizzas in the over from other customers. I'm sure they have to prepare for the rush, but this seemed to be pattern of every-person-for-themselves. She didn't know what all the sauces were and seemed bothered to have to go and find out. There should be a sign people can look at to know what to ask.
Food tasted ok but this was mostly because of how hungry we were when eating them. The gluten-free crusts were burned and crispy like rustic crackers on a charcuterie board. One of my daughters' pizzas was black along the edges and it had shrunk to about 8", when the other was overdone but the usual 10".
I used to really like Pieology and have supported them since they opened the Fullerton location on State College. The prices have increased drastically to compete with Blaze, and that is typically fine with me if I need to pay extra to support a struggling business. However, they're charging more for a subpar experience and leaves a lot to be desired.