Oregano’s Pizza Bistro

In town for work and was told that this was the ONE place I had to eat at while in Tempe. Although it’s a Monday night, the place was packed and I found the one empty barstool to have a drink and place my to-​go order. Saw a group of people order this frozen delicious looking drink, so I did the same. It ended up being the Gibbilini Bellini and it was tasty. I decided to order the El Diablo Shrimp Pasta and then proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait some more. I saw a to-​go order come out and get sat on the counter, but was told mine would be a few more minutes. Fast forward to a few more minutes and guess what? That one was mine.
Now for the pros and cons of the dish. The shrimp was huge and looked amazing, but ended up being overlooked and chewy. Overall, it was SPICY. The menu says it has a «kick». Yeah, that’s putting it mildly. It’s been ten minutes since I finished eating and my mouth still feels like it’s on fire. I’m convinced they took jalapeño and rubbed it on every single piece of pasta before they gave it to me! Other than that, the garlic bread was buttery and toasted just the right amount.
I’m inclined to try it again while I’m here, especially with the amount of people that were there. Next time when I read «kick», I’ll stay away though!

Disclaimer: I’m writing this review from a servers perspective. I also came into the restaurant 10 minutes before close. But nothing, not even staying after close, calls for the type of service my friends and I received.
Tonight I came into join some friends for a meal. First of all, when I got there, my friends who are also servers were already complaining. They did not get sat because it’s restaurant policy to not seat until your whole party is there (sorry, my b) but sat at the bar to grab a beer. It took them 20 minutes to get a beer at the bar. 2. 0. I’m sorry, what? It’s a Monday and it’s not packed at all. That is absolutely unacceptable. It takes about 6 seconds for a 20 oz pour and 10 seconds to ring it in.
Then they finally got sat (I still wasn’t there, so I don’t know how) and ordered food. When I got there, it was 9:50, no one greeted me at the door (it happens) but I searched for my party and found them. I sat down and our server got to us about five minutes after. I ordered a beer (a Devils Ale) and surprisingly wasn’t offered a menu, which I found to be odd. I mean, at this point I figured the kitchen was still open, as I was unaware that it should have been last call because no one had mentioned it to me. The server definitely didn’t, and my friends would have told me if last call would have been done. If I had known, I wouldn’t have ordered food. We had to actually ask our server when the restaurant closed. I’m sorry, but not giving customers a heads up about last call is extremely disrespectful to the folks in the kitchen, and I honestly feel bad for the people who work in the back. My apologies.
Another server came back with my beer and it was a Blue Moon. I didn’t know if one of my friends had ordered another beer before I got there, or if this was supposed to be mine, but the bartender set it down in front of me and told me it was mine. I told them it wasn’t and they took it back, but either the server rang it in wrong or the bartender poured it wrong. Not to mention, the server seemed in a huge rush to get out of there. Understandable, I get it, but don’t make mistakes because you’re a closer and you want to get out quickly.
Anyways, my friends got their food and I was still waiting (obviously because I had ordered after them). My friend had ordered two more beers, and the bartender dropped them off. She mentioned «I hope it wasn’t a 20 minute long wait for these beers!» We know it was supposed to be a joke, but it didn’t come off that way. It was a little awkward to say the least.
It wasn’t a super long wait for food, but it was definitely a wait. When I got my food, it was good, but not great. Honestly, super mediocre Italian food. But that’s the recipe and no one can really do too much about that. Not only that but when my food was dropped off, the server, in a rush, asked my friend if she could box up his food when he wasn’t even halfway done with his salad. He didn’t even have time to respond and she had already gotten the box.
After the meal, our server cleared our plates, but about five minutes later some girl came by to clear our beer glasses. She had her iPod headphones in (?) and was very sassy and pushy about getting our glasses from us. We were just like ooooohkay calm yo’self, here’s the dang glass. No smiles, no nothing.
All in all, this one star is for the service, not the food. It was awkward and a lot was uncalled for. The food was okay, not the best, but the service could have been a lot better.

This is my second time coming to this location for lunch. I got the Bollo Pasta both times with salad and meat sauce. WOW! Enough food to feed an army and I get to take a full plate home?! YES! Combine that with the load of cheese sprinkled on top the pasta and salad, I’m pretty much in heaven! The wait staff was nice too.
Why not 5 stars? Parking is not great, it’s always crowded and the service is on the slower side (probably due to the hoards of people here at lunchtime). And also, my friend got the Big ol’ Slice and I was very sad for her as the crust was so thin it was non-​existent. She left hungry but it was a relatively inexpensive meal as a whole. Pizza slice $ 2.99 +.99 per topping; salad $ 2.79; Bollo Pasta $ 5.99 + .99 for meat sauce for EACH serving of pasta.
I’ll be back to try other stuff on the lunch menu.

So lame! Stupid policy! They don’t seat incomplete parties. It’s not like they are busy today. I could understand if it was packed. But it’s NOT! Unfortunately it’s where the birthday girl wants to eat. Take this place off my list. F this place!

I rarely write reviews but I sure will take the time to write this one… I’ll tell you a little later how Oregano’s always serves me the TASTIEST Salad ever (Pablo Picasso) my favorite by far! but first, let me tell you about how I met the world’s nicest server this evening. I’ve been eating at oregano’s for 3 years now and it’s one of favorite restaurants because of its great food and friendly servers but I’ve never met a more amazing server… Jordan made my my restaurant experience 1000x better! I believe I have a very good judgment in character and I honestly don’t remember the last time I met a more genuine and nice person/​server that really truly loves his job in my life. And at the end he offered to buy me and my friend a very yummy dessert.(pizzuki) as a nice gesture above his amazing attitude. So for everyone who goes to that place. just make sure to ask for Jordan to be ur server and enjoy a great meal with «genuinely» nice service.

I’ve been here a couple of times while I was here at Tempe as a student. Their pastas are really good. My personal favourites are The Big Rig Pasta and Alfredo the Dark… The quantity that they serve is very generous for the money that we pay. The pizzas that they serve too are very good and is the best in town. But the pizzas take quite long to be served.
Overall a very good place to have some authentic Italian Food.

The thin crust pizza is amazing. The salads are huge and tasty. The meatballs are so delicious. The calamari is different but very good. We also tried the wings with honey bbq sauce The service is superb! I recommend this place highly.

If you are in any sort of a time crunch stay away from this place.
They wont let you put your name on the list if the whole party isn’t present. Then we waited over an hour for our pizza to to get to the table.
Totally ridiculous.

This Oregano somehow stands out among all in the valley, may be for the ambience, locality and the wait staff.
All the wait staff recommendations on our first visit were awesome, no complaints, true to the taste as mentioned, very flavorful, and encouraged me to try them again.
This is as good as it gets. We sat outside in a nice weather, which was a plus point.
I would strongly recommend this place.

This is an awesome place!
We came here for pre-​race carb-​loading two years in a roll before Ironman Arizona. They are very accommodating for the big groups. They also let you know the deep dish pizza will take long ahead of time so we can adjust what we want accordingly.
Everything here comes in big size! Sharing with friends is the best way to go.

Extremely friendly customer service from Carli at the Togo counter. Helped me choose favorites. I had the Big Rig Pasta, includes rigatoni pasta covered with a tomato chipotle cream sauce, chopped basil, diced Roma tomatoes, Parmesan. It was flavorful, and does have a kick. I added the meatballs, and I’m glad I did, they were delicious. Ordered a dinner salad, pretty basic… I wouldn’t get again. I took my food to go, however the restaurant was very busy with people waiting at 8pm on a Tuesday, impressive. Thanks Oregano!

Okay so Tonight I was with a party of 3 and let’s say we are going home with food.
We got a 16inch thin crust Meaty pizza. (I forgot the name). Anywho the pizza was very tasty and the sauce is delicious!
I got a side of Soup (of course!) it was great.
The men:
Well I informed the waitress this was their first time. And she gave a bit of info on the portion sizes but nothing when it came to the salads. So–
Hubs got a Caesar salad.
Pops got a house salad.
One salad could feed 2 people. So we paid an extra ~$ 6 due to the size per person that are it.
So in conclusion– the pizza is amazing! It’s nothing without the sauce so the sauce was great!
The serving size I would say are HUNGRY MAN status!
I took 2 star due to the waitress not telling us about the salad size, and our dirty dishes were stacked on the table yet no one came to pick them up!

Favorite Italian food joint. Wait at times sucks but the food and drinks are worth it. Always a smile the moment you check in and the food is always warm. Always a large a portion and you can count on taking some home.
Angel bowl of never ending pasta is the prime order. The marinara is delicious and the pesto bowls are a killer. I approve.

So delicious! Everything we have ever had! The service is great too! The only bummer is everyone else loves this place as much as we do! I suggest you go early – or order takeout, an hour before you want it on weekends!
But seriously, this place is great.

Flew in from Indy to spend some time with family. What a great place to make some memories. The Clark Street pizza was out of this world– a thin crust pizza loaded with sausage and pepperoni. The crust was perfect and paper thin. The sauce was good and the meat is everything that a grown man desires. We had the bistro salad that was oddly kind of spicy. Tossed in a sweet and spicy dressing that exceeded my expectations. Service was excellent. Thank you Kelly! Try it! You won’t be disappointed.

FOOD IS AMAZING!!!
Obviously you can’t go wrong with their food, that’s definitely never the issue. My boyfriend and I LOVE this place and have only been disappointed with their food once.
I usually have OK service (have never had great customer service here) but the last time I visited I was sooooo disappointed.
We only get a 30min lunch break at my job, so we are always looking for places that will allow us to order take-​out. Two weeks ago it was my friend’s last day, and we wanted to go out to lunch as a group to wish her well and to spend time away from the office for lunch. My co-​worker called this location a couple hours before we planned to eat to see if we could place our order ahead of time, but eat there and order drinks with a server. (We obviously planned to tip the server for our food purchase as well) Even though the girl said that would be fine over the phone, it was a nightmare when we got there.
We were scolded by some blonde woman (I’m assuming a manager?) because they «don’t normally do this», even though we were ok’d by the girl who took our orders over the phone. Everyone treated us terribly as if we were being high maintenance, even though we were advised by the staff that this would be ok. We were not trying to make trouble for anyone, and were treated poorly because of the new girl’s mistake. Not to mention she tried to close us out ahead of time, even though the bartender advised her that she should not «close us out»; to which she said «I’m not closing them out, I’m having them pay for it.» (Clearly she was brand new to the industry).
5 stars for food but the service at this location is terribleeeee! Such a shame.

Best place for either lunch or dinner.
Great service, great food and everything was served fast & best of all not super pricey.
Enjoyed the ambient!
Highly recommend :)

Hands down the BEST PIZZA, and SERVICE I have ever had in my 50 some years! A definite go to neighborhood Pizza and Bistro for everyone !
When are we going to have one of your Bistros in our community in Massachusetts? ??? I’m interested! !!!
Great food, excellent accomidating Servers with awesome personalities.
When I’m back in town I will definitely revisit this establishment !!!

Awesome Pizza!!!
The best pizza I had in a long time. Great authentic flavor, calm environment, good service. Plenty of options in the menu. Definitely I place to visit when looking for good Italian food.
Went out with some coworkers and we were all extremely satisfied with the place, the food and the service. Desert was in the house!!!
5 people. Salad, two pizzas, soft drinks and desert $ 64.00 plus tip!!! Coming from California, this was definitely a bargain. A must try when visiting Arizona

Hate to be negative, but Oregano’s used to be one of my favorite places to grab some pasta and go to when my family came to town. Well, I don’t know what happened, but the quality of food is not the same at all anymore and I don’t see myself returning back.
We sat down and ordered cheesy garlic bread to start. That took forever to come out. When our server brought it out, we ordered a family style salad to start, and two big rig pastas with a side of italian sausage. Literally, no more than two minutes later, our salad and pasta came out at the same time. I thought to myself, I’m sorry but there is no way that pasta could have cooked that quickly. Much to my intuition, the pasta tasted like it had just been sitting there waiting to get brought to a table. The sauce was watery and flavorless. I had about three noodles and said forget it. We sent back the salad because there was no point to even eat it anymore.
Of course we ended with the pizooki, but how can you really mess up cookie and ice cream? That was about the ONLY good thing about our meal.