26 May 2011

Crust Pizza Erindale

| marsbutton
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Whilst I have had many positive experiences with Crust, in fact I find their pizza delicious, tonight’s experience was anything but.

We sat down for the average Origin experience,that is, a couple of bevos and a pizza- delivered of course. Knowing full well Crust generally takes about an hour to deliver, we ordered to allow adequate time for the pizzas to be delivered at the start of the game. An hour and a half later and 15 mins into the game, still no pizza. After numerous phone calls before finally getting through to Crust we were informed that the pizza had left the store and was on its way but to call back in 20 mins if it hadn’t arrived. (Not that it should take 20 mins to deliver to Oxley from Erindale).

20 mins pass, still no pizza. After numerous further attempts to get through to Crust, we were informed, yet again, that yes our pizzas had left the store (again) and should arrive within 15 mins.

The pizzas arrived just as we were preparing to call the store and demand our money back, after all a pizza from Pizza Hut is better then no pizza at all from Crust, and by this time we were starving and would have eaten anything.

The delivery boy’s excuse for such tardiness was a shoulder shrug, grunt and “You know, Origin”.

And of course after all that the pizzas cold!

Based on our experience do not order a delivery from Crust on Origin night, in fact any night that may be vaguely busy, unless of course you allow a good 3 hours for delivery and don’t mind eating cold pizza.

[ED – one would think they could staff up for known busy nights]

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I make pizza at home, starting with the dough. Way superior product to anything you can buy. One of my favourites is marinated chicken, avocado and red onion with a ranch dressing that I’ve copied from Belluccis. The key to cooking them is to have a pizza stone (or two). Preheat that in the oven and slide your pizza on – ready in about 8 or 10 minutes. The pizza stones are available for about 10 bucks.

Only been to Crust twice. Not planning on returning as their service is ordinary and pizza is just like the one you can make at home with a bit of intelligence.

There is a great divide in our family about the quality of crust, 90% think its the best thing ever, I tell them to go to APK, Italian restraunt, my house or a takeaway and see the diff, crust seems to me like your usual cheapo domino’s/pizza hut cardboard but ‘a little bit fancy’.

I’ve had a similar issue with Crust Braddon.

Ordered online and paid with credit card. About 45 minutes later, I get a call from some clueless girl who said that they had run out of a certain ingredient. I said fine, put this on it instead. She then tells me that that’s also run out. I ask what’s actually available, and she says “umm… the things that are on the menu”. Gee thanks, that helps a lot.

Told her to forget it and cancel the order, to which she said “we can’t do refunds, once you’ve paid then you can’t get the money back”. I’m well aware of what the law states in regards to things like this, but I really wasn’t in the mood to argue, so I went on their website and just chose something totally different.

Yet another store to add to my blacklist…

averagejoeaussie11:08 pm 01 Jun 11

I can see where you are coming from but, hey man – origin night? One bad experience out of how many?

Stock standard from Crust now unfortunately.. And at the end of the day, it seems like it’s gourmet pizza – but it’s not really. Everything is still mass produced and out of a packet that’s shipped to the franchisees….from what I hear. I’d still go APK any day – 100% made from scratch in the shop from fresh ingredients.

They just can’t seem to sustain the level of deliveries they get.

I decided to order from The Turkish Grill next door (who have just started home delivery!) on Origin night and couldn’t have been more happy. Food was delivered piping hot within the hour (and if you’ve seen how busy these guys get in-store takeaways that’s pretty good) and not only that, it was fresh and quality. Origin feast of pide’s and lamb & chicken skewers and rice was bloody great. Had half the food left over for lunch the next day too. Bang for buck, craps all over crustys.

WonderfulWorld10:52 pm 27 May 11

Wow such an array of wonderful expressions and excuses.

Each person that decides on a delivery of Pizza, or takeaway in general, will have a different experience. It is almost like Man vs Wild and the first person to create such a doco will no doubt capture millions world wide in their audience, especially if there are rampid mouse issues.

So funny this is what happened to us two weeks ago same word for word but we demanded our Money back and got after ringing the owner and was given our next order free..
And he’ll no we did not get delivery we picked up

Crust Erindale what a joke and full of lies to it customers whatba way to keep them

I have had mixed experiences with Crust Erindale. Strictly pick-up and only order on a quiet night of the week. Watch out for olive pips if you like having teeth.

Buckaroo_Banzai11:30 am 27 May 11

I had a similar experience with Crust Braddon. But it was a regular Saturday night. Ordered about $80 worth of pizza, paid with credit card (mistake!!). Was told it would be an hour. waited an hour and a half, rang up, got told another 20 mins. Rang up 30 mins after that. told another 10 mins. rang up again 20 mins later when it still hadn’t arrived, was told another 10 mins. I told them to cancel it and put the money back on my credit card. they assurred me they would. I asked to speak to the manager. he was ‘busy’. got reconfirmation they’d refund my credit card. once again they assured me they’d do it right away. 2 days later hadn’t happened. rang my bank and organised a chargeback. Crust is now on my ever growing retail Blacklist.

He stated that he was drinking, and presumably paid for the privilege of having it delivered instead.

And given the above response, picking would not necessarily have made it any quicker!

You don’t pay for delivery with Crust (unless you haven’t discovered their website)!

I haven’t ever tested their delivery (I hate waiting), but I have had no problems with pick up – it is always ready when they say it will be at busy as well as slower times. As for quality Crust is streets ahead of the other name brands, not quite up to APK standards but comes close.

Sounds like the pizza boy watched the game lol

Arnold’s tastes better, and is about half the price.

When I first discovered this place it promised so much but when I ordered it delivered so little.
Too many variations in menu, extremely thin dough and tasteless toppings at outrageous prices.
Late delivery and cold.
I am now buying a good quality pizza base from the Italian deli at Erindale and I then make my own. The family and friends love them. Only takes 15 minutes in the home oven and you can add anchovies and fresh wasabi mayo which none of the takeaways offer.

colourful sydney racing identity3:51 pm 26 May 11

I have only had positive experiences with Crust Erindale. That being said I have never had it delivered.

I have never had a problem with Crust pizza. Yes, their delivery times could be improved (generally 40-60 mins), but whenever I order pick up the pizzas are always ready and waiting at most 15 minutes from the time I called.

This goes for both Kingston and Braddon.

mikal said :

You didn’t read the whole thread did you? The feedback here is that Erindale is consistently terrible at producing on time, not just on Origin nights.

I did, but like all good threads, it expands. Besides, I did mention my experience of Crust Erindale, the OP only mentions Origin night and I’ll summarise my thoughts thus: What else does anyone expect when ordering food from a chain store, at any place, at any time of year?

puggy said :

The bottleneck is the oven, and no one in their right mind would buy extra ovens for capacity that they would use maybe five times a year.

You didn’t read the whole thread did you? The feedback here is that Erindale is consistently terrible at producing on time, not just on Origin nights.

What’s wrong with the local takeaway people?! Failing that, make your own. And no, buying the dough doesn’t count. You can buy a ready made base of you have to, but if you buy dough, you’re a knob. Flour, water, yeast, a little oil and salt… bingos! Although, I need a bigger oven. It all turns to custard when I have to cook more than one.

My experience of Crust Erindale was also negative. The only positive experience by anyone is that of the franchisor.

On the flip side, if anyone is expecting normal service on Origin night, you’re dreaming. You only have a right to complain if you order the day ahead for a particular time and it’s then more than 15 minutes late. It’s not just a matter of putting on more staff. The bottleneck is the oven, and no one in their right mind would buy extra ovens for capacity that they would use maybe five times a year.

Oh no! I had one bad experience with late pizza on one of the biggest home delivery nights oif the year so I decided to tell the world! I even gave it to the poor delivery boy cos it was late even though he wouldn’t have a clue about it and only wants his 12 bucks an hour!

First world problems…

Fiona said :

Ate said :

We made our own gourmet pizzas for the Origin last night and sat down with a few cold beers. Wish the game was as good as the pizza.

Best Idea.

I agree

Well, you’ll know what to do next time. Think, of course the Pizza was late, everyone else had the same idea. Self cater next time

+1 Erindale crust is a disgrace, ordered 1 week ago for delivery, got a call from them 1 later with the rude girl demanding when we would pick our pizzas up. Had to get angry with them in order to get them to remake them, had to talk to a “manager” who said they they would be here in 20 mins. 20 mins later they rock up with cold pizza.

la mente torbida said :

Erindale to Oxley?

Maybe if you had gotten off the couch and went and picked it up, it wouldn’t have taken so long

Is this really needed? He stated that he was drinking, and presumably paid for the privilege of having it delivered instead.

And given the above response, picking would not necessarily have made it any quicker!

We’ve eaten from Crust Erindale a few times, and always pickup. Even when we phone 45 minutes in advance with our order we still wait another 45 minutes after the stated pickup time. I think it comes down to a failure to scale — they’re hit the popularity point there they simply can’t keep up with demand, and aren’t honest enough to turn away orders they can’t deliver on time.

It seems that most of the problems are oven capacity. If you watch as they make the pizzas on a busy night, they just bank up waiting to get cooked. Additionally, there is no way to check if your order is done without going to the order line, which makes traffic inside the store a mess.

Ate Crust once and won’t go back. Overpriced and extremely underwhelming, coupled with poor customer service.

Ate said :

We made our own gourmet pizzas for the Origin last night and sat down with a few cold beers. Wish the game was as good as the pizza.

Best Idea.

Crust Braddon is no better. Mr Ate and I were treated terribly by the manager and staff member there a few months ago which left a very sour taste in my mouth. Yes I reported it to head office and was assured they would receive further training. Needless to say Ill never order Crust again.

We made our own gourmet pizzas for the Origin last night and sat down with a few cold beers. Wish the game was as good as the pizza.

I had a similar experience with the Belco store last year on Origin night. Ordered about $80 worth of pizzas, waited for over an hour, called back the store who promised they would be delivered in 20mins. We waited half an hour, called the store again and spoke to the manager who said the docket had been lost and offered to prepare the order and have it delivered in an hour (begrudingly for free). Having already waited close to two hours we declined the offer and called Pizza Hut who had our order ready for pickup in 15 minutes. Just as we tucked in there was a knock at the door from the Crust delivery guy with two hours old, cold pizza.

la mente torbida10:43 am 26 May 11

Erindale to Oxley?

Maybe if you had gotten off the couch and went and picked it up, it wouldn’t have taken so long

Ive heard many good things about Crust, but the one time we tried them (not Origin night) we had a similar experience. Then again, the idea of a gourmet delivered pizza is a bit of a contradiction.

I worked for Dominoes as a delivery boy for a while as a teenager. Origin games were always the biggest Pizza nights for the year. Crust should know better.

…and you mungo-ball supporters should eat healthier 😉

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