Restaurant Review - Pat's Pizzeria, 1218 Winter Garden Vineland Rd (535), Winter Garden, FL

Update 10/13/07 - Things are not looking good for Pat's Pizzeria. Tonight I tried to call to order a pizza and no one answered the phone. When we drove by to see if they were open, a sign said they were closed - and it was a Saturday at 7:30 pm.


Pat's Pizzeria is located right on 535, just south of S.R.50 in Winter Garden. It's located behind the Publix shopping center in a new strip mall that is next to a storage place. If you didn't know it was there, you would probably go right by or think it is just a take-out pizza place like I did. Instead, it is a quaint little sit-down restaurant serving New York-style pizza. And when I say "little", I mean it - Pat's only has seven tables total with five booths that seat 4 people and two larger tables that can seat 6 - there's also the "Wine Cellar" room that is a private function room in the back that can seat more folks. Also, they appear to really discourage pizza delivery - if you want your pizza delivered to your home, they only deliver from 5 - 9 pm, and there is a $4 delivery charge. You'll probably want to eat-in or take-out.

Pat's Pizzeria is also a work in progress. Since they opened a few months ago, they are experimenting and trying new things to become a part of the community and increase their offerings. They just added beer and wine on their menu and are now open for lunch on Sundays. They also just added an "Italian Style Breakfast Buffet" on Sunday mornings starting at 9 am. The flyer says it will feature fried dough, meatballs, eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast, muffins and more for $6.99 for adults and $3.99 for children under 12. I don't know if I exactly think of going to a pizza restaurant for Sunday breakfast, but hey, it's creative so I'll probably give it a try.

The restaurant, as I noted above, is very small but is nicely decorated. They went with an "Italian countryside" theme so there is faux paintings on the walls that make it look like you are eating outside an Italian village. The open kitchen is along the left-side of the space and the booths are along the right. There are also two TVs on either end of the restaurant so patrons can watch while they are eating (or waiting).

The boys, Grandma M., and I ate at Pat's on a recent Friday night and we were able to get the last booth. Pat's doesn't do too well, service-wise, when their place is crowded and our visit was no exception. Our server came by to get our drink orders and then disappeared for a while (which is hard to do in such a small restaurant). When she finally did return, she brought Wikki Stix for the boys to play with (for an explanation of Wikki Stix, see my review on the Florida Waffle Shop), and then took our order. We just ordered a large cheese pizza (18") for $12.99. I usually like mushrooms but Pat's only has canned mushrooms, so we went with just the cheese. Grandma M. also ordered a side garden salad, without onions. They do have children's items (but no coloring menu - BB was upset until the Wikki Stix arrived) such as spaghetti for $2.99 or chicken fingers for $3.99, but usually in pizza places we just have the boys eat the pizza with us. While we were waiting for our pizza, a manager dropped off some garlic bread at our table - I actually have no idea why since pizza is not supposed to come with garlic bread, but I don't quibble when there is garlic to be had. The bread was fantastic - small slices of Italian bread drenched in garlic butter and toasted just right. About 15 minutes later, our server dropped off our pizza at our table, along with cute pizza-shaped dishes for the boys, and then promptly left before we could ask about the side salad for Grandma M. Pat's makes a great pizza - crunchy crust, slightly sweet sauce, and a "fresh bread from the oven" smell. After 10 minutes, we finally had to stop a manager to ask about the salad (our server had disappeared again). He came back in two minutes with the side salad, topped with... onions - oh, well, at least he tried. When we were done with the pizza, the boys started to get antsy and we still couldn't catch our server so Grandma took the boys outside while I waited to get the check. If Pat's could fix their service problem, it would be a great place to go, at anytime. However, since the pizza is really good - I'd say the best in the area - I'll keep coming back, although I'll probably do take-out more often than eating in.