Anchor Stone Deck Pizza

"My experience occurred many years ago, memories of it literally are keeping me awake tonight. Reading one-star reviews indicate that things have not changed. The primary issue, which reading about similar incidents online, is the current trend of people verbally (in my case physically) attacking “the jerk” in a bad retail experience. My guiding principles are that the customer still sometimes is right and the sad truth in dealing with the public is that you must be prepared to deal with unhappy people. The test of a business is how it responds when something goes wrong. This Stone Age incident still prompts saying “blech” when passing this place. The place essentially was the same under the small local chain The Upper Crust. I believe that the owner is the same. My first Groupon was from Upper Crust, and I did not read fine print either specifically that the Newburyport franchise was not participating or in general way that not every franchise would honor the deal. I placed an advance order on the morning that I wanted to redeem my offer. I ordered the pizza to be ready either at their opening or 15 minutes later. I showed up to be told that my pizza was not even in the oven because the guy who was supposed to come to heat the oven either never came in or was late. I also learned that the restaurant would not honor my Groupon. I took the matter in stride. My next experience reinforced that if the guy who is supposed to come in early does not, you have two people come in early or have the manager or owner verify that the guy is there. I suspect that the opener had a habit of being late. I was very careful to read the next Groupon offer. It stated that Newburyport participated. I again pre-ordered a pizza and showed up to be told that the guy who was supposed to heat the oven had not showed up and that the restaurant would not honor the Groupon. The excuse this time was that too many Groupons were purchased. A teenage girl was working the register. She either already knew of my prior experience. She denied my request for a free pizza, which I cannot imagine costing more than $2 In ingredients. I was calm in this and in asking her name because I intended to call the owner and knew that he might tell me that my description of the girl might fit a couple of people. I recall the girl telling me that her name was Brittany, Tiffany, or Amber. I was angry but I was calm and not threatening in any manner. I said “you are acting like a Brittany.” The two guys, who were several inches taller and roughly 15 years younger than me, in the kitchen came out and each grabbed a shoulder and shuffled me through the restaurant and pushed me out the door. That humiliation obviously still haunts me. I think about how a customer who acts far less aggressively toward an employee is considered a monster. I did speak to the owner. He knew of my first Groupon experience and commented that the response to the second Groupon had been overwhelming, which honestly was irrelevant to my buying one in good faith. His battle was with Groupon and Upper Crust not me. He went on to say that Brittany had done the right thing and tried to make me feel badly about my comment to her. He told me that I has made her cry, that she was a family friend, and that she babysat for his kids. At best, he said the guys should not have grabbed me. He did not apologize. Saving $2 should not have been worth losing more than 10 years business or triggering a bad memory ever time I read about other customers shouting down a guy seeking a reasonable solution to a problem."

"First time ordering pizza here tonight around 7pm. Called around 8:30 because we still did not receive the delivery. Order was never made and they didn’t offer us the pizza on the house or a discount. Worked in restaurant biz for 10+ years and would never handle something like this so poorly. Not really into paying full price for cold pizza so I won’t be ordering here again. Poor management. No respect for customer."

"In the middle of downtown Newburyport-Looks like a typical pizza place at first, but we were pleasantly surprised! The pizza was great, thin crust great sauce and friendly service- very patient-thanks guys we'll be back! Cozy and welcoming."

"Great experience here with very courteous professional staff. Got a vegan pie and 3 salads and everything was exceptional, the pizza was amazing!! Love the super thin crispy crust. Thank you for having vegan options ♡♡"

"Nice, thin crust pizza. We had the cheese and it was really good. Outdoor seating is nice."