Dasha G.
1/5
Today I excitedly attended Hyde Park Pizza 🍕 Fest which was hosted by the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce at The Promontory because I was really looking forward to the pizza tasting while spending time with neighbors after a long winter. Hyde Parkers were nice and approachable even though all of our patience was being tried as we found ourselves still waiting to be allowed entrance to the venue 30 minutes past the start time of noon. While we waited in line we watched employees and DoorDashers frantically deliver pizza. Once I finally got my hands on it, my favorites were the sausage and margherita from Bob's and the BBQ chicken from Medici. So yummy! 😋 The gentlemen who passed out the menu informed us that the festival sold out all 150 tickets yet only about 8 tables a few couches were available and none were added as the event grew in size. There wasn't any place to keep the pizza warm while we waited in line so it was served cold on flimsy paper plates and no one even offer us napkins, which gave me flashbacks of attending disorganized family cook outs as a child. The patrons had menus and more awareness of the options than the servers who scurried around trying to locate the pizza toppings you requested. The event was scheduled for 12-3 but in reality it ended up being 12:30-1:30 because within an hour they ran out of everything except papa Johns, Italian fiesta and Cholies then moments later we were assured more would be ordered however, nothing but pizza coupons materialized. There weren't any decorations, no activities, only one bar tender, absolutely no forethought was placed into the flow of serving drinks and food so one side of the event space was crowded and the other side was almost empty. Although funk music is great on many occasions, on this occasion all it did was place an emphasis on the fact that nothing was festive about this festival. There was absolutely no communication about the drink tickets so some things I requested were included and others required an extra fee. I was informed there would be an additional charge after placing an order and receiving drinks even though I gave the bar tender my pre-paid event drink tickets while I was ordering. He apologized and truthfully he was doing his best to serve an understaffed event that clearly lacked project management. Sadly because no one thought to set up an activity table for the little ones they ended playing like kittens chasing the strobe light shadows across the concrete floor. It was a wonderful idea to bring a community together after a long winter, but it was mismanaged and poorly executed. My family left having not been able to use a drink ticket and two pizza slice tickets. I expected professionalism and community engagement activities from the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce or at the very least I to receive what I paid for
