Monty Q's Brick Oven Pizza

I've written about hundreds of restaurants, but I'm not sure I've ever done this before: I went to a restaurant not because I thought it looked good, but because I heard how bad it is. Three different people have told me that Monty Q's - only one block away from me - is just not good pizza.

Now, I love pizza. It's not my favorite food but it's certainly in the top 5, probably even the top 3. In my entire life I can only remember two slices that I thought were so bad I refused to finish them. (One in Los Angeles, one in New York City.) So part of me was curious: is Monty Q's so bad that I won't even eat a whole slice?

Also, I have walked by the place hundreds of times now - the smell coming out of it is really good. And at lunchtime there is always a crowd. I am being literal when I say that I have never walked by it on a weekday between noon and 2:00 and not seen it crowded.

To beat the crowds, I went on a Sunday in the mid-afternoon; there were only about half a dozen people in the place.

There was a slice labeled as buffalo chicken and I ordered that. The $4.50 price surprised me a little, I thought that seemed high, but if the pizza were good I would forgive that.

After two minutes of reheating I took a seat and dug in. Was it good? No. Maybe it would have been better a couple of hours earlier during the lunch rush, when it was probably made, but the crust was as bad as any I have had in Brooklyn, an overcooked brick that reminded me of a burnt Stouffer's French bread pizza.

I liked the chicken and there was a generous amount of cheese, but no buffalo flavor at all. No heat of any kind, actually.

Sill, it was pizza, and I ate the entire slice. I would not call it bad. Just a not-very-good slice with a bad price tag

But I will never return for a different reason. I interacted with three different people in Monty Q's: the person from whom I ordered my slice, the person I paid for my slice, and the person who gave me the slice when it was ready. I said "Thank you" to all three people. All three people ignored me. Not one said "You're welcome"; not one even smiled. Maybe they're instructed to behave this way. Or maybe they're just assholes. Whatever. It will never be my problem again.

In a place where I like lots of different pizzerias, there is no reason to return to a restaurant with mediocre pizza, high prices and rude service.