worst ever !!. i want to start off by saying that i have never been so dissatisfied with a meal, that i even thought about writing a review - this is my very first one. my best friend and i took our teenage daughters to belden village for a day of shopping this past saturday (1/18/14), and as we were leaving, thought we'd try your restaurant - having grown up in an italian family, we are always eager to try italian food !! your building struck us as beautiful, and kind of lured us in. we checked in, and the host said it would be 20-25 minutes - we gauged our decision on staying based on the wait time, and we figured that would not be too bad. we ended up standing and waiting a solid hour. by that time, we figured we may as well stay, otherwise, we would have wasted all that time, and figured the food had to be good (we also told the manager about the long wait, with nowhere to sit, and that the host needs to be more honest with the timeframe; he came up with some excuse about people with reservations, etc.). we sat down, and our server seemed clueless and not helpful - looking around and barely paying attention to us. we asked for the wedding soup to start off with - he came out with it, and it tasted exactly like canned broth (terrible canned broth), two frozen meatballs in each bowl, and about 4 pieces of very small pasta - we sat, waiting for our grated parmesan, in hopes that it would help with the taste of the soup, but we practically had to get on our hands and knees and beg for that - another server had to bring it out - it was a big brick of cheese, being passed from server to server, and lo and behold, we look behind us during dinner, and the thing is sitting on a ledge behind me - out in the open to bring on any and all bacteria floating around. he then brings the bread out - we are bread fanatics, so we figured how can you go wrong - the bread also tasted pre-packaged, and the dipping oil was barely edible. when i placed my order, i also ordered a side caesar salad - the server kept walking back and forth, and never brought my salad out, so i told him to forget it. he apologized and said he wasn't sure what was taking so long, that he would still bring it out, but not charge me. he said he "took one from another customer" and gave it to me - it was nothing but brown, wilted lettuce covered in caesar dressing and - bagged lettuce at that. finally, after waiting forever, we get our dinners - our girls got lasagna - they took a few bites, and could not finish. my friend got the manicotti, and she said it tasted frozen and dry; i got fettucine with bolognese sauce - the fettucine was cooked exactly how i like (the only good thing about our experience), but the sauce tasted like lean cuisine, which was another disappointment, especially after that initial long wait. we all agreed that we will never return to any of your bravo chain restaurants, and believe it may be one of our worst experiences ever - honestly, the one word that kept coming to mind is "commercialized" (chain) food - not one bit authentic.
-----20 jan, 2014-----
worst ever !!!. i want to start off by saying that i have never been so dissatisfied with a meal, that i even thought about writing a review - this is my very first one. my best friend and i took our teenage daughters to belden village for a day of shopping this past saturday (1/18/14), and as we were leaving, thought we'd try your restaurant - having grown up in an italian family, we are always eager to try italian food !! your building struck us as beautiful, and kind of lured us in. we checked in, and the host said it would be 20-25 minutes - we gauged our decision on staying based on the wait time, and we figured that would not be too bad. we ended up standing and waiting a solid hour. by that time, we figured we may as well stay, otherwise, we would have wasted all that time, and figured the food had to be good (we also told the manager about the long wait, with nowhere to sit, and that the host needs to be more honest with the timeframe; he came up with some excuse about people with reservations, etc.). we sat down, and our server seemed clueless and not helpful - looking around and barely paying attention to us. we asked for the wedding soup to start off with - he came out with it, and it tasted exactly like canned broth (terrible canned broth), two frozen meatballs in each bowl, and about 4 pieces of very small pasta - we sat, waiting for our grated parmesan, in hopes that it would help with the taste of the soup, but we practically had to get on our hands and knees and beg for that - another server had to bring it out - it was a big brick of cheese, being passed from server to server, and lo and behold, we look behind us during dinner, and the thing is sitting on a ledge behind me - out in the open to bring on any and all bacteria floating around. he then brings the bread out - we are bread fanatics, so we figured how can you go wrong - the bread also tasted pre-packaged, and the dipping oil was barely edible. when i placed my order, i also ordered a side caesar salad - the server kept walking back and forth, and never brought my salad out, so i told him to forget it. he apologized and said he wasn't sure what was taking so long, that he would still bring it out, but not charge me. he said he "took one from another customer" and gave it to me - it was nothing but brown, wilted lettuce covered in caesar dressing and - bagged lettuce at that. finally, after waiting forever, we get our dinners - our girls got lasagna - they took a few bites, and could not finish. my friend got the manicotti, and she said it tasted frozen and dry; i got fettucine with bolognese sauce - the fettucine was cooked exactly how i like (the only good thing about our experience), but the sauce tasted like lean cuisine, which was another disappointment, especially after that initial long wait. we all agreed that we will never return to any of your bravo chain restaurants, and believe it may be one of our worst experiences ever - honestly, the one word that kept coming to mind is "commercialized" (chain) food - not one bit authentic.