i didn't know what to expect at gino's, but having lived in meridian for 4 years and driven by it almost daily, we decided to try it out. first off - the hostess needs to try a little harder at making people feel welcome. it was 5:30 on a friday night and (gasp) we had no reservations. didn't know it was necessary, having never been there before. we were told by the first person at the desk - very nice woman- that she may be able to accommodate us (family of 4) and she was going to check and see if her 6:45 would be available for us right then and there. while she's checking, another person comes up to the desk and asks if we have reservations. we said no, where she tells us "we highly recommend having reservations, we are really busy and may not have space...." and proceeds to stare at a table map. my husband says to me, well, should we leave? i thought we should wait for the first woman to come back, so we told 2nd hostess someone is checking for us to see if they can accommodate us. she comes back and says we have an hour and 5 min and will that be enough time? ??? with 2 kids, being served and done in an hour and 5 min sounds great, so we took it knowing 1) we should be so grateful they allowed us to eat there that night without reservations 2) we better eat fast. an hour and 5 minutes! that table is reserved. if we didn't have hungry children, we would have walked out.
i wasn't sure what to make of this place. some tables had flowers (but not ours) and a few others did not. maybe the flowers are only for the special folks who made reservations? one table had a "tablecloth" made out of cloth napkins. the rest of the tables were what you'd expect at a quick serve, and mismatched chairs. naturally, feeling like this is a casual restaurant (no tablecloths, casual furniture) i was shocked to see the menu and pricing. but the real kicker was no kid's menu. $13 for a child's spaghetti and one meatball? seriously? if kids are welcome at this restaurant, they could have fooled me. the menu had a lot of options, but nothing that seemed appropriately priced for the type ofplacei felt i was at (casual). i went with the cheapest option i saw that wasn't an appetizer - raviolis. $13 for about 12 raviolis covered in melted mozzarella. it's a real treat eating what i presume was frozen raviolis for about $1 a piece. bread in a basket was served, but never refilled even though the 4 of us were clearly hungry. thankfully, i brought pancakes for our toddler, or we would have been out of luck. the raviolis came with no side items to share with him like we do at typical chain restaurants. not even a few pieces of steamed broccoli. nothing. no salad (although the option to "add one" was offered). my husband ordered the flat iron steak special (for $25!) and while it was supposed to be served med rare, the middle was cold. at least for the $25, he got a side item. a slice of grilled cauliflower topped with pine nuts and something else. cauliflower slice. $25. no bread refills. we didn't order any drinks or dessert, or food for the 4th member of our family, and the bill was $50. yikes! the only bright side of the entire experience was the server and the speed at which he got us out of that table. we were in and out in 45 min, flat! out the door, folks! had my husband wanted his steak warm, too bad. we had an hour and 5 min, remember? the table we were occupying was reserved.
we won't be back. we weren't welcome from the get go, and they are too busy serving people who clearly ...aren't us. they seem to be striving for a fine dining experience with a target customer base that doesn't include families, but i feel they missed the ball on that one. they were busy on this friday night, but i can't imagine it's due to the food, pricing, or even atmosphere. gino's is really one of the few restaurants over here on the east side of meridian but ten mile is growing fast. competition will be here soon enough. we'll stick with the chains that offer more value for less money and food for all 4 of us.
*** on a side note, our amazing table was so close to the party next to us, we could hear their entire conversation about their health issues. while i'm staring at my melted mozzarella raviolis, i was subject to the old lady's stories 1 foot away from me about her shingles, boils, biopsies, it spreading to her eye, a friend who broke a hip, etc. nothing says delish quite like a plate of raviolis with shingles on the side. not the restaurant's fault that my neighbors regaled me with such stories, but consider the table proximity when deciding to pay upwards of $20/plate or more for a "fine dining" experience.