tavola trattoria

sidewalk service. don't accept a sidewalk table if you want prompt service. i went there on may 4, 2015, with my daughter and granddaughter. there were no clean tables inside, so we took one outside. it took forever to get service, and longer to get our food...and longer still to get our check afterward. when our waiter finally remembered us, he told us that the reason he neglected us was that he had so many tables to bus inside. i don't think we will bebackany time soon.

a well deserved 4.0 rating! i had their u district pizza, which is a masterpiece of ingredient affinities including the flavor combination of parmigiano-reggiano, mascarpone, and goat cheeses, figs, prosciutto, arugula, and balsamic vinegar and truffle oil drizzle. it is pizza i plan to steal and make at home and when i'mbackin bentonville, i will return here.

we’ve tried this place out several times over the last 3 years and the past year has shown to be the worst for them. worst customer service ever. i would call and explain to the manager, but they’re always “busy” and the employees don’t give a crap about your feelings. i have never been treated so horribly and rudely in my life. also, their chicken on their alfredo comes with bones in it apparently. they don’t advertise that, so here’s your warning. my husband choked on bones, spit them out, called the restaurant and informed them and the employee said “ok, thanks for telling me.”
we will not be goingbackthere again. horrible service and only “decent” food.

tavola trattoria is the restaurant that people go to when they want elegant italian food in bentonville.  certainly there are many other choices for italian dining in the area, both independent and chain restaurants.  however, when people go to tavola, they are looking for that special experience.  that includes the funky glasses that come in all sorts of odd shapes and convince you that you are tipsy even before the wine is poured.  the unique spongy bread is so delicious and so far from the stale crusty so-called bread that was served by italian restaurants of yesteryear. those things are nice, but people keep comingbackto try the many unique recipes at tavola, which one could term nouvelle italian cuisine, except it’s not the least bit snotty!

ratatouille is divine - awesome place. tavola is a gem just off the main square. the decor is simple with sealed cement floors, heavy wood tables, rattan-backed chairs and red booths. they have four unique dinning areas. upfront is a small room that can be curtained off to serve a group or support open seating. the main seating area has two rows of booths and tables down the middle of the restaurant. the back-side room has wine racks set up to create a wine room that can seat 15-25 or so people. the bar is at thebackof the room. they also have an upstairs room that can be rented for a fee. the kitchen prep area is exposed to the restaurant. it would be nice if they could put up some type of decor that blocks out the kitchen action and craziness that goes on to support a packed restaurant.

service was polite, but a little too structured. it did not detract from the great experience. she walked us through the menu and the special of the day. we especially liked the feedback on ratatouille. we were reluctant to order an all veggie dish, but our server said it was divine. she was correct. the goat cheese was so smooth and pulled the whole dish together. i was shocked it was the highlight of the night. the prosciutto wrapped asparagus was a top hit as was desiree's cake. soaking the cake in mascarpone cream and drizzling it with creamed nutella was awesome. huge thumbs up to tavola trattoria. i highly recommend it.

good food but...... drove into town late and checked into 21c. we come up here a lot and always wanted to try tavola trattoria. we checked with the restaurant and they said they served until 10. we arrived at 9:30. we placed our wine and food order fairly quickly as we were hungry. the food came and we were happy with the quality and taste. my meatballs were awesome. about when the food came out around 9:50 most of the tables had left but we had just started eating. all the staff started cleaning up, sweeping, cleaning silver ware, making a ton of noise, training a new bus boy, etc. etc. they paid zero attention to us and our enjoyment of the atmosphere and food. it was extremely annoying. we were right across from the silver ware station and a girl started wiping down a bunch of silver ware and throwing it into the holding trays. no attention paid to us or being somewhat quiet about it. first of all that station should not be in the middle of the restaurant next to tables. then a girl starts sweeping a mat/rug that was right across from our table. kept at it for about 5 minutes and it simply was not a big mat. we were tired and really just wanted to eat and not make any comments. but the waitress came by and i made a comment that it was hard to enjoy our food when it appeared the staff had no concern for our experience. to her credit she immediately went and got the manager. she came out and apologized. didn't offer to comp any of our food, which would have been a nice gesture even if it was just a glass of wine. she immediately went to thebackpart of the restaurant without talking to anyone. then immediately after she left a young man started at the silver ware area again. unbelievable. their staff needs to be trained and policy needs to be implemented. they were a young staff and all they wanted to do was get off work. if they don't need our business and will not show us respect and appreciation we simply will not go back. i am also posting this on my arkansas food blog, eallittlerock.com it is unfortunate that this happened as we really did enjoy the food. not sure if we will gobackthough, it was that bad.

very satisfied customers. we have been in this restaurant no fewer than 10 times. never disappointed. very tasty and ample meals. have made a point to try something different each time. laidbackatmosphere and quick preparation when seemingly full. cant say enough positive things.

excellent dinner out. i have 3 kids (including a 1 and a 2 year old) and i've always been a bit intimidated bringing them out to this place to try it out, but finally decided to cave and bring them out after being assured that it was ok to bring them.

it's a fairly noisy environment, and the kids fit right in thankfully. the food was incredibly flavorful. we had stuffed olives for appetizer, and for maincourse i had stromboli and my wife had some pesto pasta stuff i don't know how to pronounce.

the kids meals aren't on menu, but a great deal (and huge). it was a pizza bigger than their plates for a very reasonable price. i would have had a glowing review even before dessert pushed it from a great experience to one of the best i've had.

the cake similar to tres leches cake is just to die for, and i will gobackhere just for it many times in the future i feel.

service was excellent, and i was overall very happy.

on a scale of 1 to 10, id give it a 7.5. delicious food. went on a friday night and we noticed the service got worse as they got busier. we waited over 20 minutes for our check. the meal is probably the only thing that will have me comingbackfor more. they need more staff!

jo everybody. bella vista


-----21 sep, 2012-----

joan1934. the food and the atmosphere were very very good ,couldn't believe i was in bentonville. the mussels were a bit mealy, the lamb was excellent but the waitress didn't know the proper way to open a bottle of wine - she made up for it in kindness and enthusiasm, i'll gobackagain and again.

unfortunate. our experience at tavola was probably one of the worst dining experiences in my life. that experience started with the noise. it was so incredably loud inside this restaurant that i could not have a normal conversation with my date. we were forced to communicate using a combination of lip reading, yelling, and the occasional hand signal.

the service started out well. our server arrived at our table promptly after we were seated and brought us drinks and bread. i must admit, one of the positives about this evening was the red sauce that was served with this bread. it was delicious.

next was the ordering and this is where the train fell off the tracks, so to speak. my date ordered a pizza and i would have the special, which was a grilled swordfish on a bed of mushroom ravioli with a white cream sauce. then we waited.......for the next hour and a half to get our meal. we were told several times our food was next out of the kitchen and eventually we did get our food.

my date got her pizza and i got a grilled fish on a bed of mashed potatoes with a side of green beans. our waitress was no where to be found so i accepted the dish that was in front of me and we ate. my dish was average at best but my date enjoyed her pizza. as we were finishing our meal the server came to check on us and i expressed my confusion with my order. the manager came over to clear up the confusion. as it turns out, the dish that was describe to me by the server was not being served that night. what i was eating was indeed the special.

because our experience was not the best, management offered to buy us some ice cream in hopes that we would overlook the errors they commited. we declined the offer and then turned over $100 for our meal.

needless to say, we will not be goingbackto tavola.

awesome. love love love!!! my mom and i went for lunch and it was great!! service was very attentive, food fresh and delicious. wil bebackagain and again!!!!!!!!!!!!

average. i'm from up east and tavola is a mediocre imitation of fine italian dining. italians are known for good food and lots of it. we had to ask for bread.

i ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. i got more meatball than spaghetti, and it was barely warm.

the restaurant is loud. the sound seems to just bounce off the walls.

i would gobackif invited by someone else, but i do not see me planning another visit.