This is my first online review of a restaurant... I had to share. For reference sake, I have worked in bars and restaurants my entire life. I also grew up with an Italian Nana, and know my food. And wine. I know what I like and I know what is good, good food. When my boyfriend and I go out to eat we don't care about the cost as long as it is good, good food. Or at least good service with ok food. We love to tip big because we have both been in the service industry for a long time.
On Sunday night we were craving some great Italian and would normally hit up our neighborhood favorite Carmine's on Penn but felt like trying something new. Big mistake picking Pagliacci's. When we walked in the door we were greeted in a sort of ""what are you here for"" kind of way. Well miss, we are here to spend money so how about some hospitality. After being skipped over for the group who walked in behind us (looking just as confused) we were eventually sat near the bar... with no one else around. Except for the salty bartender who didn't seem pleased about having customers either.
Sitting alone, in a cold room we finally met our waiter who I have little to know memory of because he was so scant, impersonal and seemed bothered by us simply ordering. (Now please let me interject here that my man and I are a young attractive couple, nothing growing out of our faces or weird smells, but we certainly felt like we were being treated that way. Like we didn't belong here).
Finally the food... waaaay overpriced for what they give you. You are discouraged from sharing plates with a $9 per person fee (does that mean an extra $18?? did not make sense) We ordered the garlic bread because there didnt seem to be any coming. Its an Italian restaurant... there should always be bread! Anyways, the $6 texas toast was probably the best part of the meal. Then came the free-with-entree soup. Genius idea... soup is pretty low on the cost scale and easy to dole out so kudos to them on this one. We had ordered some traditional favorites to fill that Italian craving... chicken parm and chicken marsala. for $18 per plate there was a lot more plate on the plate than food. I have never been to an italian home or restaurant that gave you such little food, with such little taste. I could have gotten more flavor out of a chicken nugget or speghettios. Bland would be a generous way to describe what I ate.
The only friendly interaction we experienced was a nice ""goodbye"" as we were leaving... glad to have us out the door I suppose.
It just goes to show you, don't expect good food from a place with a crying clown as the icon.
more