I am watching ""Restaurant Impossible"" and they are featuring Mainelli's. I visited a month or two ago for the first time (and only time) using a coupon from restaurant on-line site. I've lived in Providence for several years but had never heard of Mainelli's before. There was only one waitress working so we needed to wait for things although it was not too busy. I could hear people in other booths talking about their coupons also so it seems like this was why we were all there.
In addition to waiting for everything, the food was really bad. I was hoping to try the homemade gnocchi but they were ""sold out"" by 5:30pm? The pizza for an appetizer was the only descent thing we ate but very over priced and not worth it. As I'm watching the show now, I can see why they needed help but looks like they didn't listen or stick with the new plan for long. They do not use the new menu (like someone else also wrote) and appears they went back to a 90+ item menu (of not good food). Also while I was eating, the owner (I didn't know he was the owner at the time but now I do after seeing him on tv) came out to clean a table next to us using a cleaning solution smelling like bleach (smelled worse). He was also sloppily dressed and then returned to the kitchen with the cleaning solution...which made me very concerned about tge kitchen...and the smell made me lose my appetite so dinner was over at that point and I did not feel the need to take home leftovers. Of course we needed to wait again for the check. I never write a review but feel strongly about this place especially after seeing the show. I'm wondering if all of the positive reviews on here are from family members owning this restaurant because it was so bad.
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