Went there tonight
 

Without a reservation we would have waited until 7:30. We went to Francescos and had a great meal.:wine:

We happened to be in the area today and decided to stop for lunch (thinking we might not be able to get in for dinner until season is over). Turns out they use their dinner menu all day on weekends rather than using a lunch and dinner menu. That was fine with us since it was 2:00 and we would just consider it our lunchner. The food and service were great....they will do well!!

We are there on Friday nite. It was so busy and the kitchen was slammed. We were waited on promptly but then the timing went down hill.
My husband had the Fish Francaise. The batter and sauce were great but the fish was "fishy". He would have really enjoyed it if, it was made with fresh fish. He said it tasted like it was from frozen plus it had the fishy taste. I had a dish with a type of chicken parm with ricotta baked in the center and a side of cappelini. I had the marinara on both. I did not like their regular Italian sauce but I liked the marina. My meal was good. I also had minestrone soup, it was kind of odd. In a clear type of chicken broth with lots of string beans, corn and some pasta. It tasted sweet and nothing like minestrone. My girlfriend had a baked pasta dish with eggplant. She asked for the marinara sauce and they put on the regular. It was sent back and then, they forgot the eggplant. They took her meal off the bill. Her husband had pasta bolognese. It was served at room temp. It was sent back and and when it was brought back (after a 1/2 hour) there was hardly any meat in the sauce. He said it did taste good. We had the fried calamari for an appetizer and it was very good except for the regular sauce. Tasted like a tasteless pizza sauce. It took 3 hours for dinner. Kim our server was frustrated from all the mistakes, not only with our table but others. She was fried by the end of the evening. If, they get their act together, they have the potential to do a great business. They need organization which will come in time and some of the food needs tweaking. Luigi, one of the owners came over to apologize for the errors and the long wait. He kindly gave us some spumoni ice cream which was very good. I would go back and try it again but, maybe in a month when, they're more organized and the chef's can keep up with the customers.

I for one am so happy they are here. We were in Inverness yesterday and stopped by the one there because we had heard good things. OMG the food was incredible! BEST pizza since coming to Florida (from Chicago) and reasonable! love love love their sauce! Everyone at our table loved their food. The desserts were to die for the cannoli was excellent and the Lemoncello cake was melt in your mouth delicious! I had the Pizza Margherita got the 16" so I could take a lot home. Well it was huge and delicious! and it was only $13.25!!!! With fresh mozzarella and basil on it!

Please people give them a break, maybe if the entire Villages didn't try to get into a new restaurant the week they open restaurants could handle it better. They apparently had no idea how Villagers can be in that respect. I think they will do just fine. As for those that don't like it that's fine should free up a few tables ;)

It is so unfair to bad mouth a new establishment. I surely hope that most people will use some common sense and let this new place get the kinks worked out. When I stopped there 2 weeks ago to get a paper menu there was a sign in the window stating they were accepting applications for all positions. I've got to assume that the staff is completely new and some may well be completely inexperienced. Can't we be understanding and cut them some slack rather than bad mouth them?
A slammed parking lot, a crowd of people all wanting to be seated & fed, been open just a few days and yet common sense didn't tell you to go elsewhere? Instead, compose negative posts! Not fair and this is just my opinion.

We were there last year when a new Italian place opened and the Waite was long the service was so so and the kitchen was slammed. It will settle down I will wait for comments 3 months from now to see how it improves.

We tried Chef of Napoli yesterday. Arrived at 4. Seated immediately. Server was very busy covering many tables but was very courteous, friendly and friendly. Food was OUTSTANDING. Entrees at our table were: Rigatoni with meatballs, Rigatoni al forno, lasagna, and linguini with white clam sauce. All four were excellent. I had the linguini and it may be the best I've had anywhere. The only minor complaint was waiting for our server to get back to us but he was scrambling. We went there for hoping for above average Italian food and were rewarded with that for sure. A great place to dine!

I love linguini with white clam sauce. Gotta try this place.

Totally agree! Well said!

:BigApplause::BigApplause:

We went for lunch today. It was not crowded and is a good time to try out the restaurant. We were served by Kim and three of us shared a large cheese pizza. It's been a long time since I've had a really good pizza pie.

Friends went there and were greeted by patrons leaving the place saying "It's ridiculous - waited too long - we walked out!"

A place that takes reservations should never be overwhelmed.
And they are experienced - two other restaurants.
It's not their first rodeo!

Skip

Doesnt Bonny go to places outside the bubble. I dont see her commenting.

Let's cut them a little slack. True, the owners have other restaurants but very likely the staff is brand new. Combine an inexperienced staff with hundreds of impatient Villagers and you are looking at a very frustrating dinner experience, reservations or not. Check back in about a month or two. Things will probably run much smoother.

We were there at 4:45 and got right in. Not busy at all. They thought it would be a calm night since the town sq was having Italian Festival. Both of us had veal parmagiana with salads and terrific service by Laura. Nice warm Italian bread. Food was plentiful and very tender veal. Definitely a keeper. Nice to know they take reservations for when the birds come. I think people should give this place a break. It's only been open 6 days and yes they have other restaurants but these servers are new. We had a wonderful dinner and were in and out in under 1 hour.

I haven't gone yet. Want to give them a bit to get everything going. I will definitely go. Several friends really like it.

I went there yesterday for lunch. First of all, the directions I gave above are wrong. It is located south of Rainey trail. The restaurant is beautifully decorated inside. I had the eggplant parm and my friend had chicken francais. Both were excellent, as was the service. I highly recommend it.

was the eggplant parm cooked in layers? that is my pet peeve when they give you a fried piece of eggplant with a little cheese and sauce and call it pamigiana! :)

Can you give directions from 466A? Thanks

Or try lunch, we did after an almost 2 hour wait for our dinner last week.......much better. The food is really good, still alittle to salty, but nonetheless good.

Just a note on Parm......eggplant or chicken, I always take the mozzarella off, my family only topped it with grated cheese and that is how I make it home:wave:

It's a little tough because 466a is still closed to 301. But when heading west on 466a, make a right on Powell and follow it all the way around to 301. Then head north on 301. Restaurant is in a strip mall on your right next to a motorcycle store.

Thank You

And the Gourmet Club is giving it 14 1/2 Stars. Almost their highest rating.

Skip 1

Food is great!!

Had lunch there yesterday and was not as happy as I was on Monday.....Kathie, HELP!

I am glad some people gave it one chance and won't go back to make room for the patrons who love the place. Talking to the owner most of the employees are new, hired only with a resume. Will take time to keep the good ones and get rid of those who are not up to his standard. Kitchen will only improve with time.

Please wait for a long long time before going there. We went ...it was overcrowded. They had added several more tables just to cram people in and that's not a good idea with a new restaurant. You start slow until you are a little more established. We left after an hour waiting for just our salad. The waitress said we were not the only ones to do that. Sorry to say I will never go back ...I'm sure it's good but that's not a good way to start

Oh yummy! We went for lunch today...just in the nick of time, as it was starting to get really busy by the time we left. Food - great! I had the pollo balsamic. Very tasty & well prepared. The chicken was tender & juicy, cooked just right. Hubby had the pasta with meatballs & the meatballs were delicious, as was his soup. I had house salad...very very good. We really liked the bread...nice & crusty outside & soft inside. Perfectly baked. The portions were generous, & we each took almost half our meals home for dinner this evening. As we get a little older we find we just can't or shouldn't eat such large meals as in our previous lives. Good experience in dining. I think we are just going to have to adjust our eating schedule for off times as this winter season gets really busy. I could see as we were preparing to leave our waitress was getting slightly overwhelmed & scurrying to get all her tables taken care of in a timely manner.

Doro, what time did you go? We like to eat a late lunch out rather than dinner. Then have a light dinner at home or none at all.

We were there at 1 pm, & left by 2 pm. Lovely experience!

I dubt they will be out of business ever. Two week open and never going back. More room for everyone else

I had a late dinner there last night. My wife had grouper and I had veal. The fish was fantastic but the veal was mediocre. The chef stopped by our table twice. The service was extremely slow but they've only been open a couple of weeks.overall I think it is by far the best Italian fare in the area and will be back, probably after the season. As soon as folks find out about this place it's gonna be swamped even more than now, so please only gripe or say nothing.

Like last weekend, we were in the area again, and again stopped for lunch. Decided to try the pizza this time. The sauce was very good but the pizza itself was too doughy. We will stick with other menu choices in the future but definitely will be back again!!

Had a late lunch there recently, service was great, food was great too. Can't wait to go back!!

Ate there Monday evening. Food was delicious. Waitresses were so overwhelmed it was incredible. The space is entirely too small.

terrible evening
 

Two couples-7:15 reservations last Fri. Large group 12+ seated*6:30. We were seated as the large group was ordering. *Overall, very slow service. Took forever to get drinks - the groups waitress noticed us and said she'd pick us up and took our drink order. So, she was taking ours and the group's orders together. We ordered 2 shank specials, veal parm, and lasagna. Lots of problems with the big group. Two walked out mid-service. Three NEVER got their orders. Heard two men tell the waitress to cancel their orders. Many of the others asked to have their food packed up to go. Meanwhile our table - after some time waitress said-out of shank-we reordered. Strangely, a while later the waitress brought over two shank orders (those cancelled from the big group?), the parm and the lasagna. My wife couldn't eat the shank - cold, dry, hard. The lasagna looked like a cheesy/tomato paste about *3/4" thick (poor quality especially given the $14 cost). My parm side had the wrong, and very cold pasta. Brought the waitress over, she scraped my pasta side off my plate promising to replace-(never replaced). She apologized, *said she was brought in from one of the other locations, *they were having trouble holding wait staff, and one other waitress that night walked out mid-service, so they were shorthanded. We were there about 2+ hours, the large group about 3 hours. A big guy came out of the kitchen and told the big group he'll take 20% off the bill. We asked for the same discount when we got our bill-which, of course, was not correct-wrong food, wrong drinks. In total frustration, *the waitress just gave us a dollar figure-we accepted and tipped well, given poor food quality and wait staff being shorthanded was not her fault. Epilogue-as we exited, five people were standing outside. A man with a white apron asked about our evening-I reiterated our experience and said we'll never be back. The lady next to him said- "he's the owner". I said I wish him well, but he has to get a handle or he won't make it.

We had lunch there today and we loved it. We feel it is much better than most other Italian restaurants around here. I am 100% Italian and my wife is half Italian so we know a little about Italian food.