Arte della Pasta — Restaurant in Waitematā

went at 6:45 for JUST DESSERT, only to be met with extremely rude customer service. we were told to wait outside as all tables were full which we did not mind, however i noticed they let other people stay inside (a bigger group btw, there was 4 ladies and just the 2 of us). the lady told us it would take 5 minutes to make which again, we did not mind at all. however after waiting for about 10 minutes if not more we went back inside as it was so cold outside. when waiting for at least another 5-10 minutes she asked us TWICE if we had ordered the tiramisu (no idea why she asked twice, if they forgot to make it or what). she asked us if we ordered in the rudest way possible too, as if it was our fault for choosing to even go there! when we finally got it we had no apology or consideration shown for making us wait for so long.

if you can not accommodate good customer service, i would have rather they just let us know than wasting our time for 20 minutes for a "5 minute wait" of a tiramisu, as well as the poor customer service. if you want real, authentic (aka rude and snobby) italian customer service, then this is the place to go.

its safe to say i will never be going back here again, and i highly advise anyone else seeking exceptional italian food in newmarket to go to pastarita, they are soooo much better. theyre portion sizes are amazing and their friendly customer service is one of the best i have ever experienced!

edit: referring to the reply, there was no sign saying there was a private function. if this was the case i would have rather been told you will take longer than expected to serve us and we would have happily gone elsewhere. i also understand being short-staffed but that does not mean you compromise on quality...

I've never been so confused over a meal. We decided to go to this place because the reviews were great; however, the food was anything but.

We ordered the tortelli of the week (spinach and ricotta), the lasagna of the week (beef) and the salad.

The salad was a small plate of mixed leaves you could get at a grocery store (I saw one of the wait staff pull the bag of leaves out of the fridge), some tinned peaches, a few threadbare shavings of cheese, a balsamic glaze that didn't taste like anything and some toasted walnuts. I could've put that together at home for a fraction of the price.

The pasta itself was fine but that is just one component of a dish. The flavours, textures, ingredients and presentation are some of the other components, all of which were subpar. The tortelli was mostly salty and the lasagna was oily, bland and sloppy. The sauces for both dishes seemed pretty much the same as each other and entirely nondescript.

I don't mind paying when the food is good, but at $28 for the tortelli, $30 for the lasagna and $14 for the salad, I feel downright ripped off.

In case anyone's wondering why we didn't say anything at the restaurant: as all three dishes were of roughly equal quality, we did not think anything (eg being offered a better dish) could be gained by saying anything to the staff.

Edit: to the owner's comment about our plates going back nearly empty - we were travelling, hungry and already paying $70+. We weren't going to not eat, look for another place and pay again for...

Worst Italian restaurant experience ever. Food is okay, bland tho. But I try to understand their concept which is being homey and probably usually also means a bit bland. But the service was bad. The waiter dropped a knife while clearing some plates next table to us as he tries to stack up his plates without sorting utensils and plates seperately. Pasta sauce then went splattering on my white pants. No apologies.

Next as he clears my plate, knife fell off and landed on my pants again. Hello? have u not learnt to do it more gently?

Told him off to be careful next time. He later then asked where did i buy the pants from, which I said and added that it’s my first time wearing them.

“It’ll come off” was his response.

This is not the response u should have towards customers. Simply not acceptable. Not going back.

Tiramisu was dry too, idk what’s the craze over their tiramisu there in other reviews. I’ve had way better in so so many other places. Chill guys.

The lady chef came out and asked us if the food is good in a very spirited way cuz she said she’s the one cooking it. I had to force some smile and said good job lol after the two knife falling incidents.

Over at the till was “uni students and broke please donate us for drinks”?? On a fish bowl jar. Find that pretty contrasting to the vibe they are having in the restaurants as it now does feel like two kids are running the show.

I’m not usually a review person but this is my first food review as I’m pretty livid after...