Scarpas — Restaurant in Albuquerque

What a disappointing experience from start to finish. I had hoped to be writing a rave review this evening about a cozy little Italian restaurant on the East side of Albuquerque. Instead I am stirring the inner workings of my mind to congure up the correct words to describe a deeply disappointing culinary disaster.

Our Sunday evening meal started by a slow reception from the hostess, a lethargic drink service and then a twenty minute wait for water to be delivered to our table. After getting through the initial ordeal of being seated and being served drinks, we had hoped the night would improve with dinner service. We were eating with a party of five and we ordered a full variety from the menu. There was a salad, two pizzas, and two different pasta dishes ordered, we all tasted every dish. Before I get into the food specifics, I will also note that it took over an hour to get our entrees delivered to the table. And the restaurant was in no way busy.

In order cited here are the impressions of the mess that came out of what I'm assuming was a kitchen. The salad was served overflowing the plate, so much so, that on the first bite a large portion fell off the plate into my wife's lap. The lettuces were wilted, tomatoes mushy, croutons stale and there was so much cheese on the plate that it was ended up being an item of humor at our table. The pizzas were just terrible, plain terrible. I think I have had comparable microwave pizza. The pizza I ordered had canned salmon on it that literally smelled like three day old socks. The pastas were microwaved, without a doubt. One bowl of noodles came out of the kitchen so piping hot that I was actually waiting for the bowl to melt right there on the table. We had the spaghetti and meatballs delivered to one of our family members and she commented on how the meatball tasted like nothing but pepper, we all tasted it, and yes it was heavily overseasond with pepper. We didn't even bring them home to our dogs. The shrimp in another pasta we ordered the "Aragosta", were over cooked to a stiff rubbery consistently and tasted like what I assume it would be like trying to eat a wad of silly putty. In addition to that, the pasta sauce which accompanied the shrimp, was completely unpalatable and tasted similar to the three day old socks I previously cited. With all the wonderful food options the great city of Albuquerque has to offer, I'd suggest you stay far, far away from this place. Unless you are looking to flush your hard earned money down the toilet, along with the food that...

Scarpa's hardly lived up to the 4.1 star rating given to it by Google reviews. In my eyes, a restaurant that has received a 4 star rating should offer delicious food at a reasonable price, leaving a sort of feeling of excitement to return to the restaurant to try something else. Unfortunately, Scarpa's did not offer any of that.

To start, the dishes are expensive; The Viccinnicci - a simple pasta dish consisting of noodles, herbs, chicken and a cream sauce was priced over $11. The portion was could hardly do the price (or the menu description of the plate) justice. Not exactly the priciest ingredients to begin with, and the small portion begs one to consider what else on the menu might have offered a better deal, not only in terms of value, but flavor as well?

To sate this curiosity, my friends and I had ordered three different pizzas. Although they were all different, they all shared a similar feature: a dark, menacing halo of burnt crust circumferencing the perimeter of the pizzas. Considering we paid over $10 apiece for these 10' pizzas, again, it was hard to justify the price for the actual food that was presented in the dishes. Being that they were flatbread pizzas, the focus should have been on the balancing and use of toppings, which was largely absent (much to the contrary of what the menu descriptions had stated.)

Fortunately, one item on the menu did live up to its price tag in terms of proportion: the salad. It wouldn't be the hallmark of a fool for one to mistake a salad here for, perhaps, Mount Ranier or Mont Blanc at first glance. They are served on a large platter, piled high with leafy greens and many varieties of garnish. The portion definitely presents a challenge to one trying to finish the dish in one sitting at the restaurant. The size being very grand, like most of the food here, it leaves something to be desired. There is a lot of variety in the salad to be sure, however it isn't long before one grows tired of the contents after the flavors have all muddled together.

This review is not the result of bad service, a detestable atmosphere, or even entirely bad food. It serves to voice the reality of this restaurant in standing to many others that are available in the Albuquerque area. If value and good food are concepts that appeal to you, save yourself the effort (and the strain on your wallet) and try...

Absolutely horrible front! We were told 15 min, ten the hostess corrected herself & told us 30 minutes, which we were fine with. We saw a table getting cleared after about 30 min, then the hostess called a name that was close to my husband's, so we thought maybe she wrote it down wrong. So we stood up & she told us it wasn't for us, there was only 2 groups waiting for a table, so we were kinda confused. They said it could have been someone who called in a reservation. Then she told me she was getting her manager. He came up & I said I was kinda confused that they called a name & nobody was here. He told me that if I didn't want to wait, I could just leave. I was all well & good to wait to see if the other party showed up until the manager said that.... I don't want to hear the excuse you can be rude because you have been busy all day!

I do not recommend going here just because of how rude the manager is & how unprofessional the hostess is!

I just got a message from the owner asking me to take my review down because my husband was yelling at the hostess & that was why the manager was so rude. The funny thing is my husband doesn't yell at anyone or raise his voice, especially a female, because we want to teach our children verbal abuse is not ok. My husband & son were playing games on their phones or playing with a rubix cube the entire time we were waiting. PI suggested that maybe they get camera's for the front entry to see what is...