Trombino's Bistro Italiano — Restaurant in Albuquerque

FAILED HEALTH INSPECTION

RED (June 14)

Result: Immediate closure

Facility had two priority violations and five priority foundation violations. It also had evidence of ongoing roach infestation resulting in the immediate closure.

Observed black debris build up on the inside of the ice machine along ice shoot. Observed gaps along the back doors leading to the outside.

Significant and heavy amount of roaches were within the salad/bread area, at the make station cooler across from saute stations, in the mop sink room, with minimal amounts at the dish area, prep area, pizza station, hand washing station immediately entering the kitchen from the dining room and bar closet area. These roaches were observed on the floor and walls in the server pantry area, on the casters and compressor area of the reach in cooler, on the casters of the wire rack and to go bags on the wire rack in the salad/bread area, coming out of the wall in the dish machine area, along the lower section of the pizza oven on the floor, at the three compartment sink, at the prep area, under the water heater, and on the back side by compressor area of the make station cooler in the kitchen.

Observed food handling employees with wrist jewelry on.

Observed large quantity of wiping cloths stored on make station cutting boards and prep tables at the time of inspection. Observed sanitizer bucket stored on the ground in the salad/bread area.

Observed ice scoops stored directly on top of the ice bin.

Observed roaches crawling on the to go bags in the salad/bread area.

Observed half lexan container in the salad/bread area with utensils and shakers stored inside with significant debris build up. Observed significant debris build up throughout facility on wire storage racks. Observed baking pans at the pizza coated with grease and debris.

Observed plumbing system leak from the ware washing machine leaking onto the floor with pooling water and three compartment sink where plumbing line was not draining into floor drain with pooling water under the prep sink.

Observed employee toilet room in back area with a non-self-closing door. Observed employee toilet room in back area open.

Observed numerous holes, gaps, areas where wall materials were not fully attached and areas in poor repair and numerous broken, or missing ceiling tiles with access points in and out of the walls and ceiling. These were throughout facility, too numerous to list in areas such as at the mop sink/boiler room, at the ice machine above the cooking line where hanging shelving and wires are present, at the dish area holes drilled into wall and gaps along metal sheeting, salad/bread area, hallways, door jams in dry storage, mop sink room, and walk in coolers, freezers and dry storage. In the employee restroom in the kitchen area, observed wall cut out to fit toilet partially...

Trombino's Bistro was referred to me a while back by a good friend of mine, Joe Nilvo. He happens to be Italian and he told me that if I ever wanted authentic Italian food in Albuquerque, then go to Trombino's Bistro. I had been wanting to go there ever since and I finally tried it out recently, I have to say that I ended up leaving there very impressed, so a big thanks for the suggestion to my friend Joe!

About my visit to Trombino's. When I got there, I went inside and walked down a short hallway over to the restaurant side as opposed to going into the bar side to dine. I stopped at the podium where the Host / Hostess greets the customers and there was nobody there at first. But, a hostess did show up fairly quickly and also showed me to a table without hesitation. She was professional and friendly which made my visit positive from the get-go!

The overall atmosphere was great in my opinion! The lights kind of dimmed but not too dark, there was also some easy listening laid-back type music playing, which is always nice for dinner. Some other things that I noticed which made for a great atmosphere, was the art on the walls and decorations, the nice white(and clean) tablecloths & overall layout in general!

So now let's get to the really important thing here, the food, it was absolutely over the top! Simply Amazing! I had the Seafood Fra Diavolo, the seafood was flavorful and about as fresh as it could be, for being in Albuquerque at least, LOL! The noodles were cooked to Perfection and the sauce was very tasty and a little bit spicy, but not to a level where it was unpleasant. The side of bread was very good, baked just right, a little bit of a crunchy crust but still soft in the middle and definitely not dry! Although I did not have a glass of wine with my meal, I did see the wine list and there was a very good selection to choose from!

I I would like to mention that I nearly dropped my rating down to four stars. Simply because, after I got my food and drink, the waiter disappeared on me for a while and my glass of water went empty for a little bit. But, with that being said, it wasn't a really long time and not a big enough issue to ding them on because everything else was on point! With the exception of that one window, the waiter was very cordial, and pretty much on top of things. I do understand that a dining experience will not be perfect more times than not!

Almost forgot to mention that the prices are very reasonable, especially considering the quality of the food and the good portions!

In closing, I give a strong recommend, five stars and two thumbs up to...

Extremely disappointed with the service 😒. I had a party of 11 people which I made reservations for the day before. I have to say we were seated promptly by the host but we sat at our table for about 15 minutes before anyone acknowledged us. The waitress then said she would be back with our drinks and bread and it took about another 15 minutes for her to come back with the drinks and no bread. By this point we were ready to order but she dropped off the drinks and left without taking our order. One of the guests that was in my group had to track down our waitress and inform her we were ready to order, he then asked about the bread she mentioned and she replied " oh I forgot ". While we were waiting for our antipasti I needed to find the restroom, I then asked the person whom was at the bar if he could direct me. The male Tony(who I letter found out was the " manager") told me to find the wine rack and turn right. I have never been to trombinos so I did not know where the wine rack was located, after I looked around the dinning area and located the wine rack I asked Tony if that what he was talking about, he did not answer me and turned to a waitress that was standing there as she rolled her eyes. They made me feel about an inch tall so I just found the restroomon on my own. The reservation I made at trombinos was at 630 pm and we did not receive our entrée until 820 pm, which I should add that about half of the order was wrong but we did not complain and ate what we were served. We had other plans after dinner which we had to push back because of this. When we were finally eating we did not get refills on our drinks and again our waitress had to be tracked down to kindly ask for refills. I like to believe that my guests and I are real easy going people and we would understand if the place was busy, but we were the only large group there, beside us they only had about 4 other tables with couples. After our bill was paid I asked if I could meet the manager , our waitress pointed to the bar and said talk to Tony. I then walked up to Tony and informed him about my experience at the restaurant, he seemed unphased and with a sinnical voice and smile said " oh I'm sorry " and that was all. I have to say that even though our orders were wrong the food was pretty good but unfortunately it was overshadowed by the horrible experience. With other options in the city for Italian bistro I'm not quite sure I'll be returning to Trombinos...