Verona Italian Restaurante — Restaurant in Alexandria

I made a Valentine’s Day date reservation for the Saturday before (12Feb) for 7:30pm. Showed up early at 7:00pm and was promptly seated within 5 minutes, little did I know, that was the only good part about the service of this restaurant.

After getting seated, our server took 10 minutes to come over and get our drink order. Luckily we had drinks from the bar already, or else it would’ve been 15 minutes before we had gotten any bread or drinks at all. Secondly, our server didn’t introduce themselves to us, so for 20 minutes we had no idea who was taking care of us, and who to ask questions to. The dress code is very weird so it was difficult to differentiate between the wait staff and the hostess or managers.

After our server talked to us, we put in an order of garlic bread sticks as an appetizer, which we never received. Our server then took our food order, by now we’ve been seated for 25-30 minutes. We were okay for sitting a bit longer because it was busy, and COVID has made staffing difficult. However, we sat at our table for an Hour and 30 minutes. We saw our sever maybe 5 times the whole night, they gave us little to no updates on why the food was taking so long. Five other tables were sat and then got their food after us.

After waiting for so long and seeing everyone else get their food. I offered to pay for the drinks and salad we received, so we could leave. The manager and chef then proceeded to try and humiliate me and my date by making a very large scene as we were trying to leave. Making it seem as though our food was sitting there all along. The chef tried to stop me telling me the food was free and to sit down, and the same with the manager, and server. They made a whole scene by telling me “the food is free just sit down” or “we’ll box it up for you just wait” but by then almost 2 hours had past and me and my date lost our appetite.

I will not be going back there again, and I hope I’ve warned you all. If you have an important date or anything comparable, do not take...

I have never written a bad review online or even made a complaint in a restaurant before... but this is how bad my experience here was and the apathy from the owner still makes me furious. To start out with the food was terrible. My “shrimp” Alfredo had 3 shrimp and the sauce tasted like cream had been poured on some noodles...no flavor at all... it really was disappointing. I barely touched my food because it was unappetizing. My husband ordered the “shrimp” ravioli and he had one shrimp, that’s right one, and he ate his entire plate and was still hungry...might I add he is only 150 pounds, so not a big guy. Next, the waitress never checked on us (in her defense she was running around because she was busy and we were seated at an inconveniently located table). But still not great service. Then at the end of our meal the owner came to box up my food (that I hardly touched) and when I told her no thanks I don’t want it she never even commented on the fact that it was never touched or asked how it was. After we paid our bill...which we had to go to the front desk to finally receive our check because our waitress never brought it ...the owner checked us out and never asked us how our food was or dining experience or anything ...she just rang us up and took our money. Afterwards, I was getting in the car with my husband and he told me how he was hungry and we just spent $50 on a bland meal with little to no meat. I was upset so I went inside to talk to the owner to let her know this was my first time here and I had heard great things but was very disappointed, mostly by food, secondly by service. She then proceeded to tell me there was nothing she could do ...it was my fault for not telling her sooner and that it was basically our “terrible”waitresses fault (her words, not mine) that our entire experience was so disappointing. I would think that as an owner of a restaurant you would care more about the quality of your food and your customers dining experience and not just blame...

Hostess was a 8/10 she comped the chicken caccitorie that looked like it was a victim of an oil spill. Waitress or the multiple of them I give a 3/10 one point for each one we had. I couldn't keep up with all the people that came to my table and threw down the next store bought generic plastic food. Free bread I give 4/10 it was just a generic roll that had been heated up and served with your generic butter packets I'm sure they collected from IHOP. Appetizer I give 3/10 I had the mozzarella sticks which you could get better ones from the local sonic. Your basic walmart cheese sticks and you get 4 of for $7.51. Served with meh pasta sauce. We then waited another 15 mins for our main course. Main course mine was 5/10 I had the chicken parm. Chicken was moist but had little to no flavor without the sauce to help. Noodles with sauce just tasted like I could make it for $5 instead of the $16 I paid for the blandest 4 star restaurant I've ever been to. You could get better tasting spaghetti from McDonald's. I just wanted a good eating experience with my partner but all I received was disappointment. And my partner got a lil sickly after taking a bite of the oil spill chicken.

The music was louder the regular talking volume so I had to speak up for the person sitting right in front of me. The very rude chef came out and tried to embarrass us by trying to tell us why the chicken looked like an oil spill. Point is if yall can't make good food and have to come out and defend it then you probably shouldn't serve to anyone other then the raccoons out by the dumpster. The chef gave my partner a patronizing shoulder grip as if we were incapable of understanding anything said. No one wants to be touched on the shoulder after being given raccoons worthy food.

Never going again and you can count on me telling everyone I know...