Verona Café — Restaurant in Apopka

AWFUL. I'm completely embarrassed to have suggested this place to my significant other. The last time I was here, it was great. No idea what happened since then, but this visit was nothing short of atrocious. I can deal with absolutely zero atmosphere, no music, no signage for seating or service, and even lack of care and maintenance of equipment and furniture. What I cannot accept is a severe lack of customer service. We walked around the dining room, looking to say hello and ask if we are to seat ourselves. Eventually, we were greeted by a server, who seemed to be friendly. At first. One of us ordered the calzone, which was marvelous. A perfect blend of flavors and masterfully cooked. 10/10 all the way. However, we also ordered a chicken masala with a side of garlic bread. Utmost disappointment. A hoagie roll with garlic butter slathered on it? Ugh. Not the worst thing I've seen, but yikes. What really takes the cake is the God awful chicken that was served. We took two bites and could barely manage to swallow it. The chicken tasted and felt as if it had been frozen, improperly thawed, frozen again, and heated up improperly as well. I can't even call it being cooked. I detest people that say "I'm a restaurant manager, so I know my stuff." But I am, and I do. When we politely mentioned to the server that the chicken tasted odd, she instantly got defensive, said that it's frozen, and that "all restaurants serve frozen chicken." We tried to explain that it's not the fact that it's frozen. That's fine. We aren't "boojie" when it comes to that. However... it wasn't edible whatsoever. The server took the plate without apologizing, offering to replace it, or have it remade. Instead, she stormed off and I had to stop her to ask her if I could please order dessert. When she came back, she made it a point to, yet again, defend the dang chicken. It was just bad and that happens sometimes even in the best restaurants. Not to mention, she still charged us for the $15 plate of food we took two bites of. She did take $6 from the check's total, but that is still unacceptable for inedible food. The poor quality of food can be "swallowed," so to speak. Her hateful attitude, however, cannot. Instead of making Cafe Verona our new local hot spot, we will never be returning. Of course, we will post as much social media about it as necessary to save others the awful...

Walk in. no music, no instructions as to wait for a hostess or seat yourself. Nobody to be found. Only the clash of dishes being washed. Once the server noticed us, I ordered Chicken Marsala. What a mistake. A whole box of lukewarm pasta, sitting in a puddle of what looked like stewed onions and watery mushrooms. In the center was a small piece of chicken, which felt like I was eating a grape. You could tell it was frozen, thawed, and maybe frozen again. When I told the server that I didn't care for it, and would share my ladies' massive calzone, she became very defensive. I told her that it taste frozen and had a bad texture, her response? Not an apology, not an offer of ordering something else, the response was "Yeah well, if you eat at a restaurant the chickens frozen. Everywhere you go." with a defensive attitude. When the check was brought out, they deducted 6$ off of the 13$ entree. which I guess covered the side salad and the box of pasta they wasted. She even came back to reiterate that chicken everywhere is frozen. So her insult to my intelligence earned her no tip. Maybe she can have the 7$ I was charged.

I will say, the calzone was perfect and very tasty. I would gladly pay the money for that instead! So all in all, don't go in. Just phone in a calzone and leave. Everything else seems to be a miserable...

I Love the food here and have been a returning customer for years. However tonight I ordered two large pizzas and 50 wings and received a large pizza 50 wings and a sub. With a confused look on my face I explained to the lady at the front that I ordered two pizzas when she then very rudely rolled her eyes and made a big deal about how I said sub. I explained to her that I was sorry for the confusion (me the customer apologizing for my order being messed up). However I too work in the food industry so I try to be understanding but she still had a terrible attitude towards me insisting it was my mistake. I said nothing more and I smiled while she had the guy start my pizza. Then to top the whole experience Im certain I was still charged for the sub I didn't order or want. Which I wont complain about because she insisted I take it home because she had no other orders for that sub. Although again Ill state I didnt want or need the sub I was just over it and wanted to return home to feed my family. Thankfully Arthur is great at his job and had my pizza cooked in no time. Also everything was delicious. However if thats the treatment Im going to receive when Im spending my money in your establishment I...