Positano — Restaurant in Asheboro

For some time now, I had been looking forward to eating here. However, the timing and circumstances never worked out. Tonight was a rare exception that we found ourselves coming through Asheboro with family and looking for a nice quiet dining experience, with exceptional food. My brother-in-law and sister (who were with us) have eaten here often and had nothing but good things to say, so it was with great anticipation that we selected this place to have dinner tonight.

I was excited to see our table ready for us (we called ahead to make reservations as there were seven of us). As we waited for our drink order to come, we joked with the waitress and I felt at this point we had made the right decision.

We made our dinner selections and conveyed them to Marcella, our waitress. I selected the Chicken Cacciatore as I was very pleased to see that it had the option to SUBSTITUTE (key word here, remember this for later) hot banana peppers for green peppers that were the standard ingredient. What a great way to step up the flavor of Chicken Cacciatore.

As we waited for our dinner to arrive, we noted that the pictures were all crooked on the wall behind our table and some chairs were haphazardly placed in the corner off the end of our table. But what they hey, we came here for the food and not the décor.

As the food starts to arrive, it is all looking great. Mine arrives and I note that the HOT BANANA PEPPERS look more like green bell peppers (you know, the ones that give me indigestion). I ask Marcella when she comes back, to have the green peppers replaced with the HOT BANANA PEPPERS that I ordered. She then tells me that they are mixed in with the green bell peppers. I politely inform her that where I come from SUBSTITUTE (as indicated on the menu) means “to replace or instead of” not comingled. She says that you have to indicate that at the time of the order. I relay back to her the fact that that is exactly what I did. Even have the folks at the table confirm that fact.

Well she leaves and I start picking out the green bell peppers. My back is to the kitchen but my sister is facing the kitchen. My sister says “Oh no, she is bringing the menu back out.” Marcella then shows me where on the menu is says ‘May substitute Hot Banana Peppers…’. I, again, agree that is correct and in fact it is why I used the word SUBSTITUTE when she was last at the table. She then says, “Well, the customer is always correct.” But does nothing with this apparently new revelation. Even tells me that green bell peppers ALSO do not agree with her and I’m thinking, BUT you don’t have to eat them tonight OR go hungry….

Not the experience I was looking forward to. Not what I had hoped for. Not what I paid for. Not happy about the indigestion I’m fighting as I...

My husband and I found Positanos for the first time about 2 months ago and our first impression was great! Host was extremely friendly and welcoming. Our waitress was great too. Food was perfect and reasonable. We went back a few weeks later to another great meal. We did notice that they always start when you walk in the door with “do you have a reservation?” which for some reason is an annoying question. The last time we ate here over this past weekend was not great and we may not be back. Now on the Google page their hours on Friday are 11:00 am - 9:00 pm. It was Christmas weekend and we called to ask if they were open Saturday (Christmas eve). The lady said they would be closed. We decided to go ahead and go right then on Friday. We had a gift card (Visa) and wanted to use it so I called back just to make sure they were open and the lady said yes. So we headed on up there, it was around 3:00 pm. When we got there and started to the door it was closed! We went back to our vehicle and I called and they answered and I asked if they were open and was told that they were closed but would reopen at 4:30. This was not mentioned when I called earlier so we wasted our time going there. We didn’t want to go back home since we had our mind set on eating Italian. So we went to a local store and window shopped for a bit and returned back to the restaurant and waited a little bit in the parking lot. We went in at 4:30 and was asked if we had reservations which we didn’t but we were the only people there but were seated. At the end of the meal our bill was like 49 bucks and we had a 50.00 gift card. We gave the card to the waitress and she returned saying our gift card was declined. We were very confused as to why and went ahead and paid with our cash we had with us. I called the number on the card when we got home and was told that it was declined because Positanos added a 9.00 gratuity which made the amount more than what our card was for. This is ridiculous because we would have left our own tip. Also the lady at front when I first told her that we had called and was told told they were open with no mention of being closed till 4:30 she was not one but apologetic just said well it’s on the door. Which I was like yes but we were at home when we called. It was all a big hassle. I guess you can’t trust what shows up on...

I have loved Positano’s ever since I went the first time to the location in Greensboro. I was super excited when they opened one in Asheboro where I live. I have gone several times and have always had pleasant experiences… Until tonight. I went tonight with a group of friends to celebrate Christmas and everything was going great until our food arrived. I ordered the same thing that I always get which is the Alla Positano that has clams, mussels, shrimp, calamari and scallops in it. The portions are usually really good with lots of fish and pasta, but tonight looked like they gave me half a portion and only gave me one shrimp and one scallop. When I asked the waitress about it she apologized and went and asked the chef about it. She came back and said that the chef told her the dish only comes with one shrimp and one scallop and she proceeded to say that he was in a bad mood and she apologized again. I did find out a little later that the chef was in fact the owner of the place. I was very surprised by his response and asked to speak to a manager. The manager did come over and talk to me, but she made me feel like I was being stupid for even thinking it came with bigger portions of shrimp and scallops. She’s very reluctantly got me extra shrimp which came out looking burnt. I was very disappointed with how this was handled and I will never be visiting this location again. Our waitress did an amazing job and was very attentive to our party so she’s the only reason that I gave two stars. Once I left the restaurant I did call the location in Greensboro and asked if they could tell me how many shrimp and scallops came in that dish and they told me that it usually comes with six shrimp and three scallops. Guess I’m not...