DePalma's Italian Cafe — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

This was my first and last time to dine (suffer) at this disgusting restaurant. We were told no tables available on the inside so we opted to eat outside. The tables were dirty and seats hard and uncomfortable. There were at least 20 customers standing and walking all around us waiting for an inside table. One family in particular allowed their son to physically run back and forth including in and out of tables. I asked the mother to be considerate and take charge of her child . She started screaming at him causing him to scream back and ignited fake crying with continued screaming. Everyone was very annoyed as this went on for over 30 minutes.. I asked the waiter to have the Manager try to correct the situation but this was to no avail. The waitress after another 10 minutes came and said she had a table inside for us and to grab our plates and glasses and follow her. Once inside we were abruptly halted and told no such table existed although there were at least 4 empty tables in sight. We looking like idiots with food and drink in hand marched back out the door to our original table. Immediately we again encountered the shrill screaming of the young boy along with the mother and father screaming at him to shut the hell up. We had Pasta and sauce yet no cheeses or salt and pepper were brought with the dish. We had to wait another five minutes for those items. We were never offered a refill on our drinks and all of the food served was cold or lukewarm. I ask to talk to the Manager but he/she never appeared before our check came. We did eat a small portion of each dish so I felt obligated to pay the bill which I reluctantly did as the kid and parents screamed on and on and on. I have eaten in restaurants around the world but must say have never had such a disgusting Experience as this. Life is short so I will move on to the next adventure hoping it will be something more positive than my experience at DePalmas Joke of an...

Came here with husband for our anniversary dinner. Was greeted by a friendly hostess. The friendliness ended there.

The waitress came, asked what we wanted to drink. Came back and told us what the specials were. Then left.

10-15min later she returned. We gave our order. An appetizer was ordered and my husband had a garden salad with our meals.

Waitress didn’t smile at all. And barely showed one all evening.

Another 15min goes by and the appetizer and salad showed up.

By the way - since when does an Italian restaurant not offer bread/oil/butter?

Another 15-20min goes by and someone brings my meal. Husband’s meal came a few minutes after.

I thought the food was good. Husband said his was ok.

While we were eating, one of the waitresses took a barstool, stood on it, in order to remove chalk signs down. We were so fearful for her! The bartender was eating, and just watched, not offering assistance.

I can say the waitress only came by once to see how things were.

We got dessert and gave a 20% tip. When we left, our waitress was seated at a table with a coworker looking at her phone.

She looked up and said thank you. Again not smiling.

We live 1mi from the other location on Barnett Shoals. We’ve been there once. It was dark and dingy, old looking.

Need a special reason to return to...

The only reason why I am giving them a 2 and not a 1 is because the food was good, but the service was horrible. When my friend and I asked for straws, the waitress questioned us on whether we "really needed it" she said that "the restaurant is trying to save the environment so I'm required to ask whether you guys NEED straws or simply WANT straws, so I must ask again, Are straws something you NEED or just WANT?" We were puzzled at this absurd statement, but nonetheless we complied and didn't take straws. Then immediately after, the next table got straws with their water, which was baffling. To add to the hypocrisy, towards the end of our stay the same waitress says, "Would you like to-go cups for your waters?". I'm simply astonished at how she can not offer us straws and guilt trip us into not using straws due to the restaurant's "Save the environment policy" and then simultaneously also offer us plastic to-go cups without us mentioning a need for them at all. I'm not sure if she was just having fun at our expense or disillusioned by what constitutes recycling, but either way it was petty and not professional. I'm all for saving the environment as long as the next table gets treated...