Reale's Italian Cafe — Restaurant in Austin

Had high expectations for this place because it came highly recommended by a colleague, but much was left to be desired. We walked in and thought the place had a good ambiance, so far so good. That's where it ends. Sat for about 5-10 minutes before a member of waitstaff came by. Our waitress turned out to be one waiting on a table next to us, who chose to ignore us. She finally came by, each interaction with little to no eye contact, to take our order. Food came out fairly too quick, so I suspected pre-prepared or frozen food. During our appetizers, twice the manager/owner made rounds to check on the tables and not once did he acknowledge our presence. Thr first time, we assumed he knew the other patrons; the second time it was blatant because he checked on all the tables except for us. Entrees arrive. I ordered the pork chop, which comes topped with peppers and onions. My mix had a random bit of broccoli and ham, which made me question whether it was reused or if their toppings were all close together and accidentally got mixed and dropped in. Pork chop was very thick and still on the bone, but overdone and dry. Boyfriend order chicken parmesan and a pepperoni pizza. Pizza crust was chewy as if from frozen dough, and the chicken was definitely a frozen breast. When we were finished, our waitress asked if we were ready for boxes. We said yes, and expected her to take our plates back to box like she had done for the other tables. Instead, she brought us boxes so we could box our food ourselves. Upon leaving, the manager was at the host stand thanking everyone for coming. As soon as he saw us he turned his head the opposite direction, even though he had thanked and said goodbye to the couple immediately in front of us. I was really excited to try a new place but left we a sour taste in my mouth. We may not have been dressed the nicest but the obviously poor treatment we got compared to other tables, possibly due to our age and appearance, was alarming. We're generous tippers but this place barely deserved the 15% we still left. I wouldn't go back again and don't recommend anyone else to, especially when the management looks the other way when it comes to cases of sexual harassment or even engages in...

So I posted a 3 star only because the restaurant was nice and clean, and SOME of the food was ok, and the service wasn’t horrible. We ordered two pasta dishes, one was the spaghetti your way, and the other was shrimp scampi. Comes with a salad or soup, and we ordered cheese bread to start.

First the salads come. They’re actually warm lettuce salads. Minimal Caesar salad dressing on both. We maybe ate 4-5 bites of those and were done. Not one to complain, so we pushed them aside as we had the app coming.

App comes, looked great and was quite huge actually. But, it was just ok. Really could’ve used some simple Italian seasoning on top to give it good flavor. The marinara sauce was bland. Like the spices had been forgotten completely. We ate about half of the app.

Then pastas come out. Mine was a red sauce with Italian sausages, and was hit with the same super bland sauce that came with the cheese bread. The Italian sausages were delicious however, so I continued with my dish after some major peppering and adding a cup full of parmesan. My partner’s scampi was simply a white wine lemon sauce and sautéed shrimp. No garlic flavor as described on the menu, and it was so over powerfully lemon flavored it was completely inedible. Sent that back.

Service was just ok. Drinks didn’t get empty so that’s always good. Server very awkward though and didn’t return until much after pastas were delivered. The other lady waitress in the floor was super attentive to her tables. Might have ordered something else with her, but when our server didn’t return for quite some time, I was almost done with mine. So we decided against replacing the scampi as his appetite was gone and we were just kinda let down at that point.

Still tipped well because I’m not a d bag, but we won’t be returning any time soon. It’s a shame, as this was our second visit and the first...

I ate here with my daughter and her friend last week and I am sorry to say that it was quite sub par. We ordered the bruschetta for appetizer and Fettucine Alfredo, Ravioli and Eggplant Parmesan for the main entrée and NY Cheesecake and Tiramisu for dessert. We were served breadsticks as well. The presentation for the main entrees was really poor, rather nonexistent. just stuff with sauce poured on top. The ravioli was tough to cut into as if it was made days before and left out to dry. The Eggplant was soggy and had absolutely no crispness to the batter, essentially a mushy mix of eggplant with melted cheese. Fettucine alfredo was just bland. No richness or flavor to the alfredo sauce at all. The breadsticks were flavorless as well. The Tiramisu was decent. The cheesecake though, had a stale quality to the crust. The server was prompt and attentive. Sadly, that is the only plus I can say about the visit. I have visited Reale's multiple times in the past and it was always a pleasant experience. The reason I decided to post a review is to draw attention of the owner to an active thread going on on the Nextdoor website about this recent trend of off and on experiences. Within 5 days, it has about 110+ responses from people who have been longtime customers of the restaurant, many of them voicing the same concern about the recent food quality. I see that the owner actively responds to the reviews here and as a well wisher, I would like him to check out the thread and gather some useful feedback. I am sure he/she will do so and take appropriate corrective measures. I will be happy to provide the link to the aforesaid online...