Chiapparelli's Restaurant — Restaurant in Baltimore

HORRIBLE!!🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 A. We ordered pick-up: Margherita Pizza Shrimp Carryout Salad Shrimp Nicola B. We were told the order would be ready in 8 minutes, so we decided to go inside to wait for the order. C. When we arrived inside, we were told the order would be ready in 20 minutes. We decided to wait inside at a table after another server made the offer to do so when we asked why there was a difference in the order time. 🤨 D. The young women who originally took our order looked "dumbfounded," repeating: No, I said 20 mins for your order as the server inside with her repeated it would take 20 mins. and offered us a table of our choice to be seated inside. E. He brought us a glass of water and a menu as we waited. We ordered 2 glasses of ginger ale with very little ice, an order of: Mussels Lucia and an order of crab balls as we waited seated at a table inside for our "To-Go" to be prepared. the crab balls were tasty the Mussels Lucia were fair 🌟 Our total bill came to $74.73. With the tip added, our total for the inside/seated appetizers AND the to-go order was $90.10. 🌟 The gratuity was for our server "Joe" who offered us a seat inside the restaurant as we waited and made sure we were comfortable with the unexpected wait and the order(s).

Would I recommend Chiapparelli's Restaurant? NO! Would I order to-go from Chiapparelli's? NO! Of the 6 tables that were occupied with dinner guests at Chiapparelli's Restaurant that evening, "2" tables received service and/or food that was below satisfactory. One table of 3 who were seated just inside the door of the dining area to the right of the entrance way, actually left their unfinished orders on the table after making a complaint, paid for the unfinished meal with their server who throughout their time inside the restaurant watched as I did: their waitress "chat-it-up" with patrons at 2 tables nearby, place their left overs in prepped packaging, hug and express warm "fuzzies" with them before they exited the restaurant AND offered words of happy anticipation for their next visit to dine in @ Chiapparelli's Restaurant. The 3 diners who received their food also had to wait several times for items, utensils, etc. to be brought to them by their waitress. 🌟There were 3 wait-staff inside our dining area serving: (a) The table of 3 were seated together just inside the entrance way. (b) The next table nearest to our table had 3 dinner guests including a young boy who seemed more interested in his electronic device than his meal. The same waitress served the diners at table (a) and table (b). (c) My daughter and I were seated together. (d) The table to the left of our table had 2 dinner guests who seemed to know the server very well ...as they chatted together and she even took a seat with them for a "minute" before they existed the restaurant and she packed up their leftover meal to go. 🌟The 2 remaining tables were seated behind us and were being served by another waitress.

🌟Our "to-go" order was brought to our table, we packaged up our remaining Mussels Lucia, paid our bill, thanked our waiter... a young man, who said his name was "Joe" with a kind face and a thick accent...thanked us for coming ...as the young girl who took our original "to-go" order: combed her hair, posed for her 🤳 in the large 🪞 and said... Nothing! 🌟 Our "To-Go" order photos which I snapped when we arrived at our home included our Margherita Pizza: dry and tastkess with red sauce and on strip of cold mozzarella cheese on each slice that NEVER melted, 2 small loaves of bread that were just placed on top of the Shrimp Lucia, another loaf of bread placed on top of the more than 2day-old, tasteless, soggy salad that was wilted...Did I mentions the salad was both OLD and TASTELESS!! Neither loaf was wrapped in paper nor inside of their own "🍞-bag"!! The Shrimp Lucia was dry, flavorless, and lacked ANY TASTE At ALL!! 🌟The (6) 🦀 balls which cost $18 was the only dish with taste. My photos will be added to...

Came here because we were in Little Italy and wanted to try something new. The reviews were good, so we decided to check it out. Arrived at 8:00 on a Friday night, and we were seated in the bar (even though there were plenty of open tables in the dining rooms, which seemed odd).

We were seated next to a gentleman who had prepared himself for his evening out by bathing in a pool of some sort of body spray which assaulted the senses like an olfactory cudgel. Like, you know when it's a hot day, and you go to a crab place, but you didn't plan ahead, so you get the last seat near the dumpsters? It was like that. We'd have asked for another table, but I didn't know how to do that without being terribly rude, and he was clearly on a date with a girl who was way out of his league (despite clearly not having a functional sense of smell), and I didn't want to mess that up for him. In any case, not sure we could actually taste much over the intense aroma.

Drinks (a Negroni and a Cosmopolitan) were fine. Calamari were generously portioned and well-cooked, but a little bland, and so was the accompanying marinara. Again, might be because we couldn't taste anything over the ambiance of a 16-year-old's bathroom when he's getting ready for his first date. Salad was maybe a little over-dressed, but fine. Probably the best part of the meal.

My wife had the Spaghetti Toscanini, which had sausage and peppers in a red sauce. She didn't care for it - she felt it was bland, and she said she likes my sausage much better (I prefer a coarser grind and a little more red pepper, if you know what I mean). The sauce didn't seem to have much flavor.

I had the Veal Piccata, and wouldn't order it again. It was three smallish pieces of veal, floating in a dish of underwhelming viscous sauce, with a small side dish of spaghetti with a pretty bland marinara sauce.

The service was friendly and adequate - what you expect from a bartender on a Friday night. She earned her 20%.

When we left, my wife made me promise we'd never go back. She had wanted to go have ice cream in the park instead - I should have listened.

I played the F&B game for a long time. This place feels like a joint that has been around forever, but gave up caring about the food decades ago. A chef and management with a little vision could turn a place like this into magic. Other reviewers seem to like Chiapparelli's, but I regret burning a rare Friday date night with my wife here.

Overall, 2/5:...

This is a long post. I am not sorry. Read it and you will understand why.

We dined at Chiapparelli's Restaurant in Baltimore tonight. You know how you get a feeling sometimes when you sit down that you should flee? We should have fled.

We started out well. A young man immediately brought us ice water and delicious bread. And then we did not see a staff member for 25 minutes, when the guys at the next table, who came in after us, managed to flag someone down. We ordered everything at once - Diet Cokes, Gray Goose martinis, garlic bread, chicken parm, chicken piccata, and a side of meatballs. Hey, it’s Little Italy! We were living it up!

And then nothing. For another 30 minutes. No drinks. No food. Nothing.

We observed a man that we thought might be the manager leaning against the bar chatting. We finally saw our waitress and asked her what was going on. She brought us our sodas. Garlic bread appeared and was good - but cut too thick. I had to add butter. Salad arrived. Still no Martinis. Salad was really good.

Still no Martinis. I stopped our server. She told us she did not know how to make them and no one would help her. We asked to see the manager. He came over and draped himself over the back of a chair. I could tell he really didn’t care. He immediately blamed everything on the server - she’s too new, she doesn’t know how to make drinks, someone else was supposed to be helping cover.

He asked what he could do to make it right. I hate that question.

Tom told him he should be helping her since he knows she is struggling.

I asked him to make us a reservation somewhere else. He said he didn’t want to lose us. He promised us drinks and food and left.

A few minutes later, our server and another woman came to ask us - for the fourth time - what our drinks were. Tom said, “Bring us Gray Goose on the rocks.”

Drinks arrived. Food arrived. Finally.

Meatballs were shamefully bad. This is an Italian restaurant in the Italian district. There are no excuses.

Tom’s piccata was tough and dry.

My chicken parm was very good. I am pretty sure it was made with frozen chicken and there was a square piece of barely melted cheese on top. No Golden Brown Deliciousness there. But still good.

The manager asked us how the food was. We were honest. He took a substantial amount off the check.

But still. We will never go back. You should...