Italiano's Restaurant — Restaurant in Baltimore

This was MY first time eating at this "JOINT". It was also MY last. I had been wanting to eat at Italiano's for a long time, but because of my being retired and on a fixed, low income, I hardly ever can afford to eat out. Anyway, I saved up and decided to treat my son & myself to a night out. To start my review, the service was terrible, the food was terrible, and in general the whole night was terrible. Let me explain... To begin with, we weren't given any napkins until I was able to finally get the waitresses attention and ask her for some. It seemed that she wanted to spend ALL of her time behind the dessert counter, with her back towards the dining room, talking/gossiping with the other employees. My son ordered "Steak & Cake" $45.00 I ordered "Spaghetti & Meatballs" $13.99 My son ordered his steak Medium Rare. It came Well Done, and he said that it was too tough to even enjoy. He said however that the Crab Cake was Great!!! His sides were Mac-N-Cheese and Mashed Potatoes. The Mac-N-Cheese was tasteless, and The Mashed Potatoes tasted like instant. Even the complementary breadsticks were lousy. My Spaghetti & Meatballs were tolerable. The sauce didn't have the zingy taste that spaghetti sauce usually has. The Meatballs were okay. The Garlic Bread was pretty good too. While we were waiting for our meals to be brought to the table, which took about 20 minutes by the way, one of the Italiano's employees got very upset about not being paid for some hours that they thought they deserved to be paid for. A very loud argument broke out, right there behind the dessert counter where the entire restaurant could hear everything that was being said. After about 5 minutes they finally moved the argument back in to the kitchen, where we could still hear what was being said, only not as loud as before. In my opinion, this entire scene was ridiculous and unprofessional. I wish that we would have gotten up right then and there and walked out. This review has gotten very long so I won't go into any more complaining about the service. Take my word for it, It was terrible !!! I will say this though... the waitress was sloppily dressed. She wore blue jeans and a hoodie, with some kind of character on the front. She was slow, unprofessional, and very unattentive. We were her ONLY table too. The restaurant was nearly empty. The last complaint that I have is the cost of this lousy meal & service. Like I said my sons meal was $45.00 + soda. My meal was $13.99 + soda. Even though we received poor service I was planning on leaving a $10.00 tip. When I was finally able to get our waitresses attention again, I asked her for the check. The total came to around $71.00 not including tip. I handed our waitress my debit card and she left our table to go to the register. I too headed toward the register, as soon as I put on my jacket. When I got there she handed me back my debit card and we left. I never did give her the $10 tip. Somewhere between my getting the check and my walking to the register I realized that she had already charged me a "Service Fee" of 18% for her tip. I try not to be too miserly, so I let the 18% tip stand. As I walked to the bus stop, I went to my debit cards phone app and to my amazement, our waitress had charged my debit card $91.00. Of course I immediately returned inside the restaurant and confronted her about this. Her manager interceded, and told me that they charge an automatic 18% service fee (tip) But she couldn't explain why I was charged that 18% service fee twice. Originally I was not given a receipt, and I will have to admit that was an error on my part. I should have asked for one. Bottom line is this. I was ripped off by this "JOINT". They claim that the second 18% Service Fee that I was charged will be put back on my debit card in 3-5 business days. I guess that we'll see !!! I WILL NEVER EAT AT ITALIANO'S RESTAURANT AGAIN. NOR WILL I RECOMMEND ITALIANO'S RESTAURANT TO ANYONE ELSE, WELL EXCEPT TO AN ENEMY, OR SOMEONE THAT I DON'T...

Tonight I went to get a pizza, as I have many times before. Over 20+ years I had been going getting Alfredo, Seafood platters & more. Tonight I learned the Store Manager is Racist & will not be eating there anymore! Over the last few yrs prices have gone up & food taste & service down. I continued to frequent due to the convenience & the menu options. My pizza was made incorrectly & I called to let someone know thinking they would offer a solution, (a future discount, remake) A woman answered & as I explained, she told me I should have looked before I left & other rude things.. I never spoke rudely to her because again.. this was a place I used to come often. I wasn’t even upset, I was used to polite behavior over previous yrs & thought it would be smooth. I didn’t even want a refund & didn’t ask for any. When I replied, “well I actually didn’t come in” the woman yelled “ma’am..” & then hung up the phone. I called back immediately, when a Man answered..I said “a White women (describing who I spoke with) just hung up on me & I wasn’t rude or yelling at her, I was calling about my pizza “… & before I could finish my sentence she took the phone saying “I can do what I want when you yelled at me”…. I was shocked that she Lied & Immediately knew she was Pulling a Karen on me

Although the food is very good, it is a bit expensive. But The best part of my last experience was.... I called in my order and spoke to a young woman I had a very hard time understanding and I had to ask her to repeat herself several times I was very unsure if my order would be correct. Then asked if I could pay with a card over the phone and have my fiance pick it up due to the fact I am a very ill woman. I was told that I had to come in and show my ID to use the card. OK I get that, so I went there to pick up my food and the gentleman (who was VERY nice) took my card and I asked him do you need to see my ID and he said no. At this point I am a bit annoyed. I then asked why I was told one thing over the phone and them told something else when I got to the restaurant. They automatically blamed this young man, way to go ream him out in front of a customer. Then I expressed my concern about not being able to understand the person on the phone that took my order. I was told then that they welcome people for all places (duh don't we all) she then told me that I was a racist for saying what I said. Yes a RACIST in front of customers and other employees!!!! I asked to speak to a manager and the girl I was talking to told me she was the manager and would take an incident report "incident report???". OK she was just a counter person not a manager. I could state her name but that would be wrong. All of this was absolutely uncalled for unprofessional and truly insulting, considering I am far from racist I have two grandchildren that are of mixed ethnicity. I have very close Spanish friends, Mexican, Asian etc. I have never been so insulted by a place of business in my life. I will NEVER spend another penny at their establishment or any others owned by them... such as Valentino's etc. people need to know how they...