Zeppoli's Italian Restaurant and Wine Shop — Restaurant in Blacksburg

Very, very bland food. Went for a late lunch just before 3pm and was given a dinner menu. Tried the meatballs, chicken parmigiana and one of their specials, salmon and artichokes. The bread brought to the table was too hot to touch and then immediately started to crumble, so it was likely old bread they tried to refresh in the oven.

The meatballs: were served in a decent marinara, but tasted like they had zero salt and hadn't even been browned just thrown into an oven then dropped into sauce to serve. Nothing seemed properly seasoned honestly.

The chicken Parm: this was just strange, I don't know how you make chicken rubbery even cheap chicken. The chicken had been pounded out and fried to a crisp, but the actual chicken had a strange texture (I couldn't tell if they'd used thighs instead of breast!), was dry and lacked salt and somehow tasted of mushrooms. At first cut id thought they'd given me eggplant, but it was "chicken ish". It was served with a small side of spaghetti which was cooked properly and whose marinara was fine (again, unseasoned) but they didn't in any way taste or look homemade from the flavor to the color to the texture.

Salmon and artichoke: whole fish really needed salt sprinkled all over again, but the salmon was cooked well and they really enjoyed the lemony artichokes. It was served on top of a giant pile of spaghetti in a cream sauce while the chicken Parm had a small pile on the side, and while again the pasta was cooked well Id be shocked to find out it was really homemade. Maybe that's something they save for later services.

For dessert we asked if they zeppolis, because well it's their name, and they said they don't make them anymore because nobody orders them so they had to throw out the dough every day. Which was kind of wildly confusing, as while they don't offer pizzas it's the same/similar dough (hence why so many pizza and Italian places offer it) and you can make and keep that refrigerated for days before stretching to fry. Apparently they used to offer garlic knots too, but now just chop up some French bread and throw it in some hot oil.

All in all the food wasn't bad, but very bland and below-average. The server was nice and quick, but you could only tell they worked there due to us being the only other people in the restaurant.

It's hard to imagine intentionally going back due to the above, but it's not the end of the world if someone has a gift card or something. In all honesty it gave "things aren't going well and we only still exist because of our semi-proximity to campus when parents pull up yelp for a place to take their kid when...

Why wasn’t this place packed?

We went in on a Friday evening, and admittedly, we were early (we eat early). We arrived at about 5:45 PM, and left about 7:00 PM, but there were not ever very many tables filled.

I had a dish called Greek Shrimp, which was sautéed shrimp with feta, spinach, tomatoes, onion and olives. It was clearly a pan sauce finished to order, and it was served over their home-made linguine. Very tasty, not overwhelmed by the toppings, and the sauce was light and yummy. The pasta was a perfect al dente.

The second order at our table was Pasta Piselli, prosciutto and baby peas tossed in an Alfredo cream sauce with home-made shell pasta. Another dish that was clearly a pan sauce made to order. The shells were lightly coated in the Alfredo, and the Alfredo was fresh and very tasty. (So many places smother their pasta in Alfredo that was made earlier.) A pan-finished Alfredo is a completely different and refreshing dish.

The final plate at our table was Eggplant Parmigiana. This dish is often a soggy mess, but this plate was also made to order, with lightly breaded eggplant (not oily), topped with mozzarella, mushrooms, and marinara. The marinara had to have been made in-house – It was fresh and tomatoe-y, and made me wish that I’d had pasta marinara, instead of the shrimp.

I know I sound like a shill. I hadn’t been to Zeppoli’s in years. I heard that they recently changed ownership, and that made me think that I should go over there. The fresh pasta alone is worth the trip. Perfectly cooked al dente pasta, served in a variety of fresh made pan sauces.

The food and the service were great (the waitress actually predicted what I was going to order, which was kind of cool), and while the ambience is a little dated, I can’t get past the food. Every dish at our table was fresh and very tasty, and the prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food. This is the best Italian food in Blacksburg.

Why wasn’t this...

This is hard to write since i don't like writing negative things and people are employed at these places; I don't want anyone to lose a job.

Zeppoli's appeared understaffed. I don't know the reason. We waited 20 minutes for a table which is what the attendant told us so that was accurate. It took about two minutes for her to appear though. The wait staff appeared to be struggling at times so I feel sorry for them.

I'd say almost half the tables were empty though so I'm not sure why the wait.

It's been years since I'd been there and is under new management since that time. Last t il me had not been good. My wife had heard good things about it since then so we thought we'd try it again.

The women's bathroom needs some work on it, fixing soap and towel dispensers according to my wife. First, they do not serve a salad or any appetizer with your meal, everything is ala carte except for a small loaf of bread. And the food is not cheap or really moderate do that adds up.

We skipped the traditional salad. My son had a ravioli with a cream and tomato sauce which he liked. My wife had fettuccini alfredo which she said was okay. I had the chicken parmesan nut the chicken was tough. The chef had not pounded the chicken before breading and overcooked it a little. The flavor was fine but nothing great. However, my mom's pasta dish was just okay on taste nutty the pasta was way undercooked, making it very tough and chewy mostly and crunchy in some places.

No dessert and we got out for around 90 bucks.

I'm sorry but I'd give this 2.5 stars at best. I don't think we will go back soon. Hopefully mine was an...