THE PASTA MARKET — Restaurant in Blue Ridge

First off, the name of the place should mean something but not here I guess. My wife and I had just got finished with a white water rafting trip for our 9yr anniversary and this place seemed decently rated on Google and the pictures made it seem like our kind of place. Boy was I wrong. My wife had to leave and go to a bathroom that was on a different floor just to use the restroom, so I ordered the locally made ciabatta bread and oil and the basil and mozzarella flatbread to start. $6 for warm bread about the size of a tall biscuit.... The flatbed was acceptable. Our server was nice and presentable but mediocre at best... she brought out our flatbread after we enjoyed our bread with oil and I had to hold the cutting board it was served on for her to set it down long enough that I spilled the oil on my jean.... and then literally had to ask her to take it from me... she made no apology and did not even make it seem like she noticed the oil was spilling. Once our entrees came out she crowded our table once again and I almost got pesto on my Shirt. For our entrees I ordered the meatball sub which isn't rocket science so it was edible. My wife ordered the garlic butter pasta which came out with cold pasta and more like a garlic oil with no flavor. I gave her the cup of what they called "Ralph's sauce" which was their house red sauce that came with my meatball sub just to try and save the dish but it was not enough so I took it to go with an extra side of sauce. I would think a place called the pasta market would be able to serve pasta that was acceptable at the very least but they not only failed ....they failed miserably at tossing pasta and garlic butter and serving it hot in a small restaurant with only one other customer that was already eating. The couple that followed us in order the meatball appetizer and complained that it was cold. We are here until the end of the week and leave for Florida on Saturday I certainly hope the owner can make time to reach out and respond. Otherwise, they are definitely making all their money selling knick knacks and dried pasta to even care about the food that's being served in their dining room. I spent 13 years of my life as a chef, and I would be embarrassed and ashamed of the food that was served there today to not only one but two parties in the...

I really hate to write this review because I want to love this place so much. But I just have to be honest about it. I will happily correct this review if my information turns out to be false.

As you enter this establishment you are surrounded by a very quant Italian market area. In this market many of the products are imported or sourced from Italy or other European areas. That’s great! A high quality pasta from Italy beats an enriched flour cheap American made pasta any day of the week. So the impression is….we serve Italian food and use high quality ingredients sourced from Italy. This is our second visit here. 4 months ago a waitress told us yes the pasta we use is from up front and Italy. This is important for another reason to come. Tonight though our waitress said “No, it’s just regular pasta nothing from up front or Italy” Interesting….we asked it a different way. Same answer, but this time let us know they do use Ralph’s sauce. Uh OK….

For many that are trying to pick better and cleaner foods. Eating an enriched flour product not only taste bleh, I can make it easily at home. It also contains lots of additives that the real Italy sourced products don’t have. Taste is thus less Italian like and more Olive Garden like. Then comes the meatballs. Perfectly round, perfectly spongy like frozen manufactured meatballs thrown into a broiler or microwave.

It’s gonna be a no repeat visit for me and my family. It simply not worth spending over 100 dollars for a meal that’s worth about 30-40 max. Ralph’s sauce is good, but it can’t fix crappy pasta. Take yourself a little time to learn to make meatballs. You can still store them and use them throughout the week. Cut the portion size down on your pasta dishes but instead switch to an actual Italian pasta. Yes your team will have to learn to cook it and it’s doesn’t cook like crappy easy pasta does.

Lastly if we order warm bread and you are out. Truly be out….it doesn’t make sense to go up front and see a freezer full of the same bread. Grab a couple loafs and serve a few more customers.

Our waitress was sweet and we appreciate how not crowded and quiet it is.

Your mileage might vary and maybe none of this will bother you personally. So give it a shot and decide...

We had a very unfortunate experience here over the weekend. We were a group of five eating, everything started out good. We were sat outside and ordered drinks and appetizers to begin. Drinks were out quickly and the apps took about 20 minutes, fine...we ordered 2 flatbreads and a sandwich next...which took WAY too long. We checked in twice with the waiter to find out what was going on. When it finally came out it had been and hour and a half since we ordered...an hour and a half for flatbread, unbelievable. We ended up asking for it to go since we waited so long. We got the check and they had the audacity to automatically add a 20% tip on top of the total "because we were a party of 6 or more". We were actually a party of 5, two other friends met us there about an hour in to our waiting and only sat (they did not eat or drink) and the only reason they came is because our food had taken so long they were tired of waiting on us. On top of that our waiter never refilled our water (we had to ask for refills twice) and he never cleared anything from our table (used plates, utensils, appetizer platters). He never checked on us once or apologized for our food taking so long. When we told him we were not a party of six and we did not feel the service deserved 20% all he said was "I understand, I would be pissed too".... So my husband goes in to pay and talks to the older lady at the register. She was extremely rude, we calmly explained to her what happened and all she said was "sorry I wasn't there so I don't know what really happened" (she raised her voice at that point). Then we asked her if she thought an hour and a half wait for food was acceptable and she said "its just that time of year". There was literally only 4 other tables filled besides ours at the time. She never apologized, never offered to let us put our own tip since we were not actually a table of six. It was so wild to be treated so poorly as a customer. The food we ended up getting to go was cold and just ok. Not worth the price tag and definitely not worth an hour and a half wait. We will not return and do not...