La Dolce Vita Italian Cuisine — Restaurant in Bossier City

Let me start by saying, I’ve read some of the other single star reviews and I can empathize. The chef is incredibly cowardly and rude. Talked about me in the kitchen for sending a plate back that was not worth $29 while my wife was still finishing her pasta. Let me explain… We came out, my wife and I, on a date night to LDV. We have 3 children under 5, and this happens maybe once a month, if we can swing it. She ordered a tortellini dish with prosciutto and mushrooms in a cream sauce. (Which she said was very good, in all fairness) I ordered the veal Marsala, which I’ve had at other restaurants many times, and I figured would be safe for our first time eating here. We started with the smoked salmon capriccio and that was pretty good. At least it came with real butter and not cafeteria style butter packets with the tinfoil you have to peel off, like the bread did. Then we received our meals. When other reviews say that the side of pasta and red sauce comes in a cafeteria side dish, they’re not kidding. Fine, I can overlook that, but what I can’t overlook is not being able to see my veal beneath a mountain of mushrooms and sauce. I like a sauce that’s on the thinner side, so that part was not a problem, but the veal was so small…and so thin, I had to scrape all the mushrooms off to the side and some of the sauce to uncover the (most likely, not exaggerating) less than 2 oz of veal the chef put on my plate.

I immediately was disappointed and lost my appetite.

I didn’t even try it because, honestly, it felt like it was an insult. The waiter asked if an everything was going okay and I told them to take the plate back. As politely as one can do something like this. Then he came back after talking with the chef, and asked if they could make me something else. I politely refused and then the waiter went back to the kitchen and I over heard the staff and chef talking about what happened at our table.

Your restaurant isn’t THAT nice. Your wait staff is friendly, but green. With that said, if a customer has a problem with your food, you might want to listen, because the other reasons for going out to eat, not having to serve yourself, and the atmosphere, aren’t great selling points at your restaurant.

Not only did the chef not care, he was talking about me from the kitchen and I could hear almost everything he and our waiter were saying due to us being sat right by the kitchen. Very rude.

The chef is too cowardly and insecure to come ask me what was wrong, himself. And before you say “he’s busy cooking the food” I’m sorry I just can’t take that as an excuse.

The restaurant was not busy, 2-3 tables that had already been served food and no new tables since we arrived and were sat.

So if he needed to say something, he could’ve talked to me face to face. And I would’ve told him, my opinion is that the 2 oz veal plate ISN'T WORTH 30 dollars. ( especially when my wife’s PASTA was loaded with prosciutto) All in all the ticket was 75 dollars because we bought a bottle of their house wine, my wife’s pasta plate, and the smoked salmon appetizer.

I left the waiter the 30 I would’ve spent on the plate for having to deal with that jerk of a chef. To the waiter, don’t explain this away as a “southern thing”. If your chef trained at li’Italiano, then he shouldn’t be culture shocked at this point. The point wasn’t that I expected a heaping portion of food. There were plenty of mushrooms and the cafeteria side of pasta, but on your menu it says “Veal Marsala”. Not mushroom Marsala.

Excuse me for being dissatisfied with your dish, or don’t, at the rate you’re going I give you 6 months before you start having problems. This might fly with an older southern crowd who are too polite to say something, but not me. You can’t keep expecting paying customers to put up with this nonsense and unprofessionalism.

Also: Your wait staff should keep their options open, just some advice. DONT go down...

I went into this restaurant to celebrate my aunt’s 70th birthday. To start we had to ask about our appetizer because it never came. I also ordered spaghetti with meat sauce for my two children… it never came. I ordered the red fish…. It NEVER came. Everyone was packing to go boxes and I still had no food. They told me they would cover my meal. Ok, just box it up and I’ll eat it tomorrow..disappointed but not a big deal. We receive our check and my meal is on the ticket, so I ask. Since I did not want to pay for the meal… they picked up my boxed meal off the table… unbelievable. The chef/owner has not ever surfaced to apologize for the situation. As I’m leaving I try to talk to him about this horrible situation and he was beyond rude and disrespectful actually waving goodbye to me. In my 44 years of dining out in all types of restaurants, I truly do not believe that I have ever been treated with that much disrespect. Save yourself time and money and find a local restaurant that appreciates your business.

Regarding your response Absolutely not true! We had 19 people in our group and 3 bottles of wine. I had less than 2 glasses. The 6 pack of beer not 12 was split between 4 men. I am so sorry we had a bad experience at your restaurant. I wish your restaurant the very best. Although, common courtesy is to apologize when a meal has been forgotten and to keep your word on compensating for it…not bringing it out to your guest and then coming back and removing it from the table. Your chef NEVER apologized. The only person that did was Beverly. Also, my 2 children that ordered plain spaghetti did not receive their meal in a timely manner. Several people in our group complained about the quality of your food. They were not fans of your sauce on lasagna and spaghetti. Working in any line of work, you must admit when you are wrong and take constructive...

First, I want to say the young lady serving us was very good. She was polite and attentive. Now for the negative. I'm going to try not to be mean here, but I do think it's important to be honest. if you're going to write your menu in Italian, at least spell the words correctly. Sure, 99% of the people would never know, but attention to detail is important in the restaurant business. Next, you can't pull off fancy restaurant when you have a fairy lights. It doesn't work and the bubble gum machine in the corner doesn't scream fancy either. On to the food. I lived in Europe for nine years so I understand that Italian food and Italian American food are markedly different. The food here is an insult to both. Either way, the food was terrible. The lasagna was room temperature. It wasn't hot or cold. It's almost as if the ingredients were thrown together and it was never actually placed in the oven. The sauce was bland. There weren't any noticeable flavors. I'm not sure how you can have tomato sauce that doesn't even taste like tomatoes. The shrimp were advertised as "imported" so a thumbs up for honesty. The bread was dry and tasted stale. Another basic rule of cooking is don't mix breaded dishes such as fried calamari into a sauce. The breading turns to doughy mush. Additionally, the pasta was overcooked. That is a sure sign of someone who doesn't know how to cook in a restaurant, as cooking pasta is a very basic cooking skill. My recommendation would be to hire someone who can actually cook. I'm not being mean. That's a legit suggestion. Compare this place to L'Italianos or Romas and you'll see what I mean. I'd seriously rather have jarred sauce. It's disingenuous to use frozen and prepackaged ingredients and charge $20-$30 a plate. Sorry, but I cannot recommend this restaurant at its current state. Perhaps I just came on...