Sal's Italian Restaurant and Pizza — Restaurant in Burlington

So, let me start off with when we first entered. The hostess seemed annoyed from the beginning. She sat us at a table and asked for our drink order and my mother-in-law ordered an ice water and the hostess began to explain that my mother-in-law ordered ice water with lemon and no ice. She got flustered and angry at my mother-in-law for reiterating that ice water should come with ice. My father-in-law and husband both ordered unsweet tea and were given sweet instead.

Okay, that incident put aside, the waiter took our order. He was nice enough, however; the first time he came back to our table he told my mother - in- law that noodles did not come with her meal (it says, on the menu, that noodles come with her meal and a salad can be added for 2.59 extra). He was asked to check the menu and when he came back the second time he told her that she was right and a salad could be added for 3.99. She then took a menu and showed him the salad is 2.59 and NOT 3.99 extra.

That incident down and over with, the waiter comes back for the third time. Now I would like to point out that we had been waiting for about an hour for our food to arrive. The waiter tells us that he accidentally pressed hold on the order and that my father-in-law's meal and my meal were up and ready to be served but that my mother-in-law's meal and my husband's meal were going to take another 7 minutes.

THEN, you might think it's over but oh no! It's not! Not even close. He finally brings out my husband's and his mother's meals. My husband had to stop him and remind him that he did not order a pizza but that, instead, he had ordered a sub. The waiter then tried to suggest that my husband asked for a small personal....Before he could finish, my husband corrected him and said that he ordered a small sub.

I guess the universe didn't think that was enough of an experience in poor service because there was even more to this adventure. The meal my mother-in-law got (chicken parmigian) was horrible. Absolutely disgusting. Also, the hostess, not only brought cleaning products and air freshener up to the hostess stand but she walked right behind us and sprayed cleaner on the window. The cleaner was so strong and so close that you could taste the smell and it actually sprayed onto the mouth and food of the customers right next to us.

Things never got better though. We called for a manager and maybe an agonizing 15 minutes later she finally showed up. After patronizingly listening and saying things like, "really? Well, that's weird." and "That's so odd." She told us that she would handle it and that she'd be right back.

She never came back and in fact she left the building. We were then told that she was at the bank because their machines were down. My mother-in-law, very upset and very seriously, asked the waiter if this was a joke and if we were on Candid Camera.

Be warned and be careful if you think of going there

The way the food looks is...

Sal's Italian Restaurant: A Culinary delight, but Delivered with Incompetent Service

The positive point up front; the food at Sal's wasn't bad. It was, in fact, pretty good. The meatballs I ordered were very decent, though the promised ranch dressing never arrived – seemingly a minor inconvenience and certainly compared to the level of service we (4x diners) experienced (overall) ensured the ranch issue wasn't even on my radar. Here's why: The food is utterly irrelevant when the service was this disappointing.

From the moment we sat down, we experienced what seemed to be an inattentitive and/or simply inexperienced staff attitude (not anyone being rude, just didn't make us a priority or show competency). The restaurant wasn't very busy and there were at least 2 servers (but understanding this is just my opinion and maybe I'm wrong). However on multiple occasions we observed our server doing other things for other customers, while we were waiting (7-10 mins on average) for drinks, additional items that were confirmed otw for our meals, etc. (I can only imagine if the needed help, they could have called in the guy who was flipping his ink pin in the air, at the host stand). Next our bread arrived only after we'd nearly finished our entrees – which to me was against basic restaurant etiquette. My wife ordered shrimp scampi and received a seafood- type of Alfredo. The server's response was disappointing, once I asked her to confirm our order was correct, she attempted to convince us that this was the shrimp scampi, again I'm blaming inexperience, it didn't feel like any blatant disrespect or anything like that.

To further illustrate the aforementioned points, my friends even had to leave before receiving their change – (we had to retrieve it for them). The wait for both the check and change was approximately 10-15 minutes. Ten to fifteen minutes to get a check and it's change?? I mean this isn't a bustling metropolis (Charlotte, NC or something).

Now one thing I'd want Sal's to keep in mind is that there are countless other restaurants around town that offer both good food AND competent service. Sal's needs a serious overhaul, with respect to...

I actually meant to leave this review a couple days but nonetheless here it is. My wife and I ordered takeout from Sal’s a couple nights ago and this is one of our favorite places to eat and we typically never have any issues but this particular night was a little different. My wife ordered the steak and cheese calzone, which is one of our favorite items to order from there and I ordered the large steak and cheese with fries Usually a pretty good sandwich. So I called the order and I tell the girl taking the order over the phone what I want on my sandwich. Mayonnaise, mustard, oil and vinegar. Mind you I said I want this on my sandwich only so that means no peppers no onions no lettuce I get home. I open the sandwich. It has lettuce and onions on it now mind you this sandwich was $15.79 in the manager who I wish I had remembered her name had the nerve to get an attitude with me. Telling me that well the girl taking an order over the phone that’s not what she wrote down on the paper so whatever she writes down is what we put on the sandwich when the order is called in. How was that? My fault when I literally told her what I wanted on the sample maybe she should have done a better job of listening and writing it down because this was right before closing the manager on the phone was very rude over talking me not letting me speak just being very unprofessional. My wife who was sitting on the other couch could hear this manager through the phone being very rude. That’s how loud she was talking. And then had the nerve to ask me if I want the sandwich remade no I just want to waste $16 on a sandwich for nothing. Yes I want my food remade then when I walked in to get the food once I had to drive back up there again everybody is giving me crazy. Looks when I walk in. Probably won’t be going there for a little bit. That really left a bad taste in my mouth, not saying I won’t ever go back but gonna pump the brakes on Sals a little bit. Usually, we never have any issues there like I said, but this did trip me out...