Calandra's Italian Village — Restaurant in Caldwell

Why make a reservation if you are told you have to wait 10-15 minutes for a table? My friends & I were excited to try Calandra's after seeing some reviews for it & Tiktok videos being made about it. It looked promising & delicious but the customer service was quite a turn off & left us not wanting to return.

My friend had made a reservation online on 4/21/21 (3 days in advance from the date we planned on going) & received the email confirmation for the time & date - 7:30pm on Saturday 4/24/21. We arrived, a party of 3, at 7:30 pm on the dot & when we went up to the hostess stand to state "we are here for our 7:30 reservation" the hostess asked what the name was, wrote it down on a piece of paper that had other names on it, & told us it would be 10-15 minutes. Wondering to ourselves what the point of making a reservation was if you're going to be told to wait for a table was a little confusing to us, but we didn't make a fuss/dispute this with the hostess & just waited. What was also strange was that there was no sort of computer, iPad, technological device at the hostess stand where the online reservations would possibly be checked...? Instead she was just writing names down on a piece of paper in front of us as they were being verbalized to her from other guests, so we also were confused by the fact of well, were the online reservations even checked? It all just didn't make any sense. The hostesses (2 younger girls & 1 older woman) were not very friendly/welcoming either. I get that it was a Saturday night & they may have been flustered/busy but I feel a friendly demeanor should always be presented when working in the customer service business. It was almost like we were bothering them when checking in for our reservation.

The food was good but the timing of it all was painful. Bread was brought out first with no water. About 10 minutes had gone by before we got any water & we could not find our waitress anywhere during this time. After our appetizer & entrees, the waitress had asked if there was any 'special occasion' in which my friend replied it was my birthday. However, if online reservations were checked as I mentioned above, this was already indicated on there when she had made it under "special requests". Again, why have the option to make online reservations if they are not even being looked at? It was quite a way to ruin a birthday surprise by asking all of us "so, any special occasion tonight?" right in front of me when it had been indicated on the premade reservation "it's my friends birthday! If we can pre-order a dessert with a candle to surprise her".

When asked if we wanted dessert, I said I would have the lobster tail to go (my friends were full & didn't want anything) so we sat there waiting for a box & the check for about 25 minutes (no exaggeration) after telling our waitress I wanted the dessert to go. It was absurd. I gave an extra "star" because the pasta entrees were delicious but the inattentiveness of the staff / business as well as the painful wait times were what lead me to give this a 2 star review. Also some nerve to automatically charge 20% gratuity to people's bills when the service did not equate to this tip percentage whatsoever....

The bakery has a wide assortment of sweet, baked items. It's well-staffed and you are waited on immediately. I bought a "large" chocolate, raspberry cake that was delicious. We bought a blueberry crumble pie that was almost inedible. The blueberry filling did not taste like blueberries and it was sticky and thick. The crumb topping was very dry and flavorless, like powdered cardboard. I purchased two small chocolate mousse cakes - a one person size. One had raspberry mousse and a chocolate fondant outer covering, and it was so very delicious that I will go back to purchase several more. The chocolate mousse w/ chocolate fondant outer covering was less impressive. The mousse itself was not very chocolatey. Disappointing. I also bought a vanilla mousse small confection that barely tasted like anything. I purchased several other small confections, all of them disappointing. I would go back to purchase the large, chocolate raspberry mousse cake and the small chocolate raspberry mousse cake. Prices are high. The large cake, which provides only 6-8 slices, is $28.00. I can't remember the price if each smaller mousse cake. The deli counter looked promising, but had only 2 people on staff, one of whom ran from the back area (behind a closed door) along the back of the deli but and never waited on anyone. The lone staffer assisting customers was slow and didn't seem well acquainted with what was in some of the dishes. He was nice but it was frustrating, as my husband and I waited 10 minutes behind a family of 5 while their order was processed. My husband bought meatballs - 6 meatballs (medium size) for $12.00. He found them to be very salty, bland and disappointing. I bought roasted mushrooms - sliced Portobellas - and believe it came to $10.00 for 8 slices. They were tasty, but way too expensive. I ordered a slice of cheese lasagna. It was a large slice, but they were pre-cut and I though I could eat half for one meal and half for another. The portion I bought cost a little under $20.00! When I took it home and heated it up to eat, it was very salty, and after I ate half I became very sick to my stomach and had to make several visits to the bathroom to rid my system of the majority of what I ate. Overall we found the prices quite high. Will likely not bother with the deli again. I would go back for the two cakes I bought, but only as a special treat. My husband bought cannoli from the bakery which he liked very much. For us this might be a special occasion only place to buy some bakery items. The prices are too high to justify a weekly...

Awful.. customer service. My mother bought me an ice cream cake from calandras for my birthday party not knowing it was an ice cream cake after one of the girls in the front didn’t specify that it was .my mother asked one of the ladies from the bakery “what’s in it” she specified what was in it and did not mentioned it was an ICE CREAM CAKE. My mom then proceeded to ask if she may write down a happy birthday on top of the cake and she did and later the day my mom right away put it in the fridge for later in the evening . When she went to open it she said it was flat and all melted and got very upset. The next day i the birthday girl daughter , called the store and told them what had happened according to my mother, and the store manger Euger, said okay you can get a refund just come anytime before 9 and he sounded understanding over the phone …My mom went by herself and not with me to calandras in west caldwell and according to my mother she said she doesn’t want to go back anymore because of how she was treated , it’s sad to see this happen because that’s my moms happy place and she would go every week with a friend or family and now she doesn’t feel comfortable because as she was returning the cake for the refund she said they made her feel like she was stupid saying “it’s an ice cream cake of course it will melt” and would talk angrily to her (the store manager Euger) not giving the refund through her card even though he said he would over the phone but instead a gift card because supposedly my mothers card was “DECLINED” to receive the refund…. Hearing that made me upset and figured out calandras is not a friendly environment like how i thought it was . My mom was going to even sit down for some coffee and bakery goods after refunding it but she lost her appetite to stay in that restaurant anymore due to how she was being treated . My mom first language isn’t english which is why, i did all the speaking on the phone to arrange the refund for today but letting her go by herself was a big mistake because she’s been treated very POORLY… Was it discrimination? Because i wasn’t there to tak for my mom …. Awful...