Provino's — Restaurant in Canton

I want to start by saying that my husband and I absolutely LOVE Provinos and that my family has continuously gone to this chain since it was just "Marco's". Before it ever was sold and split into Provinos and Scalinis. In light of this I do have to share an experience that was out of the realm of any experience that I've ever had here.

My husband and I recently moved to the area and were ecstatic to see that there was still a Provinos close enough for us to go to. It has been my pregnancy craving for the last 2 months! (Lol). We had been at least 3 times to this Canton location with no issues- great food! Tonight we invited my sister and brother-in-law to join us and were excited to all eat together. My sister got a later start driving and was 15 minutes away when my husband and I walked in to get a table. We were planning to go ahead and order a few appetizers so that we could get started (we were starving). The hostess greeted us and when I told her it was a table for 4; she asked me where the rest of our party was. I responded that they were about 15 minutes away and before just walking away, she told me she would seat us when they arrived. 3 tables of families left while we waited and the restaurant was not busy at all. No one came in while we waited.

If this is their policy; okay. I understand. I was trying to be patient, but my husband was worried about me because I was getting incredibly hungry and it makes me sick if I don't eat quickly enough after getting hungry (thanks pregnancy!). He walked up to the stand to ask if we could be seated a little bit faster so that we could order food and the hostess instead asked where the rest of our party was once again. I said about 5 minutes away and we were then told by the hostess and another worker at the front that we would not be allowed to be seated and they could not let us order appetizers.... Interesting. One kind worker did offer to bring me a tea at the front thankfully and we continued to wait. When my sister showed up; I was sharing with her what had happened to us and was upset by the fact that we literally were not allowed to eat because she hadn't arrived yet. As I did this; the hostess called to us and just said "you can follow me" without being anywhere near. I told her we were thinking and would be just a minute to which she immediately went to the other 4 standing around the counter and started gossiping and my whole party could hear. My sister took over and told them we would pay for the tea, but would be leaving. We were going to walk to the next door down to go to Outback. It was genuinely unfortunate as I love this restaurant, but will gladly drive back to the Kennesaw location from now on. Very uncomfortable. Again; if this is the policy, then I understand. I just don't agree with it and won't support it after going to the chain for over 15 years. It's hard to imagine not wanting to seat guests so that they can start...

Summary:

I've experienced a lot Italian restaurants both domestic and in Europe, so I know what Italian means. This is a sub-par Italian restaurant for such a small chain and not a nationwide chain like Olive Garden or Carrabba's.

Experience and conclusion:

I ordered "Veal Al A Roma" and my wife ordered the Veal Marsala. We both had a side of Fettuccini Alfredo which they call "Fettuccini Provino (Italian Style)" for whatever reason. The garlic rolls are standard fanfare and the house salad bowl was lacking on dressing which appeared to be a basic olive oil and vinegar concoction with little flavor. Basically, it was bland.

My dish was not up to what I expected. I was disappointed to see that it was topped with basic American ham, not prosciutto like you see in other restaurants (or recipes). Also, it's referred to by Italians as Veal "Alla" Roma. My wife's Veal Marsala was standard and nothing to rave about. But nothing to really complain about there. The Fettuccine Provino was very disappointing. It was dry, lacking sauce, lacking Parmesan cheese, and lacking salt (probably why it was lacking the Parm). Even Olive Garden gets it better than this.

If an Italian restaurant, chain or not, can't get a basic side staple like Fettuccine Alfredo right, then that's a red flag. The reviews here stating this place lacks flavor are spot on. I last ate at a Provino's in Roswell many years ago and was not overly impressed there either. But being in the Canton area for a military funeral, we decided to try this place.

That said, I'm giving this place three stars mostly based on the service we had which was excellent and the menu pricing which sits under those of more quality Italian chains. But maybe that's where they want to be at a price/quality point. Who knows. Anyway, if you are an Italian cuisine aficionado, look elsewhere. I know Canton is not part of the greater metro Atlanta area with a lot of options for Italian, so there's that too. Also just as an addendum, my fork had some tomato sauce residue on it and I asked for a replacement. Preppers need to ensure the eating utensils are clean out of the dish washer before...

We went out for my birthday and everything was fine until we got the food. Everyone in the party's food was good except for one. My mom got shrimp parmesan it was visibly burnt. But she was still served it. She waited around to see if the waitress "Kinze or Kelsey " would come back so she could tell her that it wasn't good but she didn't come back until we were all done eating. My mom still told her that it was so tuff that she could eat it. The waitress said that it was because the shrimp didn't cook well in the oven and they had to double cook it. She did ask my mom if she could make her something else. But by this point we all where done eating and didn't want to have to wait for something else. My father was upset by the double cooked comments so he asked to speak to manager. A man named Charles came to the table and said he was manager and he had personally cooked my mom meal and their was nothing wrong with it. My dad said that he felt like we should be compensated for my mom's meal since she didn't eat. He got a attitude and snatched up the ticket and left. While we where waiting on him to come back the waitress came back to table and started arguing with us about the meal and saying the manager said we told him she wouldn't do anything for us. I was completely taken back by the way she treated us. She said that she hears comments like this all the time and we just wanted a free meal. Needless to say we will no longer be going back to the Provinos in Canton it has really gone down hill and after many year of going there I have never been treated as badly as I was...