Zarrella's Italian & Wood Fired Pizza — Restaurant in Cape Canaveral

I went to Zarrella's with my two good friends last Friday night (October 18th, 2019). We are from the Palm Bay area (an hour away) and happened to find Zarrella's by coincidence. We had been visiting Historic Cocoa Village and got hungry, so we were looking around for restaurants in the area. My one friend really wanted some pasta and Zarrella's looked really good, especially after we took a peek at the menu online. I was totally down for some pasta as well (I don't think I'd ever say no to pasta) and our other friend said that as long as they had chicken parm, he was in too. The moment we walked through the doors, we were greeted by very kind wait staff and seated immediately. Everything looked very fancy/classy and I loved the atmosphere. Everything was also super clean! Our server's name was Jay, and let me tell you, he was the BEST! He took the time to tell us about Zarrella's and gave us a presentation (with pictures!) of all their seasonal menu items! He was also super kind and extremely hilarious! He made us laugh all through the night. He explained to us that everything at Zarrella's is made fresh, in house. From their house gravy to their pasta to their mozzarella, everything is made fresh daily. And I could taste that! They also bring the food out the second it's ready, regardless of whether or not your other table members food is up yet. This might sound strange but you get your food the moment it hits your plate and that makes sense to me! While it did take a little while for the food to start coming out (they were fairly busy) it was more than worth any time we spent waiting for it. The first bite I took of my Alfredo sent me into a state of pure bliss. I remember closing my eyes and savoring the food; it was to die for. My friends shared similar experiences and we all agreed that it was one of the best restaurant meals of our lives. And as I said, we had the best customer service experience with Jay, too. Overall, everything was absolutely perfect! We were so impressed and happy that we left Jay a $50 tip on our $68 bill. I plan on going back this Saturday for my birthday and I really look forward to bringing my mom and my brother there to experience the delight of dining at Zarrella's. If you're in the area I highly recommend eating there! Your taste buds will...

Ok, so first of all, the flavor of the food was good. The whole purpose of dining out is obviously to get good food, so that was a win. I would definitely recommend ordering food ahead and doing takeout, but not dining in here. We ordered a cheese wood fire pizza and papardelle Alfredo with chicken added. The pizza was great, the Alfredo and pasta were good and tasted fresh. The chicken they added was tossed on as an afterthought and had zero color or flavor, presentation was awful. As an experience dining in, this place has a sort of an identity crisis on what it wants to be. There were cloth napkins and tablecloths that matched the rustic decor you'd expect in a nice Italian restaurant. They attempted to do a dual service, which just slowed down the speed of service to our table, and was wholly unnecessary based on the way this place is set up. Our 2nd server came to show us pics of the nightly specials on an iPad after we'd been sat with our menus already for about 10 mins so we had already decided on food at that point. There was a note on the menu that entrees will be delivered as they're done so don't expect to eat your meals together, although our food came at the same time. Watching the kitchen operate and how the servers had to hand write on tickets as they deliver individual food to tables indicated that maybe they do that because they have a hard time organizing their back of house. The staff was clearly flustered with the kitchen (one of our servers made a comment about not being told they were out of certain things and also a comment being glad we didn't send anything back.) There was also VERY LOUD 70s rock music blaring the entire time (which we love, but didn't fit the place AT ALL) and crazy flashing club lighting when they sang happy birthday twice while we were there. There were also TVs playing different channels like a sports bar. Over all it was just a bizarre experience. The staff were friendly though, even though they seemed to be inefficiently busy and constantly running back and forth. It must be exhausting to work there. We had fun giggling at what was happening around us, but if we ever eat from here again, we will call it in and take it...

So when we got to the restaurant it looked closed, not one customer in the place so I was kinda worried off the bat but I'd been driving all day a d this was closest place, when we walked in it felt very un inviting but the decor was nice so we stayed. The menu was small but still had a few good choice items, I will not that the music is playing so loud like something you would hear at a pub, we asked for them to turn it down which they did for all of 5 minutes which makes sense because it wasn't hard to notice the party apparently going on in their tavern area with the employees, both on and off the clock. One of the off clock very intoxicated employees kept screaming from the tavern room until she decided to come out in the dining room hollering and walking onto the cook line which seemed highly in- appropriate. We ordered breadsticks which were rock solid! The dipping sauces were ok taste wise but room temp at best. We ordered side salads and an entree, our salads were nicely portioned amd tasted ok, but not even having the salads for maybe 4 minutes and the entrees hit the table, confused by this because I hadn't taken but a few bites of my salad I felt like I needed to rush through eating my salad which I ended up not finishing because of how inconvenient the expo and server made me feel because I asked that they hold the entree until I'm finished with my salad, a request I didn't think was so ridiculous especially sense I'd only had my salad for a few minutes. I had one of the evening specials which was honestly not bad but not 27 dollars great, the seafood was rubbery from over cooking and sauce was very watery. Then at the end of the meal we realized it must be time to go seeing how chairs were being put up on tables that were around us, something that in my time running restaraunts I would never allow. This place has the potential to be amazing, but with better leadership and a firm grasp on what being in the hospitality industry is...