Citrola's Italian Restaurant on McGregor — Restaurant in Cape Coral

today was not my first time coming here but it’s the first time i feel compelled to write a review. i had genuinely the worst service i have ever experienced in my life tonight by my server, Deana C. off the bat the restaurant was completely empty, she came up to us at the door and just said “how many”, and led us to the table where she asked us for our drinks. not welcoming at all, no smile, no “hello”, absolutely nothing. as she continued taking care of us she was not attentive at all, extremely rude and cold. when she brought out our entree (we were splitting a stromboli), she said to us “i noticed the cheese wasn’t melted, so let me know if it’s cold and i’ll put it back in the oven”, and i couldn’t even believe it. to make it the responsibility of the customer to tell you if the food is cold when you can obviously see it is? absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. of course, both of our food was ice cold so we waited a LONG time for her to come back and throw it back in the oven. during that time, it took longer for it to be reheated than it did for it to come out originally!!! probably would have been faster if she wasn’t busy standing behind the bar doing nothing/laughing with her coworkers. and even after the fact, she wasn’t very apologetic about it.

i wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt in maybe thinking she was having a bad day or whatever the excuse may be. but to EVERY other table she had, along with her coworkers in the back, she was smiling ear to ear and laughing it up, and yet as soon as she got to our table she was SO rude. genuinely acting like she didn’t want anything to do with us. my friend and i were so angry and uncomfortable that we just ate in silence. this is also not my first interaction with this server, and the time before she was rude and cold as well, but this was drawing the line. i am also a server, so i can recognize that this behavior is absolutely unacceptable in this industry. i have also been served by Amy, who is AWESOME. so i know what good service looks like as well, and this was not even close to it. i would love to return because i bring anyone from out of town here because the food is great, but i want to make it very clear that i will be requesting a different server if i am put with her. i hope something can be done about her bad attitude because it’s also a bad representation of this restaurant. never in my life have i left less than a 15% tip, even with takeout food, but i couldn’t even be bothered tonight. i wish i could give a 0 star review for the service. EXTREMELY...

We went there last night for my husband's Birthday. The service was such a nightmare that it is hard to comment on the overall experience. Upon being seated, a young man shouted to us that he would be "right over". He then proceeded to chat loudly with a friend outside of the kitchen door (within earshot and sight) for about 10 minutes over many things such as visiting Key West, etc. He finally remembered we were there and took our drink order. We were never even offered water! After more chatting with friend he brought over our drinks and menus. I asked for some water. Water came (one glass, none for my husband) and he hurriedly took our orders. Time passed and salads appeared. Not even 5 minutes later - dinners appeared! He explained that "sometimes they just come out fast". Obviously, he forgot to bring our salads and then entrees were ready in the kitchen. No bread, so I finally asked for some. He came back with cold, hard bread in a basket. Another couple came in (they were not busy). The waiter then proceeded to enter into a lengthy loud conversation with the gentleman (2 booths away so we heard every word) about his (the waiter's) experiences fishing, his favorite fish, etc. He took their order and brought their drinks and then parked himself again to converse. We finished salads and began dinners, which had been sitting on our table for 10 minutes and were cold. We finally had to literally approach the waiter to interrupt his conversation - Yup, still going on - and ask for our check. He became very short at that point, and produced the check and returned to his conversation. We hailed him again to check out and he threw the receipt and our card down and left. It was the most unbelievable display of poor service we have ever experienced. Hard to comment on the food because it sat around for so long before we ate it, or the atmosphere, which was dominated by the server yelling across the room to joke with the other servers, talking to his friend, and standing 2 booths away discussing fishing during our entire meal. We really wanted to like this restaurant, but...

I hate leaving negative reviews but this one is deserving . We went there a couple of months ago and in a room full of people with a waiter paying other tables attention it took 15 minutes before he approached us only after we had to gesture to him . No apologies , no welcome nothing . He delivered our meals and we didn’t see from him again until it was time to pay. On the way out no thanks you, nothing . Food was ok. Yesterday we wanted Italian and wanted to stay local so we decided to give the second chance. We sat right in the front of the restaurant near the entrance. Again, we sat for close to 15 minutes before the hostess came over and asked us if anyone had come over yet. We said no she took her drink order. Another close to 10 minutes before the waiter, which was the same one as last time, came to us again after we had to gesture to him. No sorry for the wait nothing he simply asked. Do you want something to eat? Not sure why else we would be there. We ordered our meals which were fine. But again no check back to ask if we wanted another drink, needed more bread, were enjoying our meal, etc. Nothing until the check came. As we walked out there was a woman right by the counter again no thank you. see you again ,nothing. A local place like this should thrive on friendliness and a welcoming atmosphere, but it’s really the opposite here. I will say the hostess from NJ is great and if all the staff were like her it would be a nicer experience. We gave it a second shot, but that will be it. I see a lot of positive reviews and many people seem happy there which is great and I wish the business, success. But...