Taverna 5450 — Restaurant in Carroll Valley

This is an update from approximately 1 year ago when I posted the review as written below this. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. At least, nothing has changed for the better. Same horrible experience as a handicapped person. Except now I am using a walker instead of just a cane. There's been no improvement at all with regard to the handicap parking availability. Spaces marked are on the wrong side of the building still. On the actual entrance side of the building parking is basically a free-for-all. I just ended up parking where it was most convenient for me and put my handicap placard on my mirror. The renovations and subsequent placement of tables and chairs inside have made it a real nightmare to try and maneuver a walker through. Once again, the Clueless hostess decided to take me for a walk 3/4 of the way through the building to the other side from the entrance. We've receded at what I believe was a metal top table and it was more sticky than anything I've experienced at an IHOP or Waffle House! It was just gross. The food was just okay and was not really worth the hassle of getting there and going through everything I had to go through to get to the meal. I got a salad, the ribeye steak, and mashed potatoes. I asked for gravy for my mashed potatoes and was told there would be an upcharge! I asked, "really?" ..."For gravy on my mashed potatoes?!" I declined. In fact I'm going to continue to decline even going there. Maybe in 5 or 6 years I'll give him another try unless they are taken over by a new owner sooner.

The following is from my previous visit in early 2023.... This place is not at all set up for handicapped people. I found that the handicapped parking spaces are on the opposite side of the building from where the actual entrance is. Apparently the entrance was changed at some point but the handicapped parking spaces were never changed. There are no clearly marked handicap parking spaces on the new entrance side of the building. This is a clear ADA violation...

Secondly, as a clearly handicapped person walking slowly with a cane and a limp, it baffles me as to why the hostess walked past a few clean and empty booths and/or tables to the complete other side of the restaurant to seat us. In fact, she was back at the hostess station before I even found where my wife was seated!

Once seated, we found that the table top surface was very sticky. Not because it was dirty but because the finish was softened. I suspect this badly worn table needs refinished.

As for the food... My wife definitely enjoyed her chicken and waffles and I enjoyed my gyro sandwich. I was slightly disappointed that all of the meat was out at the open end of the wrap. As I got to the opposite end, the only thing that was in the pita was juice and some soggy lettuce. My French onion soup what's also tasty with perhaps a little too much spice (oregano?) in the broth and the "crispy" onion topping were a bit not crispy and gummy.

Their prices are reasonable, the food is good, the quantity is more than acceptable and we will return although maybe...

I’m disappointed about my experience this evening as I love eating here, the menu has a good selection of food and it’s all delicious. On any other night I’d be giving 5 stars but not tonight. I will be going back and giving it another try but tonight wasn’t good. I arrived as part of a group of 4 at 6:30pm. The restaurant was busy but we were seated right away. Our drinks arrived in a typical amount of time for a Saturday night and our waiter took our orders and all seemed to be going well. Until 45 minutes passed and we have not received a drink refill, our food, or even see our waiter out in the dining room. Usually the food takes a bit longer than other restaurants so we were expecting to wait a half or so, but then at 7:21 a side salad appeared for someone’s meal. There was no communication from the waiter or any other employee of why the service was so slow. I would have been perfectly happy waiting if the restaurant acknowledged our wait and gave us a brief explanation like the kitchen was backed up or they were short staffed. Other restaurants are quick to communicate any delay of service so I’m not sure why we didn’t have any communication about this. We received drink refills shortly after the salad arrived and our entrees arrived about 20 minutes after the salad. They were all warm so that was good at least. We ate quickly, the bill was given to us faster than our food arrived, we paid and left. We wanted to order dessert but didn’t want to wait another hour for it to arrive. Our waiter was really nice and I’m sure he was busy doing other tasks behind the scenes, but some communication and acknowledgment of the slow service would have prevented this review. I may change it in the future if service improves.

Another thing I want to bring up as a suggestion to the restaurant, it would be nice to have hooks in the stalls in the ladies room for purses/jackets. The bathroom is very small and the stalls very cramped. I had to put my purse on the trash can to avoid it going on the floor and would have really appreciated a hook...

First let me say the new remodel is beautiful and really opens things up. The amplified acoustics that came with expanding are understandably something they are trying to gauge.. We have been here many many many times. There is 3 of us usually with tab of @$100+ . Service always hit or miss but food was always good. UNFORTUNATELY the past couple times we have been the SERVICE WAS ABSOLUTELY APPALLING. Both times we were seated pretty quickly by the hostess but once we were seated we had to wait atleast 10-15 min before a server came over to get our drink order, then it was another wait before we actually got our drinks (all non-alcoholic so it wasn’t a bar issue) and placed our meal order. Food has been very slow coming out. Once food arrived there was more waiting for drink refills. This past time my daughters applesauce never came out, but our server was no where to be found so she didn’t get part of her meal. There seems to be a couple waitresses always sitting around chatting with each other but don’t seem to be helping run food or drinks or even acknowledge customers. (One a broader taller stature blond girl with long hair that was in braids wearing glasses and a darker hair girl.) Both times they were not busy, only 4-6 tables(no larger parties) in addition to the some bar patrons. It’s sad because this is a nice place. The terrible service will ruin anyone’s experience doesnt matter if the food is good or not. People are quick to share negative experiences but I am hoping that owners/management can fix this by hiring better servers or better train the ones they have. Consistently friendly service makes people want to return. I have worked in the hospitality industry(managed/served) so I completely understand the challenges of staff. I feel like I am more forgiving because i know first hand what it’s like. We WANT to continue to come, we WANT to support local small business but no one wants to pay their hard earned money or waste their time to get...