Colletta — Restaurant in Cary

Colletta – Italian Restaurant – Cary, NC Incident – Saturday, October 26, 2024 Time: Around 7:30 PM

If I could give 0 stars, I would! I will never ever go back to this restaurant! I do not want to take away from the waitress and bartenders services, because the bartenders were great!

My friend and I decided to go to Colletta, just to kill some time before the Sports and Social Halloween event started. Which was at 8:00. Walked in Colletta, maybe around 7:30 PM. We went straight to the bar area. The first question I asked the bartender, “Is the bar first come first serve.” She said, “Yes.” There were two empty seats together. I sat down. My friend stood behind the other empty seat. He did not want to sit down at the time, he wanted to stand up. I ordered a glass of Moscato, and he ordered a drink. We are at the bar enjoying our drinks. Talking to some of the other people that we met earlier in Fenton.

After about maybe 15 minutes, the Manager comes behind the bar and comes up straight to us…He said, “Would you like to make a reservation to be seated at a table.” I said, “No, we are not ordering any food, just drinks. We will only be here for a short amount of time.” While asking these questions, he was looking us up and down. He walked away. My friend and I both started feeling uncomfortable! So, the bartender, overheard us and was like he just wants to make sure everyone is comfortable and have a seat. I was like okay. Make sense. Started sipping on my Moscato.

About 20 minutes later, a waitress comes over with a tab. She tells us that they cannot serve us anything else. This really caught me by surprise. I was like what are you talking about. She was like you cannot order anything else. She did not give us any type of explanation! Keep in mind, we never interacted with this waitress. I could tell she was a little terrified to deliver that message to us! I told my friend just pay this damn tab, so we can get out of this place! I was livid!!! You’re telling us that you cannot serve us anything else but have no reasoning at all! We were not drunk! I only had a glass of Moscato and my friend had a drink. We were not disturbing anyone!

On our way out, I addressed the manager and asked what the problem was. I told him one of the waitresses said we could not order anything else, and they could not serve us anything. He did not give any type of explanation. My friend asked him a few things. Still got NO explanation. I did not want to cause a scene, so I walked out!

This was the worse restaurant experience ever! The bartenders were awesome! Very friendly and knowledgeable! The Manager was terrible! If you had any type of issues with us, why would you send your waitress to do your work?! In other words, being a general manager over this restaurant, you told two paying customers, that your restaurant can no longer serve us…with no reasons at all. You never once came to us and said we were disbursing the customers, we were drunk, or not dressed appropriate for the restaurant. It was Halloween events going on out there, so we were not dressed up in our business attire. If that was a problem, as a manager, you should have addressed that or whatever the problem was.

We walked out of Colletta, feeling embarrassed and like we were racially profile. I would like the owner/corporate management to address this behavior with the general management and implement diversity training to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future! A person should never leave out of an establishment feeling that way!

I also have videos of how calm my friend and I was after this incident happened. I was livid, but calm. I did not want to ruin anyone else experience there. I did not post because one of the bartenders are in the video and other...

Excuse me for not having my normal pics and videos but I was having such a great convo with my wife that I was deeply in the moment.

Customer service was good if you want to go here make sure you do a reservation if you don’t want to eat outside or sit at the bar or high chair. Summertime a little spicy for outside. It can ruin your experience at such a nice restaurant as this. This place is not overpriced because the experience they deliver and demographic it’s in. The avg item on the menu roughly 21 dollars excluding drinks. One thing that surprised me is the music selection was pretty good and fit the ambience of the place. The woman here took great care of me and my family from the hostess to the waiter.

Affagato 5 out of 5 just goodness for those coffee enthusiasts mmm mmm I took her down without a frown. Thoroughly enjoyed this dessert to end it off and was my redemption pick cause wifey ordered the best dish! Chocolate covered expresso bean is a great touch. They offer three flavors of ice cream too. I chose the classic vanilla.

CRESTE DI GALLO 5 out of 5 This was the sneaky one when my wife ordered it I was okay whatever. When she let me taste🤩if you don’t like chicken noodle soup do not order this but if you do give them your check it’s the most elevated chicken pasta situation that has entered my belly! I wanted to close my eyes while chewing and lowkey was upset my wife ordered it and I didn’t it was that tasty. Only thing I would have liked was bigger pieces of chicken or a little more. The chicken was tender mor like a shredded chicken cause of how small they were. I solute the chef 🫡 for this simple but bussing aka Fuego

Joyce Farms chicken bolognese, parmesan, aleppo, basil

SPAGHETTI AND CLAMS 3.5 out of 5( due to price point this is why it’s low expected more) This was tricky great flavor tender noodle where things went wrong for me is the garlic was not “garlicking” I’m a huge garlic fan especially when I go to an Italian spot. Underwhelming mostly because of my expectations on the ingredients. Oooh i enjoyed the clams tender and taaaasty. The breadcrumbs added crunch to the dish was nice. Clams was the highlight of the dish Fa sho! I would recommend this dish for someone who is not and Italian food beginner and doesn’t do red sauces.

Nduja butter, garlic, lemon, breadcrumbs

BRUSSELS SPROUTS 2.5 out of 5 (because the price point is why this is so low it would be a 3)

Brussels were a bit tough almost tough steak consistency the outside leaves of the Brussels was where it was crunchy 😋now the flavor was abosutely 7 out of 5. It wasn’t spicy at all But more of sweet and salty. It also had an undertone of like maybe a wasabi or radish like but hidden not the upfront flavor but more on the back end of the flavor profile . I enjoyed them honestly. I would recommend them because maybe the chef that day was slammed on why they were so tough

Calabrian chili vinaigrette, raisins,...

While we frequent diners for their dinner service, we had yet to try out their lunch menu options. So yesterday we decided to book a reservation on Open Table for lunch. As per usual, our dining experience was nothing less than extraordinary! We were fortunate enough to be served by Elizabeth H. Elizabeth was super bubbly, friendly, and very attentive. She possessed all the best qualities you’d want in a server. Although Elizabeth was tending to several tables, she made us feel like we were constantly attended to. Never once did our drinks go empty, nor did we have plates stacking up waiting for them to be taken. Elizabeth was so efficient and proactive that she got us things before we even thought to request them. We felt so special and pampered during our meal. Elizabeth truly made our dining experience exceptional! To the management team, Elizabeth is a tremendous asset to Coletta’s team of employees. We look forward to requesting her by name in the future.

In regards to the food, we ended up getting the chicken parm sandwich, and the Regina Colletta pizza, for our meal. These entrees were phenomenal. The chicken parm sandwich was everything you could ever want in a chicken parm dish. The sandwich was filled with a generous amount of juicy, hand-battered chicken breast that was perfectly seasoned. Even the homemade sauce and bread were well-thought-out pairings for this dish. But my personal favorite was the Regina Coletta pizza. This pizza came adorned with thick high-quality slices of fresh prosciutto, arugula, balsamic drizzle, and notes of garlic for the final touch to a perfect dish. The pizza was so delicious that my tastebuds were doing a little happy dance with each bite. I cannot fully express in words how delicious this pizza is. But I can say that it was so phenomenal that I left my table during my meal to personally go up and thank Colletta’s Executive Chef, Keyturah. Keyturah is a culinary genius! The thought and effort that she puts into making her meals shine through each dish. In our opinion, Chef Keyturah puts Colletta on the map for one of the Triangle’s top 3 Italian restaurants. She is beyond gifted at her craft and deserves to be acknowledged for her tremendous culinary talent.

Even Colletta’s AGM Diana, was super kind and engaging with her guests. She made it a point to stop what she was doing to check in on us and offer any additional assistance we may need during our meal. This simple and kind gesture was very nice of Diana. We also wanted to mention that her incredible selection of music paired well with the restaurant’s atmosphere.

To the manager upper management of Colletta, Elizabeth H., and Executive Chef, Keyturah, AGM Diana are vital assets to your team. Because of them, we can’t wait to come back and dine at Colletta. These ladies deserve a ton of praise for the way they conducted themselves and treated...