The Saucy Meatball — Restaurant in Lehigh Acres

I wanted something hot after the game and this was nearby the stadium with great reviews. I checked out the menu and it looked great. Unfortunately the whole visit wasn't. We walked in and were greeted by the hostess. She took us to our table down a tight corridor. A server was coming from the other direction and even though she saw three of us (the hostess, my mom, myself and an infant carrier), she still barged past us down the hall instead of waiting one whole minute for us to finish getting out of the way.

We got to our table. The dining room smelled heavily of bleach water and the seating was VERY tight which left the infant seat sitting on a chair with a lot of foot traffic walking by to possibly get knocked over. No big deal, we asked to move outside where it was less crowded. The server came over and was nice but didn't know the menu very well. He took our drinks and then when my mom went to ask for recs, he walked right over to service another table before she could even finish her question. He continued to prioritize the other tables the whole time; I guess because they were buying bottles of wine and apps, and I had just the one drink.

When I went to order, I ordered off the gluten free menu and confirmed no tomatoes, no red pepper, no butter or cheese or any dairy. I'm allergic to tomatoes/peppers and my son is allergic to dairy. I just wanted the Skinny Italian pasta dish with spinach, garlic, pine nuts, EVOO minus tomatoes/red pepper flakes and added grilled chicken. It was the m such an easy dish for me to modify. The server was dismissive but said "no you're good" to the tomatoes and peppers question. The first plate arrived full of tomatoes so I had to send it back. The second plate had red pepper flakes, and when I brought it to the server's attention, he was skeptical and picked up the plate to examine it closely like I was lying. I had to show him the flakes on my napkin for him to believe me. I sent it back and said to just take it off my ticket. Obviously it wasn't safe for me to order a basic dish from the restaurant and not worth trying again. The manager never came to the table even though I had sent a dish back twice for it being wrong.

Then I went inside to change my son's diaper. It was a tight squeeze and a server bumped into us without apologizing. There was no changing table in either bathroom. My mom paid for her dish (which she said wasn't bad taste wise) and my drink (also ok, nothing exciting). I...

Vegetable minestrone was nasty gravy like consistency with corn and peas. Nothing else taste sour and resembled vomit.

Everyone walked thru the empty dining room with a miserable look on their face, avoiding eye contact. 15 minutes into being seated we had already looked thru the menu several times and were ready to order- by the time we got an uninterested waitress’s attention I was starving.

She left us to tend to a party outside meanwhile we had nothing to drink left. Bartender seemed to be only normal employee. Watched the busser stand against a wall watching basketball game while our server was nowhere to be found. Several minutes later she is walking thru with a stack of empty dishes. Had to flag her down on her way back out from kitchen to ask for a box and check…. She proceeds to walk right by the stack and back outside to her other party AGAIN. We finally got up and got the boxes ourselves. We voiced how terrible the service was to a random waitress cleaning booths (why on earth the buses wasn’t doing this is beyond me)

We begged for our check so we could just leave. Paid in cash to avoid wasting anymore time.

On our way out we asked who the manager was and the host said he’s outside. I was expecting him to be in the outside dining but he was found out front of restaurant in parking lot near dumpsters just sitting with a few guys.

I explained how appalled I was at lack of service and experience and he said “you should have come got me”

No sir, you should be in the dining room greeting and asking your guests and patrons how things are going. Or telling your employees what they need to be doing. Ding dong.

Crazy that those servers have to tip out a woman who literally stood back and did nothing but watch sports as others scrambled to do HER job.

Not one person smiled, not one person was pleasant. Looks like a take out pizza joint when u walk in, it was just an overall nightmare and I can’t believe he runs his restaurant the way I witnessed...

Eat here at your own risk. Recently visited by the health department. See below. I haven’t been here in a while but thoroughly disgusted by this. Look it up online for yourself.

The Saucy Meatball

12401 Commerce Lakes Dr, Fort Myers

Routine Inspection on Sept. 5

Follow-Up Inspection Required: Violations require further review, but are not an immediate threat to the public.

12 total violations, with 4 high-priority violations

High Priority - Employee handled soiled equipment or utensils and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. Observed employee loading dishes into the dish machine with bare hands and then remove clean dishes form machine without hand washing. Discussed with operator then need for proper hand washing. Corrective Action Taken High Priority - Employee touched bare body part and then engaged in food preparation, handled clean equipment or utensils, or touched unwrapped single-service items without washing hands. Observed food employee touch face and nose and failed to wash hands. Discussed with operator and observed proper hand washing. Corrective Action Taken High Priority - Employee touching ready-to-eat food with their bare hands - food was not being heated as a sole ingredient to 145 degrees F or immediately added to other ingredients to be cooked/heated to the minimum required temperature to allow bare hand contact. Establishment has no approved Alternative Operating Procedure. Observed employee making cold cut sandwich with bare hands. Discussed with operator and employee washed hands and place gloves on. Corrected On-Site High Priority - Time/temperature control for safety food cold held at greater than 41 degrees Fahrenheit. ground beef (64 F - Cold Holding) in three compartment sink. Per operator beef just completed thawing and was moved to walk in cooler to rapidly chill Corrective...