La Dolce Vita — Restaurant in Corolla

We shared the same experience others have had. We came in and went to the bar. We always prefer to dine at the bar. It was not busy and early (5pm). The bartender immediately greeted us with "this is a full service bar, so are you guys planning to eat? You can't sit here if you don't eat" ... we felt scolded for walking in the door. Stunned, we followed with "can we get a drink while we look over the menu". "No" ... so does it have to be a full meal... can it just be a salad? ...YOU CAN NOT TAKE ROOM AT MY BAR IF YOU DO NOT GET YOUR MEAL HERE. I WILL NOT SERVE YOU A DRINK. If it wasn't pouring we would have left. Ive been coming here every year for 10 years. We were rather confused by this greeting and rules of what and how much food we needed to get in order to be served a drink, lol. We followed his rules and looked over the menu. He stood with his arms crossed, staring at us as we looked over the menus. We felt shouted at, embarrassed, and humiliated in front of others for wanting something that is considered "normal" at every bar across America. Once we made our selections, we were allowed to have drinks, lol. Food was good, but even if it was the best food we ever had, there was no coming back. Between the two of us our tab was 200-some. Our tip reflected the same respect we were given. We own a restaurant and support the service industry. My husband and i have worked in every area of our restaurant so we understand there is a right way and a wrong way to communicate to customers. Our tips everywhere we go average 40 percent so that's sad for him. To the manager/ owner. The remodeled bar is beautiful. If you have rules pertaining to its use that is not typical to most bars (relaxed/laid back) , maybe use the hostess to sit all people including the bar. That way you can ensure ahead of time everyone meets the requirements needed to sit there and takes away from unnecessary attitude. Or remove the authoritative person, that others have suffered his rath from, with someone that has...

We absolutely loved visiting this restaurant summer of 2022 and were blown away by our experiences. Fast forward to Sept 2023, things have unfortunately changed at this restaurant. I’d like to mention first, that every time we have dined at this establishment the service has been top notch from call ahead seating to table service. The service staff truly care about their guests. This is a review about food quality. The food was mediocre at best. Our 6 person party had the same consensus over a variety of dishes offered; everything was presented beautifully, but lacked flavor, substance, and variety. But how does a 6 top return all 6 of their entrees? Everything was so disappointing, especially having such a different experience a year prior. It was upsetting to have expensive entrees offered with neither bread or salad or an option to add a side salad to a meal. We ordered an appetizer of mozzarella sticks and laughed as they were the same frozen mozzarella sticks that our local italian restaurant offers in MD for $6. Lasagna was massive but had little flavor, shrimp dish had a bland olive oil sauce, chicken parm burnt, lobster ravioli tasted like frozen ravioli topped with ragu and the smallest portion of crab meat (less than 1oz) you could serve, and the best entree was the baked ziti which was still just ok. This restaurant used to be so good, I’m not sure what has happened. We have seen a decline in many restaurants in the area and hope they are able to improve. This restaurant never was a tourist trap, but sure is...

We were so happy to finally get a reservation at a restaurant due to so many food establishments down in the outer banks being short staffed or closed due to no one wanting to work. So we made a reservation for 8 people at 6:30. It was our anniversary so we wanted to have a nice dinner with our family. When we arrived and checked in the girl looked up at us and said “someone cancelled your reservation”???????? We were in total disbelief. We asked the girl who cancelled it and she said I’m not sure ????? She confirmed that she was the same girl that took our reservation early in the day. We asked did the person give the same name when they called and she said “I’m not sure”????? We asked to speak with the manager. Manager was very unprofessional and could honestly careless about accommodating us. He said “I don’t know what happened but I can’t seat you inside” His solution was to seat us outside (90 degree day) on the back patio or fit us in for 8:45 !!!!!! and split our party up. Wow !!!! I’ve never experienced such disrespect like that. When we told the manager we were leaving he said I’ll allow for a Togo order if you like but that will take an hour to get ready ????? If I could have giving zero stars I would’ve. My recommendation- pass just based off the poor management of this...