Partenope Ristorante — Restaurant in Dallas

I had the MOST disturbing experience at this restaurant today. I wanted comfort food on my lunch break and a local bartender's recommendation of the meatball sandwich led me here. I called ahead to inquire about the entree and dining details then visited the place. I initially thought I wanted to sit at the bar then changed my mind after visiting the restroom and noticed 3 vacant booths near the rear. They were not particularly busy yet I was told they had "reservations" then after a waiter huffs and puffed, another woman came reluctantly to seat me in a vacant booth. After I was seated, it took 10 minutes to get a glass of water and I was only greeted by a waiter after I flagged someone down. By this time they got busier and a waiter finally approached my table, I ordered the meatball sandwich and received it about 20 minutes later. The sandwich wasn't visually appetizing as the meatballs were gray-white like and stiff. The inside was soggy due to the marinara sauce coating the bread which was made from pizza dough. The first bite was tolerable but the second bitter almost made me want to puke due to then texture. I let the waiter know that I didn't like the sandwich and that he could remove it, I'd order something else. The woman that seated me approached my table and suggested I order something other than pizza because it was the same dough they used for the sandwich bread. I told her I am fine with the pizza since the crust is thin and not thick like the sandwich pieces. She seemed irritated with my selection and disappeared to apparently put in my order. It took 25 minutes for the remake and no waiter nor the woman came to check on me during that time. I had to flag down another table's waiter to get more water while I waited and I finally asked my waiter to have my pizza boxed to go once it hit the 26 minute mark as I was only on an hour lunch break. While walking toward the front to pay and get my to go box, the woman who seated me was approaching me with the pizza as if I were still dining in. She got snappy with me and said "I told you the pizza was coming out soon, etc". She had the nastiest attitude, did a few neck rolls and was very disrespectful in nature. It became clear to me in that moment that I was not valued as a customer and that I would not patronize that establishment EVER again. I will note that I was the ONLY person of color dining at that time and I couldn't help but consider that it may have been a factor in the terrible treatment and lack of service/consideration I received. I let the woman know that I had a food blog and would be reporting the negative experience personally and also let my coworkers downtown know not to eat there. She said she didn't care because she was the owner and she walked away. I have never been so appalled by the treatment of an establishment in my life. I hope you have a different experience, better yet, CHOOSE A BETTER restaurant. This one is racist, rude & ridiculously arrogant. The food was more disappointing than the service and I don't know how they are even in business, just shameful....

We wanted to eat here a few times before writing a review, our close Italian friends here in Dallas recommended this restaurant to us for great authentic Italian food since the owners are from Naples Italy and respect the cooking of Pasta and Pizza. We live in Italy 6 months out of the year in Calabria, my wife and I have eaten here twice and really enjoyed the food and this past week our friends who came to visit us here in Dallas and first time in America from Montepaone, Italy that we also brought to eat here. The food is respectfully good Italian however the service does not match the food nor atmosphere or reflect anything Italian in culture or what I feel resembles what I think the owners would hope to represent as a reflection of their passion in this restaurant.

The first two visits we had lack luster waitreses with no personalities, and this past weekend Rob was out waiter who mixed up our appetizers with another table, then after pointing out our appetizers weren't ours he took them off our table and plopped then down on the table behind us, good thing our party didnt stick any fingers into it beforehand... Our appetizer arrived 30 minutes later after this, no apologies we almost finished a bottle of wine before they arrived, right behind our appetizer our three pizzas then arrived leaving hardly any room on our table to maneuver to eat, again no apologies. I looked around and never saw Anyone as in a Manager or GM to speak to or one who should be watching the dining room and perhaps making sure the waitstaff is on top of everything or perhaps walking by each table asking the customers how there service and meals are going? I'm sorry to say this was strike three for us, our Italian friends were not impressed either and said it was ok for American Italian food? I feel Partenope could do much better but to raise the bar and get better you need a professional waitstaff and most definitely need to teach then how to pronounce your menu food items and wines in Italian the proper way if this is where they want to work and make this a more authentic and Italian dining experience. After several attempts eating here we most likely wont return, we have brought many people to eat here and we all had the same experience and feelings. We hope this review provides feedback to the owners and can be used as a teachable lesson for the staff. Every visit we have made were only greeted with a smile from the hostess Never from the waitstaff or ever thanked for coming in or even a see you soon... Sorry way too many restaurants in Dallas where we feel our money could be spent.

Grazie...

Dinner on a Monday night, found bar seating but would recommend making reservations since they seemed to be short staffed and the restaurant is small so we would not been seated right away.

SALUMI BOARD $19 prosciutto di parma, hot coppa, salame toscano, whipped ricotta, calabrian honey, parmesan, house bread *3 great salami choices and 2 cheeses, I would've preferred a different spreadable cheese over the whipped ricotta because I find ricotta fairly neutral/flavorless, house bread was perfect, wish there were some pickles or mustard to cut through the fattiness

INSALATA DEL VOMERO $12 field greens, roasted red peppers, pickled red onions, white beans, Paula's goat cheese, parmesan, toasted pecans, champagne vinaigrette *great mix for a salad and we ordered this to come out at the same time as the pizza

MONTANARA pizza Olympics gold medal winner $17 flash fried then baked crust, mozzarella, parmesan, tomato sauce, basil *added prosciutto - highly recommend it, the pizza is flash fried and then baked with the toppings, it's texture is like funnel cake but in the best way

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA $18 spaghetti, egg yolk, pancetta, pecorino *all pastas are al dente, I prefer my pasta a little softer so I found this a little hard to eat because of the chew from both the pasta and the pancetta and pretty greasy, the portion is solid and tasted great the next day

WINE: There wine by the glass selection was very small and they were out of some so we opted for a bottle of Cigliuti, Langhe Nebbiolo 2016 which was a dry fruit forward wine which we both enjoyed. I also looked up on Vivino that the average price is $34 and I believe it was priced at $59 which is a good value.

SERVICE/ATMOSPHERE: We sat at the bar and we received great recommendations and very knowledgeable about the menu from our bartender. I do wish he took the time to pour our bottle of wine outside of our first glass and actively checked in on us to order more food.

P.S. They offer pizza making classes on Saturday...