Mazzola's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Davie

Was in Broward running errands, and was in the mood for Italian and decided to give this place a try based on 4 star reviews from most websites. This is far from a 4 stars review restaurant.

Appetizers We asked for garlic rolls and calamari salad for appetizers. The garlic rolls were OK, slightly chewy and flavorless other than the large amount of garlic butter on top. Definitely frozen or refrigerated and heated in a microwave right before serving. The calamari salad was a disaster. It was a large amount of colorless, tasteless, rubbery, warm, calamari on a bed of lettuce with lots of olives (with pits) all on a puddle of water. Even the olive oil drizzled on top tasted like really bad quality olive oil, bordering on canola oil taste.

Entrees I ordered a carafe of Chianti, and it was warm and flat, and tasted watered down, no wine glasses apparently only rocks glasses. My girlfriend's house salad came along with my Minestrone soup. Her salad was tasteless and she barely touched it and my soup, well, I've had better tasting canned soups. She also ordered a slice of cheese pizza, which was actually good, which is why I'm giving this place 2 stars versus 1. I had ordered Shrimp Fradiavolo and she ordered some ravioli, but before it came out, we had enough of the bad food, and the atmosphere so we asked for our food to be placed in to go boxes because I felt bad for the server to cancel the food. The pasta sauce was extremely spicy but overpowered any other taste if there was any. My dish came with exactly 6 small pieces of overcooked and tasteless shrimp, which was probably frozen as well, the taste of aluminum from the to-go container didn't help.

Atmosphere At a glance the restaurant looks like a cozy dive in the corner but I couldn't shake the feel of bar at the same time. Part of our decision to leave was the loudness and the 2 parties around us repeatedly dropping F bombs and talking loudly, despite us having a baby on the table.

Overall Pros: friendly staff, fast service, good pizza, and probably good lunch/quick bite items. Cons: nothing fresh other than the pizza, overpriced plates for such bad quality food. Would only get pizza or sandwiches from here, would rather go to Olive Garden or some other chain restaurant for the same frozen food but with much better taste and...

First and foremost the waitress asked me what i wanted to eat like 2 seconds after i sat down, came back 30 seconds later and asked me if i was ready, i asked her to give me another minute. I felt like i was being rushed, clearly im not ready if im still looking at the menu. Server needs serious training ! Moreover, the garlic rolls were stale, like they have been sitting there since they opened. After we ordered, the waitress walked passed our table twice and the second time sat down to eat while our drinks had been empty for about 5 minutes . she didnt even look at our table while she was passing. Oh not to mention there was only 2 tables occupied in the whole restaurant, so she clearly wasnt even paying attention to us or concerned about our table. I actually had to get up (while being 8 months pregnant) and ask for a refill. And its just keeps getting better! I also had to ask for napkins 3 times before actually getting them! So finally the food comes out, my plate was alright, i ordered the zuppa pesce... Ive had alot better butit was good... Meanwhile my husband ordered the meatball parm which was very bland, no taste, looked like everything was sloppily thrown together, extremely unappealing! He couldnt even finish 3 bites! Anyway, i guess our waitress was finishing her shift, because another waitress came after 2 minutes of us getting our food and asked of we wanted the check! I mean come on both our plates are still full cups are almost empty, you didnt even ask me how it was or if i wanted anything else... At this point this is the worst service ive ever had... All in all, my husband told her he didnt like the meatball parm was very polite about that, we had it taken off the bill... Yeah we didnt tip... Anyway, it was a mess and a horrible dining experience! Servers need to be trained, and food was meteokre. Do not suggest coming...

Mazzola's was a bit of a disappointment. Let's start with the good...the service was excellent. Wonderful young lady with a bright smile...and attentive. The issue for me was the food. It was okay. The overall issue is the lack of seasoning. We started the night with the calamari. Aside from the hair that was fried into one of the calamaris (hey, it happens...I'm not deducting for it), the batter had ZERO seasoning. It was just batter. Kinda like a "meh", ya know? Same with the eggplant rolatini I ordered. The eggplant was delicious but it could have been taken to another level had there been some seasoning mixed into the ricotta cheese. Unfortunately, it was plain ricotta. I remember taking a home ec class in high school (centuries ago) and the teacher had us make manicotti. She had us mix in some parsley, basil, pepper, a little garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, ...all lightly...just enough to give it some pizazz. I guess they have a different approach. But to me, it was bland. The red sauce saved it. So, back to the good...the sauce was on the sweet side, the way I like it. And my wife very much enjoyed her chicken parm with a side of fettucini alfredo. She even said the alfredo reheated nicely, not something we see often.

Overall, it was a good experience. Just not a great one. There are a few Italian places I like better and will stick to them. But if you like your food on the milder side, this might just be the right...