We arrived on Saturday after UMD white coat ceremony, around 4:45 pm. The "host" was a younger man who seems unable to communicate well in terms of letting us know our options. To explain, my husband walked up to the host podium and this young man told him that lunch was ending at 5:00 and dinner was then going to start. Why we couldn't sit down and order dinner is beyond me. We would have had a drink and waitied 15 minutes if that is what was more convenient for the restaurant, I guess. They wouldn't let us sit at a table in the dining room though, which was completely empty. From what I gather, the dining room can not be used during "lunch time"? In any case, this young man proceeded to tell our group of 5 that our only option for dining there, even after 5 pm, was to either sit at the bar or sit on the patio outside. We felt like we were not wanted at all. It felt like we were being turned away, from a restaurant that had hardly any patrons at it at that moment. Which confused us. Now we did go to the bar area to sit and order drinks, but we didn't actually sit because my mother was with us and is 95 years old, and can not sit at a high top table, which was the only available seating. We headed out to the patio, and found that there was only high top table seating out there as well so we started to walk out. I complained to my husband as we were leaving at the patio that this isn't a place to bring anyone who has mobility issues since they have such a limited type of seating. A young woman with blonde hair must have overheard me because she came up to us and said she would try to fit us into the dining room as soon as possible if we liked. I agreed with her because I honestly didn't want to drag my poor mom anywhere else at this point and we had already paid for parking by the restaurant at this point. Let me back track - the young man previously, had told us that if we didn't have RESERVATIONS we could not sit in the diningroom AT ALL even once it "opened" at 5 pm. Well, the blonde young woman eventually "found us a table" and "made things work". We were there frm 4:45 pm to maybe 6:15pm. The dining room that was all "reverved" was essentially EMPTY the whole time, with only maybe a few people at tables in there, so I don't know what this young man, the "host" was talking about but he must have been very confused and didn't know how to do his job at all. Very disappointed. Now, the ambience at this restaurant is spectacular. But you pay for it becuase the prices are pretty expensive for the quality of the food. I supposed since i grew up in New York City area, I have experienced authentic Italian food all of my life, but still, this menu is over priced. There is no other way to say it. The quality is just so so, nothing to write home about. The service was decent, but not super friendly, but attentive at best. The over all experience sould really only get 1 star, but I hate doing that. I just feel that people should know what to expect when they go to a somewhat fancy restaurant for an Italian meal. It doesn't live up to expectations at all, and felt extremly unfriendly. My family was all dressed up and we are all professional people so we were not unacceptable as far as what type of image this place is trying to portray. One of the weirdest dining expriences I've ever had.