Pulcinella's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Durham

I came in earlier to pick up an order. I approached the counter, 2 cashiers looked at me but neither said anything. They seemed busy so I stood waiting, continuing to make eye contact when i could. 30 seconds to a minute passed and I stood 3 feet from the counter while they prepared other orders. I was the only person at the counter for this entire time. At this point a party of 10 - 15 people finished their meals and approached the counter from the dining area. One of the cashiers waved them forward and continued to process their payments. Person after person approach the counter and paid, and chatted, as I stood in the same spot I had been waiting since entering for the past 10 minutes now. I kept my gaze towards the cashiers and they made eye contact with me several times in between processing payments for customers that had approached the counter after me.

Eventually in the middle of the procession of diners, one of the patrons pointed to me and asked if I had had my chance to check on my order. At which point I said my order number and the cashier very graciously handed it to me and accepted my payment.

I was so confused by the whole occurrence. Surely there was some mistake where both of the cashiers assumed I had already been helped even though they watched me walk in and I was the only person standing at the counter for a minute or so.

Is there some secret code of conduct I had missed? The best service I received was from one of the customers who saw me standing there for 10 minutes while the cashiers waved person after person ahead of me.

It was just such a confusing experience, I honestly was considering asking one of the several customers that was getting waved ahead of me if I was visible.

I am so curious to hear the account from one or both of the cashiers, I am sure there must have been a doppelganger of me that had walked out just prior to me walking in that made them so sure that they didn't need to acknowledge me at all, and in fact wave a party of 15 people ahead of me.

Honestly I can't think of any other explanation. I will be pondering this experience for years.

It's too bad because I do like their food.

My previous experience picking up food here was similarly confusing in which I gave my first name, and the cashier told me that it was being prepared, so I waited another 10 minutes, and she hands me the wrong order, fresh from the oven. At which point I told her my last name and she hands me the correct order that had been ready since before I arrived.

I guess I will chalk these experiences up to my own shortcomings. But I've never had such weird, unpleasant, confusing experiences picking up food before. It's truly been a character building experience if nothing else. And if I ever pick up food here again I think the right approach might be to either tell the cashiers how to do their job, or to walk directly into the kitchen and talk...

We visited for lunch to celebrate a co worker's promotion based on a recommendation that the food was good. When we walked in we immediately noticed the greasy floors and gouges in the walls that looked like they hadn't seen new paint in a decade. The dining room was small and fairly empty when we arrived at noon. There were 10 of us and we could not be seated together. When we left at 1:15 there were maybe 5 other tables seated. The food arrived in a timely manner and then the server pretty much disappeared. We never could get refills on our drinks but managed to beg some out of the server "to go" at the end. I had to ask three times and the third time was after I waited up front and walked back in to check on the status of my drink. Instead of getting the drink they were busy cleaning the table for the tips. Once back at the office, we all started talking about how salty the sauce was. One person said the Chicken Parm was so bad she just left it there. Pretty much all the pasta entrees were just big piles of unremarkable pasta. My Pizza was "OK" but very salty and not a reason to go back. Only one person in our group said she liked what she ordered and that was the lasagna. At the end, instead of being served checks we all had to spend 15 minutes lined up at the front desk to pay our bills as the server stated that as her preference. I would never go back...

I frequent this restaurant for a last minute meatball sub or pasta on the way home. My previous dining experiences have been okay; however, this past Sunday was just unforgivable. The waitress suggested this item: Cappellini Peperonata

Angel hair pasta, Kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, pine nuts & raisins in marinara sauce Sounds interesting so I tried it. I added grilled chicken. When I got the meal it was so unappealing. Giant squares of red bell peppers with angel hair pasta and chunks of chicken. I though maybe the pine nuts and raisins would give it pizzazz. . . THERE WERE NONE! So I mentioned to my waitress what was missing and she said she'd have the kitchen fix it . What i got was a cup of raw untoasted pine nuts and dried raisins that she said the kitchen said just throw it on top. For me, thats just being a lazy chef. Cooking 101 you ought to know toasting brings out the oils releasing the flavor. Adding the raisins in with the marinara would allow them to regain some moisture and extract some of the sweetness which would've been a lovely balance to the acid in the tomatoes. The fact that they would not remake the dish to include each ingredient as described is unsatisfactory. Not all recipes will be a hit. But if you can't even execute properly what you put on a menu, dont serve it. WORST THING IVE...