The Old Spaghetti Factory — Restaurant in Fairfield

We came here on 10/25 for the murder mystery event. The event itself is quite pricey and includes a full meal with your ticket in a private event room inside the restaurant.

The mystery staff were great. Would highly recommend them. However we did end up leaving early due to the food and service provided for the event

We were seated promptly and 7pm as a group of 3. There was only one menu for the table to share. One side of the menu contains your included food: salad, bread, a non alcoholic drink an entree (pasta based choices only) and an ice cream. On the other side of the menu are more food options with upcharges like alcohol, desserts and appetizers.

The waitress took our drink orders. We also ordered 2 alcoholic drinks. She took our food orders. My daughter has some food sensitivities and asked to receive her food without chicken or mushrooms. Our waitress told us the food comes how it comes and if she didn't want something she could pick it off herself. My daughter ended up not eating an entree. We took her entire meal to go. If you have dietary needs or allergies this probably isn't the venue for you.

The salads came. They were wilted as if they had been sitting there for hours. Salads arrived an hour into the event... then staff brought an empty bread board. 10 minutes later they brought butter. 10 minutes later they brought bread. 10 minutes later they brought a knife. We never received plates to eat the bread on...

We never received our alcoholic drinks. The waitress forgot to put the order in. It was very difficult to get her attention. She never checked on us the entire night. Never asked if we needed refills. Our table was never bussed between courses. By the time we flagged her down we had been without drinks for over an hour. And by that time the drink I had originally ordered was sold out. She brought us substitute drinks.

My daughter ordered a drink in a fancy glass that you get to keep. Usually they bring you a clean one to take home. We asked the waitress for one and she never brought it. Every request from a drink refill to asking for the check was met with eye rolls and huffing and puffing. Not one smile. No customer service whatsoever.

We were so frustrated by the poor service that we were not focused on the murder mystery going on and could not follow what was happening since we were constantly trying to flag down a waitress for missing items.

Our group gave up and decided to leave early. On the way out I stopped at the bar. It was empty. No one was sitting there. There was a bartender and a woman behind the bar. The woman appeared to be a supervisor or manager but was not wearing a uniform or name tag. I asked her for a clean souvenir glass to take home. She told me to go ask my server. I told her I did but she never brought one and its really hard to flag her down. She told me she was too busy to bring me a glass and said i would have to sit and wait. Again. No smile. No customer service. No sense of urgency or concern whatsoever.

We walked out with the dirty glass and left. I would do another mystery event, but not at old spaghetti factory! You would think these events would bring in badly needed revenue and they would prioritize it and staff appropriately. Instead they appeared short staffed, flustered and rude.

Keep your overpriced noodles. I'll make them at home.

11/10/24 Update: I reached out like the comment below suggested. They never...

I have often wondered how this restaurant stays in business. The place seems to always have an empty parking lot.

Tonight we gathered as a large group...about 22 of us...to celebrate my niece's birthday. I think she had a birthday coupon, so that may be why she chose the Old Spaghetti Factory. I must admit that there was really plenty of space for us. It might have been nice to arrange the tables in a big U or squared "O" so we weren't at two separate, crowded long groups of tables.

We were last to arrive as we live farthest away. We crowded in, and the server, Katie, barely missed a beat asking our drink order. I was highly impressed. Not only was this young lady on the ball, but she was beautiful, as well. She anticipated refills, brought extra bread and napkins without being asked, and when I was unimpressed with the salad, replaced it with soup no questions.

The salad wasn't good. This restaurant could learn a few things from LaRosa's and Cheddars Scratch Kitchen about a good salad. The bowl of bagged salad mix still tasted of the chemicals the produce folks use to whiten that stuff. It had not been rinsed or tossed...other than into the bowl. A few croutons were added along with my requsted (poor tasting) honey mustard dressing. No tomato. No cuke. No cheese or onion. Nuttin. It was bad enough to serve bag salad, but NAKED bag salad!? It was also wilted. I saw at least half our table push theirs away, leaving it unfinished and wasted. The replacement minestrone wasn't bad. It was hot and tasty but very salty. The bread was actually pretty decent.

I ordered the same thing as my niece who apparently eats at this place more often than I. Mizithra Cheese & Brown Butter..."A toothsome treat for cheese lovers. (1190 cal) $12.75." In theory this should have been good. I think the pasta wasn't hot enough when they added the cheese...and there was a whole LOT of the cheese kinda crumbled all over the plate. Unfortunately, it was exceptionally salty tasting and very dry. My niece was disappointed and didn't eat it all. She said it tasted different from usual. Neither did the two others next to me. I gave 1/2 of mine to my husband who mixed it in with his marinara and he seemed to like it especially since his serving of pasta looked to be 1/2 of my own.

The spumoni was ok. Katie was swift about bills and carryout boxes. I must say that she DID ask if eveything tasted ok or if we needed anything a few times, but it is my experience that most NICE people won't really complain in a group. And really, I'm not complaining here. Especially since Katie...

I hadn't been to an Old Spaghetti Factory in years, since they closed the downtown Cincinnati location. A doors at the entrance almost sent us back to the car when the door on the left was locked, and the door on the right required quite a tug. Someone should have those doors adjusted. The second set of doors worked much better. The interior of this location was impressive and opulent. The place was nearly empty.

We arrived around 5 and were seated right away. We waited for some time before a young gentleman came and asked if we'd been waited on. He promised to figure it out. After a few minutes, a young lady asked, and promised to figure it out. A little bit later, a different young lady showed up and apologized, explaining they told her the wrong table. Paper place mat menus were tacky.

We ordered chicken Marsala and fettuccine Alfredo. The bread was underwhelming, and the butter scarce. Soup for her and salad for me arrived. I tried the soup and it wasn't bad. The salad was completely unimpressive. The lettuce was browning on the cut edges and there was a few small pieces of carrot. It looked like something you'd be served at a truck stop.

The pasta was absolutely underwhelming. Noodles were dry and cold. My chicken breast bore the hallmarks of being microwaved. The Marsala sauce tasted like... nothing.

I also tried the Alfredo. Three words come to mind: bland, bland, and bland. It likely came from a jar, or maybe even a bag.

We never got refills. We skipped the ice cream.

The difference between the atmosphere created by the building versus the service and food that were very low quality was confusing. Food and service were... Italian Waffle House. Even the offer of a free meal could not lure us back, so don't...