Antonella's Italian Ristorante — Restaurant in Fayetteville

Awesome!!! First time we have been, but for sure NOT THE LAST!! CANNOT WAIT TO GO AGAIN! The food was out of this world! Just so hard for me to decide for my first experience what I wanted to try...but I did not go wrong it was so delicious! My husband decided as soon as he looked at the menu! Now, I am strange, because I never can finish even a 1/3 rd of my meal which means I never get to try desserts. Now, I always order and request my dessert at the very beganning of our meal, just like most people do appetizers. I tell the servers they may even bring them in the to go container because I will only take 1 or 2 bites...yes silly but if they have something that looks good and I would like a taste I do not want to miss the opportunity. They had my favorite ... tiramisu... Stephanie, our server, brought it out...oh my goodness...the very best I have had since my friend from Italy use to make it for me over 20 years ago...I only took 2 bites, my hubby took 1 and then we ask our wonderful angel of a server, Stephanie, to please box it up for us. Both of is extremely enjoyed our dinners...their bread they serve is so great, the salads we both picked as one of our sides with their house made cucumber salad dressinh ... you just have to try it!...Next time since I can not eat my entire meal I will pick 2 salads so I can bring one home! We also plan to make sure we ALWAYS ask for Stephanie each time for our server, she was so attentive, she made us feel so WELCOME, SMILED the entire time, as I told her she was our ANGEL last night because I really was feeling low and she made me feel so awesome and cared about! Even if the food had not been as wonderful as it was, when you have a excellent server that takes such awesome care of you it makes you want to go back to that resturant and give them your business! ( but everthing from the food to the service and the other staff members we came in contact with were great too! Kudos to the Chef and kitchen line cooks for excellent dishes and the manager and yhe Owner especially for hiring and traing your staff to care about your customers! ) If you have never been here you may have to wait a minute or two for a table but take my word, you will not regret it...the wait is so worth it! Thank you again Stephanie, you made this old lady that use to wait tables years ago, want date nights with her hubby of almost 39 yrs alot more often! We really had a great time! Remember, if you ever get with tip a penny, plus a decent tip that means you went above and beyond and you are an excellent waitress....and that my dear young lady you...

For the hype this restaurant receives, I’m a bit confused.

Without a doubt, Antonella’s does have a beautiful atmosphere but that’s the only thing truly 5 stars about this restaurant. The food is over priced for the rather bland and lukewarm dishes I received. While the ingredients did appear fresh, things like the spaghetti that is served with the chicken parmesan couldn’t be more tasteless. For how the food is advertised I do expect some spices to be incorporated in the dishes. Fresh basil? Parsley? Oregano? It’s supposed to be authentic Italian is it not? The tomato sauce is bland. Making good tomato sauce takes time, but it’s necessary if you’re an Italian restaurant.

Our server mentioned that the lobster ravioli was changed to a blue crab stuffing “awhile ago.” If this is the case, why don’t the current menus reflect that change? I’ve worked in more laid back restaurants that print and re-encase their paper menus every week with their soup and weekly “special” changes. This saves the servers the embarrassment of having to START their introductions with what is incorrectly listed on the menu. Not to mention, we were made aware of several shortages on certain ingredients. Also, if you no longer serve fried ravioli, as a fancier restaurant…should your menu not reflect that?

The servers and bussers do not communicate. They are rushing to get lukewarm food out the door to tables so carelessly they forget to say “behind” and literally slam into each other. Two entire entrees ended up on the floor as a result & almost happened two more times. I watched bussers mutter to hosts about not allowing more customers around 7pm because they were closing at 8pm. A conversation necessary to have if a restaurant is full an hour before close and the kitchen is backed up, but should your guests over hear this? No. I watched a host tell a man he could not seat himself at the bar despite there being an empty chair available. The guest eventually left with a confused and equally frustrated look on his face. Little things like this make or break a guests hospitality experience and can be crucial for maintaining and growing your restaurants reputation. As a former restaurant hospitality professional these are things difficult for me to overlook.

I didn’t have a particularly bad experience, but I didn’t feel great about the bill after we finished our dining experience here either and that’s not what I would’ve expected from a more upscale restaurant. I’m happy to spend upwards of $200 for two people if what I’m paying for is truly an all around great...

Oh My Gosh. I had family come from out of town and we headed downtown so I could show them around and grab a meal of food. I had peeked at Antonella's beforehand and really wanted to give it a try. When we walked up to the hostess, and he said there was a two hour wait...yuck. He then said, if you would like to sit outside I can get you into that table in about 45 minutes. Perfect! The weather was nice and we walked around looking at shops for a little and our table was ready in no time. We DID hear and see that hostess running and answering the phone and talking to potential customers walking up to him; clearly a very busy Man, but oh so pleasant. Once we were seated, waters and bread came to the table quickly. Our server was Sam, and enough great things can not be said about him. He was so so nice, efficient and paid attention to even the smallest of details. There were six of us, we ordered many items, and Sam never missed a beat. To the table came the following: a Godfather cocktail, a fresh basil lemonade cocktail (fresh and tasty- I Loved it), sweet teas, beers, 4 glasses of wine, calamari, bruschetta, lasagne dip ( of the appetizers I think the bruschetta was the best however the calamari was awesome as well. For entrees we had a spaghetti siciliana, 2 grouper francese, 2 penne with meat sauce, and an eggplant parmesan. I was the recipient of one of the grouper dishes and this is unlike anything I have had. A nice sized piece of fish breaded and served with mushrooms and onions in a white wine butter sauce. I enjoyed this immensely. We all had some sides, to include salads, sauteed spinach and penne alfredo. Everyone enjoyed their meals and the beautiful outdoor dining ambiance. Two in the group ordered a strawberry dessert that was a shortcake/cheesecake hybrid, and one chose the tiramisu after the dessert board was brought over and they all looked amazing! Sam helped pack up left overs and made conversation with us to end the night, and we all walked out as happy...