Caffe Andiamo — Restaurant in Florida

We have eaten several times at Andiamo, and had good experiences. In the past, we have thought the food was good and our server in the bar (Richard) was great and always made our experience special. This time was different, unfortunately. We decided to come back to celebrate my sister’s birthday today. When we walked in with my elderly mother who doesn’t walk or stand well, the hostess answered the phone in front of us and proceeded to answer multiple questions into the phone while we stood in front of her waiting for a long time. She’s a young girl, and probably doesn’t know better, but someone should tell her that is really not acceptable for a hostess to put off customers who are in person for someone on the phone. Once we were seated, it took a really long time for us to be greeted and drink orders taken. Meanwhile, people around us were all being greeted. Our server was Charles, and while he was a nice guy, and we did leave him a 20% tip because we had mercy on him, and we were in a good mood, he was very very absent for most of our lunch. He forgot several things, didn’t fill drinks, and would completely disappear for long periods of time. I was a server for many years and know that sometimes it’s a rough shift, and I never assume that I know what might be going on in the back or in someone’s life. Like I said, we still tipped him well, but he certainly didn’t earn it. We ended up canceling our dessert order because we had waited for it and a glass of wine for almost 30 minutes. This was on top of waiting extended periods of time for everything else we had ordered. We chose Andiamo as a place to spend a special occasion and we were very disappointed in our choice. We won’t make that choice again. We did not ask to speak to the manager because she does not have a good reputation in the area (as mentioned in other reviews as well), and we didn’t want to make a bad situation worse. I do hope she reads this review though. Her staff could use some training. Additionally, her restaurant would benefit from some atmosphere adjustments. The lights are too bright, the temperature in the restaurant was hot and stuffy, and there’s never music playing in there, which gives the place a weird, sterile vibe. We...

Just wanted to post about a very disturbing experience my mom and I had at caffe andiamo today which ended with the owner saying to his (father?) that “they’re no one” about my mother and I. We went in for lunch at 11:10 so it empty other than another customer and the owner and an older man (I believe his dad) all sitting at the bar. While eating appetizers we heard the owner telling a staff member in the kitchen to clean something but in a very nasty and demanding tone. Then later on, one of the cooks was prepping our pizza and the owner went over and was completely rude and condescending to him and was saying “the f word” multiple times. All loudly and in front of us. My mom was extremely uncomfortable and asked to leave. We got our food boxed and the waitress, who was amazing, apologized profusely. Before we left I walked up and asked if he was the owner and he said yes. I said respectfully, “my mother and I just ate and the food and service was amazing. However, we are having to leave early as the rude way you speak to your employees has made us extremely uncomfortable. It’s not ok to talk to people like that”. He immediately became defensive and tried to say he was telling them how to do something. I said “I heard every word of what you said and I know you were trying to correct him but it’s not ok to speak to people that way”. The older man asked “what did he say that was rude?” In a very defensive way. I sajd “everything you said was condescending. We will not be back. Thank you and good bye”. I walked away but my mother started saying to them that the owner was throwing f bombs in front of a 64 year old customer and it wasn’t ok. The older male said “we’ve been here for 20 years without complaint.” And the owner said to him “don’t worry, they’re no one” (in regard to my mother and I).

My mom said back that we represent ponte vedra but to have an owner of a business tell a customer that “they are no one”, that we are beneath them in some way is disgusting. Especially because we were not complaining about our service or the food. We were complaining about how he was speaking to his staff very loudly and swearing, especially in front of customers. We will not...

The first time I took my family there, wife and daughter, about 4 months ago, I bit into a piece of plastic in my vegetables that came with the veal. For a moment I thought it was a piece of burned broccoli and I almost swallowed it, but luckily I didn't, and when I removed it from my mouth to my surprise it was a piece of very hard plastic. Up until that point, our experience had been really good, with location, food, and wine being very pleasant. Unfortunately, the piece of plastic ruined the meal. When I brought it to the waiter's attention, his reply was correct as if he was the owner; apologetic, surprised, helpful. Except he offered a piece of cake as a way to make amends. That's a problem with people in the restaurant industry, in that they think throwing free food at the customer is the solution when in actuality it is not; perhaps it is part of the solution, but certainly not the only action to be taken. Anyways, I asked why the manager or the owner was not coming to speak with me to discuss the situation...the owner (Tony or Johnny, couldn't quite make it out) came over after I requested it. His attitude was terrible, basically doubting my story. Longer story short, he deducted my plate from the bill but the attitude just stayed with us (as I said, it's not about a free meal, we don't need nor were seeking that, we would much rather pay full price with a great tip and have a great experience). We went home and spent a lot of time debating what to do about the experience. We wanted it to be a good one as there are no other Italian restaurants in the area and we wanted that one to be it for us. Plus, we don’t like arguing or fighting and we want to make friends all around us. My wife was sick in the stomach the next day, so that didn’t help the making...