Mom & Dad's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

I've been going to Mom & Dads for over 45 years, I've been several times since the new restaurant opened. Although the physical building is beautiful and updated, the same cannot be said for the food or service. We will not be returning, I keep thinking they just had a bad night the previous visits, but tonight was just awful. We had reservations, they sat us in the very far back room at a table meant for 12, there were 5 of us. We passed a table on the way that would have been fine. The hostess only gave us 4 menus. We tracked down a waitress that gave us a 5th. Our waitress arrived at our table, did not welcome us, did not tell us her name and wanted our drink orders. We quickly told her but she quickly scurried away without taking the 5th persons drink order. He's 6 feet tall, kind of hard to miss him. We called out to her, a bit loudly to get her attention, she came back, did not apologize and asked what he wanted. Then she decided to write down our drink orders, not sure why she didn't do that to begin with. Then she scurried off quickly again, not asking or giving us a chance to order an antipasto plate. We finally were able to when 4 of the 5 drinks were brought to the table because she got the 5th one wrong. The salads...the blue cheese was watered down, the tomatoes were mush and the lettuce was from a bag. I ordered Bruzzi, I've been ordering this for over 45 years...first bite and it was not hot at all, just luke warm. Second bite was lukewarm to cool. The center of the dish was cold. My husband and son ordered Lasagna, they couldn't eat it. It was all ricotta and sauce, the noodles were on the perimeter of the dish, burnt and like cardboard...inedible. I have never in my life seen lasagna made this way. We mentioned the issues to our waitress and she offered 2 free desserts...WooHoo!! Unimpressed and Disappointed, will not be returning. I know we weren't the only people who felt this way.

Also, just a couple notes to the management. 1. Update your voicemail message. We are way past the first week in July. I've been told a couple of times by your hostesses that the Open Table available times really aren't open times. Either use open table as it's meant to be used or don't use it at all. You open at 5, I've called several times at 4 and 4:30 to make reservations with no human answering, just the outdated voicemail. No one is working the front of the...

My husband and I have been on the hunt for a good Italian restaurant since moving to NE Tally from SE Tally. Mom and Dad's Italian made it on our list to try. Unfortunately we can not recommend this restaurant. I will give credit where it's due though and say the atmosphere is very lovely and our server was friendly and attentive. The food however...which is the whole point for us was the biggest disappointment we have ever had at a restaurant at this price point. We didn't order anything complicated. I got the manicotti w/meatballs and my husband got the salmon. OOF! My pasta was the consistence of a toasted tortilla on top and an extremely chewy bottom from being undercooked. I couldn't cut it with a fork and I had to use a knife! On pasta!?!? You would figure that an Italian restaurant of any worth would be able to make this dish with ease. It's cheese and pasta with sauce...that's it. They price that meal at $18(that does not include the meatballs which is $6 so $24 total). O.o. My husbands salmon was very bland (house seasoning) and nothing special. They price that meal at $27. Had these meals been well prepared and well seasoned then we would have no issue with these prices but they were so bad that it has bothered me ever since we ate there 3 weeks ago. Our bill was over $100 for the 2 of us. With us getting drinks (tea), house salads, entrees, and desserts. The only good thing to this disappointing experience and the one thing I feel they got right as far as food was my dessert. I got the turtle cheesecake and that was very good. Rich and creamy like it should be with a wonderful salted caramel sauce. My husband's dessert on the other hand was pitiful. He got the tiramisu and again he said it was very bland and that it had no real flavor compared to other restaurants we've tried. It was also very wilted looking almost like a balloon that lost air. At this price point I would consider going somewhere else. It's a shame that a big chain Italian restaurant that starts with a C out did this restaurant. We've got another Italian restaurant on our list to try out so we're keeping our fingers crossed that this restaurant...

Several months ago I responded (which I NEVER do) to a post/comment about “MOM & DAD’S Italian Resturant” in Bannerman Crossing. I had said that I hadn’t yet eaten the ‘restaurant’ food but just had some of their ‘catered’ food at our FSU BASEBALL LeadOff banquet at the Car Museum and that the 500 plus FSU baseball fans there along with me thought it great tasting & great quality!! Well ——- tonight I went to “MOM & DAD’S” to get Coach Bowden & Miss ANN their “71st anniversary celebration meal”. For those of you that might not know-spaghetti & meatballs or ravioli are his all time favorite!!! But he rarely eats it now b/c he watches his diabetes. 71 years - “dadgumit” - he deserves BOTH!!!! So I called the restaurant at around 1:00pm - ‘Tommy’ answered the phone & I told him what I was needing for 5 adults. The only problem is that I needed it around 3:00. The reason for this early time is that Coach keeps the exact same off-season schedule now that he did as our Head Coach. Supper is usually around 4:00 - bedtime is usually around 7:00 AND he still gets up & his day starts at around 4:00AM-5:00AM with his daily devotional & Bible reading. When I pulled up Tommy came out with my order. You could tell by the incredible aroma & the temperature of the containers of food that it was definitely “fresh cooked & hot!!!” I just spoke to Robin - Coach & Miss Ann’s daughter. I asked her: how was it & what did she & her parents think of it? “The EXACT first word she said was- “PHENOMENAL!!!” Followed by: “INCREDIBLE - THE BEST I’VE EVER HAD - OUTSTANDING!!!!” She then told me that there was so much food that her folks will probably have enough for lunch or supper all weekend! Thank YOU...MOM & DAD’S - Tommy - and - MR. JIM GRAGANELLA (one of the owners) for putting the PERFECT finishing touches on the “Bowden’s 71st Anniversary!!!!” I’m sure that they will now want a return visit very soon!!!

God bless you all Tallahhassee!! Stay well - stay safe...