Mona Lisa Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

I have literally been going to this place since 1990. Unfortunately, the original owner, Joe, has long since passed away. But he gave his perfect recipe for pizza sauce to all of his children. They always know how to show you a good time. If you're in the mood for drinks and karaoke or just hanging out. But more importantly... I have literally been eating this pizza for 30 years!! They have the perfect New York crust that you can fold in half even if you have a ton of vegetables and extra extra extra cheese. I will never order pizza from anywhere else. Let me tell you about the few chicken dishes I've ordered. I usually hate chicken! However, one night when my husband and I were having drinks on the patio, and could not drive somewhere for food, we decided to order something different from Mona Lisa's. My husband got the blackened chicken fettuccine alfredo. I got the chicken Mona lisa. However we always substitute fresh tomatoes for sun-dried tomatoes. I hate chewy tomatoes. I actually loved this chicken!! I even tried my husband's and he tried mine. The blackened chicken was perfectly grilled and juicy. And by the way, Mona Lisa's has a out of this world alfredo sauce! The chicken Mona Lisa is beautiful. Although I will always order it with fresh tomatoes rather than sun-dried, it was perfectly cooked, juicy for chicken breast. And a large portion on both orders. I cannot say anything better than this... I have been a customer since 1990, and I will be a customer until the day I die! And that is a true recommendation of what is a great restaurant. In fort Myers Florida, restaurants come and go every month. If a restaurant is around for more than a year it means there's something good about it. If a restaurant is around for more than 5 years it means the locals absolutely love it! If it's around for more than 10 years, it means locals and tourists alike adore it!!

Just a note to the kids that are running it now... I really miss Joe's stuffed artichoke! Never had anything like it...

This is a review to establish some truth about a recent review bashing the DJ. I was there that night that Rob, husband of Lori, (who left the review about 2 weeks ago) wasn't allowed to sing because of a previous heckling and taunting incident involving two singers on stage because the singers they chose to heckle sang a rock song at 9:30 in the evening. There are also established "quieter" areas around the restaurant that are not directly between two speakers, like in the booths aka "The sound tunnel" they chose to stay in anyway. Of which they were made aware upon first complaint. After the DJ got set up and inserted everyone's song, except for Rob & Lori due to the soft ban (meaning you can't sing for "one night" due to breaking the established rules of karaoke that are posted on the side of the sign up booth) he ran a round for a very diverse crowd of all ages. Immediately after the FIRST round was over, "Rob" ambushed the DJ at the booth and proceeded to scream at him at the top of his lungs with spittle flying into the side of the DJs face and neck area, eventually threatening the DJ with bodily harm. All in front of about 20 patrons, regulars, and also the rest of the staff with no regard for anyone else. Everyone in the building was in shock. You would think that these people who supposedly DJ'd before, would have enough class to at least ask him to step outside or something to discuss a qualm like adults should. (*All of this altercation has been documented in video should anyone need to see the incident for any reason.) The DJ stayed completely calm during the entire verbal bashing, and promptly and professionally asked the one with the anger problem to leave, his wife yelling at him *Rob to shut up as well. There are many witnesses to attest to these events taking place as stated. I wish there was an easier way to combat this kind of hatred and manipulation, but there isn't. This was posted in the defense of the DJ, there are always two...

It's hard for me to rate any place low, because I used to work in the service industry, and I know disgruntled customers write in more frequently than a happy customer. We were pleasant the entire time, acted nicely towards our waitress, and overall did not voice our displeasures.

That being said, here's the deal: my girlfriend and I came in on Sunday to eat dinner and she was also trying out as a backup singer for a band by singing some karaoke, which is supposed to start at 9. We arrived at 830.

We ordered drinks and the mozz cheese stick appetizers. It didn't take long for the drinks to come out, but my girlfriends mixed drink was the incorrect drink. She was nervous for her audition and drank it anyways.

As we were sitting there talking, a different waitress came up with our entrees and the appetizer at the same time, and noticed we hadn't been plated silverware (we didn't notice. Not a big deal.) They apologized for everything coming out at the same time.

The Mozz Cheese Sticks tasted like old oil was used. The $16 Fettuccini Alfredo tasted just like the frozen re-heated Alfredo that the restaurant I used to work at used. My girlfriend's dish was fine.

Then came karaoke. The DJ had a new PC, and it wasn't working with the system, so he had to leave to get his old PC. Karaoke didn't start until 1040 and the song selection was limited because it was running on an old system.

My girlfriend asked if she could be somewhere near the top, because the bandmembers she was trying out for had to leave. Had to be up early. The DJ said he'd try to help out. He let three people go, a family of four go, took a 15 minute break, and then let another person go, before letting her up. The bandmembers left before the family of four went up, and she sang and I recorded her.

I realize not all experiences are going to be like this, but so many...