Z Bardhi's Italian Cuisine — Restaurant in Florida

Wow, how can what we thought was an upper end restaurant in Tallahassee go from having fabulous (well worth it) meals to being as if the food came from a microwave and with no flavor.

Our previous visits here were fantastic, wonderful tasting bread, delicious tasting dinners and desserts that complimented the entire evening.

Last visit was very discouraging as the waiter; who had a pleasant personality and would joke with patrons that his name depended on how well the previous visits were..... so he had some humor, but his follow up ended up needing followed up...... we were never asked by him if our meals were even ok. I have been fortunate to have gone to many five star establishments and one thing the server / waiter always did was make sure that our meal, service and evening was going well.

I assume that because I don't have a five star personality that it may have turned the waiter off and he felt that I might be the type to under tip or that I might desire a little extra attention because I brought my family of four out to dinner and with my mother in a wheelchair we might need a little assistance to get through dinner in a location we do not dine in frequently. I may never know....

But I understand with everything more important going on in the world, my needs are minimal to the scheme of things. Yet, the meal was nowhere close to our previous visits and calls to the facility were never returned, so when we drove past tonight and my wife made a comment about Italian food everyone said "not there" and we went down the street to eat.

As for Z Bardhi's atmosphere is their own unique look, and it does compliment the price structure that is posted on the menu. Could it be freshened up a little bit, of course, but when you are making money hand over fist, who has time to redecorate........ You must get to the bank and put it away....... but when suddenly meals come out of the kitchen that do not warrant the prices on the menu, and calls don't get returned to disgruntled clients and the need to run to the bank every day is not as apparent as it was before, well I guess I'll never know...... because that last meal was the last meal!

It's sad that some clients just feel special at a location; maybe because of prestige, and continue to go to those type locations because of being caught in a type of social order, like all the best people (money) belong to the "CLUB" and if you want to be someone and rub elbows with the "Who's who" that is where you go. I think I'll try out a truck...

Let me preface this by saying I love Z Bardhi's. This was the first bad experience I've ever had there. But I won't return if the waiter we had still works there. He was arrogant and rude.

I'd ordered the grouper special for the night and when it came I immediately noticed the strong fishy smell of old fish. I noted it to the waiter who just shrugged and left the table. So I went ahead and tasted it, definitely old. When the waiter came back several minutes later my wife told him again that the fish was bad. He immediately started arguing with us, we must be mistaken and the fish was fresh from this morning. I handed him my plate and repeated, the fish is old. The waiter, a tall dark young man no older than 30 with a mustache and perhaps a thin beard.. He didn't offer to replace it but my wife suggested that the restaurant might have something else. The waiter said that they had a salmon dish that was the same price and he could substitute that. Minutes later he brought back a piece of salmon that was at least fresh and not at all bad. He never returned to see what I thought of the replacement and only swooped by our table quickly to drop the check and was gone before I could say anything. He did stop as he came back to pick up the check and felt it was necessary to let me know that the salmon was more expensive than the grouper had been but he would let me have it at the same price. Not only was that different than what he'd previously told me but even if true it was unnecessary at that point to mention. My check included only a 10% tip, which I consider an insult to the server compared to my usual 30% or more.

Apart from the practically nonexistent service and the man's (apparently natural and largely unfettered) arrogant attitude, this was the worst meal (and the only bad meal) I've ever had at one of my favorite Tallahassee...

I wrote a review about a year ago and somehow they removed it, so I am posting it again. The service was absolutely terrible. The wife of the owner was incredibly rude and they treated our party (of 15+ people) in a very unprofessional and discriminatory way. The waiters didn't take our order until an hour after we had been seated, despite telling them numerous times that we are ready to place our order. We didn't receive our food until an hour and 40 mins after we sat down. Some of the food was cold and a few orders were wrong. They told part of our party at a separate table that they would not serve them because the restaurant was full and they couldn't take anymore orders, when there was numerous empty tables on the porch where we were seated. So part of our party had to leave. It was a birthday party for our friend and she was in tears by the end of the evening. It was honestly one of the worst dining experiences we've ever had. We tried to talk with the owner about our experience in a calm and rational way, but she was extremely rude and unprofessional towards us, not listening to anything we said. When I told her that our party would never return to her restaurant, she said to me and I quote - "do I look concerned if you ever come back?" I can assure you, no one in our party will ever go back there again. We've heard similar feedback from other locals about how rude the owners wife is, so this is not an isolated incidence regarding her attitude and demeanor...