Gelato Joe's Italian Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Foley

All I can say is .... WOW and not in a good way. We have been coming to Joe's weekly for about 10 years. And tonight it all seemed to be upside down and backwards. First off, all new servers on the floor which isn't unusual to have a few new faces but.......

We were told to seat ourselves which we did. It wasn't as busy as it usually is when we go. Our server, Autumn, came to our table introduced herself with no smile in sight. And got our drink orders. Tea was ordered one unsweet the other sweet with no lemon, a diet coke and coffee. Both teas came to the table as sweet tea with lemon.

We gave our order which seemed to confuse her even more. 1 of our orders was the soup and salad meal of which we had to go ask where the salad was after receiving our other two salads we ordered that did not have any croutons which was requested. We have never had to ask for them before as the servers always ask if we want them on our salads. Nor have we ever been charged for them in all the years we've been coming here. It would not have been a problem if we had been told that there is now a charge for croutons BUT seriously $2.00 for a handful of croutons which on the bill was listed as miscellaneous????? And garlic bread is no longer added to the soup/salad meal???

One dish we ordered comes with mozzarella or provolone cheese on top which we asked to not be added. It was added to the dish when it arrived at the table. We never had the chance to tell her the order was not right as she was busy catering to one particular table for long periods of time seemingly forgetting she had other tables. Our server didn't come by to see if we needed drink refills so we had to flag her down or call her name across the restaurant. 2nd cup of coffee was cold cold enough that I put my finger down in the cup and kept it there to show my friends how cold it really was and when I told her she said "ok"?? Ummmmm, not exactly what I expected to hear. I had to ask her to get me a fresh hot cup. She seemed to be totally dumbfounded by me telling her it was cold when she filled my cup and by me asking for a hot cup of coffee. And once again we had to flag her down for refills as she didn't stop by to see if we needed anything. We ordered a slice of cake before she brought the check to the table and then had to send her to bring a bag for us to carry it out in.

We understand totally that times are tough and with it being the Holidays that most places are running on skeleton crews or overworking the employees that do come to work, but customer service is the key note to having a successful business. Maybe there needs to be a crash course on how to present yourself, connect with your guests, and make sure that all aspects of their visit are pleasant. As a rule, I tip above and beyond 20% to 25% regardless but I couldn't bring myself to do it tonight. Sorry...

Update: added a couple stars. Joe reached out and has taken steps to ensure this (hopefully) won't happen to others. Top-notch owner! Will update rating again if we give dinner there another shot.

It pains me to write this review, but I see there are numerous recent poor reviews so perhaps these will lead to some improvement and get back to the Gelato Joe's we know and love. We had the worst food we've ever had at Joe's. I really have had better italian food in mall food courts. Not saying that to be mean, just a fact. What has happened to Joe's? The chicken parm was burned on the bottom and way overcooked inside. We sent it back but the nice server came back (with the same plate!) and said "he said if he cooks it any less it will be raw inside." My question then is, why not turn the temp down on whatever equipment they use? My mother is too kind (and was hungry) to send it back and wait for something else. She thought she might be able to make something out of the leftovers which is 90% of both meals, but it tastes so bad (I just tasted it and it's definitely burned.) And why would we order something else when what we had was not good? Oh, her spaghetti side was ok, albeit unremarkable. The peels on the grape tomatoes and cucumbers in her cucumber salad were so tough they couldn't be pierced with a fork. We ate what we could with a spoon and spit out the peels. Of course that's not the restaurant's fault. My meat lover's lasagna looked like slop on the plate (couldn't tell there were supposed to be layers), covered with what appeared to be thick sliced cheese which was barely melted (as was the case with the chicken parm). No shaved parm either. I tasted a bit of sausage, and there were only 3 slices of pepperoni (which I discovered after bringing it home). The pasta was very undercooked. And I prefer al dente noodles. My Greek salad had plenty of feta cheese, black olives, chopped tomatoes, but nothing else, such as pepperoncini, red onion, cucumbers, green peppers, oregano, kalamata olives. And no romaine, only spring mix. There were other issues but I think burned chicken that could barely be cut with the serrated knife is quite enough. No manager ever came out to inquire how the meal was, if anything could be done to make it right, or even offer any sort of apology. Nor did they take the chicken off the ticket. Most items are incredibly overpriced (particularly for the poor quality) so that was painful too. Extremely disappointed with the awful management and food. Let's see if management cares enough and stands by their food enough to read this review and reach out. I'll provide an update in...

We met family at this restaurant. There were 9 of us…6 adults and three children. It was busy but we were seated right away in a outdoor, mostly enclosed patio. It was chilly that day but there were two, tall propane heaters going so it was pleasant. Our waitress came by, took drink orders and then we waited 15 minutes before she came back. She apologized several times over the time we were there, said she was working two areas. We placed our order, two of three salads ordered were brought out after 15 minutes, and then we waited about 40 minutes, having no interaction with anyone during that time. My son n law got up to ask about our order and shortly after that food started to arrive. There were salads missing, one person’s “prime rib” sandwich (20.00) looked more like a thick slice of brown spam. One of the little ones ordered “ butter noodles” from the kids menu and it was literally pasta floating in butter, oil and garlic. Some of the dishes were tasty though. The strawberry salad and house special gumbo were good. In all we were there 2 hours. We paid our bill with the waitress while still eating and then she never returned to the table ( they did take off the charge for the prime rib sandwich). After we finished, I stepped inside with the older girls where they sell gelato, and ordered a scoop for everyone. The young man would hand it to me and the girls carried it out to our table. When finished scooping, I tried to pay him but he said to just tell our server outside. We enjoyed the gelato and I waited for our waitress to come by but she never did. I finally saw her across the patio and called her name. She seemed frazzled but came over. I told her about the gelato and she came back with my bill. We could have just walked out without paying for it. They would have lost 30.00. The waitress was clearly overwhelmed and needed help. The food was hit or Miss. oh, and the propane heaters ran out of fuel about 15 minutes after we were seated. It was about 56 degrees outside so it did get a bit chilly. I doubt we...