The Old Spaghetti Factory — Restaurant in Folsom

My granddaughter wanted Italian food for her 14th birthday dinner. Below is a description of our experience. OMG!!!! This was absolutely the worst! From being unable to make a reservation on the kludgy OSF website to calling the location to make reservations and being told that they take reservations then being told that they do not take call ahead seating requests. I called 4 hours prior to expected arrival. Having been in the restaurant business to me that is a reservation, Call ahead seating is under two hours prior to expected arrival. The restaurant was very busy when we arrived. We were seated quickly at a table near the entrance (read high traffic area) and left sitting there without menus water or as much as a how do you do. After about 7 minutes a gentleman stopped by our table and informed us that Alex (our waiter) was terribly busy and he would be taking our drink order. He disappeared and somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes later a young lady dressed in very casual street clothing brought the sodas my granddaughters ordered. She was somewhere between 14 and 16 or could have been older and just looked that young but was not appropriately dressed to be serving in a full service restaurant. The 4 year old was delighted to get her soda in a kiddie cup not so much the almost 5'8" 14 year old. The drinks for the two adults at the table were nowhere to be seen. She apologized and disappeared presumably to get the Ice Tea we had both ordered. Within a minute or two of the arrival of the kid's drinks and before our Ice Tea was delivered Alex arrived at our table and introduced himself. Alex, obviously stressed with his workload, asked what drinks we had ordered. We told him and requested an adult drink for the 14 year old. He told us he would be right back with our drinks. Immediately after Alex disappeared the young lady came back with our Ice Tea. By the time Alex returned with our drinks the girls had finished their drinks and were ready for refills. Fortunately Alex was on the ball, obviously an experienced waiter with what it takes to go far, he had anticipated our needs and had a refill for the 4 year old and the aforementioned adult glass of soda for the 14 year old along with two Ice Teas and a warm loaf of bread. As soon as Alex set up the service tray a large party came through and the manager chastised Alex in front of customers for blocking the isle with the service tray. There was truly nowhere else for the tray to be placed. Alex dutifully folded up the tray and allowed the party to proceed to their table. At this point Alex took our order and disappeared to place it. Salads arrived in a reasonable time though there was some confusion on the part of the inappropriately dressed young lady serving us (she never introduced herself and had no name tag) as to who had ordered which dressing. We requested another loaf of bread as we had devoured the first. We had barely started our salads when my soup arrived followed almost immediately by our main courses. It was obvious that if the restaurant management had not clued the kitchen or the wait staff in on the concept of meal pacing. My granddaughter ordered lasagna, she said it tasted good but it wasn’t hot, in fact only the middle of the generous portion was even close to warm. I’m not sure if this was because it was not heated to a proper temperature or if it had been sitting while we ate our salads. My dinner on the other hand I am sure wasn’t heated to a proper temperature and had cooled some while we ate our salads because the middle of both of the generously large meatballs was refrigerator cold, the sausage was tepid and the sauce on the pasta was room temperature. The flavor of my dish was very good but the temperature was not even close to proper temperature. The one positive thing I can say is that the Chicken dish my son ordered was at a proper temperature when he began eating it and he said it tasted very good.. There were other minor issues but this post is already way too long so I’ll just say it...

This is a tough one to rate. Do I rate it from the perspective of the demographic they are targeting or do I give it a rating relative to all other restaurant reviews? I think I'll choose the latter.

Hadn't been to the Spaghetti Factory in probably at least 20 years. It's, let's say "nostalgic" that basically nothing has changed. One price for a 3-course meal (salad, entree, ice cream) and a loaf of hot sourdough bread and butter.

It was busy on a weekend night and we used the online reservation system 2 days in advance and they seated us immediately while 10 others were sitting waiting. Place is big with high ceilings and an Italian Family Style Old School Decor. Loud and Happy Birthday being sung at the top of their lungs every 10 minutes.

Took a while for our server to show but overall the service was just fine.

The real appeal in my opinion of this place is (a) Consistency of food - similar to McDonalds, Olive Garden, or another chain - may not be the best food but you know exactly what you're getting and people most of the time don't like change. (b) Consistency on price. I think people, especially frugal ones in a big party, like to know the bill is not going to get jacked up from salads and deserts. They know for around $18 they get a salad, entree, and ice cream. (c) It's a festive atmosphere. So for those in a group that want to celebrate and not spend a ton of money this is a go-to place.

So yes, for $18+/- you get a salad and scoop of ice cream with your meal, but the food is pretty darn mediocre. I doubt the core demographic of this place though is the type that is frequenting gourmet fine dining establishments for comparison. It's pasta with decent but "nothing to write home about" sauces. They have to be making a killing considering it's some iceberg lettuce, a roll of sourdough and some $0.75 a pound pasta with probably $1 at most worth of sauce on it. All for about $18. The very hot sourdough loaf is a great way to try to make the patrons feel like they are getting something "special." When we all know most all restaurants give you free bread, just not super hot.

In my opinion, a place like Red Robin with a big juicy burger and bottomless fries or salad for around $15 or Olive Garden is the better deal for this level of cuisine. But Spaghetti Factory feels more festive and nostalgic so for a little less value it's the better pick for a special occasion for a big party.

3 start for a "pure" rating on food/value/atmosphere/service (with service getting 4 stars) and 4 stars rating as a "mainstreet" non-upscale/gourmet large group special occasion dining spot.

I think anyone considering eating is going to be in the demographic that a 4 is more accurate for them so I'll give it a 4 even though relative to the hundreds of other places I've dined it...

'22/2 updated review (45 year customer various locations): -- 1st off, kudos to surviving the crushing COVID shutdowns & restrictions. -- Still unique-to-chain menu items worth patronizing establishment for: pesto salad dressing, mizithra cheese in brown butter, and spumoni ice cream (with NO candied dry fruit). -- That said, this generations-old spaghetti chain's Rancho Cortdova location suffered since my last 2018 review: While over the years, always been consistent, reliable delivery of comfort food/service/drinks/dessert one comes to expect when here with family & friends to large-party celebrate or single-friend catch up, this day was disappointing on many fronts for our large family-celebration group of 14 (though the quality of food prepared was consistent/good). ++ 1.) The nice server was way over his head--Rarely present. Didn't deliver 1 each bar-drink, pre-dinner salad, or side sauce. Did not check back in with table. Very harried food delivery. We consistently had to flag down other workers to get our needs met. Sadly, we must have appeared to the wait-staff like a table from Hades; but, rest assured today's service greatly left MUCH to be desired as compared to other family-celebrations addended at THIS location the past 35 years. Had they brought the bar-drink, bread, salad, one gluten intolerant order, & side orders in a timely-correct fashion, then they could have avoided the "beconing" headache and this poor review. ++ 2.) With #1 above said, A.) NO offer was made to take a deduction off the bill--neither a dish/drink, flat price, nor the "18% Included Gratuity". B.) After the waiter asked us how to divide the bill in two, the division was incorrect causing cash at the table to exchange hands to ensure the birthday family didn't bear the brunt of the split. C.) One couple in our group with a fussy infant left before the comes-with-order ice cream. The waiter did NOT offer it to remaining table guests, nor to-go. Again, we had to ask. D.) Left over containers--we had to ask not once, but 3 separate times...including bags to put our obvious plethora of leftover containers in. -- While the above may feel trivial, out-the-door at an average bill of $25/person (only 2 sodas total ordered, and not including 1 alcoholic beverage--the rest had water) is not trivial for a chain-restaurant pasta dish. -- Very good, separated bar area (along with corridor & entry waiting area, this serves as a 3rd waiting area for parties under 6 courteous enough to order something while kill time at bar, tall/normal/booth tables awaiting becon to ready dining room table.) [2018 1st review 5-star, '22/2 2nd...