The Italian Connection — Restaurant in Fort Wayne

I've been here for a decade and I have never heard of this place before, until I was talking with some guys at work and one of them told me about this place.

It is in fact a restaurant, but it was someone's house that has been converted. Its wonderful in there. The tables are a little close together, so there's a nice background noise of people enjoying themselves, but its not so loud you can't hear the company you're with.

The staff was very pleasant - though they have a unique way of interacting with the clientele. Not bad, just different from other sit down restaurants or reputable eaterys; maybe a bit less professional than what I'm used to, but that doesn't mean it was bad. They recommended dishes, and wines, and even explained to me what some of the Italian words meant. They described in great detail what their dishes were like and which ones might suit my tastes.

The walls were filled with memories. Pictures from various families crowded them, and it felt like a museum of happiness in there. They used bottles of wine that had been signed with notes of appreciation and dated by previous customers going all the back to before I was born.

The real star of the show for me was the food though.

Its been about a month since I went there, and I'm still thinking about the food. Now understand, I've never been a real fan of Italian food. I mean its a poor food. It was borne of necessity, and now its considered "luxury" for noodles with a bit of toppings.

But this dish that I got, the Alex's Special... it was truly unlike anything I have eaten before. They served the dish to me on plating that was chipped a little bit, but clearly very well cherished and taken care of. And when I bit down into the food itself it was like I got connected to the entire Italian culture. Generations of love, laughter, and bliss seeped through me as I chewed and then swallowed that one bite.

It felt like that scene in Avatar when Jake Sully connected to the ancestor tree of Eywa for the first time. Thats the best way I can describe it. I understand now why Italian food is coveted and considered a delicacy, I had just never experienced true and real Italian food before in my life. I can see why this place is so popular, and why one requires a reservation. I made mine 3 months in advance as it was a special occasion for someone I love. She too enjoyed it.

If you care about someone highly, I recommend taking them here. It was fairly priced, and you get a lot of food for the amount that you pay.

Its an older fashioned sort of place, with incredible charm. I recommend everyone in the Fort Wayne area eat here at least once...

Our dining experience at the The Italian Connection was the worst, rudest dining experience that we have ever had. The food was unseasoned and bland. The owner held a business meeting at the next table over while his screaming grandchildren were loud and running throughout our dining area with their parents running after them, threatening to "beat their a**es!

The Italian Connection was recommended to us by a waiter at another Italian restaurant in Fort Wayne. This waiter stated that it was true, authentic Italian like your grandmother would make and guaranteed us that they served the best cannoli in the Fort Wayne area.

We made our reservation for 6:30 pm on a Wednesday evening. The restaurant was fairly empty when we arrived. We walked by several empty tables and were seated in the back room of the restaurant. Also seated in the back room with us was a table of two adults and two children. The children were a little unruly and loud but tolerable at that point.

While eating our uninspired salad of lettuce, two croutons and vinaigrette served on a small saucer, the owner/chef comes out and begins talking to the couple and children. They begin to have a very loud business meeting, discussing business related topics such building improvements, formation of an LLC, how they pay their taxes online, operating costs and owner payment. The entire time they were talking over the escalating loudness of the two children. The level of talking and children screaming coming from their table was SO loud that we could not even have a conversation at our table. The couple begin arguing over who should be watching over the kids. The kids are up and running all around our dining area. At one point, the husband grabs one of the children and threatens to "beat their a**" if they don't stop.

Our bill for three people with appetizer, entrees and dessert was approximately $100. On the way to the car, they were outside talking loudly in the parking lot. We were so frustrated that they had ruined our dining experience that we finally said something. They were rude and condensing in response to our frustration over the dining experience. They actually yelled back at us. My oldest son was concerned because the husband "appeared' to come around a vehicle at us.

Save yourself the worst dining experience ever and do NOT go to The...

Me and my boyfriend decided to come here for a date night. It started off well and got seated right away. The server came up and explained the menu and the specials. We started off with garlic bread with cheese and when it came it was very small. When i say small it was bite size or small enough to feed a dog or cat. Next came the salad and the bread. The salad was very small and very little dressing on it. The bread tasted like toast that you put in the toaster at home and little burnt. The butter was the only savior to the bread that we got. I got the special for the night which was butternut squash ravioli and again a very small portion and the taste was bland with no flavor at all. Also the price for the special wasn't announced when she went over the special. My bf ended up getting the lasagna and again a very small dish with mostly noodles swimming in a gross overwhelming with sweetness sauce. The waitress never came over to give us more bread and the other staff there kept checking on us more than she did. Then we ended up getting 2 desserts which was a cannoli and a lemon cake. The cannolis that came in 2 were miniature and you could eat it in 2 bites or so. The shell of the cannoli tasted stale as well. The lemon cake was descent, but by that we were disgusted by everything to even enjoy it. We paid around $70 and we didn't even get drinks. After everything it left us still hungry to where we had to pick a pizza up afterwards. Im Italian and this does not come close to the Italian food that I'm use to at all. All in all we will not return and we are still upset over the experience and the price we paid for little food. Hope this helps everyone that wants to try this and I I would give 0...