Zolos Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Franklin

UPDATE #2: we ended up popping in Friday night, April 28 2023. We decided to eat later, and we're craving Italian. I checked on Google & they had a reservation open for 8:45 and I booked it at about 830pm as we were headed there. We survived a few minutes ahead and so I let the hostess know we were there and she was literally gobsmacked. She sputtered that they close at 9pm and she didn't know how I had a reservation that late. I told her how I booked it, and she asked me to wait while she went and talked to someone. I was fully expecting to be turned away at this point, but when she came back, she grabbed 2 menus and sat us, once again reminding us that they close at 9pm. The waitresses appeared quickly, and she also reminded us they close at 9pm. We promised we were going to be easy and we already knew what we were ordering. One lasagna - of they had one - and a chicken fettuccine Alfredo. She seemed pleases we knew what we wanted and when she came back she brought wine and bread. Then the food was out and I was feeling good because we were going to get a great dinner and be out right around 915 and out of their hair. The lasagna looked amazing. They plate it, top it with cheese and bake it -amd this magical crispy crust forms under the cheese...

Well, as I'm eating, I start to wonder... why I'm not getting any of the pasta layers in my bites.

So I lift the cheese blanket and now the center is a puddle of melted cheese and sauce, and suspiciously absent of the noodle layers.

So I start to wonder outlook- how do you forget to put the noodle layers in a lasagne?! Well.. really the only conclusion I can make is that that indeed didn't have lasagna left but decided to use filling to fake one and cross their fingers hoping I wouldn't say anything.

My husband couldn't believe it either and so he said something to the waitress - who was in disbelief also - so I showed her the puddle of filling. She said "I'll be right back" and walked off to the back kitchen.

When she came back she brought our ticket which was without the charge for the lasagna, and then she told me "they said the pasta layers are really thin".

No way. There never were any!

Anyway. They did the right thing taking it off the ticket - but they shouldn't have tried to fake it in the first place. I'd rather have had the chance to order something else.

What a disappointment, from the greeting, to the reminders that they close at 9pm, to the missing pasta... next time it won't be an easy decision on where we go for Italian.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Update: tonight they had live music & our group of 6 enjoyed being able to make reservations. Still our favorite place for date night...

The lasagna is probably the best I've ever had. Their red sauce makes you want to drink it straight like v8.

Plus the owner is fun & the staff are attentive and accomodating.

This is our new favorite date night spot, also our new favorite place to get art...

On 9/9/20 we had walked the Franklin Square and stumbled upon Zolos Italian Restaurant. Very high hopes for this place as everyone who was leaving looked happy and full, which was our goal. As we entered we were promptly sat and waited on. We order our appetizers and dinner. Appetizer which was garlic cheese bread was amazing. But then came our dinner. As the server deliverd our food, 1 of the orders was not correct as we told the server. She quickly said oh no and realized she gave the wrong food to the table in front of us, she quickly asked the couple in front of us if she had the wrong meal? She said yes and she swapped them. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS CRAZY! She brought it to us and SAT IT DOWN WITH A PIECE CLEARLY CUT OUT OF IT! We then pointed it out to her and she said she would bring it back and get us another. She took the food to the chef and DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! This Place has an open kitchen so we could see everything!!! As she brings the food back to us she tells us "the chef had an extra piece of chicken and he switched it out". I told her I can still see the cut from where the other table had eaten some, she said it was from when the chef separated it from another piece. I told her it looks like the same piece. She told me IT WAS!! I couldn't believe it, I quickly handed back to her and told her it was unacceptable. We do not want it. The waitress admitted it was the same meal and the other table had taken a bite out of it. The cook, who is the owner, told the waitress to take it back out to us and tell us he made a new one. Even though the kitchen is open to the seating area and we watched the whole thing. The owner, Brian, never apologized or said a word to us he just went and hid in the back after he heard we were upset. There are so many small restaurants struggling right now due to Covid-19, and this one is serving us food that someone else has eaten, I am absolutely apauld especially...

Well, a friend and I were in Franklin, TN for a race the next day. With all the restaurants packed on the main street we wandered around and found Zolos. Pasta is always great race fuel, so thought WHY NOT. The place is so cheesy inside. I've been to Italy, and this is not what Italian restaurants are like. Service was good and we ordered the bruschetta, which was EXCELLENT. I was surprised and was pretty excited for my main - Lasagna. When it arrived I was SHOCKED to find that it was served in a regular lasagna dish, but with half of the dish empty, and not like the lasagna was placed in the middle. This dish had been HALVED. Either the kitchen was running out or something but they had obviously cut the portion in half. I called the waiter. He said "It does look small", he took it back to the kitchen and promptly returned with some crap about it being a new dish size and it had always been that way. It was BULL. They offered no discounts or alternatives. I ate the lasagna and left hungry. MY GOD THIS IS AMERICA (I'm British) and have never left a place like this hungry. The lasanga was only OK, it wasn't worth $16 for the 4inch x 4inch square I got and the meat tasted poor quality. I could make better at home. DO NOT GO HERE. EVEN IF YOU...