Venecia Italian & Greek New York Style Pizzeria — Restaurant in Gastonia

My first time here and boy will it be my last. We ordered lemonade,water ,Coca-Cola, bruschetta chicken Stromboli and steak Stromboli.The drinks didn't taste well at all including the water. It had a weird flavor to it so we didn't drink it.I didn't particularly like the bruschetta so I let the waitress know and she took it away. The Stromboli was pretty good . When it was time to leave we let the waitress know that the drinks didn't taste well. She got real funky and walked away from table before we can complete our thought. We get to the register we noticed she only took off one drink. I told cashier that the lemonade was supposed to be removed as well she had to confirm with out waitress befor she can complete. She comes back and states that she already removed one and that the lemonade will stay on. So I requested for a manager or owner whomever was available to take the drink off. So a guy from the back came up very rude. He said " you got your lemonade, didn't you? That's what you ordered? " I said " yes but I did not drink it. It had a bad flavor " so he gets offended and says " I never had complaints on my drinks " so I replied " well im complaining, I didn't drink the drink ." He says " im gonna go look " . So he runs to the table to ensure that I did not drink the lemonade. He comes back to register snatches my card and starts to say " a word of advice.." I cut him off completely and ask him to run my card . At this point I'm over it. So he says " next time I will not allow you to eat here. You were the one that didn't like bruschetta ". I stated to him " that's perfectly fine i will not be returning. " he is very argumentative. The whole experience was off pudding. A word of advice for this restaurant would be soak the drink dispenser parts in sanitizer or bleach every night to not have the nasty flavor...

I have been to venecia restaurant many times with my wife, Family members and myself and things were always good. I had ordered a calzone and modified it to my liking, I added extra ricotta cheese and stated I don't mind paying extra, i also added meatball, the calzones already have a meat included just not meatball, so I thought I was changing it to meatball. The waitress did not say a word about extra fees on this so we know were we are going next. the waitress asked if we would like bread that we never got. The calzone was good for the exception of not enough mariner Sause so my wife had to flag the waitress down so I can ask for some more Sause, the waitress did not even ever check on us. so now we get the bill and there was charges for everything extra, I was thinking ok I know I said I expect to pay for extra ricotta cheese, and the waitress never said a word about anything else, so I went to the cashier and stated I had some discrepancies' on my bill. Ok now here we go a $10.99 calzone $3.00 for meatball when I just changed a meat, $1.50 for extra ricotta cheese That I expected and $1.00 for extra mariner. So now I paid $16.49 cents for a Small calzone. The cashier was not listing to any of my concerns, If i new it was going to have all the extras added to a small calzone and bring my total up for treating it as an AL cart food item, I could have picked a more suitable dinner item. Unfortunately we will not be able to visit your restaurant any more, as their is not a true dedicated customer satisfaction on giving me a reason to go back. there are many Italian restaurants...

Flavorless and Disappointing

This review is tough to write because the staff were fine, but the food quality and atmosphere really missed the mark.

To start, the onion rings were the best item, which says a lot, as they were just typical frozen, deep-fried rings. Things went downhill from there. The marinara was flat, the cheese was stringy and flavorless, and outside of the dinner rolls, there was no hint of fresh garlic anywhere.

I tried adding some flavor with the Parmesan, but the waitress brought a dispenser full of that dry, powdered, factory-made stuff that frankly looked like it needed a good cleaning.

The eggplant sandwich was served first and was flavorless, covered in the same bland sauce and cheese. My wife asked for lettuce for her sandwich and was given a generous portion of browned, wilted leaves—a sign of poor prep. My stromboli looked beautiful on the outside (nice color, baked perfectly) but was sadly just as disappointing inside. Everything tasted like nothing.

Beyond the food, the vibe was odd. The clientele was mostly elderly (which is fine), but one person brought a dirty little dog into the booth—a definite health code issue that management should address. Plus, I don't get the pop-rock music. Hearing "Beautiful Things" while eating Italian? Why not put on a little Frank Sinatra or something that fits the theme?

My Suggestion to Management: You need to step up the quality. Please use fresh garlic, real Parmesan cheese, and prep your veggies and salads fresh daily (no more...