Citrolas Italian — Restaurant in Grand Junction

I’ve been debating whether or not to write this review because I know bad reviews are bad for restaurants and I think this place might have just had an “off” night, especially after seeing who I assumed was the owner working circles around her staff. Upon arriving we were met with who I assume was the owner. Extremely polite and welcoming. We were then sat at a small table by the owner. She got us our food menus and told us she hoped we enjoyed our meal. It then took about 15 minutes to even see our waitress and as someone who worked as a general manager at a restaurant, I noted that they weren’t very busy. We were never even given a drink menu so when asked we panicked and ordered two sodas. I did want to order a glass of wine, but I could not get our servers attention for anything. We ordered bruschetta along with chicken Picotta (for me) and chicken Marsala (my husband). We got our bruschetta, but weren’t given serving plates for it, which was no big deal, but again I could not get my servers attention for anything. I finally asked another waiter if he could get me some plates along with the drink menu. He brought it back to me and I was going to order the moscotto when our food came out. About 30 seconds after we start eating our appetizer the waitress comes and places our food in front of us so fast that I couldn’t even move my plate and runs off before I can even ask for a glass of wine. Then I took a bite of my food… at first I just thought I ate a bite of noddles that didn’t get tossed in the sauce, so I took another bite… I still didn’t taste anything. So I asked my husband to take a bite and he asked me if I had given him any of the sauce on his bite. I told him yes! That was my thought exactly. I think I took exactly 6 bites out of my whole dinner, it was so bland. My husbands food wasn’t quite as bland, but definitely not worth $18 a plate. It was lacking any sort of authentic Italian “taste”. It tasted like they used the McCormick mushroom gravy packets that I use at home. Our waitress checked on us one time after giving us our food. So our appetizer plate sat in the middle of our table the whole meal, and the table was so small that if I wasn’t careful, my entrée plate would tip backwards. We finally just put the bruschetta plate on the table next to us. My husband was upset that we would end up paying for the meal that neither of us would eat. So he made sure to eat as much as he could, but we both ended up going somewhere else and ordering something different. So we left there having had not great service… and really not great food, besides the bruschetta. I’m really upset that I ended up paying $70 and still ended up paying for dinner somewhere else. I wish I would have said something while I was there, but the (maybe) owner/manager was working so hard, I didn’t want to bother her. I don’t think I will give this place a second chance. Between bad service and not great food, there wasn’t much that we can say positive besides the atmosphere, and the blatant hard work of the...

Visiting from Denver to see family and this was my second time visiting Citrola’s! This place is delicious. The food is fresh and tastes delicious. I’ve ordered penne vodka both times. The bread before the meal is also quite yummy. I give 4/5 stars instead of 5 for the higher than necessary food prices.

Came again for my third visit this weekend while visiting in town and thought it was delicious again! I ordered the penne vodka again! My table also ordered bruschetta and it was fresh and delicious. I didn’t order a soda this time because the last two times the soda was flat. The fresh bread before the meal was delicious again. I’ll definitely return!

2/22/2020: Visited again this evening for dinner while in town visiting family. We ordered the bruschetta for our appetizer and enjoyed their fresh bread. My husband had the chicken parmigiana for his meal with vodka sauce. I had the penne vodka. My aunt’s best friend ordered a soda and it was flat like our last visit. The prices are also high for what you get ($18 for penne vodka) and the surcharge costs for extra sauce and sauce substitutions are a bit high in my opinion as a Denver-ite. Still keeping a...

Was excited about trying this place. Service was mediocre at best. It was slow and the waitress did not seem like she wanted to be there. They were out if lasagna but I had the Ziti which was okay. Overall an ok experience. That all changed when the bill arrived. There was a charge for alcohol that I didn't order. When it was brought to the waitresses attention she said she would take it off but returned with the same bill. When I went to the bar to let her know she interrupted me stating the manager would be coming to talk to me. And he did. He approached the table, pointing at me, was accusatory, insulting, sarcastic and completely unprofessional. He accused me of lying about ordering and drinking the cocktail and proceeded to loudly state that he "understands that I'm strapped for cash" because "we're an expensive place" which he repeated several times loud enough for all to hear. Humiliating! As I left the restaurant he said "go to Taco Bell" the other gal at the counter in the front stated "we have you on video. That was pretty bad." Will never go back and will tell everyone I know not to go...