Matteo's of Hallandale — Restaurant in Hallandale Beach

Went to the restaurant about a week ago, sat outside --- 5 of us. When we arrived there was one other family just finishing their meal. Shortly after we arrived about half of the outside filled up. The waiter took our drink order, we did not purchase alcohol, not sure if that was why we were ignored, or if it was because our 2 year old grand-daughter was with us .... but from that point forward it was as if we were not there. After sitting there for a half hour waiting for the waiter to take our order, he was busy taking the orders from the other tables that arrived after us, we asked the bus boy to find us a waiter. Our waiter apologized and said he would be right back... about 10 minutes later a manager appeared and took our order. After a normal wait our food arrived. Since it was family style servings they brought several large plates and put the dinner plates on the table next to us. Based upon watching what they did at other tables, the waiter was then supposed to serve the food. But not at our table. After waiting 5-10 minutes, as our food got cold, I got the plates off the other table and started splitting the food amongst us. The waiter was at another table watching us doing this. After I was 90% done he came up and asked if I had the proper utensils to do the serving (I used a fork and knife) and stated that he would get us the proper utensils ... not offering to serve us. By the time he came back I had served the food and we were already eating. Not once did he apologize to us. With respect to the food we had ordered a Caesar salad ... hardly any dressing on it, we decided not to ask for more as we assumed it would arrive in time for desert ... the linguine in clam sauce was very disappointing, the fish good as well as the veal .... but for what you pay you would assume it would be at least very good. For the first time in my life I left no tip ... my brother-in-law forgot to sign his credit card slip so the waiter came back to us. He was now aware that he got no tip .... you would have figured that he would have apologized for the bad service at that point, hoping to salvage something, but not to happen. As we are not snow birds but now full time Floridians, we are the type of customer that keeps restaurants afloat in the summer, but not this one.

There are too many good Italian restaurants around so I have no need to go back . I highly recommend Dal Maestro or Il Mercato. If you really want to have a phenomenal meal there is always Il Mulino New York (but...

Recently went to this place for a large celebration with a big party and DO NOT RECOMMEND.

We had a large party here recently and while the food tasted good, I thoroughly hated the experience and will never go back to this place. Please avoid at all costs.

From the second my party sat down at this restaurant, it seemed very clear from the waitstaff that they were going to try to get us in and out as fast as possible, as well as offer the least amount of options available.

For example, our group package included drinks, coffee, tea, and house wine. Not only ne single time was I or my guests asked what we wanted to drink or if we wanted to refill our drinks.

Every single time we wanted a refill of wine it was a huge hassle. In regards to drinks such as water and soda: for the several hours that we were there, myself, and my wife did not get one single refill of our soda or water the entire time. I discussed with the rest of my party and they all had similar experience on the other side of the table.

In regards to the food, while it tasted good the portions were very small. For example, we paid $60 a person and one of the meals included in our package was veal Francese. The waiter put out three plates of this, which were all very small and informed me and my wife that that was the max that we would be able to have. Each plate Had 4 to 5 pieces of veal, which means that there was not even though got each member of the table to have one piece. When would think that the staff would make this clear to us while we were booking the table that there may not be enough food. We brought this up and they begrudgingly brought out another plate and made it very clear they were not happy. Another example: the staff put one bowl of pasta in the middle of a table of 20 people. Please explain to me how are 20 people going to share one bowl of pasta in the middle of an extremely long table? I personally did not eat some of the food at the table so that my guests could try everything.

The restaurant was also extremely responsive to me and any questions that I had PRIOR TO DINING. However I texted them after the experience we had and suddenly they do not answer me. For that reason I am making this review....

A true disappointment and the worst customer service I have ever experienced. We went to dinner today 11/30/24 and arrived around 8:15 PM. The restaurant looked clean and the hostess was very welcoming. We sat outside and ordered drinks. Ana, our server, informed us that we could not order an appetizer first because the chef requires the appetizer and dinner order to be sent together. We found this odd but acknowledged her apology and waited. It took less than 5 minutes for our drinks were served. We ordered the appetizer and dinner BUT this is where our nightmare begun. About 20 mins went by and we were done with the appetizer. We noticed other tables being filled and surprisingly, their appetizers and meals were served immediately. Ana, our server did not come check on us, though at this point it was almost 9, and our dinner never came to the table. We were getting agitated being that it was now 9:15 and we still did not have our food while a table that arrived after us was paying and leaving. Ana did seem upset for our wait and we overheard her asking an older gentleman about our food. Around 9:25, she came to the table and asked my husband if he wanted to order another beer. We shared our disappointment and she brought the Manager. The worst part of the entire interaction was the manager. He came up and said sorry but we are a bit busy. My husband asked for our order to be cancelled and pointed out the other 2 tables that were served, paid and left. His response was literally ok but do you still want your food? The worst customer service I have EVER experienced. We did not want to cause a scene and simply asked for the check. A young man comes out with food for another table and literally says “these people are going to be pissed at me bringing someone else’s food” .. in Spanish which, of course, w understood. Infuriated at this point, we just wanted to leave. About 8 to 10 minutes we got the check so we paid for drinks and appetizer. I do not recommend this place for the lack of customer service. The outrageous wait and the unapologetic behavior from the staff. Will not return to this...