Trattoria Italia — Restaurant in Henderson

I’ve been here too many times over the past 4 years. Well before the bar was put in, the place was actually nice. The food was great, service was good, ambiance was also pretty decent. The only thing that stood out as ours about this place back then were the two large screen tvs, one on both sides of the dining area partition. I didn’t understand. Are you an authentic Italian restaurant trying to be borderline fine dining, or are you a sports bar that offers Italian cuisine?

Maybe two years ago they remodeled to add the bar area and we made the mistake of celebrating our anniversary with a reservation well in advance. We were seated in the bar area (completely careless of the staff). A hockey game was on the screens above the bar, intoxicated patrons cursing at everything about the game. Meanwhile, my wife and I were attempting to reminisce about our then 18 years married, our children, and our lives.

A terrible experience! Fast forward to this evening. We hadn’t been back since that night. The place is busy, it’s restaurant week, we’re seated immediately though. Honestly I know people stretch the truth when frustrated, but my wife and I agree, 20 minutes passed after being seated before she flagged down a staff member to ask who our server might be.

The food was terrible. The service was terrible. $145 for two people (entrees and a $52 bottle of wine). Chicken Marsala was sad, extremely salty, and lacking everything. The accompanying angel hair pasta was soaked in oil. The Chicken Parmesan was absolutely bland.

Other than taking our order, we didn’t interact with the server until he brought the bill much later. He never checked on us, never refilled a wine glass or offered more water (which we drank the carafe of water empty).

3 tables seated after us were served drinks and appetizers before we flagged down the server.

4 years ago, this place was significantly better. Today, it’s exponentially worse than our previous experience newly 2 years ago.

Do not spend your money here. Do not give this establishment your money for any special occasion (birthday, anniversary, graduation, promotion, etc.). You’ll be angry you did.

This place also opened Trattoria Rustica a couple years ago…The reviews for that place are not as good as this; however, trust me, the food, service, and experience overall is significantly better.

If you read this review and still think, “Meh, I’ll give it a shot”, don’t bother wearing respectable attire. The quality of the food is C at best, and the Service/Attentiveness is most definitely an F. Wear sweats, so you’re comfortable when served mediocrity.

Oh and these people have at least 4 cameras in that little dining room. That’s disturbing. We’re not at a shoddy mall with a rush of theft. We’re at a restaurant that charges $30-$50 per entree. Make it make sense.

The center of the dining room is overcrowded with lighting, while the corners provide the best lighting for what this place ought to be - elegant, romantic, fine dining (to be clear it’s none of these things). The ceiling fans are on high enough to cool your food before you can enjoy it - which I guess is okay seeing that it honestly has poor...

I dined here on New Years Eve and although everyone was friendly and nice, however, service is HORRIBLE, there is absolutely no "sequence of service". I made reservations days prior. My wife showed up 10 minutes before me and at that point, nobody greeted or engaged her. Finally, when I showed up, I stood there for an additional 5 minutes, everyone was scurrying around, but not one person said hello( they had a total of about 7 tables in the entire place, so, they weren't swamped with business) Eventually someone helped us, but this was not a good start. The server admitted that she never really waited on a table before was very nice, however, there was no coordination with regards to bringing bread to the table, drinks, etc. Again, ZERO sequence of service. Now, for the food, I started with the Napolitano Meatballs. They were not fully cooked and just on the border line of raw and cooked if that makes sense. Despite this fact, the sauce was VERY tasty and good. For my entrée, I had Gnocchi, it was so pastoso(mushy) that when I put very little pressure on a single Gnocchi, it smashed like a pancake and was far from being al dente. My wife had Penne with Vodka Sauce, she said that it tasted like mac and cheese( I guess she is spoiled from my cooking) My 11 year old son had Chicken Parm for which the chicken was thick as hell and not tender. Typically, I would have said something, however, not one person asked how we enjoyed our meal or even came to our table. In fact, the servers were not rude by any means, however, they paid very little attention to our table and didn't even ask if everything was to our satisfaction after we received our entrees. Whatever happened to the "two minutes or two bite rule?" Again, sequence of service, which is non-existent. I had one single coke for which after my appetizer, was never refilled(I would have asked if somebody had come by, but I will not chase a server down) After the meal we sat there for at least 15 minutes before anyone asked us for desert or presented us with the check(by this point, I lost track of who was my actual waitress) I must say, I was very disappointed. After Montesano's closed, we had been looking forward to a welcoming, down home place to eat after church, this was a bust. The upside is, their portions are generous and the actual sauce is very tasty, other than that, I don't think I will come back. Coming from the restaurant business, I don't think these people know how to run and operate...

Being Italian (and from New York), we do not go out for Italian food too often as the two best Italian chefs we know live right here at home. So, when we do go out for Italian, we expect the very best in selection, food, flavor, ambience, and service. We have never been to Trattoria before, but the reviews and menu looked promising, so we gave it a try. Boy, we were surprised!

Tucked away in this common little strip of store lies one of the best Italian restaurants we have ever visited and a place you would feel proud to bring friends, family and that special someone. The restaurant features a sophisticated and elegant ambience with white linen table clothes, soft lighting, ample space between tables and as if that was not enough, there was an incredibly talented mature man and women playing guitar and singing all our favorite American and Italian standards.

But the best was yet to come. The menu features many Italian favorites along with specialties and creations by their amazing chef and are all moderately priced so not to break the bank. There were tantalizing selections of salads, soups, pastas, seafoods and meats. Although the menu wasn’t overly extensive, which we prefer, it did make it hard to choose. We had the Calamari Taormina as an appetizer and the Lobster Ravioli and the Linguine Mediterraneo. The portions were large and rich in flavor and beautifully presented. In short, the food was excellent!

But what really made our visit memorable and enjoyable was the service. The owner of Trattoria, a pretty young lady named Milena came to our table and in a very nice Italian accent, welcomed us the restaurant, explained the menu and took our order. Although we expect good service, what we didn’t expect was to be treated like family! We have never met Milena, nor have we been here before, but by the time we left we felt like family. Even to the point exchanging phone numbers of family in Italy!

You may not be an expert on Italian cuisine or have family in Italy, but if you’re looking for an extraordinary dining experience then I suggest you try Trattoria. P.S. Whenever family and special friends come to town, this is where...