The Old Spaghetti Factory — Restaurant in Honolulu

Definitely did not have a 4.3 star experience last night…

TL;DR: Service: poor. Apps: poor. Entrees: one delicious but missing garlic, the other poor and missing garlic.

We decided to stop by for dinner because we had a craving for Mizithra! 🤤 While waiting, we noticed a lady and her purse dog get seated out on the lanai. After a few minutes more of waiting, we asked to be seated outside, too. We should have known right then that we wouldn’t have a great experience. The person who was seating us told us, almost pleadingly, that a table was ready for us inside. We politely declined 2 or 3 times and assured him we would prefer outside (it was raining, but the whole lanai is covered and dry).

Our waiter, Julio(?), was prompt to greet us and take our drink and appetizer order (Sicilian garlic cheese bread as an app and spinach artichoke dip with dinner). When he brought our drinks, we gave our dinner order (garlic mizithra and garlic shrimp fettuccini). After a decent wait, the garlic cheese bread came out. Remember french pizza? That’s about how I would describe the Sicilian garlic bread. Two half loaves with melted/broiled cheese on top. It tasted good, except there was zero garlic flavor. None whatsoever. My wife and I were expecting maybe some roasted or sautéed garlic. Heck, even just garlic powder. But no, no garlic taste at all.

After we set the cheese bread aside, we waited and waited. Eventually plates started heading our way. We realized when they got to us that they were our entrees. I asked Julio to please forget our salads because there was no way we could eat them with all the food that had just arrived. He seemed surprised that we hadn’t received our salads (or bread and butter) and assured me he had thought someone had brought them out to us (this right here shows how inattentive he was after we placed our order). We asked for the salads and bread to go.

We started eating our garlic mizithra, garlic shrimp fettuccini, and spinach artichoke dip.

First, the spinach artichoke dip. The expectation was a creamy, gooey, dip the we could dip our toasted “rustic” bread into. The bread was anything but “rustic” (read: white loaf bread from the supermarket with the crust cut off and toasted in a panini iron), and the dip itself was so dry it was more of a spread than a dip. About the consistency of peanut butter.

Next, the garlic mizithra. The addition of bacon and sautéed mushrooms really does add to this already delicious plate. The browned butter just makes the dish pop. Delicious! Except…zero garlic flavor. That’s the only thing I can say negative about this dish. It was really delightful and the additions really add to the regular mizithra plate. Would have been amazing with the sautéed garlic…

And last, the garlic shrimp fettuccini. Uninspired is about all I can say. There really wasn’t anything that drew the flavors together. It was alfredo covered shrimp and fettuccini. Oh, and guess what…zero garlic. That at least would have brought some flavor to this dish. For $23.25 I was expecting a bit more.

Julio disappeared. Actually, he was at the bar chatting up the bartender, but for all intents and purposes, he was gone. We didn’t exist. Our drinks were empty and we didn’t even have water to carry us through to our next round of drinks. We watched the scene. Watched him talk. Watched him do whatever he was doing except pay any attention to us and the other couple with the purse dog.

He finally brought us more drinks then promptly vanished. We thought maybe he had tables in the main dining room. He didn’t. He never left the bar area. Eventually, he brought us the salad (in the smallest to go containers I have ever seen), a single loaf of bread, and a couple to go containers for our entrees and apps. He brought our check which was about what I had expected: $74.05. Unfortunately, I’m so used to tipping 20% or more that’s what I did even though I had it in my mind that the most I was going was 15%. My slip up is Julio’s gain. He didn’t deserve what he got.

Disappointing...

It’s astounding how one person can ruin a place forever. My husband and I were enjoying a date night out and sat down for some pasta at the old spaghetti factory. We dined and our server was fantastic.

Upon receiving our bill we noticed I didn’t have my purse so my husband went to check the car. We informed our waitress and she said she would grab the manager. The Manager came over and she asked if we had a form of payment. We said no and that we weren’t sure if we had left my purse outside while we were waiting for a table or if I had mistakenly left it at home. Then, she asked more questions so we chatted back and forth. From her responses and tonality we were gathering that she thought we were trying to skip out on our meal, at this point she questioned me asking why I wasn’t more concerned about my purse if it was stolen. My husband informed her that how she was questioning us was coming across as offensive, which is when she started putting the blame on us and saying that we were the ones taking it personally.

Being working professionals, my husband and I have the means to pay for our bill, we were just trying to find an acceptable solution to an honest mistake. We were very apologetic and pretty embarrassed about the situation. So I kept trying to assure her that we were trying to pay for our meal and that I had my phone and my wedding ring which I could leave as collateral. In between all this she threatened to call the police and walked us over to security to check if they had my purse. During our walk she kept placing blame on us and my husband tried to explain that it was the verbiage she was using which was causing us to take offense, at which point, completely out of left field, she said verbatim that my husband “would feel differently if she was a man.” Essentially accusing him of being misogynistic. That was extremely offensive and personal to my husband who was in no way being confrontational or rude but simply explaining that we felt she was judging us and acting as if we were lying to try to not pay for our meal. Aloha tower security was present for the final part of our encounter so he could corroborate our story. She said that she was going to walk away before she said anything else that was offensive. Turned around and left. We stayed with security and were left feeling confused, embarrassed and disappointed. She didn’t take any of our information down, it appears she was sure we would never come back.

All of this over a $40 dollar meal....

Luckily, I had mistakenly forgotten my purse at home and we returned back to pay the next day as soon as we could. We are avid lovers of the old spaghetti factory and have been to four of their locations across the US and Canada. This manager had no form of compassion or hospitality and it is a shame that we will never be returning here again. My money could be spent better...

Wow do I have a story for you. It's as if I was watching a comedy movie right in front of me. So upon entering the Old Spaghetti Factory we were immediately taken to our seats there was no wait. Our waitress came to take our drink orders within 2 minutes of us arriving. It was obvious that our waitress was new. She tried her best to make recommendations and went over the menu but you could tell her nerves were getting the best of her. I'm all for new people training and providing feedback. Because I am a corporate trainer so I understand how they feel. anyways back to the service. Our food came within 5 to 10 minutes. She then made dessert recommendations which we agreed upon trying. Our service experience with our waitress was good I also provided her an encouraging message on the receipt so she can continue doing what she's doing. No app on checkout we ask the hostess if we could purchase two gift cards. This is where things fell apart. the hostess asked he taller blonde lady how to ring up a gift card. Look taller lady said contact the two gold people and they will ring us up for a gift card. That seem lady not the host said I'll be right back and went to check on a guest. Then she comes back and tells me how can I help you you need to gift cards? I was stunned because I just spoke with her 10 seconds ago and she forgot who I was then she realized I needed to gift cards. She said let me get those gift cards for you. And I'm thinking you must need the to go person then? So she goes to the bar and asks a gentleman to bring us up for two gift cards she comes back to me and tells me that the gentleman will be over shortly with my receipt she's going to look for a gift card holder. The tall blonde lady is at the host station looking for a gift card jacket. Another blonde lady comes and asks her what is she doing? The tall blonde lady says I don't know. Then four people come in to be seated so the other lady tells her help the four people. So she helps the four people then the gentleman that was ringing up my gift card goes to the tall lady and says what are you doing where's the gift card jacket? She goes was I supposed to get that? I'm sitting 10 feet away from her laughing because 5 minutes prior to her saying that to him she told me she was going to look for a jacket. So the boy that ends up taking my credit card to pay for the gift card actually found the jacket and she didn't understand what she was doing. I don't know if she was a manager for the front or some kind of lead but she was hella funny. She got confused several times in 5 minutes. From what I gather 90% of the staff here is brand new. There should be manager or someone responsible and training shadowing these individuals so us customers don't see the confusion. The individuals we bought the gift cards for I hope and pray that they don't see this type of confusion when...