Lombardi Cucina Italiana — Restaurant in Houston

Dear Lombardi Cucina Italiana Management,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to share some feedback regarding my recent visit to your restaurant on December 28, 2024, which was meant to be a special celebration for a friend’s birthday. Unfortunately, our experience did not meet the expectations we had, and I feel it’s important to bring these issues to your attention.

Here are the key points of concern:

Seating Arrangement and Noise – We arrived on time for our reservation, so we didn’t have to wait; however, we were seated near the plate, silverware, and glass caddy. This resulted in constant interruptions as staff repeatedly reached behind the birthday girl's head to stock clean plates, glasses, and silverware. The noise from this activity made it difficult to focus on our conversation, and since our reservation was close to closing time, bartenders and waiters were continually moving items back and forth. Eventually, we moved to the opposite end of the table to avoid the disruptions. We did bring this up to the waiter, who offered to move us to another table with a different server, but given the late hour, we opted to stay where we were. This was particularly disappointing, as it affected our celebration and left a negative first impression.

Waitstaff Professionalism – The waiter’s attitude seemed unprofessional. He repeatedly mentioned how it was the end of the night and how everyone was eager to finish their shifts. While I understand that closing time can be stressful, this came across as dismissive. Additionally, we had to wait 20 minutes for our first round of drinks, despite the waiter paying ample attention to other tables around us. We were made to feel rushed, as though he just wanted to get us out of the way. This was not the level of service we expected.

Food Service Issues – When the food arrived, two of my friends had ordered shrimp, but it was all plated on one dish and given to one person. When the second friend realized she didn’t have her shrimp, the waiter mentioned that it was on my other friend’s plate and asked if she could share. As a result, her shrimp was now lukewarm and came from a plate that had already been partially eaten. While we are all friends, this felt inconsiderate and unappetizing, especially for a celebratory dinner.

Birthday Dessert Experience – To add to the disappointment, my friend never received her birthday dessert, nor were we offered the option to order individual desserts. Instead, the waiter placed the dessert on the bar as we were walking out. We sang "Happy Birthday" to her while she held the dessert in her hand, which was awkward and unsatisfying. At this point, my friend was frustrated and left the dessert at the bar. We proceeded to leave the restaurant, which unfortunately left us with a negative impression of the entire evening.

Lack of Follow-Up After Attempted Contact – Before leaving this review, I made multiple attempts to contact the restaurant to resolve these issues directly. I called the restaurant three times to speak with a manager but unfortunately never received a return call. I feel that as a customer, my concerns should have been addressed in a more timely and considerate manner, especially after making the effort to reach out.

I was deeply saddened by the entire experience. As the person who made the reservation and recommended your restaurant for my friend's birthday, I was especially disappointed. My first visit in July 2024 was outstanding, with top-tier service. I had spoken highly of your establishment to my friends, but I now feel completely let down and embarrassed that I recommended and booked this restaurant for such an important occasion.

While I understand that no restaurant is perfect, the level of service and overall experience fell short of what I expected, particularly given your restaurant’s reputation. I wanted to provide this feedback in the hope that it will help improve the guest experience moving forward.

Sincerely, J....

I booked a reservation for 2 about a month ago, and my wife and I had been so looking forward to trying Lombardi Cucina. Upon arrival, approximately 10 min before our 8 pm reservation, we were surprised that they asked us wait in the lounge area for close to 30 min, but agreed it would be worth the wait. The hostess finally seated us at a tiny table outside on the outer patio (we definitely didn’t know we were getting an outside table). Our waiter seemed friendly and knowledgeable, so we took the odd seating arrangement in stride. Our drinks came quickly, but it was 9:15 pm before we finally saw our first bite of food (waiter offered us some bread). At that point we were irritably hungry but still looking forward to our salad and calamari, and especially anxious to dig into the tagliolini & tartufo, as it had been highly recommended to us by a friend. Just after our appetizer and salad finally arrived, a large group of people gathered at a nearby patio table, evidently waiting to be seated. That party grew and grew until we were literally surrounded by rowdy, clueless, and incredibly loud people with drinks and no place to sit. They stood and talked loudly, literally 2 feet or less from our little table. We had to practically shout just to hear one another. Definitely not what we had in mind when we booked our reservation close to a month in advance. I finally pushed my way past the crowd to the reception area where I asked to speak with the manager. We waited another 20 minutes, and at this point it had been 40 min since we’d last seen our waiter, or any employee for that matter. Thats when we agreed that we should just leave. We considered leaving cash on the table but wanted to make sure we covered our tab. Finally the manager showed up, and he was very nice and attentive, and offered to comp our meal. When he found out that we hadn’t received our entree he even offered to provide it to go, but frankly we’d had enough of this place. On our short drive home we talked about the fact that in over 20 years together, we’ve never left a restaurant before our entire meal was served. The manager did the right thing by comping our meal, and he even gave me his card and asked that I call him personally before we come again so he could take care of us.

Frankly I think our experience would have been completely different had they not seated us at this awful spot outside. We were neglected by the staff and crowded by loud, clueless people. So we never got to try the pasta dish that we came to enjoy, but we did very much enjoy the Frittura di Mare and the Cacio & Pepe salad. I’m highly tempted to post a video of the clueless crowd that hovered 2 feet from our table, oblivious to the couple trying to enjoy their dinner. I’m sure they’d be mortified to see what that actually looked like, but I’ll opt for the high road.

In the last 2 weeks we’ve had amazing dining experiences at our favorite places like Caracol, Balboa Surf Club, and Guard and Grace. We had been looking forward to dining at Lombardi Cucina for a month, and really expected that it would become another great, regular spot for us. Considering our level of anticipation, set against our awful experience, I’d have to rank this as one of the most disappointing evenings in...

I had high hopes for this restaurant. There were moments of greatness but all-in-all it was disappointing. My group of 5 people arrived at 7pm on a Thursday. The cavernous room was full of people and there was good energy. People who walked in without reservations were being turned away. The environment is lovely and very open. But it is definitely LOUD. 5 people at a medium-sized table, and we had to practically scream for anyone else at the table to hear what was being said. If you have a hearing deficit you will hate this place. The ceiling even has fabric on segments to dampen the sound but it was ineffective. On this busy night, it seemed like forever before we were able to order. At least 20 minutes passed between receiving our menus and actually ordering. The appetizers that we ordered were fine. We were happy with the ubiquitous fried calamari, but the octopus and the carpaccio really stood out. We enjoyed those very much. The wines that were recommended to us were stellar and we were very happy with those as well. But after this first portion of the evening it all started to fall apart. A glass of wine was tipped over and it spilled all across the table. Accidents do happen. We all rushed to quickly clean it up so that the red wine would not get onto clothes and stain. But even though staff walked passed us during this momentary crisis, no one stopped to assist us in cleaning up this wine mess and getting back on track for a nice evening. They looked right at us as they walked on by. Finally one of us asked the woman who was serving water at various tables to help us with getting clean napkins and taking the wine-soaked napkins away. A waiter serving a different group dropped a tray behind us, with food splattering in a large radius. The people who came to clean up that mess cleared out the passage where waitstaff and patrons were walking, but splattered food remained on the floor beneath our chairs and at our feet. We had to ask that this be cleaned up too. And then the entrees arrived. The ossobucco had a wonderful flavor but it was surprisingly tough. But what really killed it for me were the scallops. I cut one in half and put it in my mouth, and I didn't know if I should spit it out or swallow it quickly because it was so salty it was inedible. I am a man who puts salt on everything and this was choking me. I motioned to the waiter to tell him about this problem and.... nothing. There was no offer to make this right. No indication that he thought the manager would want to hear about this. No offer to replace it with something else. Just a quick, "I'll let the chef know" as he walked away. Our waiter couldn't have been less interested in the overwhelming sodium poisoning at our table. 5 people, a round of appetizers, entrees, 3 bottles of wine, and the tab was the kind of number you would expect. So we were not a happy group as we left, paying that kind of cash for a very mediocre evening. It was quite a...