Laico's — Restaurant in Jersey City

I am extremely disappointed at the service provided today. My boyfriend and I have been to this location about a year ago and had an amazing experience. Unfortunately, this visit completely wiped it! For starters today was our first day out since I suffered a very serious knee injury earlier this year. Celebrating the milestones have become a huge a thing for us. Upon arriving we got sat in an area towards the back where the waiter stated was for non reservations; which is fine. The waitress working the area came to the table and didn’t even properly introduce herself. She took our full order, brought out the beverages and checked on us when we were half way through our dinner. Being that we were starving when she checked on us I asked her if the appetizers were ever going to come out as we had received our dinner first. She proceeded to check and stated that she had forgot to put in the appetizer order. My boyfriend agreed we would still want an appetizer so I decided to leave my entree half way to be sure we would have our appetizer since the portions are pretty healthy. A few minutes later a waiter by the name of Jorge approaches the table and grabs my dinner plate and asks “are you done?” With an extremely rude demeanor. I told him I would like to wrap it up as we had another order coming. At that point even the couple sitting next to us felt uncomfortable because it was an obvious lack of customer service. A few minutes after that Jorge comes back to the table and asks us to move tables because we didn’t originally have a reservation and a group with a reservation had arrived. We both tried to keep our composure but were obviously upset. I am still recovering from an injury and it’s completely obvious being that I have a huge leg brace and crutches. So I was sure to tell him that I was not moving as we were still occupying the table with active orders since they had messed up to begin with. He went to the waiting clients and loudly advised them that he asked, we got upset and will not move. My boyfriend proceeded to speaking to the customers himself because the room itself got extremely awkward after that. I asked the waitress for her manager and she explained there are no managers on Sundays so I simply said I will no longer want the appetizer and just wanted our check so we can go.

I have been in the hospitality industry for quite a few years now and I have never provided nor allowed such horrible customer service to happen in my presence. The restaurant has a beautiful authentic concept but management should really reconsider training their employees on not only how to speak to customers but also how to properly accommodate their table arrangements on a timely manner. Also, certainly consider some sort of authority on Sunday’s since the staff is certainly speaking to customers as they please. Once again, beautiful authentic Italian restaurant but customer service makes or breaks a business. Most certainly a visit that costed Laicos what could of been...

I've been coming to Laico's close to 40 years. I always felt it was a bit pricey, and do not like being charged for refills on sodas. However, since I have always enjoyed Laico's food, I still frequented the place. I recently came back for a family visit to my hometown of Jersey City after moving out of the area two years ago. I must say I was very disappointed. The appetizer I ordered which was stuffed mushrooms were all breadcrumbs and very dry. I voiced my dissatisfaction to the waiter whom I've had many times in the past, and all I got from him was "I'll mention it to cook". Nothing was taken off the hefty bill. I ordered Chicken and Shrimp Francese combo which was more than 25 dollars. My husband ordered another expensive dish as well. I don't mind paying for good food, but I must say I was a bit shocked when I saw how small the portions shrunk since Covid, the amount of chicken and shrimp was a joke and I got a lot of pasta which is cheaper than giving the customer a reasonable amount of chicken and shrimp, the prices have increased a lot and the careless attitude the waiter treated me due to the dry expensive stuffed mushrooms. I was so turned off. When my dessert came, I must say over the past 40 years I've never been unhappy with dessert here and sadly the dessert I ordered Tiramisu was not fresh and very, very small. I could not wait to get the Hell out of there and will not be returning. I feel I would have been happier at the Olive Garden! At least we would have left full, had a few dollars more in our wallet and possibly left with a doggy bag! What happened to Laico's?? This was my go-to place every celebration or fancy occasion?? I was looking for Lou who manages and has ownership of the place, but he wasn't there. As usual, the place was packed, and it was a Tuesday night. I know they don't care about my bad review, but I have a large Irish and Italian family and they mentioned Laico's has changed a lot too. What's sad is they're taking advantage of their loyal old-time customers by charging more per plate, giving smaller portions and cheaping out all around. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm done with Laico's and I'm coming back up next month and the first thing my husband said is we are NEVER going back there again. It's too bad they chose money and greed over reputation... Why should I give the place another chance? If the waiter did nothing about it knowing I'm an old-time returning customer, why should I subject myself to being ripped off again? And by the way the waiter knew how I felt about everything and did NOTHING about it, so his tip was reflected on his professionalism. I'll be looking for a new place and have some very good sounding suggestions already. Many right in...

I first ate at Laico's in 1988. I havent been there in the past twenty years so we were overdue. The changes, not so good. If you know Laico's you know it's tight inside, but everyone there understands that so there's no attitudes with accidentally bumps, etc. We're all in this together, so very much a chill group. However, you're never going to say this is elegant and roomy as a dining room. You will be waited on professionally and warmly, and you will have no problems with service. Top notch front of the house. However, the food missed the mark, in multiple places. The salad was boring, and despite the onions lacked any outstanding flavor. Counterpoint: the bread was terrific as always. The fried & spicy calamari was soft and mushy. Apparetnly this is due to the cooking method, which I urge them to abandon. Also, lots of tentacles so if you are Team Tentacle you are good to go, otherwise half your plate will get wasted. The scallop and spinach risotto missed the mark in every way. Scallops half-cooked -- we could see sear marks on only one side and the other side was definitely uncooked -- and the risotto was not creamy, or seasoned. Chef Ramsey would've lost his cool if he tasted this. The veal saltimboca was better -- veal perfect -- but the sauce was not really doing its job, and pairing it with pasta was (my) mistake, as this needed a starch and vegetable. Drinks were reasonable and as I mentioned, service was excellent. The total bill was more than reasonable, a near bargain actually in this current economic climate of "inflation". I give Laico's a lot of credit for not jumping on this artificial scarcity to make extra dollars... but pay cash because they did adopt that obnoxious "pass on the credit card fee" to their customers.

I will have to return again and try my old favorites, but alas Mozarella en Carozza has left the menu. Hopefully the next trip will...