North Italia — Restaurant in Kendall

We came here as a group of 6 ladies for lunch. I had never been before; only one of us had ever been here before.

First, we were seating in a booth, but realized they’re only good for 4 people. In order to be sat immediately we’d either have to sit outside (too hot), or at one of the high top tables by the bar. I believe this move was where we went wrong.

The bartender was “waiting” on us. Obviously he’s also making drinks for the entire restaurant as well as serving the people sitting at the bar, and then lastly, us. So the service was pretty bad, to say the least.

We arrived at 1pm. Our food arrived at 2pm! We left at 3pm! Everything was a HUGE wait. The manager was also helping the table. It took a long time to order- then our food took more than 40 minutes to come out. We were never offered refills in our waters/ drinks. We were never offered coffee or dessert. We had to get up and ask for to-go boxes. We had to go ask for the checks. If we had waited for them to check on us, we’d still be in the restaurant now. But enough about the bad service. On to the food!

The food is amazing! I checked out the reviews before going, so I knew we had to order the truffle cheesy garlic bread. It was amazing! We shared it amongst the 6 of us and there was plenty for everyone. The bread actually came out in a decent amount of time- maybe 10 minutes. I ordered the pesto chicken pasta. It was SO GOOD!!! Since I’d filled up on bread, I was able to eat about half of it. One friend got the house specialty- the pasta bolognese. She ate every bite! Two friends got the roasted vegetables salad and they both ate all of it and loved it and said they were stuffed! One friend got the garlic shrimp plate. It came with a lot of bread. She’s the one who had been here before. She said she’s never had such an issue with the service before. My final friend ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. She said it was excellent and could only eat about half of it.

Each of our checks came to $20-30 after splitting the garlic truffle bread 6 ways.

The atmosphere is nice. Lots of plants - nicely decorated.

I would go back, but definitely not sit at a...

The restaurant has a great location. The pasta was fresh! They even had some good gluten free options for my beau. The wait time was extensive so make a reservation with anticipation to avoid and hour or more wait.

We sat outside which was nice. Only recommendation would be put something up to stop the cigarette smoke from those walking by while your eating. Cigarette smoke was messing with our wine tasting. But nevertheless it was an overall very good experience.

The service was exceptional! The server DJ was extremely attentive could read our dynamic and help our experience of ordering food to be very intimate, personalized, and he picked up social queues that impressed me. For example it was date night and we ordered a pizza and the bolognese to share.

Great recommendations by the way DJ ! He brought out the pasta first and actually split it into two bowls so we wouldn’t have to handle that process which was extremely appreciated. As soon as the pasta was done that gluten free Spicy meatball pizza came out which was divine.

Note* Pasta is made fresh daily, but they don’t make gluten free pasta in-house. Which I’m sure is good too but how could you turn up fresh home made pasta!

The wine choices were lovely so was the sangria and to see the teamwork of the restaurant was really nice. Having the bartender pop up to offer additional recommendations based on her conversation with DJ was unexpected but welcomed.

If corporate reads this make sure you do what you need to do to keep people like DJ and the female bartender from last night. Good work ethic and people like them are hard to find.

By far I recommend this restaurant for a date night and family night.

Restaurant is also very inclusive and affirming so thank you for creating that safe space to simply enjoy great food, great company, and a...

I wanted to come here with family and friends to celebrate my birthday. Because I had visited the one in Washington DC and loved it. Made reservations and called to change the party to 9. When seated we had to move tables due to the AC being really high and the air hitting the table. Service was really slow even though the place was not full. Our appetizer came after our soups and salad even though we told them to make sure they came before. Our food came out and was not the best quality for the price we paid. Several of us ordered the Bistecca Marsala and the steaks were over cooked and the brussel sprouts were raw. The waitress just left our food and never offered cheese. This is an Italian restaurant. Two plates were returned because the steaks were well done and we all ordered medium. They took forever to redo that everyone was done and they still didn't have their dishes. One of the dishes the shrimp Alfredo had a hair in it at the bottom. Our waitress was always missing because she was tending to tables outside and to get water or soda refill was a mission. At one point all the waitresses were outside and no one indoors to help. Our reservation was for 7:30pm and we left at 10:45 without dessert as we were going to be there for another hour or more and were disappointed with the overall experience. The waitress was very quick to give us our check without asking how were were paying. She didn't even bother to offer to sing Happy Birthday even though she heard us singing on our own. They knew we were celebrating my birthday as it was on the reservation. Horrible service and birthday dinner experience from...