Gondolier Pizza & Italian — Restaurant in Lenoir City

Last night, the manager (who I had never seen before) was totally focused on answering the phone & staying at the cash register. He never checked the take out orders or pick up/delivery orders to see if they were being processed in an efficient and timely manner. (The previous manager took care of the orders, not the telephone.) As a result, if you call in your order and pay for it when you arrive, DO NOT SIT DOWN. They forget about you. You should hover near the prep station like the pick up/delivery people do to make sure they know that you want your order. From the time I called in, arrived 5 minutes later and paid, I had to wait 40 minutes for a standard large pizza and small salad. The only reason I got my order was because I went to the front and stood in the way until the shorter fellow asked me what I wanted. He had to go the back of the kitchen to get my pizza. I knew when he shoved it to me that the pizza had been sitting a while as it was not even warm. Rather than expressing my displeasure at that time, I needed to wait to think clearly. Besides that, any comments I would have made would have been an embarrassment to the crowded restaurant.

I have never had this type of experience at Gondolier. Maybe it was a reflection of this manager who seemed like he didn't really care if the customers were taken...

The food here was absolutely terrible. Although the service was good, albeit slightly overbearing, I'd rather have that than a waitress who never shows.

But the food. Let me tell you, it wasn't busy, and the owner was in the damn place, and the food brought to me was not well made.

Here's what I ordered:

Fried zucchini: The zucchini was a mixed bag, some pieces being a cannoli of mush or near fully cooked.

Eggplant parm: The eggplant parm was pathetic, served with some spaghetti that wasn't cooked properly and with a sauce that was straight out of the can.

Fried shrimp: 8 pieces of shrimp for $15.19 dollars, nothing special about the breading. It was okay, but bland and lacked any sort of Italian twist of any kind. We ordered fries as the side and weren't given them; the waitress was quick to bring out a plate of some while also letting us keep the rice.

The rice: The rice served to my girlfriend was the equivalent of Uncle Ben's rice—straight out of the microwaved bag. It was simply terrible; Popeyes makes a better rice side dish than that.

The fries: We were given a healthy serving of fries, but every single fry was stiff and not...

Great food at moderate price, you cant ask for a lot more but add in great service from a fine staff and you cant lose.

I dont like to dine in here when they are busy would be my only complaint, because their dining room is just way too open and too well lit. If you tote heat like i do, survived what ive survived, youll notice theres almost nowhere in here to take cover and its a tacticle freaking nightmare for a shooter situation but that's just the way I think nowadays and im not holding it against anyone because they didnt have shooter scenarios in mind when they planned the seating but perhaps its time we did. That being said, it is a family environment and that should be factored in too but easily remedied by simply asking for your order to be take out and then you can lay on the couch in ya drawers and watch tv while enjoying some really great dishes and gosh dont forget about thier pizzas ! Very excellent pizza. Its the greek cheeses in my opinion. And they arent shy with it either... thanks for the read folks and tell em...