Noli's — Restaurant in Leonardtown

I hate to post a poor review, but I think that feedback is important if this local establishment wants to survive.

We went on Noli’s opening night and I’m sorry to say that my family and I had likely the worst dining experience of our lives. I hope that this feedback can help address the issues with FOH and the kitchen staff as our experience was surreal.

We started our dinner at table with dirty menus. The staff was friendly but did not catch basic details like getting us water, silverware, or napkins. Our waitress messed up our drink orders several times which caused a lot of confusion. She admitted to us that she was unfamiliar with wines as she was still in high school. To solve this problem, a simple training on the names of different red and white wines will help exponentially. It also was strange to me that the bartender appeared to be sitting idly as the waitresses were slammed with tables and drink orders.

After the drink conundrum, we received our appetizer. It was a basket of fried ravioli which we enjoyed despite having to eat it with our fingers as there were still no silverware or plates on the table. Fifteen minutes or so after finishing the ravioli, we had to flag our server down to take our dinner order. We ordered two pasta meals and an Italian beef sandwich. About 45 minutes later, we were told that the Italian beef was “no good” and that we had to find another option. We chose another pasta dish. Then, after being told our food was coming out “soon” several times, it took 45 more minutes for us to receive our meals—about 2-1/2 hours after we were sat.

It’s clear that there needs to be a manager on the floor to help address these issues. The waitstaff, though sweet and endearing, were obviously not trained on the menu or appropriate timing for firing orders in the POS system. And, hey, I don’t blame the servers at all. I was a teenager waiting tables in Leonardtown and in their shoes before so I know how it feels to go into that role with little food knowledge or restaurant experience. With proper training, guidance, and support, these young women can really shine. Until then, there need to be experienced staff on the floor.

FOOD REVIEW:

I understand hiccups in timing (especially on an opening night!), however, if this restaurant expects its visitors to wait several hours for their food, it should be worth the wait. This sadly was not the case.

Spaghetti and meatballs: This dish may have been delicious, but it came out cold and looked like it had been sitting out for a while as the sauce had started to harden. While it was the first meal to come out, I had to wait for several minutes to receive silverware to dig in. The meatballs were large and bucatini was cooked well, but the poor timing ruined the meal. Pasta with vodka sauce: While hefty in portion, the pasta sauce seemed watered down and runny. It was delivered 10 minutes after the first dish. Pasta with sausage and peppers: There was about an inch of pasta water at the bottom of this dish which made it resemble pasta soup. The gray sausage looked a bit like boiled pepperoni (not sure if that was intentional) and the peppers seemed undercooked. The dish was lacking in flavor overall.

The only redeeming part of our meal was the canoli we ordered. Though they ran out of chocolate chips, the shell was light and crisp and the filling has an EXCELLENT vanilla bean flavor (despite the waitress dropping some of it on my purse). I would highly recommend trying the cannoli here—perhaps this place will fare better with a carry-out bakery section.

Last, I will also note that the ambiance was lacking. I don’t have high expectations, but the lights in the dining room were extremely bright, likely leftover from the old jewelry shop. There also wasn’t any background music with the exception of an odd part of the evening when Frank Sinatra Christmas music came blasting over the speakers for five minutes or so....

My first experience there in April of 2022 was horrible. I will say it was when they first opened, so they were new, but nevertheless, you could see the lack of experience. It took forever for us to be seated, and no, it was not crowded.

The waiter came to take our order after sitting there for almost ten minutes, then literally two minutes after another waiter came over to take our order. They seemed very flustered!

They gave us bread and oil before our food came. The bread was nice and crispy like good Italian bread should be. Growing up Sicilian in NY and being in the restaurant business my whole life, I was happily surprised. Since the bread was so good, I decided to order a sub (My Cousin Vinny).

When my sub arrived, it was on this nasty soggy bread, the kind you find at the supermarket. It was not what I was expecting at all. I asked our waiter why they don’t use the same bread that they serve with their oil, and he just did not know. The nasty soft bread ruined the whole sandwich for me. The bread wad overloaded with balsamic vinegar, which added to the soggy bread.

We ordered two pizzas. When they arrived, the waiter dropped the pizza on the table, and it almost landed in my lap. I had to jump up to avoid being covered in hot sauce. Now they had to remake the pizza, and it took FOREVER while everyone else was eating their food. No one apologized.

By far, the worst were the zeppole’s. We placed two orders, and when they arrived at the table, they were placed on the table in this small bag ZERO presentation, just a small bag like I was at an Italian festival not a restaurant. We opened the bag and my first bit was raw dough! NASTY!

I complained to our waiter, and he offered to remake them – I just had him take them off the bill because I was not going to wait again for food to come out. At this point, I was over this place and just wanted to go home and make myself a plate of aglio e olio!!!

By the time we received our check, they were closing down for the night. These three men arrived and went to the back bar. They were so loud drinking while there were still guests inside the restaurant eating. The owner was right there with them and allowed these men to go behind the bar and pour their own drinks. I’m pretty sure that is not allowed! The staff was back there counting their tips in the open – which is absolutely rude to do when you still have guest in the place. The owner didn’t walk around greeting guests. She was behind the bar the whole night!

So, my review is that the staff is undertrained, the owner is not welcoming, and the food is nasty. I took pictures of all my food but need to flip through my phone to find them since it’s been a while since I was there. I was hoping this place was going to be amazing, but I was sadly disappointed. If you want good Italian food, go to Carpaccio’s in Annapolis or La Vela in Solomons – you will not be...

UPDATE SINCE THE OWNER REPLIED: Wow, this has to be a bitter owner to constantly not take criticism as a way to better their business practice. This is why I have changed my review star to a 1. To reply in the unprofessional fashion shows the lack of postive changes. We try to focus on small business in the local area, but this will not be one of those. Congratulations on the 2 years in a row, not sure if you are referring to the Bay Net contest or something else. Either way, hopefully you can grow as a business and stop replying so defensively to true remarks about your business and use them. I have seen you did take my advice and make that cute patio area.

I also posted this exact review on their email they sent, but it never showed. They only post raving reviews....

We called at 4:31 with our order and was told 1 hr. We arrived at 5:35 and the pizza was done but not the subs. I paid one hotess while the other went back for our food. I gave them a $10 tip. We were told by the owner 10 more minutes. They placed our pizza in the warmer while we waited outside in our vehicle. At 5:53, we went back in wondering what the heck is going on and the owner forgot about us outside. We got home and opened everything up. Our cheesesteak sub was wrong. We asked for no mayo, but grilled onions and peppers, it was plain. The flavors were really good, but at this point, we were all so hungry. The red sauce on the chicken parm tasted different than the pizza sauce. Only one member of our family liked the pizza sauce.

We recommend they open the side of the restaurant that looks like an unorganized catch-all that has a sliding window for all take outs. And make outdoor dining in that area as well. The inside is beyond crowded with no seating for customers waiting. I really would love my tip back since it took almost 2 hrs to make 3 uncomplicated items, and the one sub was wrong. You can test it out, but do not be surprised if it's late. It is clear there are extremely inexperienced employees, including the owner working there. With this type of service, they will be lucky to be in business if things do not change...