Ferrari's Little Italy and Bakery — Restaurant in Madeira

No Stars if i could This is the first review I have ever given, my point in telling you this is that I was compelled to write the review out of shear necessity to share my experience with other. My wife and I had a 6:15 reservation on Mother's day to take her mom and sister out for a nice dinner. Little did we know that it was buffet only, that detail we were able to forgive, however we should have known something was amiss as we walked through the dining room to be seated on the patio. As we walked past the buffet line, there was literally an elderly woman with her hands in the air yelling, to anyone who would listen, "This is bullshi*, there is no food left". I thought it was humorous at the time but should have recognized the foreshadowing. We were sat outside under the pergola and were the only ones there outside of a few unbussed tables. The table for 7 was not set up in any way such as silverware etc. It took several minutes for the server to take our drink menus and roughly 20 minutes for us to receive our drinks, and another 10 or so minutes to receive our waters. Since our guests were running late, we sat patiently and started to notice the messy tables that surrounded our area, we politely asked one of the servers if they could please bus the tables, as we were trying to have a classy experience with my wife's family, this by the way, never happened. The food was meatballs (no spaghetti), penne alfredo, pork tenderloin (dry as a bone), bacon (yes bacon), breakfast sausage, home fries (obviously a frozen variety), grey looking beef that i assume was prime rib, instant mashed potatoes, chicken with some sort of gravy, ravioli that was obviously premade, etc etc. I would compare this food to something along the lines of a school lunch buffet in college. The service was absolutely horrible, I was a server (a bad one at that) when i was 16 and i could have done a better job. In a buffet situation, the server only has 2 jobs, take drink orders and pick up empty plates. If i could have filmed this experience for "Kitchen Nightmares" I am confident that Gordon Ramsey would have drooled over this opportunity. We actually had no idea what the cost of the buffet was going to be but then we got the check. $30 per person, $15 per child. My head just about exploded at this point. I have never had a more negative experience at a restaurant. I simply can't wrap my head around how a restaurant with a respectable reputation could present this sort of food and experience at those prices. It was literally the topic of conversation for the rest of the night, it was like an episode of Candid Camera. If management gets to read this review, please change everything about the next mother's day. Take the negative reviews to heart and turn the...

So I don’t hate Ferrari’s but you can make better/fresher food at home. Now the bakery here is great, fresh, made from scratch I believe! It is the restaurant itself the review is on.

Pros: They got my big group in with little notice. The server was great and attentive but not overbearing.

Cons: I ordered: 3/10 - Carbonara… well the onions and peas were 100% frozen. Peas I don’t really mind but onions can just become a mushy mess and lose all flavor. That is what happened. I actually tried to eat around them as best I could because they were just slimy and not good. If this were fast food okay but the fact they couldn’t be bothered to cut a fresh onion… Papa John’s even cuts their onions fresh. There are fast food places the cut fresh onions. It’s really not that hard to have veggies prepped fresh in the mornings. I’ve worked in restaurants it really doesn’t take that long. I’m starting to wonder if I am just eating pre-made meals.

5/10 - Bruschetta - Wasn’t bad, wasn’t the best I’ve had. I’ve had bruschetta a lot and I’m not sure what was going on with the melted cheese on it. I’ve never had it like that and don’t want it like that again.

7/10 - Alfredo

I really want to love this place. Some dishes are great, some people in my group got the mushroom ravioli and lasagna and loved those. I just wish it...

If I could give it less than one star I would. I can’t fathom how this restaurant has so many five star reviews. The only positive thing about our experience was our very kind and attentive server. I knew we were in for a ride when we walked in. To say the decor is dated would be an understatement. Beyond that, it was cramped dusty, and sad; like an Italian themed retirement home. I thought to myself, “maybe the food is fantastic, don’t be too harsh just because the decor is a little underwhelming”. Unfortunately I was not wrong in my assumptions. The bread was flavorless and doughy in the worst way. It reminded me of the bread they would force us to gag down for communion. The salad was mediocre at best, and a crime against Caesar salads at worst. The dressing had absolutely no flavor other than “creamy white”. The Alfredo sauce tasted like Ragu jarred Alfredo with a very distinct chemical aftertaste. The tortellini was very obviously food service and all of the tomato sauces we tried were devoid of flavor. To top it all off every single protein on all of our meals was either woefully over cooked or so rubbery you couldn’t bite through it. I’ve had better Italian food from the frozen...