Zanotta's Ristorante — Restaurant in Madison

Visited on Friday (July 18th) for dinner. Here are a few areas where Zanotta could improve:

No Complimentary Bread – Nearly every Italian restaurant in the Huntsville area offers bread to the table. Unfortunately, Zanotta did not, which felt like a missed opportunity to meet local expectations. Offering an appetizer consisting of bread, EVOO and balsamic glaze for $8.00 is not a smart move.

Poor Connectivity – The restaurant is in a known cell service dead zone, and while WiFi is available, it’s not accessible to customers. In today’s digital age, offering guest WiFi should be standard.

Missing Italian Staple – Surprisingly, there was no lasagna on the menu. For an Italian restaurant, this seems like a glaring omission.

No Side Salad Option – The menu lacks a basic side salad option. Diners shouldn’t have to commit to a full entrée salad just to enjoy some greens with their meal.

Suggestions for the restaurant:

Add complimentary bread service, even if simple, to align with local dining expectations.

Open up WiFi to customers, or at least clearly communicate that it's unavailable before seating.

Include classic dishes like lasagna to cater to traditional Italian cuisine lovers.

Offer basic sides, such as a house or Caesar salad, as add-ons for entrees or...

My husband and I had an impromptu date night to Zanotta’s because we had wanted to try the new place out. We had meatballs, risotto, a byo pasta, and olive oil cake. All were delicious - especially risotto and cake! One thing I wanted to draw attention to was the very bad first impression the blonde bartender on the first floor made to us. The restaurant was filling up and the hostess asked us very politely if we would be okay taking the last two chairs at the bar on the first floor. When we were walked over to the bar, the bartender down there made it very clear she did not want us to sit there. That was NOT very welcoming, even if they were getting overwhelmed. She needs to know not to make a scene in front of customers. If it were not for the hostess keeping a smile on her face and asking us if we could sit up in 2nd floor bar, I would have left. I did not want to be served by the blonde bartender feeling unwelcome like that. That being said J’MAYA SAVED OUR NIGHT. She was so friendly and upbeat. She quickly turned our night around and made us want to come back —FOR HER! She deserves big kudos for handing so many people upstairs (much more than the bartender was...

We were so excited about this place. We had reservations at 4:30, in order to get to a concert at the Orion. We ordered the margaritas and they were wonderful. My niece ordered the Aperol spritzer, she loved it. There were 6 adults and 2 children. Me and my SIL ordered the chicken piccata, it is my favorite. About 5:30 the waiter came over and said they were just about to start the piccata and wanted to know if we wanted to change our minds. We changed our order to chicken. Parmesan. When the food arrived, the chicken Parmesan was a chicken finger with no Parmesan anywhere to be found. No Parmesan cheese was offered for the top of the dish. The chicken finger was cold and tasteless. Then due to the last ordered Aperol spritzer coming at the end of the meal there was a full drink to finish. While we were sitting there, the lady who seated us came over and said the 6:30 party was here and needed our table so we moved to the bar. We left around 7 and the 6:30 party that was already at the restaurant and needed our table had still not shown up. We were all very disappointed at the dishonesty. Very disappointed about the restaurant, however the Jazz was...