Cafe Italiano Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Maggie Valley

This evening, my husband went to order and use a gift certificate that a renter had purchased for us as a thank you. Unfortunately, the "new owner" (who I suspect may be an employee merely claiming to be the owner, as a true owner would not treat customers this way) not only refused to accept the certificate but also embarrassed my husband by implying that it was not authentic. As residents of the Valley, we often dine here and have recommended it to others, but we will no longer be doing so. This is not how you treat customers. The situation could have been handled with much more professionalism.

Edited In Response to Owners Comments:

It is an authentic gift certificate, not a handout, and the signature is legitimate. It is not our fault how your restaurant chose to fill out the paperwork. You sold it to our guest who paid their hard earned money to your establishment to purchase it as a gift for us. I had already used it on one occasion without incident. How dare you insinuate that someone is trying to steal from you. If anything you have now stolen money out of our friend’s pocket.

I’m sure someone here can attest to that fact that its legitimate and may even know the former employee who sold this voucher. Now, if she no longer works there and you don’t want to honor the certificate, that's fine. Wrong but fine. However, the situation could have been handled differently. You were rude and accusatory. Trust me we are not certificate bandits out to cleverly forge gifts on unsuspecting businesses. 🙄

I have in fact frequented your restaurant and even recommended it to our renters. But will do as you have asked going forward.

Also, we only ever had one other complaint regarding some calzones we ordered that were undercooked, with raw dough that was inedible. We picked them up on the way into town and by the time we got to our cabin your restuarant was closed for the evening so we returned them the next day. You told us that the night before you were understaffed and the dishwasher was cooking and that was the reason then you said we should have said something that night. But we explained you had closed by the time we discovered the error. I assure you, no one was trying to pull one over on you then or now, sir. And we did not leave a review based on that interaction when you were truly...

For starters, this is not my first time eating here or my first issue that i have had with this restaurant..it will be my first review and the LAST time I ever go back. We went Saturday, went early to hopefully avoid the crowd. There was one other table, looked at the menu and decided on Spaghetti and meatballs (which has been great in the past) although to get this they charge an extra 3.95 for the meatballs...never see that at ANY other restaurant and I checked around after and no other Italian restaurant charges almost 20 bucks for spaghetti with meatballs. The waitress, who immediately seemed bothered that we came in, even though there was only one other table. She brought out my husband's salad and my soup and a little loaf of bread (size of a hoagie roll) when our meals came out, my husband requested more bread..for which the server said she'd have to charge us for it and if we have to pay for it we might as well get the garlic cheese bread, so we said ok and it was the same bread, cut in half with butter and melted cheese..4.95. Ok I so asked for parmesan cheese and salt..which I never got. When she FINALLY came back to our table (still the only customers sitting in the restaurant) I told her not to worry about the cheese and salt. I had a bit of an attitude, but I expect when I ask for something as simple as salt and cheese...I should get it. Then, the bill...I wasn't charged 3.95 for meatballs, I was charge 5.95 for meatballs so I brought it to her attention and she got defensive and I got angry..she did fix it but with attitude saying shecwas just the "middle man" . I wouldn't have ordered it if that had been the price on the menu. So...long story short, the food is good if you don't mind paying a premium price but keep a menu and check what they charge you. No spaghetti is...

Whoever owns this restaurant is not proud to be Italian . The food was terrible. We had always ordered our food from this place through doordash. Tonight, we decided to actually dine in and go for that delicious Seafood Alfredo. I took a few bites and realized it didn’t taste the same way. I decided to be honest with myself and the restaurant. I am a firm believer of customer service to which the waitress we got was all about. Really nice customer service from her by the way. However the owner/manager whoever is in charge of this beautiful place was the opposite of that. When I brought the situation up to their attention, very politely to the waitress she was really understanding and Willing to take my plate and exchange it for a different dish I had in mind (Calzones). Her expressions and demeanor changed from happy to miserable . Why? Because the owner/manager denied the fact that as a customer whose taste buds were not delighted by the food that was brought to my table and the fact that I wasn’t going to pay for something I didn’t like. The plate was still full for him not to be reasonable and work with me. My intentions were to get his business which is not happening anymore. All Mr Owner / manager could’ve said and done is to go out there and face his customers and make sure they are happy. No, this man did not even come out and showed his face to let us know they were out of ingredients and veggies to make a dish taste good. My calzon was plain Cheese, to which I’m still wondering why did I pay him for something that I could’ve fixed myself at home for cheaper or go and get...