La Famiglia Ristorante, Pizzeria & Catering Maplewood

For the past few months this has been my go-to spot for a pretty solid pizza and Italian dishes. Their mussels with marinara are incredible. However, yesterday (10/25/2024) I ordered a Caprese salad which was part of the weekly special menu. It looked amazing in the menu pictures on Uber Eats and with it still technically being tomato season I figured it was worth a try. Boy, was I wrong. It was absolutely PATHETIC. It was a sorry small foil container with sprinkles of ARUGULA (not fresh basil), 4 slices of mozzarella, and 5-6 slices of a plum tomato. In the menu’s picture, the salad looked robust and had a variety of tomatoes (including heirlooms) but what I received wasn’t even a Caprese salad. I would’ve preferred if they just told me the item was sold out or reached out to me to ask if I wanted something else rather than sell me that garbage for 15$. They also put it in the bag with a hot dish so the salad was warm and the cheese was partially melted. I took one bite and tossed it. The Zuppa di Pesce I ordered with it was delicious (the only reason why this review is 2 stars), but because this restaurant doesn’t have enough integrity or respect for customers to be honest about what they’re selling, I probably won’t be a regular here any longer.

TL;DR: This restaurant has problems with the basics.