Cafe Italia — Restaurant in Marshall

Tonight my boyfriend & I went to Cafe Italia in Marshall. Usually, I love the food & go back a lot, but have never been a huge fan of the owners. I ordered ravioli & he ordered shrimp fettuccine.

We got the pastas & he tried it. You could tell by his face that something wasn’t right. The shrimp tasted bad, as if the meat had come from a bad batch. It ruined the whole bowl of pasta. He got up to go to the restroom because he felt nauseous & I set the plate to the edge of the table. The owner walked by & said, “What’s wrong with this?” I told her the meat wasn’t fresh & it tasted really bad, as if the meat was spoiled. I also told her that he went to the restroom because the food made him nauseous. She told me that her food didn’t make him sick & that he was sick before he came & that her shrimp is fresh. I repeated my statement as to how it had to have been a bad batch of meat & that it was okay and that I understood because I work in the service industry & it happens. She could either take it and give a new batch or take it off the bill, as any restaurant would do. She ignored me & asked if I wanted a togo box. I said no. I was brought my ticket with the alfredo on it.

I went up to the front where the other owner was located to pay for my ravioli & garlic bread because one bite was taken since the shrimp was spoiled. She told me that it was his problem. We proceeded to go back & forth for about 5 minutes about the situation. I paid & left. Won’t being going back because of how unkind they were to me, especially having supporting them...

Update - the place just got worse. I tried to order a dish and change the sauce. The waitress had to go ASK if she could do that. The owner (who is VERY rude) said no because it would mess up the flavor of the dish. Seriously??? I'm the customer. I know what I want.

We won't be going back. A restaurant that tells you what you can and can't order? Ridiculous!

I have been here a few times with no issues, but Saturday the 21st was terrible. One waitress was amazing but she ended up not being our waitress. Our waitress checked on us once aside from the usual order taking and bringing the check. I asked about substituting a regular sauce as opposed to the spicy for the dish I was ordering and flat out said "I don't think she will do that" apparently referring to the cook. She didn't even offer to ask. I should have pushed the issue but didn't. The cannelloni my boyfriend got was unusually bad tasting. We've had it before and it was fine. I'm not sure what the issue was that night but it tasted like rancid dog food. Smelled bad too.

I didn't catch her name but the waitress who initially sat us was amazing. We watched her as she went around from table to table checking on everyone and chatting with them. Ours only came out to do the basics. Not sure where she was in-between those times.

We will go back but will be very wary. Again, in the past it has been fine. But this one...

If I could give this establishment ZERO stars I would! The owner Dani is a very RUDE lady, and needs to be educated on laws regarding public access areas! She denied my family service because we had a SERVICE ANIMAL!! That is ILLEGAL! I hope you know it’s a $75,000 fine for this PER service animal you deny access to! She then proceeded to state “if you were blind with a cane I would allow, but you not, and you know, I love my pets too, but you see the sign, no pets allowed”. That is DISCRIMINATION. You clearly need to educate yourself and provide better service. Not just the blind have service animals!!! She then tried to shew me out of her establishment when I tried to show her and educate her on the law. ADA laws were not followed at all!! I then watched her grab pasta with her bare hands in the kitchen and put in a customers bowl. GROSS!! So my family went over to Subway, where we were greeted with smiling faces and great service! Then an older couple came in Subway with there service animal and we had a nice conversation about the law and the community there in Marshall, TX! We will never attempt to go to Cafe’ Italia again, and we will share this TERRIBLE experience with others! Dani Nermije also treated one of her female employees with such disrespect just because that employee was courteous to me! Dani, you should be disgusted with...