Puccini Restaurant — Restaurant in Maryland

We have been passing Puccini Restaurant for over five years as we travel back and forth to Frostburg State University, and finally stopped to have dinner. What a great meal, especially the wood fired pizzas. Ironically, we were sitting with an athlete at FSU earlier in the day and mentioned that we were going there. She grew up in the Frostburg area and told us it was one of her favorite restaurants and her "go to" place for her birthday. She wasn't wrong, it was very good.

Set in a old house, the restaurant has several rooms, a bar and the Pizza Cellar downstairs. Seating is available outside, but not today. I enjoyed some of the decor inside from the stained glass windows, to the painted ceilings. Tables were well spaced out, which is always appreciated.

For dinner, we had several appetizers, pizza, entrees and desserts. The Garlic Cheese Breadsticks came out and was wood fired and delicious. Next we had the Classic Tomato and Mozarella (Caprese) salad. Really fresh and loved the balsamic on the top. For entrees, we had a Margherita and Con Carne (Meat Lovers) wood fired pizzas and the Chicken Parm with a ceasar side salad. Some of the best pizzas I have ever had, and the portion on the Chicken Parm was huge. Since returning home, we have had it as leftovers for lunch. Finally, because I love desserts, especially Tiramisu, I got one to go. Excellent.

Our server was Jami D. She was fantastic. Quick to take our orders, and easily accomodated our request. Overall, an outstanding job.

So having passed it for years, I was really pleased to finally stop and eat here. It really was worth it. Excellent food and excellent service. I recommend you stop on by. You will...

Decided to try Puccini for the first time and for a special date. The place is warm, inviting, with an old rustic charm. Servers were pleasant. And that’s where the good review ends because the food was very disappointing. (Olive Garden would be a step up in comparison). Place was not busy and I now understand why.

My date picked the lasagna which was served cold on a hot plate. Sent back to be warmed up and brought back still cold in the center. I picked the chicken Parmesan (from a limited menu that had printing smears thus hard to read all the choices…was least Likely to be disappointing). However, chicken tasted a little funny (freezer burn?) and crust was tasteless. The marinara sauce was bland but very sweet (reminded me of canned spaghetti’O sauce). Boxed Pasta was very over cooked.

I Asked for Parmesan cheese and was given the cheap dried cheese in a shaker jar (again not fresh and no flavor). Had to Ask for bread and some hard rolls were served on a plate 1/2 way through the meal. No refills on water were offered. Needless to say …didn’t eat much of the meal and was never asked why. Very disappointed in the service and the food (served cold, tasteless, and not fresh) was not worth our time or money. (2 entrees no drinks $40)

To the owners..serving cold pre-made lasagna…maybe get a food thermometer. Some Simple things to elevate … basket for bread that is served warm, olive oil for dipping, fresh ingredients go far, use real cheese, make your own sauce (less sugar) and pasta. This place could have so much potential if you got a chef and not a...

My husband and I visited Puccini's for the first time on Feb. 11 around 7 pm. They were relatively busy, so I was prepared for a bit of a wait to be seated. We actually only waited about 5 minutes to be seated. Once seated though, the wait for each item became the main topic of our dinner discussion.

Our server, who was pleasant, promptly took our drink orders, but then it took 10-15 minutes to receive those drinks, and my husband's drink order was incorrect - he ordered sweet tea and received Pepsi, but he likes Pepsi, so no biggie. Once our appetizer arrived, we had to ask for silverware and napkins. That was about a five minute wait, and our appetizer wasn't finger food.

Our food was served and drink refills were made, and then we didn't see our server again until we asked another server for our bill. I don't mind waiting to be seated, and I don't mind waiting for food especially when things are cooked to order, but I do not like waiting for a drink, silverware, or the bill. The food was good, but not good enough to overcome the service.

As we walked out the door, two employees were sitting out front smoking. They did tell us to have a good night, but we had to walk through the smoke. I am an occasional smoker; however, as a somewhat upscale restaurant, allowing your employees to smoke at the front entrance is not a good idea. And it didn't help to see employees on break after waiting for appx 30 minutes for our server to revisit our table.

I don't know if they were understaffed that night or what the issue was, but it did not make for a good...