Vicino Restaurante Italiano — Restaurant in Maryland

You may be reading these reviews because you are curious whether Vicino is a good place to eat. Long story short: NO.

We were curious. We decided to take a chance. We had just served dinner over at Shepherd's Table, working pretty hard for a few hours, and we were pretty hungry ourselves.

We should have been wary when we walked in and there was no server in evidence, just one table of six people who looked done with dinner. When someone finally emerged from the kitchen, she told us to wait while she disappeared into the kitchen for another minute or two, before letting us know whether we would be authorized to eat there. (How I wish she'd said no.)

We tried ordering garlic bread, and we were told that we'd be receiving bread with garlic and oil anyways, so we opted not to order garlic bread. Joke was on us -- we didn't get any bread until we'd nearly finished our entrees. I think whoever was in charge in the kitchen probably just didn't want to be bothered making something else.

Let me reiterate that the service was awful. The two servers were busy hanging out with friend(s) in the kitchen, shrieking with laughter, and basically not doing much else.

The garden salad wasn't bad, although the tomatoes seemed to be just on the verge of spoiling.

It is a good few weeks after Christmas, but Vicino still has all of their Xmas decorations up, including strands of lights that blink at a rate that might trigger an epileptic seizure, even if you don't have epilepsy. This did not contribute to my enjoyment of the meal. I swapped out my dining chair, which was so wobbly it threatened to dump me to the floor mid-meal.

I ordered eggplant parmesan as my entree. It was to be served with pasta. This meant I unfortunately encountered the marinara sauce twice. It has no flavor whatsoever. It's just canned tomato sauce, from what I could tell. By the way, my dining companions got their pasta way before I did. We had to ask several times for my pasta and for the bread. The eggplant was just okay. Edible.

Once we received the bread (just in time for dessert), the waitress paused for a fairly long time, wondering where to put it. The table was covered with empty plates. She didn't seem to know what to do about those. I suggested she could collect them.

We were each comped a quarter of a tartufo ice cream for dessert. I think this was in part to try to help us forget the meal, and in part to prepare us for the next event: having the wait staff inform us that our credit card had a fraud alert on it. We tried to run the same card again, same result. We tried the same account but with a card belonging to another family member, and lo and behold, it worked. I suggested there could be something wrong with their machine. They denied this -- and then as we were leaving, audibly mocked me saying so. Classy.

At this point, we're just hoping they didn't also skim the card. And -- so far so good -- we're hoping not to get sick from the food. There are many, many more worthy restaurants in this area. Do not frequent this one. The food bears no resemblance to Italian food. And the restaurant staff bear little resemblance to restaurant staff. It felt like a bunch of teenagers had been tasked with running a restaurant for a reality show, and that they had opted to run the place...

Food wasn’t bad but customer service was horrible. Let me share my experiences at this establishment. It’s length and I apologize in advance.

I visited the establishment on Sunday evening. A middle aged woman greeted us and sat us down. We asked if she had any recommendations. She suggested a few dishes, and when we inquired about one, she asked if we ate pork. We told her we didn’t, and she told her recommendations.

A few minutes later, a younger girl came to take our order. Again, we mentioned we don’t eat pork, and she responded, “I know you don’t eat pork.” We ordered three meals. Two of the foods arrived, but the third took longer. The third order was a Chicken Cutlet Sub. We didn’t mind them taking longer on the third order as we were sharing the foods. When we reminded her about the third order, she assured us it was on the way. By the time we nearly finished the first two plates, the third arrived. However, when placing the dish down, she remarked, “This one has something she can eat,” referring to me. I asked what she meant, and she said the dish contained pork. Up until that point, everything had been fine.

We explained we all don’t eat pork and asked if we could order something else. She insisted we’d have to pay for it. We refused, reminding her that we had clearly told her we don’t eat pork, and she acknowledged it. She then began arguing and said she was 15 years old, pregnant, and that we were causing her stress. I offered to speak to the other waitress, who was standing nearby, but she said, “That’s my sister. If you talk to her, you talk to me.”

Hoping her sister would help de-escalate the situation, I explained everything, but her sister blamed us for choosing the wrong dish. I pointed out that, as employees, they should know the menu better assist customers. The sister admitted she didn’t know the menu well and accused us of being rude, telling us to calm down.

A few minutes later, the woman who initially greeted us came over and said, “I heard there was an issue with your order.” We explained the situation and told her that “waitress” is at fault here, and she corrected us by saying the waitress was her daughter. She also mentioned her daughter was pregnant and didn’t deserve the stress we were causing. She claimed to have reviewed the video footage and insisted we ordered the dish with pork. We acknowledged we may have, but emphasized we had made it clear we don’t eat pork, and it was their responsibility to inform us.

She then threatened to call the police, and when I tried to record the conversation, she told me I couldn’t without her consent. Not wanting to escalate things, I stopped recording. However, when she continued threatening to call the police, we encouraged her to go ahead. She then said the police officer she was calling was her brother, making this feel like a family issue. At the end, we advised her to review the entire video so she knows that her daughter is at fault. I went in the back and didn’t come until we leave, I guess the video sets us free. :)

I have never seen or been in an establishment that doesn’t care about...

IF YOU ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN OR ANYONE FOR THAT MATTER THAT DOESN'T SUPPORT RACISM, DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS!!! I have eaten at this restaurant many times before and my experience was pleasant. Today, I had late lunch at a different restaurant across the street from this place with my girlfriend and as we were walking to our car which was parked on the county parking behind this restaurant, a lady in a red dodge pulled up. My girlfriend had her head down to tie her shoes and as we walked between some cars parked outside in the open, the lady in the car asked me if I can park there. I said I don't work there and continued to walk away, she decided to get out of her car, started to harass me and my girl, and I realized she was bullying us assuming we were using her designated spots. We were parked on the public parking far away. She also told me she was a police officer and I should answer her questions when I said to her why is she following me and asking me questions. As I got upset, she called me the N word and I called 911. When I asked her to call me.e the N word whole I was on the call, she lied and said she didn't. As soon as I hang up the phone, she said it again. Her husband who claims to be the owner of this restaurant also tried to get physical with me. I asked my girl to record it after the fact so it was my word against her even though my girl clearly heard her calling me the n word and when she impersonated a police officer. She also hit the phone out of my girls hand. She also tried to lie and said I had weapons iny car while I was trying my best to diffuse the situation. When police arrived, have tried to play the victim. If you are any self respecting immigrant (African) like me, if you are a decent human being that stands against racism, if you are an African American who understands what happens, please do not support this business!! I had a pleasant afternoon until this lady that was rude, bitter, unpleasant, and unfortunately to run a restaurant decided to harass and bully us. I am writing this to spread awareness because I was told by the police what she did was not illegal. We thanked them for their service and...