Amici — Restaurant in Maryville

My girlfriend and I visited Amici last night for.our date night. As soon as we walked through the door we were greeted with a smile and a hello. I'm not talking about the run-of-the-mill greeting that one would expect at Olive Garden or Walmart. Our greeting came from a person that was genuinely glad to have us at their table.... someone that appreciated the fact that we could have went anywhere else for dinner......we were greeted by a new friend. We were promptly seated and then we had the pleasure of meeting our server, Will. Will holds himself to a higher standard than servers that are commonly encountered these days. He is polite, prompt, knows the menu, and most importantly is genuinely happy to serve.

We ordered a couple of beers which were poured into the proper glasses and served immediately after being poured. Our appetizer was Prince Edward Island mussels and they were to die for!!! I haven't had mussels this good since I was in the Pacific Northwest, and that was in 2001.

Our entrees were the Smoked Chicken Alfredo and the Bison Meatballs. The chicken alfredo was expertly prepared and that flavors were absolutely perfect. The smoiiness of the chicken mengoed perfectly with the creaminess of the alfredo and the fpavor of their Pecorino cheese. The Bison Meatballs were served over a bed of freshly made spaghetti and was covered in a Pomodoro sauce the likes of which I have never had outside of Italy. The meatballs were braised perfectly and the pasta was cooked absolutely Al dente.

We don't usually order a dessert, but I figured, why not?!? I ordered their cheesecake and got it to-go. When I got home I figured I'd give it a shot. This cheesecake was absolutely perfect!!! It even had actual Luxor cherries on it instead of some sort of cheap pie filling.

In closing, I will add my overall assessment of Amici. This is by far the best Italian restaurant in East Tennessee and potential customers are doing themselves a disservice by not stopping in a enjoying what they...

A party of three of us ate there for dinner. We had a different pizza each. All three of the pizzas were good. I had a thin crust margherita pizza. The pizza base was great, thin with a bubbly crust. the toppings tasted great but was a little lacking in basil. There was maybe a half leaf of basil per slice. My wife had the peach and prosciutto pizza which tasted incredible but she got it on a focaccia base. The focaccia base was light and fluffy but didn't quite work with the pizza toppings on it.

The sound levels in the restaurant were unbelievably loud. I could not hear a word anyone else at our table was saying. My wife was sat next to me and I couldn't make out what she was saying half the time. Conversation included a lot of yelling "what?". The noise didn't come from music because there was none. It was the other customers making all the noise. Nobody was being particularly noisy but it all added up. My watch said that it hit 81 decibels in there. It averaged about 80 decibels. Having been a professional musician I know a thing or two about sound. Every surface in the restaurant was hard; floors, walls and ceiling. It seems like they need some sound conditioning to deaden the excess noise. Some curtains or drapes, some sort of fabrics or maybe even some sound deadening tiles on the ceiling or walls.

The noise level completely ruined any ambience the restaurant has. My ears are literally ringing loudly right now. They haven't rung this much since I saw Megadeth back in 1987.

I recommend the food but go when it is not busy or...

We called ahead on a Saturday evening, and the hostess that answered assisted us promptly with my inquiries about the food and wait time. When we arrived, however, a different hostess greeted us and was not at all helpful. There was a bit of a wait when we arrived,.which we expected. However, this was our first visit, so when we were told "you're going to have to wait", and was not followed up by directions as to where exactly to wait (no waiting lobby). I asked if we should wait at the bar and she said "sure, or your car or outside". My advice is to not expect a customer to have the knowledge that you do. This was our first visit. We opted to wait outside without any help from the second hostess. While waiting outside, we were addressed by the original hostess and were told that the wait was going to be even longer than originally quoted. We would have waited had the hostess addressed us with professionalism instead of being immediately dismissive when we first arrived, but we opted to leave and we let her know. My recommendation is to simply be professional, courteous and understand you're going to need to guide your guests at some point during your shift. It would have taken very little effort, but that seemed to be asking too much. Thanks to the original hostess who assisted us on the telephone. Appreciate your help, but no, we will not...