Tavola Italian — Restaurant in Mauldin

Went to Tavola @ bridgeway tonight. We were so excited to try it. The restaurant is beautiful and that’s where the positive ends. We had reservations for 6:45, we were sat immediately. Upon sitting we were brought focaccia bread, I thanked the server. I was like oh it’s like “Olive Garden” and I laughed about it because I wasnt expecting free bread at this place. I thought it was nice. We open the menu and see it is NOT in fact free and is an appetizer that a server dropped at the wrong table. We immediately notified our waiter of the error. About ten minutes later the food runner who dropped it came back grabbed it off our table and brought it two tables down and served it!!! I was in shock, before I realized it wasn’t “free” I sampled a piece of the focaccia. 😳🫣 Well we then ordered drinks and our meals. The drink was $16 and made with generic spirits and was extremely watered down. It was like it was made and sat so long before it was served that the ice diluted it to the point of being non-alcoholic. It’s either that or they’re watering down their drinks/spirits, which I would hope they aren’t doing. 😢. We waited nearly an hour after ordering to receive our food. Honestly, I had drank 5 glasses of water waiting on our food. I wish I’d kept the other tables focaccia. 😬 When our food arrived, my husband had the $24 carbonara, and it was made with $2 boxed pasta and the carbonara was akin to Alfredo! It was not good. I ordered chicken Parmesan, it was covered in a green pepper jelly of sorts, balsamic vinegar AND tomato sauce. It was a deep fried slab of chicken that tasted like an awkward combo of salad because of the balsamic vinegar and and sandpaper breaded chicken. I found it hard to swallow, almost like swallowing a spoonful of dry cinnamon, I had to choke it down. I will say the mozzarella was good but that was the only part. I had the broccolini side and it was honestly inedible. It was saturated in oil and had had almost a whole jar of red pepper flakes on it. I took one bite and embarrassingly almost threw up at the table from the heat and grease. We passed on dessert. Both of us were disappointed, but the waiter said they were slammed so i don’t know if that was part of the problem. Either way, we tipped the waiter 30%, not his fault the food was trash, and I doubt he was having a good night if anyone else had the same experience we did. Really disappointed, we won’t go back. The pic is my chicken parm leftovers I didn’t eat as well as the broccolini I...

Let’s start with the positives— the staff and the service were great. Attentive without being smothering (shout out to Chloe), no notes there!

As for the negatives… the food and the price point are not aligned. You’re paying $26+ for entrees, but the pasta is giving boxed and the sauces all gave jarred. Which is crazy, because they claim that it’s all scratch made. We started with the mozzarella. It was aggressively okay, it wasn’t that hot, the breading wasn’t super crispy and the sauce was lacking in depth. I’ve had better fried mozzarella at Olive Garden. For our entrees, I had the chicken parm with the garlic confit parmesan potatoes. The cheese on top of the parm had the saddest, most uneven melt I have ever seen. It looked like someone sprinkled some shredded grocery store mozzarella on top. It was dressed with a salsa verde and balsamic, which didn’t add anything to the dish. It’s a classic, maybe just focus on executing it well instead of trying to jazz it up? The potatoes were so bland it made me sad. While garlic confit is supposed to be subtle, I don’t think it’s supposed to be so subtle that you have to question if it’s there? Also, terribly under salted.

My partner ordered the spaghetti. He wasn’t impressed either. His main note was that the sauce lacked complexity and flavor, and the pasta looked and tasted like grocery store boxed pasta. I tried a bite of his and was underwhelmed (the parm was the better of the two and this isn’t saying much). Their kitchen is very tiny, so I do have to question the scratch made claims. Also, either wine pours have shrank or we got ripped off because there’s no way there was anything close to five ounces in those glasses. And at $17/glass for a very mid Super Tuscan it just added to the disappointment.

My last note is regarding the ambiance— it’s very loud in there. It has the vibe that it’s trying to be an upscale restaurant, but there are multiple TVs by the bar and they’re all playing sports (not exactly a mood/ambiance booster) coupled with music blasting. It’s a very tight space and they cram every square inch with as many tables as possible. Ours was right up against a pillar, wedged in between two other tables and the POS where the wait staff put in orders.

In short— You know I really did not enjoy it if the phone didn’t eat first. If you want fine dining, this is NOT the place (go to Scoundrel). If you want good Italian food, this is MOST DEFINITELY NOT the place. Jianna remains...

When you walk inside, you're almost teleported to a new place! The atmosphere is just amazing!

From the host staff to the waitresses, everyone was so friendly and willing to help us as it was our first time dining.

The drink menu was very inviting. We decided to try a couple of different options from their signature cocktails, and each one had it's own unique flavor profile, and they were all something I would definitely drink again.

We ordered the fresh focaccia for our antipasta and it was already so good on it's own but once you pair it with any of the 3 spreads it comes with, it's like 3 completely different dishes... and the confit garlic was so good. I knew I had to keep the remainder of it for my steak... and I'm so glad I did.

The ribeye bistecca came precut and a perfect medium rare, which I ordered. The parmesan potatoes came infused with that same amazing confit garlic that the bread came with, and it was so delicious. I'm a big broccolini fan, and their char grilled has really good flavor and texture to them. As a huge pepper fan, the tellicherry peppercorn sauce on the steak was definitely a hit...but once I added the confit garlic I kept from the bread, it was to die for!

Now, to save the tomato cavatelli for last was because i just didn't know how to put into words just how good it was. So many places barely include meat when they say it is a "crab meat dish"...but Tavola definitely does not skimp when it comes to this dish. The crab was so juicy and flaky... that paired with the pistachio pesto and the other flavors of the dish....🤤 just thinking about it again has me drooling! Needless to say, this was my favorite dish of the night.

With us being there for a birthday dinner, they brought out a canoli with a lit candle in it, making the night feel even more special to us. On top of that, we ordered the tiramisu and vanilla bean gelato. The pizzelle cookie was a nice taste and texture add for the gelato, but the tiramisu was definitely my favorite of the desserts. Even the presentation was something!

Tavola is the place to be if you're looking for amazing, authentic, flavored Italian food. From the food to the atmosphere, Tavola's attention to detail really stands out. We will definitely be returning to try the rest of that amazing...