The Old Spaghetti Factory — Restaurant in Medford

For how big of a parking lot this place has in downtown Medford, it was PACKED on a Friday night. I’m surprised we had no wait for a table & there were a ton of tables inside & out that were still available when we came considering the parking situation.

The service was subpar. After being seated we were ignored by every employee that walked by for 15 minutes. Every interaction with a server after that started with “sorry about the wait on that” as if it’s so normal to wait that they’ve been trained to lead with an apology. We finally ordered our drinks & waited another 10 minutes before receiving them. Only after ordering (2 drinks) did the server return to ask for an ID (alcoholic beverage) & confirm the second person was aware their beverage was non-alcoholic. Both questions were led with “I probably should’ve asked earlier but…”. We then received our appetizers & didn’t get the accompanying bread until the appetizers were finished & plates removed, so nothing to eat the bread on/over.

I made a mistake on my order so caught the server when they returned & asked if it was too late to make a correction on my order (not change it all together). I was met with “is that a preference or an allergy?” Not sure if that is the norm but in my experience it shouldn’t matter especially if the correction is made within a reasonable time from ordering. The server informed me they would promptly go pester the kitchen about it & instead went to take a large table’s order first.

I also asked if I could get the marinated chicken instead of whatever chicken comes in the chicken fettuccine (unclear on whether they are the same) & received the normal chicken Alfredo (without the correction I requested — which was not cooked into the meal so should have been easy to simply not add to the dish) + a full price side dish of what appeared to be the same chicken. Chicken that appeared to be “marinated” in only about 6 flakes of black pepper & costs $5-6. I’m curious as to why the server felt the need to clarify we’re ok with a non-alcoholic drink but not clarify that the dish ordered already comes with the exact same chicken? I guess that one is on me, now I know!

My partner asked for a refill on their 1/3 full glass of water & the server came back & refilled the one glass but ignored my similarly empty glass which I also find odd. I’ve never been to a restaurant where servers only refill water if you explicitly ask for it. Heck even ones where they’re stingy will typically ask all diners at the table if they’d like a top off when they top off one person’s.

The only time our server seemed to be quick about anything with us was taking our payment once they left the bill at our table. Never asked if we wanted a box for the leftovers & as soon as the receipt was dropped off we didn’t see the server again so we had to leave the leftovers behind. I’ve never dined at a place where it seemed almost as if the waitstaff were trying to avoid contact with customers they were not directly talking to but this felt a little bit like we were going to inconvenience someone if we grabbed the attention of anyone walking by. The one person that seemed to go above & beyond was the manager (?) who was walking around & observing more than anything but stopped to chitchat with us about a small thing he’d noticed & gave the experience a much more friendly & personable vibe.

The location is awesome & I, having never previously been to an OSF, really liked the ambience & decor. It has a unique vibe & the look is cool. It would have been a little noisy for me personally if I’d been in a bigger group, but most restaurants tend to be noisy for large groups I’ve noticed.

Overall, the food was ok & the atmosphere wasn’t bad but the service was lacking. I’m sure I’ll be back to give it another go because I am a fiend for pasta & I appreciate that, unlike Olive Garden, OSF occasionally uses flavors other than garlic, but I doubt it’s going to be a regular...

I wanted to like Old Spaghetti factory better than we did. Here is why I am unlikely to go back.

I created a reservation because they have a reservation system. When we approached, there were two families waiting in a mostly empty restaurant, and we patiently waited for them to not ask about a reservation. I offered the information though. This is important because it's not as if they didn't know we were coming.

We were taken to a back table near the bathroom in an empty restaurant for a group of 6. My place setting had no spoon. We were given drinks and never offered a refill or additional water again. While they took our orders quickly, and our initial soups and salads were delivered. they were lacking. The salad looks like something that came out of a bag, just chopped up iceberg, little else, no ranch available. The sides for the child's menu is in adequate. They offer one soup, literally one, applesauce and salad. My nephew would not eat any of this, but he at least tried the minestrone soup, which he did not like. I don't blame him. It's not my favorite either. This is not a super picky kid persay. He doesn't like the texture of applesauce, generally doesn't like soups, and dislikes salad dressing which makes salads mostly tasteless, especially this one.

The bread was great, with a good crust. They offered us a second loaf... and never gave it. The service was just awful, but it does take a special lack of care to offer additional bread and never bring it.

While I enjoyed the spaghetti sauce but not the noodles, the meatballs had too much breading and were weirdly soft. The sausage had the texture of hamburger and a strong taste of fennel. While I ate mine, dad really hated that Italian sausage. I enjoyed the spumoni ice cream. My sister really enjoyed her lasagna. The fettuccini was also enjoyed.

We are not going to go back. The menu isn't very big, and while I am fine experimenting with different menu items to find what I really like, not getting good service is simply not okay for...

We arrived at 6:15 for our 6:30 reservation and checked in with front desk and we were told that it could be another 45 minutes. We decided to wait. Now, in all fairness, it is Mother’s Day weekend, AND, apparently it was also Prom night. Pretty much, all the nice restaurants had tuxedos and dresses outside, so, every restaurant was busy. As we were waiting outside, an older guy was waiting as well, but he decided to leave, but he stayed for another 5 minutes trying to incite a riot about how he felt like he needed compensation LOL. That was the only negative thing that happened. While we were waiting, we received our text that our table was ready. Time stamp was 6:28 (2 minutes before our reservation) so, our expectation was earlier than expected. We were seated and within 6 minutes of looking over menu, our server asked us what we would like to start with. We ordered the House Punch and a Glass of Del Rio blush Rose with the Calamari appetizer. My wife’s main course was the Lobster and Crab Ravioli and mine was the spaghetti with two meatballs. About 5-8 minutes later, our drinks showed up with our appetizer. Our soup and salad with the fresh loaf of Italian bread arrived shortly after, and then the main course showed up. Everything was timed perfectly and the staff was very courteous (William, our busser and Mattie, our server). Even the Spumoni ice cream was timed perfectly. I would add that the ice cream was the richest creamy ice cream I have had. My wife and I sampled each other’s plate and they were both great. I did meet a District Manager from California and I complimented him on how well things were and the staff. Our time in was 6:28 and our time out was 7:40. The timing on all food was perfect, the temperature from the wine being chilled to the hot Italian bread was perfect. The flavor and taste on everything was excellent. The price for everything was as expected, appx. $80. We will...