Pane E Vino Italian Restaurant, Deli & Bakery — Restaurant in Melbourne

Avoid this restaurant at all costs - As a food connoisseur & a resident of Melbourne I would have to advise anybody considering this restaurant to avoid at all costs. I visited this location on 05/02/2021 to celebrate my fiancés & mine anniversary with hopes of an amazing experience. Upon arrival, the hostess was rude, directive & short. We were seated promptly & greeted by the waitress who began complaining about how she was underpaid & would rather work at [a gas station] as they give $25.00 to people who have their vaccine shot & some kind of bonus incentive. She then began to brag on how they are the best restaurant in Brevard county & that no other place is better. We ordered the appetizers, Escargot, Calamari (recommended by the waitress), & Stuffed Mushrooms.

Escargot - Very Oily, Bread it was served with was fried & the oil had an overwhelming amount of sodium. The escargot itself was tough & chewy.

Calamari - My fiancé enjoyed the calamari, but it wasn't any better than the next store on the list.

Stuffed Mushrooms - Taste very similar to the stuffed mushrooms which Olive garden used to server, nothing to special but the sauce was decent and flavorful.

The appetizers were decent & I had no complaints as it went down & everything on the table was edible at this point. For entrees, I ordered the chicken parmesan & my fiancé ordered the Penne Pasta w/ Vodka Sauce. Once the entrees came out I took my first bite & was biting something chewy, I looked down at the chicken & noticed a black piece of rubber sticking out. (see photo) you can imagine at this point my stomach is upset & I am only imagining the cross contamination of where this piece of rubber came from. I called the waitress over to explain to her that there was rubber in my meal & I would like it to be taken off the check. She returns 5 minutes later & tells me the chef is making another one & apologizes. I explain to her I would not like to pay for the chicken parmesan or my fiancés Penne Pasta w/ Vodka sauce as she then felt uneasy & I don't believe she should have to dig through her food to feel safe to eat. The waitress then screams & goes inside then comes back out & says don't shoot the messenger but we can't take either of those off, she then takes my fiancés penne w/ vodka sauce back as I said I would not like to pay for it (mind you not 1 bite has been consumed of either dish at this point.) She then returns 5 minutes later & says "You have to pay for this there is nothing I can do, either you pay for it or I pay for it & I don't have the money to do that" - These are the words that came out of my waitresses mouth. I then ask for a manager, which they then say the owner has went to the warehouse & there will be no managers available for the next couple of hours. I was shocked by the lack of customer service & attention to detail. My table was not once visited by a manager I ended up paying $59.44 for food appetizers & food that was not consumed. The "Servers" Name was Kunz L. Management really needs to rethink how customers are treated when their restaurant is at fault for food that has been poorly handled. I will never revisit & advise anybody who is considering to go to go anywhere else. (Hemming Ways Tavern) Next door is extremely better & has never disappointed. To end the story, me and my fiancé ended up going to Yellow Dog Café which treated us amazing & gave us a great experience. It is a shame to see an establishment not want to be what they claim themselves to be "the best restaurant in Brevard County" more like a pathetic excuse for an Italian Bistro. I will not...

My very first visit and placed an order for 'take-out'... I had a serious pasta Jones going on, so I decided to try this place out based on the reviews and of course some of the pictures from Google Maps!... Penne Al Arrabbiata was my choice and I asked to add grilled chicken!... The restaurant was very cozy and the ambiance was very inviting... It wasn't busy so I got to just browse the restaurant as I waited for my food... It's part Deli, Bakery & sit down restaurant with a big variety of liquor & wine!... The deli section is visually pleasing & the bakery section is very tempting to say the least, although I do wonder do they actually bake all of the desserts in house that they have displayed, which they have many!

My overall experience: the pasta dish, again Penne Al Arrabbiata was good and the portion was large. The cost, $16 listed on the menu, $18 (incl. tax) so I just dropped a $20... It could have garnered a 4 star rating from me however, after getting home I discovered they didn't add the grilled chicken!!! So disappointing, especially for very first visit! I called back and spoke to the guy who took my order, James, and he did remember me asking for grilled chicken and quickly remembered he didn't add it! He apologized, although he made the faux pas of saying, "well, I didn't charge you for the chicken!", which in that situation he probably shouldn't have said that being that he knew that I ordered to add grilled chicken and he forgot to add it! However, again he apologized and did offer to make it up on my next visit by replacing my order. He gave me his name and asked for mine for the record and told me to just ask for him and/or give my name and they'd take care of me on my next visit. So that's why I gave a 3 star rating that could have been a 4 star had the order been correct! Other than going back for my replacement meal, I will go back to try other dishes that I saw on their menu and I'll actually dine-in because it is a really cozy restaurant that also has great outside seating if desired!

Update 2019.07.03 I went back to get the replacement meal that was promised to me by James (See earlier post). As promised, James came thru and man o' man... it was fantastic! After getting this meal, I realized something. Although good, the first meal not only didn't have the grilled chicken but it was a different pasta version. Thinking back to my first visit, I do remember James saying penne al vodka at one point during our conversation during my first visit as I was inquiring as to how spicy was the penne al arrabiatta, which is suppose to be a spicy dish. I'm not typically a spicy food fan especially really spicy food. Maybe, he thought I didn't want spicy so I think he was pointing me towards the penne al vodka which wasn't spicy but still really good even without the grilled chicken. This time I ended up with the penne al arrabiatta with grilled chicken. It was so good and just spicy enough without being too spicy. So, yet another discovery of a really good pasta dish I probably would have never tried but so glad I did! Shout out to James also for coming thru as promised! I've upgraded my rating from 3 to 4 Stars and...

My mom ordered an Italian rum cake for her caretaker. She was quoted $55 total over the phone. When I got there, a server by the name of Darren C.(name on the receipt) didn't know how to ring it in and was told to just ring it under miscellaneous charge. It came out to $61.05 (I didn't mind paying an extra $6, even though she was quoted at a different price). I paid with my card and closed out the receipt with a signature. Fast forward to 5 days later and the charge in my bank statement finally posted (originally it showed $61.05). The posted charge was $73.05, an extra $12 after being quoted $55 total. I called up and spoke to a lady who said that the person that takes care of disputes was not in and would call Mr back first thing tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning came and no call back. I waited till almost 2pm and I called the restaurant. I tried explaining it to another, differnet lady on the phone again and she grabbed a male manager. He was confused at first until I stated the amount and he told me that he was on the phone with the credit card company. I then was told I would get a call back. About an hour later he calls me back and states that the $12 is being credited back to me and apologized because the server got confused and put a tip on my order instead of a different check. My question was how was that possible considering I had a closed out receipt showing my final total. If the system is set up to alter the checks, without a manager approval, AFTER a customer has been closed out, then that needs to be fixed asap. And how could the receipts get confused considering one check would have had a tip and would have been from the restaurant side and not the bakery side. Needless to say I had more money taken from me and now I have to wait longer for it to be returned. I felt like sorry wasn't enough and that this issue was not taken care of. Poor management and lack of leadership. I understand mistakes are made, but I dont feel this was a mistake and it was swept under the rug and it wasn't investigated. I will never spend a dime here no matter how good the food or cake is. I trusted them with my business and it was abused. I've shared this information to everyone I personally know as well as social media outlets including this one. If you do go here for anything, do yourself a favor and pay with cash so you don't have to deal with this headache and lack of...