Violi's Restaurant — Restaurant in Meriden

Highly disappointed with the service and food. Waitresses were rude and stood way too close to our party when taking our orders. We ordered calamari as an appetizer and it came out very undercooked. We asked for a replacement order of calamari, and while it came out crispier, it was still very under seasoned and tasteless. The soup of the day was decent, but our entrees were less than desirable. I ordered the rigatoni siciliano, and it just wasn’t right. When I order a pasta dish, I expect a lot of pasta. Instead, what I got was a dish that was 20% undercooked pasta, and 80% meat/vegetables. I can’t even say it tasted very good. My brother ordered the 14 oz. NY strip, and while it smelled good, it was very under seasoned. The only flavor on the steak was the char. The accompanying vegetables were also underwhelming; very flavorless and lukewarm. My sister-in-law ordered the salmon piccata and she said it was good. However, the artichoke was sour and the broccoli was undesirable. We then ordered dessert, which was probably the best part of the meal. I ordered the tartufo, and while it was tasty, it was WAY too sweet (the chocolate sauce and whipped cream were to blame). And for some reason, they put chocolate sauce on my brother’s key lime pie. Who thought lime and chocolate was a good idea? To conclude, I was very underwhelmed and disappointed. I heard good things about this place, but it didn’t live up. Go to Olive Garden for a more authentic Italian experience.

P. S. - if you go here, DO NOT order the burger. McDonald’s makes better burgers.

Note to the owner: Margaritas, daiquiris, and cosmopolitans are...

Mediocre food quantity at best. My steak, was ordered medium rare and was served as a cool medium rare, so I can’t complain too much there, other than I was a very fatty cut. (It is what it is). Because of the almost properly cooked stew, they’ve earned their 2 stars from me. Violi’s does not earn any other because of the leather tough veal piccata, the BOILED chicken Marsala, and because of my empty iced tea. You can’t tell me it wasn’t boiled…unless it was microwaved fully. My tea was empty for about 15/20 minutes, then when the waiter came by filling waters, the pointed and requested a refill. He said he couldn’t hear me because it was too loud, which I’ll agree with, but contextual hints of the environment and each of our respective roles would lead the reasonable person to think I wanted more tea. Give me a break, it wasn’t too loud for him to see me pointing towards my empty iced tea.

After walking around the table I re-stated I would like some more tea upon his earliest convenience, which he then proceeded to take my glass to actually refill it somewhere else.

Extremely poor waitstaff table...

Very unwelcoming staff. We stopped for dinner as a family as we walked into the restaurant the waiter gave a dirty look, then the waitress walked right passed us grabbing place settings without saying anything so we weren't sure if we were supposed to follow her so we stood there. Then after about 5 minutes and discussing if we should go somewhere else the waiter said from across the restaurant here's a table. 4 of us sat down still feeling unwelcome and starving we sit and look at the menu. The waiter took our drink order and seem annoyed the whole time. When the waiter came back with our drinks we ordered our dinners. Our dinners all tasted delicious but honestly the food wouldn't be enough to get us to come back. The atmosphere and waiters unwelcoming attitude definitely turned us off. I don't mind paying $$ for delicious food if the service matched,...