Pacino's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Mesa

Update 10/14/24 -

I’m updating my previous 5-star rating to a 1-star. Our once favorite local Italian restaurant of seven years will no longer get our business and we’ll no longer refer our friends and family here. I should have known that after watching Frank mistreat his employees on multiple occasions over the past few years, that he wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to his customers.

We were severely overcharged for our dinner tonight for a mistake made by the bartender, and Frank refused to make it right and made me feel like the biggest piece of crap. He didn’t care that we were long-standing customers, and he flat out said to me, “you’re going to stop coming to a restaurant you’ve been coming to for seven years over a few bucks?”, after refusing to make it right.

First of all, it wasn’t just a few bucks. Our bill was supposed to be $46 before tax. We came in to watch the MNF game and sat at the bar. We had $15 wings, my husband and I each got the $12 pizza/pint of beer deal that they have on game days and my husband got an extra beer for $7…..$15 + $24 + $7 = $46. Our bill ended up being $71 before tip, which was $25 more than we were supposed to pay. He argued that we got a 12” instead of a 10” pizza and that the deal is good for a single item pizza. When I told him that the bartender handed us the menu and told us to pick any pizza, he continued to argue with me. First of all, the offer on your website says ANY pizza (see picture below). And second of all, there aren’t two different size options on the menu, so I don’t know where he was going with that one.

Don’t offer a game day deal if you’re not going to honor it. I tried to handle this with him in a respectful manner, but I was constantly interrupted while he sat there and told me over and over that he can’t afford to offer a $12 pizza/pint of beer deal. Not my problem, Frank. You put the deal together.

Glad you lost a loyal customer over “a few bucks”. At Pacino’s, the customer is NEVER RIGHT.

—————————————————————————— Pacino’s is our go-to in Mesa, it’s by far the best Italian food around. The service over the years has been hit or miss, but has recently improved and we can’t say enough good things about the restaurant. During one of our most recent visits, the chef came to our table to check in on us and asked if we were celebrating anything special. We told him we were actually celebrating our anniversary and he ended up surprising us with the most amazing dessert. Looking forward to...

Originally, I had planned to post a great review and pictures from the 4 times my family has gone to this restaurant. Sadly, the evening of my grandma's birthday on July 6 was so disappointing. The peak of this dinner was that our reservation at 630 followed through and we got seated on time, that is about it. If you have never been to the restaurant, as guests you can see the chefs making the food in the kitchen. Our waitress(also hostess), we could tell she was new-but she was soo very polite and tried her hardest! We had just ordered the shrimp scampi with angel hair. The waitress repeated the order and wrote everything down correctly(I could view the ticket).

The chef put the incorrect noodles in the dish so the waitress went back to correct the dish. When she brought it back to the kitchen, the chef gave her the dirtiest look and I could tell the exchange was not great. As someone who worked in food for years, this scene my family and I witnessed was something I experienced as a server many times. I felt so bad for the waitress because I could tell the dynamic in the kitchen was toxic.

When the dish was ready, the waitress stared at the scampi while it sat in the hot holding bar for a hot minute before she brought it to us. Eventually she brought it to us- and then quickly took off. Everyone at the table tasted it. It was literally pasta, pasta water, sprinkled parsley, and shrimp. No salt, pepper, garlic, or butter. Nothing. We kept waving the waitress down , she gave us a glimpse but kept her head down and went to cash some checks. Once we waved down a waiter nearby , we ordered some pizza instead. When the waitress came back to give us the pizza, her hands were shaking. I felt so bad for her because I could tell she was having a hard time. When the waitress came back she never asked us how we liked our food or anything related to the scampi. Overall, I could tell the situation made her very uncomfortable.

In the past, I have had the shrimp scampi and it’s typically fine. Since I came recently, the sauce is thicker for some reason. But that’s besides the point. My grandma was so embarrassed because she was literally bragging to the people we invited about how delicious the scampi was. To say the least, we...

Nice vibe to this place upon entry.

To begin, the server forgot water, leaving the glasses provided on the table empty. I ordered a coffee, and it was chafé (what brazilians refer to as a drink that is neither coffee nor tea).

As an appetizer, we ordered stuffed mushroom caps, normally served at happy hour. They were very good, and the best part of the meal. Recommended. We ordered from the dinner menu at lunch time. Although one of the higher priced items on the menu, the sea bass was mediocre, lacking vibrant taste. The steak was the highest priced item on the menu, but the composition of the platter was inappropriate because it should have a protien, a starch, and a vegetable. In this case there was no vegetable. That said, the roasted potates were fantastic. The meat quality was below acceptable grade. We ordered spaghetti as an aside led by the notion that pasta was the house specialty. Although I'm a fan of spaghetti meatballs, the spaghetti cried out: rescue me I'm drowning in sauce! The dish presented closer to a soup than a sauce over pasta.

The bar sits to the left and has a lively crowd on occasion. The venue presents a large space, so if you want to dine in peace you may avoid the bar area.

UPDATE: My colleague insisted we visit again, claiming it was usually better than the visit described above. Indeed she wasn't kidding. My second visit was certainly improved. I had the salmon. Delicious. The fish gently flaked apart as it should, an amazing feat considering it may have been frozen at some point. The carrots and broccoli were excellent, and the grain complimented the fish well. Asparagus was good yet the stem was a bit stiff and ever so slightly undercooked, for me. The server was attentive and extremely helpful, almost as if she could read my mind and recommend an order I would enjoy. The calamari was good, but kind of dry and didn't seem fresh. The salmon is recommended. The bread basket was good too. I plan on returning....