Vito’s Pizza & Italian Ristorante — Restaurant in Mesa

Absolutely dreadful food. I can only think of one food experience in my life that has been worse.

We went here with a gift card and were hoping for just a quick free meal, and had low expectations. Somehow, Vito’s failed to meet them.

Let’s start with what we ordered, in the order it came out of the kitchen:

Bread and butter: it looked like someone had stomped on it. The bread was way too sweet. It reminded me of how Ireland had to tell Subway that their bread couldn’t be called bread, but instead cake, because of how much sugar was in it.

Caesar salad: it came with 2 thin strips of red bell pepper inexplicably placed on top of romaine lettuce and pre-grated parm (not the actual stuff). Tasteless dressing. There was an option to add anchovies; I shudder to think how they would be included if not already incorporated in the dressing.

Minestrone: leftover tasteless vegetable water.

Bacon-wrapped scallops: the texture of the bacon was too soft, and the texture of the scallop was too chewy. It was like they mixed up how to cook both. Served on top of the same bagged romaine. Edit: apparently it's not bagged. I'm more impressed that they managed to get freshly chopped romaine looking and tasting like the bagged stuff.

Lobster ravioli: I almost gagged when this was placed on the table. Covered in barely cooked, gelatinous-looking mushrooms. Eating one, it was like it had been rinsed in warm water before immediately being placed in the sauce. Absolutely no seasoning, and no apparent sauté in oil or butter before being thrown into the sauce. And oh boy, the sunset sauce. It tasted vaguely of cream and tomatoes, and not much else. Had to douse it in peppercorn, chili flakes, and salt to get it edible. Finally, the ravioli. They’re supposed to be lobster, but it was more like ricotta that might have been in the same room as a lobster at one point.

Lasagna: we thought there was no way you could mess up a lasagna, so we ordered it. Well. It said meat sauce. It was, with similar description as the ravioli, as if crushed tomatoes had been in the same room as some ground beef at one point. It had an impressive amount of fennel for what traditionally is supposed to be a bolognese; this had the flavor of a ragu, without the meat (remember, it was called a meat sauce). But the most ridiculous part, was that peering inside, it was like they didn’t layer any of this sauce in between the sheets of pasta; there was just dry, crumbly “ricotta”. The sauce was just poured on top.

Spumoni: hard to screw this up. Very good. I imagine it’s just store bought. edit: lol i was right

Tiramisu: Similar opinion as the spumoni. I’d be happily surprised if they actually make this here.

Finally, the service was fine, but the atmosphere was strange, we felt out of place. Kids were running around and stomping. We will not be returning. We don’t understand how this has such a high rating with such atrocious food.

Edit: in response to the response:

If your cooks have been there for 30 years, they probably still cook like it's 30 years ago. You miss the point of my review if you think that my complaint is about food not being fresh (which, some of it wasn't, like the bread). It's great that you have fresh produce and homemade sauces, but if it's not cooked well and in the right balance, without the salt and fat and acids that make food taste good (especially Italian American food, which leans more into dense transformative cooking, rather than the focus on terroir in Italian cookery), it means nothing. Heating up mushrooms and putting them in the sauce with what tasted like no seasoning and no incorporation into the dish is not...

My family has been eating at Vito's for 35 years. During that time, the outdoor patio rarely had its curtains closed. In the last few years, the curtains are being closed all of the time, even during beautiful outdoor weather.

We live in a city that has 7-8 months of intense heat that we have to suffer through. During the other 4 months, when we eat out, we want to be outside on patios, as much as possible.

We have literally not eaten at this restaurant in months because now in our beautiful winter and spring weather, those curtains are closed all the time. They are very heavy black curtains and once they are closed, you feel like you are sitting in a cave. It is dark and depressing and the antithesis of being unobstructed to the outdoor views and air.

This completely defeats all purpose of sitting outside on a patio. By definition, a patio is" a recreation area that adjoins a dwelling and is adapted especially to outdoor dining."

Today, we sat on the outdoor patio, where the curtains were completely open and many people were enjoying eating out there.

When we were almost through with our meal, we witnessed the management asking people if the wind was too much and if they were chilly and if they wanted her to close the patio curtains. Several people that she asked said yes.

My husband and I feel completely discounted and disregarded as we were also patrons and longtime patrons of this establishment and our opinion was not asked or counted.

I do not and cannot understand why people are being asked if they want those curtains closed. They have a choice to sit inside. The restaurant was not on a wait.

So the message being sent is that if people don't dress properly to be outside or simply get cold easily or don't want wind , that the management will facilitate their feelings and they will be prioritized over patrons who want to sit outside unobstructed by dark curtains and who intentionally came prepared with their clothing and wanted to experience the lovely light winds and seventy five degree weather.

My husband and I eat out at least 5 times a week and I can honestly say that no other patio in the valley closes their curtains, unless it is raining.

My request to management would be this:

*Please stop offering people a choice to close the curtains when they can sit inside the restaurant. Please tell them that the curtains remain opened unless the restaurant is on a wait or the weather is actually raining or the winds are actually, blowing heavily.

Why have a patio if you are going to do this? It is so completely...

Today I pulled up Tripadvisor to find a place for my mother and I to have lunch. I am from Texas and so I don't know the area well. When we pulled up on the road it is difficult to see what the place was going to look like and then you pull into the parking lot and you think...how cute and adorable. Such an Italian vibe! But it got even better because you get out of your vehicle and you can already smell the italian food. We were met immediately by a sweet woman who said she'd worked there for 20 years and that they just celebrated 30 years as a restaurant. You could tell this was a family run business and that they took absolute pride in their business and staff. The staff was amazing, the atmosphere was cute and clean, and the food was phenomenal. I am gluten free and that was another reason we chose the restaurant because they offered a GF menu. That is difficult to find at an italian restaurant. They provided me with an entire GF menu...and I"m not talking about 2-5 items...I"m talking 20 or more items. I decided to go with an individual build your own pizza that is GF. They make their own pizza dough (it is not pre-purchased...thank goodness)...and it was actually GOOD! and I'm not even stretching the truth on this one. I never would have known. This is a GO TO spot for sure when I come to Arizona again. Go and try it...you won't regret it. We went around 3 in the afternoon which is late for lunch and early for dinner and I'd imagine it would be more crowded but it was still a hopping place at 3 so that tells you...it is...