Geno's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Monroe

The atmosphere could be considered "charming" but really could use some updating. Seating was confusing, we only saw a small hand-written sign to seat ourselves after looking around for a minute whilst standing amongst other diners. We were not greeted by anyone and made our way to the patio.

Our server is hopefully new, otherwise she has no business being a server. She never introduced herself and had limited knowledge of the menu. We all ordered waters with lemon. The lemon slices were very old and dried out, not what you would expect for an Italian restaurant on a Saturday night. We order an appetizer and our entrees at the same time. I ordered a large salad obviously as my entree and my husband's meal came with a side salad.

We didn't have to wait long for my entree salad to be delivered. Before we had any Silverware, before our appetizer, before my husband's side salad. Just me and a large salad with nothing to eat it with. After a few more minutes we asked about our appetizer and were told that a larger party was getting all the bread and we would have to wait. I can understand having a backed up kitchen but that was a poor way for her to let us know she was more concerned with her other table.

We finally got all our entrees and silverware. My husband ordered a "platter" that was very small for the price. It included the lasagna which very much tasted like it had been frozen. His meat all was burnt and his manicotti also tasted like it had been frozen. I thought this kind of stuff only happens on "Kitchen Nightmares".

It maybe a hometown favorite but if you've ever eaten at a real Italian restaurant that cares about quality and service you will be disappointed. Just go to...

Left the restaurant about 30 minutes ago.

First thing first, this place has AN AWFUL SMELL. I just made it home and my clothes SMELL like the inside of the place. The smell dominates the food taste. I'm trying to eat but all I keep doing is smelling this awful "old lady house" smell. Seriously, this alone would ruin this for me. ON TOP OF THAT, the food is simply not great. I ordered a chicken alfredo and couldn't bring myself to finish it after an HOUR wait to get it. Took it home because maybe I just didn't like it because of the SMELL messing with me, but.. the dang to-go box SMELLS like the restaurant! Seriously, they have to fix the smell of the place. I understand it's an old house and that's the "charm" of it, but the smell is awful.

Secondly, they were slammed, and I know this means that people are being pulled in many directions, but the table behind us was an 8-top and we were a 2-top. The 8-top got bread, drinks, and salads, and they came in after 15 minutes after us...We waited an hour and received no bread, had to deal with the awful smell, just to finally received really bland food.

Also, the restroom is outside????

I'm not a person that writes reviews like this, ever. I'm not a person ranting for fun. Seriously, this part of Monroe has much better food options to choose from and you should pick those. Do not deal...

The bad: I don't recommend the olive oil and herb pasta with Italian sausage—I normally love both of those things, and the description sounded tasty. Three people in my party got it, and it just tasted strange—kind of bitter, like the herbs had gone bad maybe? We tried to "doctor it up" with parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, but no dice. The sausage was bland, which was disappointing, because it was described as homemade. Maybe we just went on an off night. I would also love to see salad included in the price of more of the entrees—the salads are pretty small (about 3/4 c of salad, just eyeballing it), so I thought $4 was kind of steep to charge on the side with a $11 plate of pasta.

The good: The server did recommend a white wine that was good, and the marinara sauce that came with the mozzarella bread appetizer was very flavorful and not too sweet—if I come again, I'll definitely get something with the red sauce. Others in my party ordered the fish and gave it rave reviews. Others ordered chicken parmesan and lasagna, and said it was nothing to write home about, but not bad either. We all found the ambiance very charming, we were able to eat on the patio and it was very pleasant with lights in the trees and the classic chianti bottles...