Gondola Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Mount Airy

We were on a road trip vacation and stopped overnight in Mount Airy. It was Father's Day, and my wife wanted to take me to a place of my choosing. I love Italian, and reading the reviews for Gondola it sounded pretty good. The expansive menu had my favorites. There were a few negative reviews that were written by people that didn't seem like nuts that concerned me a little, but we went there anyway. When we walked in the place was super clean, quiet and low key, very nicely decorated and reminded us of our favorite Italian Restaurant where we live in Georgia. The smell of the food that hit you walking in the door was great. Our waitress was as good as they get. I couldn't believe how reasonable the prices were, much lower than home and other chains we have eaten at. It was hard to decide, but I had eggplant with spaghetti with meat sauce. My wife had a lemon chicken dish with saffron rice and the best lemon sauce she had ever had. They had a big Greek salad on the menu but would also make it as a side salad, so we had those. Fantastic salad and really big. The creamy dressing was very different and really good too. After being seated the waitress immediately delivered a fresh baked small loaf of bread with a dipping sauce of Italian seasonings and olive oil. Nice touch and delicious. I had sweet tea that was also great. The staff pays attention. The moment we finished our salads the platters of food arrived. Each dish was enough for 2 people! The eggplant melted in your mouth. The spaghetti and meat sauce were perfect. The chicken my wife had was perfectly seasoned and cooked, very tender and the sauce was out of this world good. After eating about half our meal the owner came out, asked how things were, got my wife some extra sauce and thanked us for coming in. We chatted a little more. He had a real concern for everything and wanted to make sure our experience was perfect. It was. And we left with enough food for another satisfying meal. Price was crazy cheap for what we had and the whole experience. I highly recommend Gondola Italian in Mount Airy. Anytime we go by Mount Airy you better believe we'll be making another stop there. Thank you to all the folks at the restaurant, you really enhanced our visit to your nice...

Alright, so - first and most important - enter through the side of the parking lot indicated in the map. The other entrance has a bit of a curb, that could result in car damage, not at the fault of the restaurant.

Second, I'll get the bad news out of the way. One member of my party did get undercooked food - this was brought to the attention of the staff, and swiftly handled by replacing said dish. I could tell that our waitress was distressed as we were about it, so I know that such matters are taken seriously. Mistakes happen - sometimes mistakes that could be really problematic - and how you address them is what really matters.

Despite the one negative aspect of the experience, I still view this restaurant in very high regard. The costs are a little on the pricey side for what the dishes are ($15-25 per person), but I honestly believe they're worth it. Everything I tried (bread and pesto, eggplant parmigiana, strawberry shortcake) was delicious. Which is really saying something! Eggplant is not easy to make right, pesto generally is quite flavorless, spaghetti served at restaurants is generally lackluster or disappointing. Also, the surprising twist on strawberry shortcake - the addition of cream cheese and lemon - works really well! And I don't like cheese, including cream cheese, so the fact that it was something I wanted to eat was impressive!

The staff at the restaurant graciously allowed me to take pictures, which I did as much as possible because the decor is beautiful. The lighting level is romantic, the choice in art and decoration is very sophisticated, and the arrangement of the interior tables and ambience give the restaurant an intimate and romantic feel, so I think it would be a wonderful choice for a date. The patio room and private room spaces both are set up well for small...

The waitresses and the young lady that stated she was head of the staff were completely rude and unapologetic when we found a large, hard, sharp piece of plastic in the salad. We called the waitress over and showed her the large, hard, sharp plastic that we my brother pulled out if his mouth. She literally grabbed it and walked away. Didnt say a word. No one came and spoke to us after the fact either. When my brother came up to pay, they had taken the salad off the ticket, but mind you the salad was included with the entree. I went up there to speak to the head of staff to try and speak with the manager and she quickly caught a terrible attitude. Stating that she has had a busy day and had reserved the back room for us all day. Which we were never told about, when we called days before to reserve they were rude from the get go saying they cant reserve and we were never told they were going to hold a room for us. We have dined here many of time and have always enjoyed the food. This time really left a bad taste, not only for finding a shrap object in our food but the attitude from that women was the worst experience I've had from a restaurant staff. She should have some kind of repercussion to having spoke to any customers the way she did. It was a simple issue that if handled properly could have been ignored. I can not ignore how she handled this. Hoping to speak to...