Luigi's Trattoria — Restaurant in Myrtle Beach

This was an email sent that wasn't replied to: First time customer and I'm sorry to say was extremely disappointed. Ordered online, was texted a link for tracking order. 1 hour wait, no problem it's Friday and fourth of July weekend at the beach. I work at a resort on ocean blvd and only get 30 minutes for dinner break, used that all up just picking up the order. It was not ready although tracker stated it was as I had been outside waiting for the order as the ETA stated 645/650. Just getting in the door was a nightmare. Waiting customers blocking the doorway outside and in the foyer, literally up on top of yhe diners to the left when you walk in. Bar was worse, wait staff couldnt qalk through.....getting someone to help me took flagging down 3 different people. 19 minutes after food was done per tracker I was handed my order. Sat in the parking lot to eat and found everything was cold!!! Bruschetta toasts were like rocks. Bruschetta was chopped tomatoes and negligible herbs/seasoning, and parmesan was not real shaved cheese....overpriced and pitiful appetizer. Meatballs were not homemade tasting at all. Commercial IQF is what it seems like. And Chicken Francese was more like omelet with some chicken. I understand it's dredged in egg but it was more egg coating then Chicken. Chicken egg foo young in appearance and taste. The sauce wasn't good at all, hardly lemon or garlic, and definitely not enough of it to coat pasta. Packet of imitation lemon butter sauce maybe? Basic salt and pepper was lacking in everything. And from what I observed while waiting inside; tables get warm "homemade" bread and butter when dining in, but not the take out orders? I could and would have added some salt and pepper to the food myself but no cutlery or Napkins were included which is where usually S and P packets are included. Luckily I had a spoon in my glove box. I would have gone back in to speak to someone but had no time left and parking lot was blocked up with cars waiting for a parking spot. As a restaurant all these are good problems to have, lots of customers means a successful night, maybe kitchen couldn't keep up and that affected the dishes?? I tried to call and no answer; I saw how busy it was and thats understandable, I tried to call through link on app in case that might have had an answer and that didn't even have a good working phone number. I then get a text after I'd left telling me food is ready for pick up; almost 30 minutes after it was supposed to be. Failed on many fronts today. Pics attached of all of the above.... Hopefully someone can reach out to me with an anticipated resolution at your earliest...

Where do I begin? We had a reservation for 7:15pm but arrived at 7:10pm. The hostess was busy running all around the restaurant. We were seated at 7:25pm. Someone brought us water and bread and then maybe 10 minutes later our server came to introduce herself and go through the menu. We didn’t want any appetizers and knew what entrees we wanted. We discovered that both sets of our silverware were dirty so we asked for more. 20 minutes later the server came back and informed that they were out of the soup that came with my meal. She brought me an Italian wedding soup instead that was horrid. Ugh it was awful! I exchanged it for salad (and so did the table across from me). At 8:15 we were informed that the kitchen was behind so it was taking a long time. At 8:45pm we were still sitting there with no food. By 9:00pm our food arrives. I ordered lobster ravioli ($20) and there were five pieces of ravioli in the bowl. I stared at it in disbelief! I asked her if the portion was correct and she confirmed that it was. Oh well, it must be good and full of lobster, right? No! I cut one in half and tasted it. The pasta, filling and sauce were all cold and bland! I don’t even know what it was but it sure wasn’t cheesy or full of lobster. How did I not notice the lack of steam coming from this bowl or that the bowl was not even hot? I told the server and asked her to feel the temp of the food and she confirmed it wasn’t hot. She asked me to give her a minute to see if she could ask the kitchen to make another one as fast as possible. Are you kidding me? It took at least an hour for me to get that bowl! I politely told her no thank you. I just didn’t trust anything else and I was fine. She offered us a free dessert and my husband chose the New York style cheesecake. 5 minutes later we discovered that there was nothing “New Yorkish” about that cheesecake. There was no crust and it had a watery artificial strawberry syrup drizzled on the top. We paid our bill, quickly left and will...

Outstanding!! The hardest part of moving down South from the Northeast is finding authentic Italian food. Growing up in New England, I’m used to being able to go into the North End of Boston or walk into a hole-in-the-wall in the suburbs and get excellent Italian. I know, just like people who grew up in NYC, New Haven, etc., I’ve been lucky with the quality of food I’ve eaten.

Since moving to North Carolina, it’s the complete opposite, and I’ve walked into some appalling places. People have their opinions, and nine times out of 10, the Italian sites locals recommend are closer to the dog poop at Olive Garden than being authentic.

However, Myrtle Beaches Italian food scene is really good, and some of the closest authentic Italian food I’ve had in the Carolinas. I used to go to Ciao, but something about the atmosphere, the quality of food, and the menu options at Luigi’s tops it. My baseline when I try a new place is the Chicken Parm because it’s a great way to judge a place before you dive into the other dishes. It seems like a simple dish, but many places down here screw it up. I took one bite, and i found nirvana.

I also appreciated the level of service and not feeling rushed through the meal. It felt like an experience instead of a transaction which a lot of restaurants screw up these days too!

I can’t...