Adriana's — Restaurant in New Haven

I will start by saying that this is the third Mother's Day dinner our group of six diners had at Adriana's. The food and service in the two previous years was stellar. This year was markedly different and not in a good way. I am not happy writing this review, but I must report it as it happened. I also realize that Mother's Day is an incredibly busy day. But that shouldn't be "new news" so our experience still should have been much better. We had a 2:30 seating and I arrived separately from the rest of our party. I waited almost 15 minutes at the front desk to be acknowledged - again it was ridiculously crowded, so a little get out of jail free card there. Generally, service was more "rushed" and abrupt than other years. But when you have a 98 year old mother who is hard of hearing, servers need to be a little more patient. Our appetizers arrived reasonably promptly and were the best part of the meal. But it took another almost 45 minutes after the apps to get our entrees. We all ordered different dishes but the unanimous verdict was the food seemed to be somewhat carelessly prepared and at best was only mediocre - nowhere near what we enjoyed in previous years. Maybe our orders were rushed because we waited so long - other parties who came in after us were served entrees well before us. Whatever the reason, it was both baffling and very disappointing. The final issue, which actually makes me angry, was that when I went to use the washroom before leaving, the place was a disgusting mess - the floor near the toilet was soaking wet with I don't know what and the trash pail was overflowing. I found out later from one of our party that they used that washroom when they first arrived, saw the same thing and mentioned it to a staff member - yet nothing was addressed. Even with the busyness that day, there really is no excuse for a washroom to be in that condition. In fact, that is all the more reason for careful attention to that. If I had gone in there before the meal, I would never have stayed to eat. Since they had specific seatings that day and clearly weren't taking "walk-ins", I don't understand the level of chaos we observed. All in all a very sadly...

I can't sing the praises of this place enough!

Our 1st time dining here & we were treated like old friends. We chose to dine outside as the inside was pretty packed. Our waiter, Carlo, made sure that we were comfortable & made wonderful suggestions for our dinner. Bread and refreshments were brought out immediately after seating & we were served very quickly afterward.

Each plate was magnificently portioned and deliciously prepared. One plate of spaghetti & meatballs was enough to feed our 3 children & we brought home enough to feast on for at least 2days! We also ordered Orecchiette Rapa E Salsiccia (orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage), Bistecca Di Manzo Alla Griglia (marinated grilled rib-eye w/sauteed Vegetables & mashed potatoes) & a lovely dish of Parpadelle Alastico (parpadelle with lobster meat, artichoke hearts, touch of tomatoes in sherry cream sauce). Kids had sprite, hub had a shot of tequila ( that came highly recommended by Carlo but of course I've forgotten the name, may edit to add in the future lol) & I had Cupcake Moscato which was delicious. I'm no drink or food critic but I can't imagine going anywhere else for Italian fare!

Now Idk if this has anything to do with the establishment but I can't neglect to mention that when it came time for the bill, Carlo informed us that another patron had paid for our meal including a tip!! We were floored & beyond grateful, my husband was even brought to tears. The gentleman who did so left before we could properly thank him.

So, whereever you are kind sir, you made our family's night & Adriana's made new, lifelong...

First of all, my boyfriend and I were seated in a very awkward table where the staff decided to sit a group of 5 people so close to us that one of their elbows could have easily hit us. Needless to say, the staff could have seated that group to the other table which was right beside their original table. I then asked politely if we could be seated to a table nearby which they did BUT then we got a different waiter who seemed annoyed to have us as his additional table. He treated his other table with much attentiveness and politeness but with us I even felt he was kind of racist towards me. He rarely came by to our table to check on us and when I ordered a pasta fagioli, he then proceeded with an attitude saying: “That’s it?”. I was caught off guard and thought the dish was not enough food and he cared about me eating enough, but no! The dish was as big as my head, the only problem there was that the dish was $9 instead of the $30+ that he wanted me to order. My partner did order a $40 dish and I had 2 different cocktails along with dessert so we weren’t being cheap. At the end he took FOREVER to give us the check in comparison to the previous table he attended. For the food, it was terrible, pasta fagioli was very bland and one dimension. My boyfriend enjoyed his dish which was the parpadelle alastico. The drinks were really good at least. Creme Brûlée tasted like the torch they used for it. Overall, not going back there, the decore was super outdated, the staff looked stressed and unhappy, and some of the waiters were rude. I prefer its sister restaurant which is the new...