East of Italy — Restaurant in New Orleans

I am not a person who leaves reviews typically, but I am so disappointed by our meal tonight that I felt like I had to give others an opportunity to avoid our experience.

My wife and I ordered the lasagna, shrimp vermicelli, and the crab stuffed mushrooms for carryout. When I went in to pick up our order I had high hopes - the place looked clean and the waitress was polite. When we got the food home a few minutes later it very quickly became apparent that we had wasted $50.

The stuffed mushrooms were very dark and dry and were inedible despite giving them multiple attempts. My honest hope is that they came out of a box in the back of a freezer somewhere, because the only other option in my mind is that they were leftovers from a previous service that had been reheated. It's impossible for me to imagine that someone set out with fresh ingredients and ended up with this result.

The shrimp Vermicelli was not as awful as the mushrooms, but it wasn't something I would recommend, The Shrimp were poorly seasoned and dry. There were a total of 6 individual shrimp atop a small pile of vermicelli noodles. The noodles themselves were sitting in a pool of oil and tasted like nothing except for raw garlic and oil. There was no indication that Parmesan cheese or butter had ever even been within sight of the dish, despite the menu's description.

My wife ate the lasagna which was completely unexceptional. I had a few bites and wouldn't say that it tasted bad, but it was impossible to justify the price considering it was the quality and portion size one would expect from a microwave lunch.

The included bread was clearly bought in a package and microwaved. I won't comment on the "house salads" because we didn't eat them, but I very much doubt that some iceberg lettuce in a styrofoam clamshell would change my opinion of this restaurant.

Ultimately, I feel like I just spent $50 to bum me out and force me to eat ramen noodles on a Friday...

HORRIBLE EXAMPLE OF MANAGEMENT AND SERVICE!!! Used to be a regular customer!!! I used to LOVE coming here, but today, I sat outside, had multiple employees walk past me going inside, BUT NO ONE said, Hello! NOR DID ANYONE COME BACK OUT to say, "we are not open yet" or ANYTHING else!!!! Another customer that parked about 10 seconds ahead of me, went in, got their food to go and left WITH their food. I stopped here to eat BEFORE I have to go work, BUT NOW, I AM LEAVING AND I HAVE TO GO GET FAST FOOD AND EAT on my way to work!! Another customer just walked in, said, "Hello!" to me went in got their food and left. It has been well OVER 10 minutes now, another employee just walked out and went to their vehicle to leave, Again, NO "Hello!," and NO "Has anyone come out to take your order?!" A 3rd customer has now gone in and left with food!! I was here FOR 20 MINUTES, NOW I AM LEAVING and POSTING THIS!! A LITTLE COURTESY, AND THIS REVIEW WOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. It IS A SHAME, Because I WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO ENJOYING A RELAXED MEAL BEFORE work. I did NOT expect to receive ONLY...

My mom and I used to eat here frequently, a few years ago. Last Saturday, I bought a sandwich for my mom, dad, and myself, with an order of garlic fries. My mom had an Italian sandwich, my dad had chicken parmesan, and I had an avocado sandwich with chicken. My mom and dad enjoyed their sandwiches, but rotten avocados were all over my sandwich! I never think to open a sandwich up when I am ordering food to-go, but this is one occasion where I would've saved some money. To top it all off, the three sandwiches plus an order of garlic fries that were "ok", ended up being over $40!!! These are the same sandwiches that would've been $7.95 a little while back, not $10 or even $15 like they are now. The quality has certainly suffered, and if I weren't feeding two other people at the time, I would've demanded a refund for the HORRIBLY rotten avocado sandwich they half-assed prepared. Needless to say, I will NEVER spend my money there anymore. THIS...