Venezia New Orleans — Restaurant in New Orleans

I've lived in New Orleans my entire life. It's been years since I ate here and I can't believe how much the place has diminished in quality and service. It was a Sunday night and albeit they were slammed. We waited over 30 minutes to be seated. They seated our family in this tiny dark room in the back, near tables where people were drinking heavily. After 20 minutes after no one even approaching our table, my husband asked the man who seated us if we had a server. About 5 minutes later some guy came up and asked if we wanted drinks. 10 minutes later he brought our drinks and that's it. Another 20 minutes went by. We were there to celebrate my son's birthday and he was saying how he felt we have been forgotten about. Sad. I got up and approached the same person who seated us and explained to him how no one had greeted us, asked us about the menu, it was dark, we were there to celebrate and found the atmosphere depressing instead because of the lack of attention we are receiving. He apologized and another 10 minutes later the same person that took our drink order came up to me and asked if I was depressed!! Are you kidding me?? I told him I was most certainly not depressed but we were not experiencing any sort of a restaurant experience here. We told him we wanted food and he said okay. He took our order. He didn't talk to us, bring us bread or anything else. We watched as all the other tables were served dishes after dishes and their servers spoke with them and laughed. 45 minutes later our drinks were empty and no one had bothered to ask if we wanted a refill, the bartender at Gilbert came up and offered us complimentary classes of wine trying to remedy what was already the worst dining experience we've ever had. If it was not for him, we would have completely walked out on the restaurant. He was kind, friendly and clearly trying to do as much as he could to help.

It was over an hour before we got our food and it was just okay. The veal Pontchartrain that I ordered literally had three unseasoned shrimp on top, no crab meat no artichoke, nothing like the pictures from previous guests. My daughter's meatballs and spaghetti was bland. And they informed my husband that they had no Alfredo sauces and no cream sauces even while we saw many people being served them. He ended up ordering the seafood stuffed mushrooms which had no seafood and tasted like they were stuffed with mere breadcrumbs. Not good. Another family behind us was equally as mortified at the service and the profanity spewing table next to us with a woman so loud, drunk and heartless that she openly ridiculed us and the other family for being astonished at how many times she said the f word with our teenage children. The tall stocky, female server of that table had joined in the ridicule when she would go to bring them their food/drinks making the atmosphere even more uncomfortable. How rude and insensitive. Unfortunately this will be our last time at...

Summary: This place is bada$$.

I tried going to the restaurant last Thursday after grad school, but the place was packed. I just assumed it was because it was a restaurant in New Orleans so, therefore, people come in regardless. After dining with them tonight, however, I realize that there is a reason so many people flock to this restaurant.

The restaurant itself is an older, darker, typical Italian restaurant complete with red and white checkered tablecloths and a busy yet still atmospheric environment. The employees were all dressed well and everyone was diligently working. I decided to call in and have my name added to the waitlist so that I wouldn't miss out like I did last week. I am in school for hotel, resort, and tourism management so I understand how important customer service and hospitality is. That being said, V host I spoke with was very friendly and, for once, I actually lucked out eating alone because there was a small table near the bar available without a wait. He even approached me after my meal, address me by my name, and asked what I thought of the meal as well as the experience. That is a 100% PRO move right there.

My server was absolutely incredible. I eat at restaurants multiple times daily and have a pretty good idea what good customer service skills are at this point. This gentleman not only met my expectations, but exceeded them. He said he had been working at the restaurant for 15 years and I could definitely tell. His experience and knowledge was impeccable as he recommended multiple items and even explained a little bit of background about the restaurant. I decided to order veal cannelloni, which was one of his recommendations. It absolutely did not disappoint. The way he described it was perfect when he said that it was, "a smaller portion compared to other items on the menu, but still very rich and filling." I can say without a doubt that it was the best veal I've ever eaten and this certainly isn't my first time having a dish like that. I forgot to order garlic bread when my entree came out and he was able to round some up for me in no time. I'm really big on customer service and having a high-functioning waitstaff; these folks are absolutely killing it by being prompt, polite, and efficient.

The menu prices are surprisingly affordable considering the high quality food and service that you receive. I definitely found myself leaving more than a 20% standard tip. This restaurant is perfect for any occasion whether it is eating alone, bringing a date, or even for a birthday celebration like someone was having tonight in the back. If you're in New Orleans and looking for some quality authentic Italian, then I highly...

We came for Mother's Day lunch. I am not naive enough to believe that nothing would go wrong on a holiday visit to a restaurant, but we had a terrible experience. The restaurant did not have our reservation on their table map. When I inquired about why they would not have my reservation when I had made it about a week prior, they said that it is likely in their big book, but somehow did not make it to their table map. So we then had to wait for them to have an empty table and clean it, which was around 20 to 30 minutes after our scheduled reservation time which we had arrived early to. The waitstaff barely apologized and had an "it is what it is" attitude about it. Once we got seated, it look 15 minutes for the waiter to come over to take our drinks order. Since we had already waited so long to eat, we gave him the drinks and food order all in one. We only got one drink refill the entire time we were there. All the food was delicious and came out relatively fast, but we still ended up eating an hour after our reservation time and were all starving at that point. I had one issue with my chicken Parmesan. The spaghetti was brought out in a separate plate from the chicken, and it looked like it had been just doused in red sauce. I asked the waiter (after I had to flag him down) to bring me a spaghetti spoon to aid in eating the noodles because there was so much sauce the noodles were slipping off my fork- he brought me out a plate of barely sauced noodles instead. I sent it back and reiterated my asking for a spoon. I don't expect freebies, but I was surprised no to have been offered a discount or an appetizer for the mishandling of our reservation and subsequent long wait to be seated.

Another issue I saw take place- this poor older couple had arrived for their scheduled reservation time only to be rudely informed by the hostess that the hostess had tried to call them, but their calls kept going straight to voicemail. She was calling because the restaurant had accidentally reserved their table in the back room where they usually host large parties, and they were not able to accommodate this couple at a table any longer. Their solution was to reserve two spots at the bar for them instead. They showed no remorse. No apologies. They were just like either you can take sitting at the bar or you know, we can cancel your reservation, which I thought was absolutely despicable that they would make that mistake and then make it seem like it was the customer’s fault for not answering...