Caffe Gelato Restaurant — Restaurant in Newark

Hello Café Gelato Team,

My wife and I have been loyal patrons of Café Gelato for years, celebrating countless special occasions with you, from anniversaries to birthdays. Each visit has always been exceptional, with outstanding food and service. Naturally, we chose your restaurant for our recent anniversary on 11/02/2024, expecting the same high standard. Sadly, this visit left us frustrated, disappointed, and questioning if we’ll ever return.

Our evening started well enough; we were greeted warmly, and the calamari we ordered was delightful. However, it all went downhill from there. We both ordered the filet mignon — I requested mine medium, while my wife ordered hers medium-well. When they arrived, both steaks were severely overcooked. We sent them back, hoping for a quick correction, but after nearly 20 minutes, we received them again. Although the temperature was finally right, the flavor was shockingly disappointing. The seasoning consisted solely of pepper, creating a bitter, unpleasant taste that lingered in the mouth. It felt as if no other seasoning had been used, and the bitterness overwhelmed the entire dish. Adding to the disappointment, my potatoes were cold, and my wife’s Brussels sprouts were hard and undercooked.

We spoke to the manager, who assured us he would address it with the chef. When the steaks returned for the third time, the sides were at last hot, but my steak was now blue rare — far from the medium I had originally requested. By this point, we were beyond frustrated. After yet another attempt, which took another 20 minutes, the steak came back still rare. It was clear that achieving even basic consistency was not within reach that evening.

After nearly two and a half hours of back-and-forth, our anniversary dinner had turned into a long, exhausting ordeal. When I spoke with the manager again, I was shocked by his stance: he insisted on charging us for the appetizer and drinks, claiming he’d done all he could. I explained that we had spent our entire evening just trying to get a simple meal, only to be repeatedly let down by both the kitchen and management. After a prolonged discussion, he reluctantly agreed to comp the meal, but only after a struggle. I cannot believe that, after the repeated errors and inconvenience we endured, we had to push for the full check to be waived.

Our server was professional and tried her best under the circumstances, but the manager’s handling of the situation was unacceptable. If I were in his place, I would have comped the entire check immediately and perhaps offered something to show a genuine apology — dessert, or at the very least, an apology that felt sincere. Instead, we were left with a terrible taste in our mouths, both literally and figuratively.

This was a dismal experience, and we left feeling not only disappointed but also insulted. Café Gelato used to be a favorite, but this experience has made us question whether we’ll ever...

My husband and I were married at Rosewood Farms in Elkton, MD on July 18, 2021. My husband went to the University of Delaware for 8 years as he got his doctorate in Electrical Engineering, so we were familiar with Caffe Gelato’s great desserts and romantic atmosphere after multiple trips over the years. When we first decided on our venue, we really had nothing to go on but their recommended vendor list, so we reached out to the 5 or 6 listed caterers to see what options and pricing they may offer. Although there were several fantastic restaurants, Caffe Gelato stood out for the sheer size and selection available at a price point possible for my husband and I. From the very beginning they expressed their flexibility as they wanted to capture the special mood and feel of our individual wedding vision. They even asked what special types of food and drinks they could perfect for us to make our day special. After a wonderful tasting dinner with a few family members, we were set on Caffe Gelato. My husband and I were planning our whole wedding from our new home in San Diego, CA despite our wedding venue being located in Elkton, MD close by to where we met and grew up. Despite our original planner and point of contact moving on from the restaurant, we received 5-star support, communication, and planning from the owner himself, Ryan, and his wonderful staff (Glenda, Morgan, and Leslye). They immediately gave us a call to let us know that they had seamlessly transitioned the plan and had their new coordinator reach out to us to confirm all of our details would be perfect (Leslye is the sweetest and so responsive with any questions you may have). Despite our nerves and the chaos of post pandemic wedding planning, Caffe Gelato delivered a flawless rehearsal dinner for our guests and made our day stress free and beautiful from my catered breakfast the morning of the wedding day, to the final dessert tables. They even had the time to carefully place custom cookies with each of our guests at their place setting with only a days notice of final table arrangements. I could not recommend Ryan, Glenda, Morgan, Leslye, and the rest of Caffe Gelato more for any couples looking to make sure their day is both stress free and delicious. Ryan was able to make our wedding, and he might have been the best dressed guest at the venue. He and his staff were lightning quick to attend to any needs we had and made the venue look stunning. Thank you Ryan, and best of luck to the many happy couples that decide to use Caffe Gelato in Newark, DE for...

My wife and I had dinner here last night and were very underwhelmed. I don't know if it was due to a lack of staff to begin with or management simply underestimated the amount of diners that would be there for restaurant week on a Sat night but it was clear our server was stretched way too thin (through no fault of her own). Although she did give us a heads up that our drinks would take a little longer than normal because one of the bartenders was in training, which already seems like a non-ideal time for any sort of staff training, it took almost 20 minutes for us to get glasses of wine brought over, and my wife had a glass of white that was served at room temperature.

We both ordered the $30 three course meal. For starters we each got a caprese salad that was delicious but did not have any arugula/other greens with it; this is the first time I've seen that type of salad without any greens. The second course was polenta bruschetta which we did not even receive until we asked for it as we were getting our third course. Another server had to go back to the kitchen to get it, and while the flavor was good it was clear it had been sitting for awhile since the polenta was almost cold.

For the third course, my wife got the ravioli, and like the polenta it had a great flavor but it was obvious that it was not served immediately after it was cooked because it was barely room temperature. I got the lobster tail which was both hot and cooked very well.

After dinner we were not offered dessert or anything else, rather our server just asked if we were ready for the check. I usually like to have a cup of coffee after dinner but in this instance I passed because I didn't know how long it would take or if it would even be hot.

We've eaten here several times before and had not had a bad meal so we were really disappointed about our experience this time around. We will dine there again at some point but we're going to wait until you are able to ensure your restaurant is running more smoothly. As I led with in this review, I don't know what factors contributed to last night's misstep but I do hope you take this feedback seriously as you continue to adapt and plan during this ever changing economic...