Roma — Restaurant in North Arlington

My family and I came here for repast after my uncle’s funeral and we are so appalled and disappointed over the whole ordeal. My aunts came here a few days prior and had a meal to check out their food and service. All seemed well and the owner charlie raved about the unlimited and great food. It’s an unfortunate time during covid and it was hard to accommodate everyone as we had to request some to go meals but as time went on charlie got more irritable and cranky and resisted accommodations. First and foremost the food was subpar. My neighborhood pizzeria makes better Italian food. Idk if it’s because they cannot cooked for a large scale of people but the food was just not good. I enjoyed the bread and the gelato but that was it. It was disappointing as well because they only brought out the coffee and gelato when half of the party left and we had to ask them to bring the dessert out. The service was terrible. There were two tables with over 10 ppl and he only served a platter of shrimp scampi so we ordered more. Charlie advised that the food was unlimited so if we ran out of food of course we were going to order more but when we went to order more he lied and said they ran out. My aunt had to speak to him and then he finally admitted if he gave more he wouldn’t be making any profit. You should not advertise and rave that your menu is unlimited family style if that is not what you intend to do. My family does not care about the money and if he was honest we would have just paid for the platter. During a time of mourning and days of unrest and the long day of the funeral, everyone is hungry and tired. We want the best for our family and he was shameless in his approach. When we asked for to go carton because we had leftovers from the veggies and penne (that seemed to be the only thing he gave in abundance as well as the bread. I supposed because it’s “cheap”) the server told us that they are not allowed to give us any carton and I heard someone said it’s cause we’re going to pack up all the food. Damn right we want our leftovers. We paid for it. This is not a buffet. We are allowed to take our leftovers if we want to. After much going back and forth, a server said he received the ok to give us to go carton. How insulting can they be?! Then there were our to go family style for the families that could not attend because of covid reasons. Charlie advise that the to go meals would be the same amount as the servings held at the restaurant. He charged us the SAME amount! Meanwhile, I checked the bag and we were missing so many meals. We were missing bread, clams casino, charcuterie, potatoes, and veal. Not to mention they only gave us a quarter of what was served at the restaurant and we paid full price. My cousin literally checked and she got like 5 shrimp. We also ordered 12 but they gave us only 9. In all we had 56 ppl in attendance and 9 to go but we paid for 75 ppl and did not even complain about the price. But here charlie goes complaining about him not making money off of an extra two platter of shrimp scampi and wouldn’t even allow us to have to go cartons. The experience was absolutely disgusting and he has no compassion and regards for ppl who are mourning a death. He did not even have the decency to come speak to us at the end of the event. He sent one of his servers to close us out and advise the coworker that he stepped out. Meanwhile, I overheard someone said he was in his office. As an owner you should not be in the hospitality industry if you’re not hospitable. I don’t know if it was discrimination or his lack of decency but I implore anyone to not come here for repast or any meal. They even forgot to give my aunt back her credit card and she lived an hour away! If you want exceptional service and nice people try Gelone’s near by. The service is exceptional and it’s byob. We should’ve just stuck with gelones. This place is a joke. They do not deserve to be on the cemetery’s...

We regret every second coming here for a family Repast luncheon. My sister and I figured that it would be convenience for everyone since the place is just across the street from Holy Cross Cemetery and besides Roma Restaurant is on the cemetery referral list. When reviewing the menu with the restaurant Manager/Owner, Charlie, we discussed about the food and serving portion. We stressed the important that we wanted to make sure everyone is content, meaning generous portion including additional appetizers/entrees/drinks if any of our loved ones wanted more. We made sure the restaurant owner understands that we had no issues paying additional charges. In addition, we also made some changes to the unlimited family style menu and we had agreed to pay additional charges pp. Charlie repeatedly said that there would be “so much food” and assured us not to worry. We were relieved thinking that we might have found the “right” place.

On the Repast day, when I came in, Charlie seemed “busy” working behind the bar and showing no interest to come out to greet/meet with me and to go over any necessary details/concerns as expected from a service Manager. Charlie was irritated, annoyed, angry, extremely rude, and downright nasty throughout the event. When we were able to talk to him, he was short and angry, declining our request for better service and more food, rolling his eyes and quickly walking away to serve the other customers. It was the most unpleasant and nauseating experience having to deal with such disgusting demeanor.

Having to deal with Charlie’s impertinence and disinclination to work with us, we also had to endure the horrendous service from the waiters and pathetic puny portion of food that they served. We constantly had to ask for water/soda refills. When asking for more bread, food, etc., the waiters would give us shameful excuses such as; “we ran out”, “talk to the owner if you want more”, etc. It was the worst four long hours we had to endure at this place dealing with the most unprofessional/unethical people and unacceptable service. Then to top it off, the owner didn’t have the decency to come speak with us at the end of the event. The waiter slapped us a receipt where they also included a few extra no service rendered charges (to go orders-many orders were missing and only a quarter of what was served at the restaurant was given that we paid full price for), and a 20% gratuity. When asked to see the Manager, we were simply told he was not available. After paying, I was handed only the receipt and not my credit card. Since I don’t live in the area, I had to send a family member to go there and pick up the card as they refused to mail it to me. What a disastrous experience!

It is unfortunate that my family had to experience such discrimination from this place. The restaurant Owner and his team were very disrespectful to my family. Roma Restaurant doesn’t deserve to be on Holy Cross Cemetery Repast referral list. Please DO NOT take your...

I was with my family this past wknd for a repast lunch. This was an especially sad time for my family. We were expecting to enjoy a nice lunch. As soon as we stepped in, we felt very uncomfortable and neglected. The service, food and behavior were extremely poor and unacceptable - the food was subpar, there was not enough food for everyone. We had to flag down the servers to get their attention.

They did not hold up their end of the bargain when the luncheon was negotiated as Unlimited yet on the day of the service, there was inadequate food, unacceptable service, and the to-go orders' portion for family members who were unable to attend was a just quarter of the food that was served at the luncheon, and they had the audacity to charge the same price. Very unacceptable!!

And we were overcharged too - additional charges were added to the bill. We graciously and generously gave them a tip, which was so underserved for the inexcusable treatment!!!!

If I could, I would give this a NEGATIVE REVIEW!! It is incredibly sad how we were treated here, as if we were lepers, especially on this particular day. Do not come here, they are DISCRIMINATORY and DO NOT DESERVE YOUR BUSINESS!!

PLEASE SAVE YOUR APPETITE, MONEY AND PATRON ANOTHER RESTAURANT WHO WILL PLEASANTLY SERVE YOU DELICIOUS FOOD WITHOUT THE DISCRIMINATION!

NEGATIVE STARS...