Piccolo Mondo Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in North Coventry Township

We went here Sat night 6/14 for our 11 year Anniversary dinner. This place came highly recommended and maybe this was just a one off but we will never go back. I made a reservation for 6pm. Got there and we were seated by 6:10pm, so far so good right. The server started out with a lot of energy, the place was busy and we were excited. We decided to start with the Calamari after my wife asked if it was small and crispy or if it would be larger cuts he said small and showed a small gap with his fingers. He brought us an assortment of breads with seasoned olive oil for dipping. It was literally oil with small amount of green flake and stem in it. The oil was good but had no real flavor from the seasoning. The bread consisted of 2 each of a pizza like slice with tomato sauce (the only one that had real flavor to it)  garlic balls/knots that were rolled in oil and had some garlic on it and 2 slices of a white Italian style baguette. It was bland. We get the calamari after about 10 minutes and it comes out thick cuts barely any breading and my wife's face said it all with her first bite. She looked like she was going to vomit because the texture was so bad. It lacked flavor was tough and chewy and just creepy the way it was prepared. We both forced ourselves to try to enjoy it anyway eating another 3 or 4 pieces but it was just not good. A girl came by and took the bread bowl and small plates away and looked at the calamari that we had pushed over to the side and just walked away I guess thinking we were going to eat it. We finished our sodas and waters and sat there thirsty and waited until about 710 when the waiter walked by multiple times looking at us and our table shaking his head. The same girl came back and asked if we wanted her to take the calamari plate away and i said yes please. Never asked if anything was wrong with it but whatever. The waiter was walking by and finally I caught him and asked him if they forgot about us after seeing multiple tables that were sat after us already seemingly enjoying their meals and he said he would go check on that. The table next to us that had sat shortly after us was getting their to go boxes and cashing out at this time. The waiter came back after about 10 minutes apologizing for the wait and said it was coming.out as we speak. Another 10 minutes goes by no refills, no food and we are ready to just pay and leave at this point and the waiter says he is going to check on our food again and finally comes out with the food and again apologized for the wait. My wife ordered the Ravioli Alla Crema and I had the Vitello Parmigiana (veal parmesan). My wife again was not happy with her meal. The sauce was ok at first but the little bit of flavor it had just seemed to dissappear as you got further into it. The Ravioli was thick and it was a weird consitancy reminiscent of slightly overcooked microwave Ravioli. I know this is fresh in house made Ravioli but it was just bland rubbery and lacked any real flavor itself. On to my dish. It came out piping hot which is fantastic. The sauce seemed to be the same marinara sauce that came out with the Calamari which was I guess just a basic marinara. The veal cutlet was tender and crispy  on the outer edges but lacked flavor and was just mushy. The melted cheese on top was the star of the entire meal. The spaghetti again i believe said to be house made was just under aldente with a chewiness that just was not flattering at all. We continue to eat the food and not complain. Waiting for the ice to melt to get a little bit to drink to help wash it down. We never got refills on our drinks and we did not finish our meals. We asked for our check and the server asked if we wanted any desserts to which i replied oh please no. He brought the check to us again apologized for the wait. Seeing our meals still sitting there and he never asked if there was an issue. A lady came up to us and asked if we would like a refill on our drinks finally and we said no because the waiter had our check and was bringing it back for us to sign so we...

If I could give this restaurant ZERO stars I would! However the food was good enough to make this at least a 1 star review. Our family of 8 had made a reservation to celebrate Mother’s Day. Upon arrival we were guided to the “new” dining room and led to a table that was not set for us, seconds later, the table collapsed on us. The server was reluctant to move us despite our parties concern but was eventually accommodated. Our server was a very nice gentleman however it was hard to hear him as the room was so loud, we could barely have conversation across the table. We ordered our food, and the problems continued. We ordered what our server called “family sized” portion of bruschetta. We later found out that meant 12 pieces of bruschetta for $52. Outrageously expensive. When it came time to our food, one member of my family received the appetizer bowl of clams, instead of the linguine and clams she had ordered. The server even at the time of ordering asked her what sauce she wanted with her pasta and clams. I had ordered the Oreccieta, but instead received the carbonara. We told the food runner it was wrong, and the server came over, and despite writing down the correct dish, the wrong meal was entered in. My family sat and ate for 15-20 minutes while my food was made. After we finished our meal and the check was presented, the wrong meal was still on the check, AND the correct meal. We got it taken off the check and proceeded to try and pay. We had two visa gift cards we were hoping to use to help bring down the cost ($300 for 8 of us), with the rest going on a credit card. After about 5-10 minutes, a woman, who was not our server returned to our table to inform the member of our party who was paying that their system does not accept the visa gift cards. This ended up upsetting our grandmother who was paying, and in the restaurants defense, was slightly escalating the situation with threats of never returning to the restaurant, however the woman, who we later found out was the OWNER, grabbed our grandmothers Visa cards, slammed them back down on the packaging they came in, and with attitude, told us that “she had heard her the first three times, snatched the check, and she SLAMMED her hand down on our table between me and our grandmother, and stormed away. I was taken aback, I have worked 12+ years in the industry, I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, and have held numerous positions in restaurants and hotels as a General Manager and have never once displayed such unprofessionalism towards a guest, let alone seen an owner behave so aggressively towards their diners. I spoke to the server to inform him of the situation, he was shocked and told me she was the owner, seeing I was upset he asked if I wanted to speak with the manager, I politely asked to as I’ve never been treated so poorly in a restaurant before. Moments later the same owner came out, and I spoke with her about how the table felt after her display and how unprofessional it was for someone in hospitality to continue to escalate a situation, when we are trained to de-escalate and turn a negative experience into a positive one. It didn’t matter, she was more focused on how busy the restaurant was and the line of people she had waiting for tables than ensuring the guests who were in the middle of an experience in her establishment were happy and taken care of. There wasn’t even an attempt to remedy the situation, or an offer to have us come back for a more positive one. Our Mother’s Day was completely ruined and spoiled by this experience, we were embarrassed in front of the guests around us, and it was clear this restaurant only cares about the swipe of your credit card, and not creating a positive experience you’re happy to return to over again. For the price, there are plenty of places around that offer a better environment at the same or even...

I am not one to leave a review, especially a negative review. However, I am leaving a review after we had our Mother’s Day spoiled by the lack of professionalism that we experienced. To begin, as we were sitting down at our table the table collapsed. Luckily we were all quick enough to move out of the way. We understood that it was an accident, but to our frustration they were reluctant to provide us a new table as we voiced our concerns. Once we were finally seated at a new table we ordered our food, or at least attempted. The volume made it difficult for our waiter to hear and comprehend our order. This lead to two of our meals to come out wrong. Furthermore, we had to wait even longer for the correct meals to come out, which resulted in part of our table eating when the rest were already finished. We do not fault our waiter for this. He did a wonderful job and was one of the only enjoyable parts of the experience. Lastly, after there system failed to accept our active gift cards the owner/manager preceded to give us attitude and in attempt to make a message she slammed her hand on our table and strutted away. Yes it was busy because it was Mother’s Day and and yes there was a line out the door, however, there is no reason to treat anyone especially customers so poorly. My Fiancé has worked in the hospitality industry for 12 years and was in awe at the owner’s display. He spoke with her afterwards to try and mend the situation, but there was a lack of effort on her part to resolve the situation. The unprofessional behavior performed by the owner discourages me from wanting to revisit the establishment, which is a shame because the food is decent. And worst of all it dampened what could be my grandmother’s last Mother’s Day. If you want to be treated poorly and pay a ton for food (that is incorrect) then this is the...