Joe's Spaghetti & Pizza — Restaurant in Northampton

We are disappointed by the experience we had with the wait staff. We had heard nothing but good things about the food and atmosphere at this restaurant and decided we would have dinner here with a group of friends from work (17 ppl total). Unfortunately, a couple members of our party were treated as if their presence were a nuisance. Their waitress did not make an effort to be hospitable towards them; our friends had plates of food taken from their hands, and (at one point) their appetizer plates were being emptied onto their entree plates (without their permission) to “make space on the table”. In context, there was plenty of room on their table, and our friends could have made a judgment call on their own without this type of condescending interference. One friend reported that this same waitress leaned completely over them while they were trying to eat in order to assist someone else at the table. After all of these uncomfortable experiences, our friends decided they wouldn’t leave a tip (which is their reserved right). They were subsequently and essentially bullied by the wait staff about this; one even threatened to make them pay a 20% gratuity (something they DID NOT express was a requirement when we informed them we would be stopping in with a large group!!!!). This waitress ended getting an $80 tip from us 🙃. The table I was sitting at was treated well by this waitress, and I just don’t understand why she didn’t give our friends the same service??? Unfortunately, our only conclusion was that there was some sort of prejudice against them, as they have been been “othered” by other establishments in Northampton. So, if you’re part of the BIPOC community, and represent yourself with piercings and tattoos, be weary. Joe’s will happily cater to you if you are white or can assimilate to whiteness or...

I wasn't impressed my 1st visit here. There are 2 doors in the front, neither are marked. The one I walked through seemed liked the exit. When I first stepped foot inside and looked around, I noticed there wasn't any noticeable signs that were of any help. And also no real way of figuring out how or where to place your order. Just come in and sit where ever I guess. I wasnt exactly thrilled with the concept, I just felt lost here. There was noone to seat us and we had to flag down our waitress, who was the only decent thing about the place (in my opinion.). Our waitress was super sweet and you could tell she was working hard. There's a bar here, so maybe that's what attracks such a big crowd, I dont know. But I wasn't impressed with the place or the food. I felt like they had very very little to offer on their menu, I do not recall seeing anything for kids, and saw no children eating here when I visited. So it's probably not much of a family restaurant. I ordered a meatball grinder and they put cheese on it, which I hated and didn't ask for. Also, the "meatballs" were meat mush!! The sauce wasn't even as good as subway, it was tangy and made my grinder a bit soggy, which made it harder to enjoy. I don't recommend eating here, I was wicked disappointed because this place is usually busy and I thought I would recieve better service and at LEAST a decent meal. The lighting here is also below sub_par, and the place isn't all that big either. For many reasons, I wasnt satisfied with this place and recommend eating anywhere else in Northampton, dont waste your time...

TLDR: Food was okay, while staff was nice poor slow service. My favorite part of the meal was the garlic bread. It was creamy, savory, had good bread, and just a little bit of cooking wine I think. My friends spaghetti and meatballs were just fine. There was nothing unique about the spaghetti it was just good. The red sauce was pretty nice and the meatballs were soft, savory, and seasoned well. The small bacon pizza was good. I like the thin crunchy crusts and the amount of bacon was generous although the whole pizza was way too salty. The plain pizza was also just tasty with a thin crunchy crusts. The water here has an odd taste and the pitcher wasn't refilled. As for the service, one word: slow. It's a repeated trend. When we arrived on a busy Saturday night there was a wait. Okay that's fair. We were told there would be a 25 minute wait but that morphed into 40 minutes. When we were sat and ordered the plain cheese pizza never made it so we asked for it again and it turned out they forgot to put it in. We were told it would be a 5 minute wait, it was twice that at 10 minutes. That's over an hour now of a hungry customer (major props though they took it off the check). Now when that pizza arrived we asked right away for the check which came after another 10 minutes. Now we saw the trend of slow service so I waved over a waiter to run the bill. I don't see this as a problem with the staff, the waiters we got were wonderful, helpful and amiable, but for such a busy restaurant they just...