Trattoria Via Veneto — Restaurant in Nutley

I will start by saying that I have dined in before at this place, quite a few times… You could say that I am familiar with the place. The other night my husband told me that they have a winter special for 29.95 USD for a two course meal plus dessert. So, my husband was excited about the special. It just so happened that today I opened a new business and wanted to celebrate the occasion with my husband, so he suggested Trattoria Via Veneto. So, I made the reservation and we went in today at 7pm. We were seated, the server was amiable and polite, and he started to tell us about tonight’s specials. I asked, oh are these the winter specials, I know you have some winter specials. He said no, I will bring you the menus for that. Mind you, and please read from now onward.. Our jovial server completely changed his attitude at the hearing of the winter specials. They did not offer us water, nor fresh pepper no Parmesan, and the server (his name on the check was John…. Probably Giovanni, because he was Italian. And yes, I intend to nominally call him out!!!) barely served us all evening. He sent a very young busser to help us, who couldn’t speak English but was very nice. So, that was ok! Ok, let me give you a little business advice - if you cannot uphold the level of service because you offer a discounted rate special (A SPECIAL WHICH YOU OFFER, NO ONE HAS ASKED YOU TO!!!), DO NOT DO IT! Don’t put your customers in such a awkward situation! It’s ridiculous. We paid this “John” 15 dollar tip on a 64 dollar check. 15 dollars for him to treat us like garbage and not even ask us if we wanted water. DO NOT OFFER THE STUPID SPECIAL IF THIS IS HOW YOU ARE GOING TO TREAT YOUR CLIENTS!!! I wasn’t going to say nothing, but you know what? Your “fake jovial” server needs to learn that money don’t grow on trees, and whether am a 30 dollar client or a 60 or 100 dollar client, I need to be treated with the same consideration. I was literally watching how they were bringing fresh pepper and Parmesan to the “non-winter special” tables. It was quite frankly disgusting, and you should thank my kind husband for me not going all out on your server, because I sure would have loved to. But, you know what? Today was a great day for me, and I contained myself. However this review must be voiced, because if your restaurant is not doing great, you may want to look at...

Super disappointed with our experience earlier this week.

Sat at 7:30 and promptly put in our appetizer and entree orders. Apps were delivered in a normal amount of time, but we then waited over an hour and fifteen minutes for entrees following that (two pasta dishes, one salad, and one fish dish on a slow Tuesday evening)… When entrees were delivered, my dish was wrong. They forgot to top my salad with shrimp. 10 minutes later I received 3 small shrimp on a side dish plate (i paid $8 for the addition of ‘jumbo’ shrimp on my salad).. whatever that’s fine but we were already upset at this point by the (non)treatment we’d been receiving My fiancés gnocchi was the consistency of mush… literally like a bowl of ricotta. And maybe that’s our fault for not knowing the style of their gnocchi, but it was inedible and he took two bites than decided it was not for him Servers not once checked on us or asked if we needed anything. Our water cups remained empty all night, and we had to ask three different times to receive water refills when we asked for cheese on the pasta, server brought over a bowl of parm and proceeded to dump the entire bowl atop the pasta in a severe hurry and run away. NOW - this isn’t the worst thing, as we all love cheese - but the manner it was delivered (as if he couldn’t be bothered to take two seconds to add parm or even ask how much we’d like) was just like the cherry on top of a terrible sundae Any time we asked the server a question… and there were two servers… they literally didn’t respond… not even so much as a smile or any type of facial expression to indicate they had heard us or were acknowledging us (they DEFINITELY heard us)

was just disgusted by the way my family and i were made to feel like an absolute inconvenience to this restaurant and the wait staff. Will never be returning and, I’m extremely disappointed, as I’ve recommended this place to friends...

This place will transport you. I recommend the back patio, which feels like a secret hideaway—it’s truly special. The service is very attentive and is professional, and the food is outstanding. It’s not cheap but it is BYOB which makes the overall value compelling. The specials list was so tempting I wanted to order everything, but we settled on burrata and escarole and bean soup to start, followed by lamb shank over pappardelle for my husband and pork Milanese for me.

The lamb shank fell off the bone beautifully, and the Milanese was perfection—simple and delicious, served topped with arugula and tomatoes and with a squeeze of lemon. The soup, with its perfect orangey-colored broth, tasted like pure comfort and home. The cannoli were good but not as impressive as everything else we tried so I would try a different dessert next time or skip dessert. My husband, who’s on a [losing] mission to convince me Southern food is superior, admitted the burrata was better than anything we’ve had in Charleston! :)

I moved away from NJ years ago, and meals like this make me want to move back just so I can enjoy food like this anytime I want. Can’t wait for...