Roma's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Ocala

For over 10 years I went to this restaurant. Most of the time I took take out. And many times the staff/owners were rude. The food used to be very good. It has been nearly 2 years since I was last in this place. Now the food has gone downhill and the service is worse! I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt however the waitress was rude, There was no one to seat anyone, So you chose your own place to sit. The waitress came over after a while and did ask if I would like to see the menus and she asked what I’d like to drink and she did get me a drink right away. Then a friend of mine came in and did not think there was any cheese on the table so she put cheese on our table. The waitress snatched it off the table and placed it back on the waitress stand. That’s where it went downhill from there. We had a soup and a tour of Ocala entrée along with stuffed mushrooms. The stuffed mushrooms were entrée and the crab meat tasted as if it was going bad. It was very strong and the mushrooms had a bitter taste. In fact the crab meat did not seem as if it was cooked. We asked could we please have them taken off because we couldn’t eat them. They did take them off graciously. We wanted to share a plate and nowhere on the menu does it say there is a fee for sharing the plate. We did not ask for it to be served in separate plates, but we’re going to split it ourselves. There was an up charge of two dollars that was not mentioned anywhere in the menu or anywhere in the restaurant. We did not know that this was going to be charged so we asked why was it charged we didn’t see it on the menu. Another server or manager whoever she was came over and started loudly proclaiming that this was not a bad fee and normally they don’t take it off but they make an exception this time. I said it’s fine to charge the fee if you let us know ahead of time. She kept yelling over what I was trying to ask! She was very rude and this is the last straw for this restaurant. People don’t waste your time on this restaurant there are many others that surpass them in...

I live within 3 miles of this restaurant and living out in the country, it was exciting to have something so close! My husband & I gave it a try and it's our last. From the food being mediocre, to the lack of service… but even worse - The restaurant had a special and said it Included the Drink, so of course I ordered a Tea. Well, we weren't getting service, so I got up and asked for a refill, which she did bring. When we got the bill, we were charged for the tea. We hunted the waitress down again and reminded her that we got the special which included the drink (the board was in eye-view & we pointed it out). And so we asked her to please adjust the bill. She said she couldn't adjust it because we got a refill. Not to mention her delivery was very short & rude. At that point, we asked for a manager. She literally walked away laughing, and said, "Ok, you asked for it!" We were a bit taken back by that, but proceeded to try to talk to the manager. Well, we realized quickly why she did that! He told us that was the policy and he would not take it off and seemed very "angered" that we would even suggest taking the drink charge off. When we pointed out that there was nothing saying No Refills, he then proceeded to tell us that if we don't like it, we don't have to come back! Umm… well, we are taking his suggestion to heart and will NEVER go back there. I'll drive 8 miles to town and go where the food is better, the value is better, the service is better, and where they have ethical business practices. We eat out twice a day, seven days a week and Italian is my personal favorite… there's an Italian restaurant in town that is VERY happy Roma's lost...

I live in Tallahassee. I love Tallahassee, and its handful of good Italian restaurants. Seriously.

That said, we don't have an Italian restaurant that can produce a meal like we had here.

Returning to Tallahassee from Naples, we got off at our usual I-75 Exit 354 to head home. (way nicer than going up to I-10, and divided four-lanes the entire way). It was 3pm. That's well known to be the end of the kitchen lunch operation. It was raining hard and we chose upon Roma.

Daughter ordered shrimp dish, I ordered veal piccata, son ordered Carbonara (I think). Truly sublime. Service was impeccable. Kitchen was clean/orderly (you walk in overlooking the kitchen, practically).

Funny story: Daughter had a shrimp and then looked at me and said "Dad - these taste funny..." - I bit into one (huge, BTW) and honestly, the best/freshest tasting shrimp I've ever had in a restaurant. (Again, I hate that I'm not characterizing a TLH restaurant this way). The shrimp wasn't the lifeless / boiled shrimp that are often found in these sorts of dishes. I could have sworn those shrimp had only recently been shrimping about in nearby waters until the order came in - and only then were they harvested.

OK - you get the point. For you Ocalers (is that what you call yourselves), you likely already know about this gem. However, for the rest of us - I encourage you to get off the road and forego the familiar and b-line...