Sello's Italian Oven & Bar — Restaurant in Ocean City

In a word.... Uuugh.

We had heard that there was some vague lineage between the late and great Frescos and this new place. Maybe there is. But there appears to be no link between the yummy dinners I enjoyed over the years at Frescos and the overpriced Plates Of Disappointment that arrived at our table here.

First thing... An $8 thimbleful of blah Malbec was served in small glass, and although the server claimed it to be 6 ounces, it seemed skimpy. She admitted that other customers had said the same thing. Little did I realize at that moment that her comment regarding the overpriced tablespoon of bargain-basement swill would be the only honest moment of our meals.

I ordered the Asparagus Soup, which was a thin broth the color of morning sickness (and, again, a sad portion, as though it was something special, served in a bowl only maybe 1/4 full) and although it did not taste nearly as bad as it looked (on second thought, it looked more like after a cat eats grass and well, you know what happens), it had no Asparagus taste.... Mustard? Parsley? WD40? And there were three tired little nickel-shaped discs of "meatballs" in there someplace. I think. After the four of us tried it, even my sister (who never sends ANYTHING back} said it should be sent back. I did, and the server said she would not charge me for it.

I ordered the Pasta Bolognase, thinking that a decent Italian restaurant should be able to crank out something traditional like this without breaking a sweat. It tasted like....Again, not something bad, or off-taste, but it didn't taste like much of anything. The meat was skimpy, which would have been OK had the sauce been something substantial, and it was anything but, and if the pasta was actually made in the restaurant (and why shouldn't it? it is NOT hard to do, my retired-firefighter-pal Steve makes pasta using some attachment for his Kitchen-Aid mixer, and it's delicious) it didn't taste fresh, or even properly cooked, but more of a starchy mass of chewy weirdness. A soupcon of Prego would have improved it immeasurably, but since none was offered I looked around for something to dump on top for added zest. This is, sadly, NOT one of those restaurants where your server thoughtfully grates fresh parmesan cheese to your order (but DOES grate on one's nerves). Instead, you are presented with a diner-style condiment server, which contains oregano, red pepper, and grated whitish stuff that might have once been cheese back when Fish Powell was Mayor. They use these things in Pizza Hut, and that's fine for a chain restaurant that advertises during kid's cartoon shows. Still, I spooned some of all three of the substances, and some salt and pepper, and when I was done, I had almost brought the meal up to Hamburger Helper standards.

My lovely companion for the evening chose a pizza, and although she did not complain (she dates ME, which should give you some idea of her threshold for pain) I tasted it, and while it was better than the disturbing glop on my plate, it was not nearly as tasty as other pizzas available here in OC, like Ponzetti's or Grotto's. It mostly tasted salty, due to the prosciutto on top, and burned at the crusts. Salty charcoal.

My sis ordered a salad with sliced beets, and, to be fair, that may have been OK (although I heard no sounds of culinary delight from her). She also ordered what I think was supposed to be some sort of pasta in a marinara sauce. We argued a bit about that dish. She thought it tasted like canned tomatos, and i thought it tasted like off-brand catsup. The rumpled, bumpy, and pinkish surface reminded me of something from Biology class.

I'd say more, but I would exceed the character...

Dear Brittany Acita, I would like to start with Congratulating you on Sello's, however your hostess are in desperate need of retraining on customer service. The food and staff were amazing except for the hostess, specially the older lady. As we were almost finishing our dinner, one of the hostess approached our table, asked if we were going to leave soon because there was a reservation on the table we were sitting, and that the server should have let us know. I was already disturbed by her demeanor, pacing back and forth, staring at us and pointing toward us while talking to others. Not only were we shocked but also very disturbed that an employee would come rush us out of our meal, we eat out a lot, and never ever been rushed in such a blunt way. We tried to not let it bother us and decided to have desert, but this employee proceeded with her pacing back and forth staring at us. On our way out, we let her know how rude she was, and yes, we told her we took our time for her trying to rush us. I'm not in the restaurant business but common sense tells me NOT to EVER rush someone out of their meal, I would think it would be better to offer the next guess some kind of discount or a free drink while they wait for their reserved table to clear, (that's just my humble opinion).  This unpleasant incident occurred Friday January 14, 2022.

Because we loved the food and our server was amazing, we decided to put that incident behind us and give it another try the following Friday January 21, 2022, This time, we made a reservation; as soon as we are greeted at the front door, the other hostess says...OK before we do this, I think she deserved an apology for the incident last week (pointing to the hostess from the week before). We were in absolute shock of such demand, the hostess from the week before proceeds to ask why were we even there again.... Well ... the outcome was very disturbing as we argued back and forth for a few seconds before we decided to just walk out.

Sad to say because of one employees unprofessionalism/ignorance our evening was ruined at Sello's two nights on a row, no we will not be returning nor could we recommend someone to a place with a rude employee who thinks she's entitled of demanding the customer to rush on their meal and then to demand an apologize for her own mistake. (perhaps she's related) not trying to get anyone fired, but she's in desperate need of re-training on customer service...again... my...

The food was average, didn’t do justice to the outrageous prices. The people seated on the table next to us were incredibly loud. We were served meat in our Caprese salad despite telling them we were Vegetarians. The server politely asked us to place the meat on a paper towel so she could take it away. When we left the restaurant we saw that someone had rear-ended our car. We let the manager know immediately, and he gave us contact details for him and the owner. He also asked us to file a police report in the morning and follow up with the restaurant owner post 11am. He stated that they had security cameras facing the parking lot. We went through the rigmarole, and long story short, were told that the camera didn’t capture anything at all since it is motion sensitive. That didn’t make sense since cars coming in/out of a parking lot should set the camera sensors on, so we asked if we could see the clipping ourselves. We were then told that the darkness prevented the camera from capturing anything. Basically, the people who hit our car disappeared and the restaurant did its best to avoid getting involved. We checked out of our hotel at 11am and waited around till 4pm in the hope of hearing back from the restaurant (whom we called several times to follow up on), only to hear that they could not help us. I do believe we should have been given a chance to watch the recording ourselves (as advised by the deputy sheriff, but their excuse was that there was limited space in the camera room. Something seems...