LaScala's Birra — Restaurant in Pennsauken Township

I have been to all la scalas, down town, passyunk Ave, marlton, even the pronto in mt laurel. Today was my first experience in pennsauken. This was probably my all time worst dining experience ever or at least top 3. I literally felt like I was in the twilight zone. My husband and I along with our 2 young kids popped in today to eat. After being greeted 8 mins later by a young inexperienced hostess she told my husband only outside was available. It just started to rain and we’re expecting thunderstorms so I asked if the outside was covered. She told me no. So we left and took the kids to the playground. seeing there were about 6 available tables inside I went on OpenTable just out of curiosity and was able to reserve an INDOOR table for 3:30 ( it was 3:22) We went back inside a few mins late- about 3:34 I entered. As I did the hostess made eye contact and literally walked away from the podium. Could have been a coincidence but felt awkward. I then stood there another 8 mins until a hostess arrived at the desk. This girl was the same semi rude hostess at the initial visit that wasn’t aware the patio was indeed covered. The reason I call her rude now is bc I said hi to her kindly as she was walking towards me and she said nothing. So I said I have a reservation for 3:30 even tho it was now almost 3:45. She sat us at our table where we waited for almost 20 mins until a server (who was also the bartender)came over who had to grab us our silverware setups that the hostess neglected. She brought them back pretty quickly but then left us for another extended period of time. You can imagine what this was like with a 5 yr old and 3 yr old ( at a high top)

Now at this point I was wondering if maybe they’re short handed…. But looking around there was still about one side of the restaurant with open seating and at least 8 servers. A baby shower had cleared out about the time we were originally walking in so the entire back was empty too. My husband who is also in the service industry even asked the bartender nicely if they were short handed. She nonchalantly says “no we just had an event “ like she had no clue what was going on. Mind you the event (babyshower) ended an hour ago.

I understand that patience are appreciated more than ever right now in the service industry. I typically don’t complain or write reviews like this. But I’m just astonished at todays experience. I feel like the hostesses need better training or more experience. They’re the first person and sets the tone for the business and honestly that’s my real reason for this review. If we were seated and had all of that waiting going on with our swrver and slow service I would have never even thought about a review. Our server was nice enough. Food was good as expected. But I’ll never return to this location. I’ll continue to go to passyunk Ave ( which is different ownership now) This location needs to get their shut together. Those hostesses are costing the...

The food was ok, but service was atrocious! We started with the zucchini appetizer which was surprisingly not overly salted, which I really appreciated. The zesty sauce it comes with was a much needed nice complement. My wife ordered the veggie Stromboli and I the orecchiette pasta. My pasta came out after the expected short wait and the server shared that the stromboli would be out shortly because that takes longer to make. I ordered a Clos du Bois chardonnay when my food came, as I hadn't decided initially. The wife suggested I start eating but I told her I'd wait for her dish since mine was plenty hot anyway. About 15 minutes later and still no Stromboli, no server, and my dish was now getting cold, so I started afterall. Finally, well into my dish at this point, out comes a different server with her stromboli. Looking at the small cup of marinara, we immediately asked for some extra, to which the server seemed both surprised and annoyed that we requested it. "Marinara?", he quipped! "Yes, please." We replied. A few bytes in, my wife asks me what i think the meat looking stuff in her veggie stromboli is. I try a taste and immediately recognize it as beef. Yes, you guessed it, they brought my vegetarian wife a cheesesteak stromboli. And by the way, the extra sauce we requested? Never came! Eventually the server comes over and we tell her about the Stromboli. She does apologize, quickly blames the other servers (rather than accepting any responsibility on behalf of the restaurant), and offers to take it off our bill, but she DIDN'T. As it was barely eaten, we asked for a to-go box (I'm not vegetarian and I HATE to waste food!), and again asked for a cup of marinara to take home with it. The box came, still no marinara, so we asked that she bring it when she brought our check (our check that's supposed to not include the meat Stromboli that we didn't order). She brings the check, No sauce still. We ask again. "Oh yes" she says, "I meant to bring it, but forgot." Finally it came after 3 or 4 asks (Maybe they had a shortage of marinara that day?). Lastly, I'm not sure if they gave me the right wine. I've enjoyed that Vinyard's Chardonnay on many occasions previously. This was either not the wine ordered, or that bottle has been abused. This glass was...

Arrived on 5/9/2025. We had reservations and were seated almost immediately. Our waitress was very pleasant, and the service was quick and efficient. Short waiting period between ordering appetizers and actually receiving them.

Atmosphere: Friday night - it was very busy but myself and my partner were attended to very well. We felt welcome. Restaurant was clean with an open table layout. Modern gray colors. Window seating overlooking the lake was peaceful and serene.

Food: Unsweetened iced tea was perfect - not over brewed, and clean tasting. Wings - sweet and spicy, perfect amount of sauce. Temperature was as if they came right out of the fryer.

Chicken Parmigiana: My partner ordered this entree. Chicken was crispy and breading was seasoned well. The dish was steaming hot. The sauce was plentiful, but it was one note - very sweet. It was not seasoned with the basic herbs or salted well. Served with linguine, which was al dente. Pasta water was not salted so linguine was flat.

Shrimp Pompeii: I ordered this entree. It’s a take on Shrimp Scampi - shrimp in a garlic white wine sauce with linguine, burst cherry tomatoes, and long hots. I received 6 large shrimp in the order, which is par for the price. The shrimp were cooked well and the dish was steaming hot. There seems to be a theme here of under seasoning . . . The sauce was not balanced at all; butter was the dominant taste. The white wine and the garlic did not make an appearance. Also, the long hots were sliced into rounds instead being diced small, which made them awkward to bite into. There were ribbons of fresh parsley and basil added to the dish, but their delicate flavors were drowned out by the excessive amount of butter in the sauce.

I will say that the restaurant does put seasoning on the table - a three-section tray of red pepper flakes, dried Italian seasoning, and grated Parmesan cheese. However, these should not have to be used to flavor the dish, but enhance it. Unfortunately, I needed to use them for flavor.

We did not order dessert.

All in all - it was a nice restaurant. I do recommend however, that the chef and cooks learn the art...