Angelena's Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Pensacola

I was very disappointed with the overall experience.

We had a reservation at 7:30pm for 7 excited mouths.

Our entire table wasn’t served until 9:30pm.

The waitress, Sophia (although very kind), questioned our orders multiple times; regardless of clarification, she managed to bring pizza out as my appetizer and meatballs as my entrée. One of our guests with celiac’s had high hopes after looking at the in-restaurant menu. Unlike the online menu, there’s no “G/F” marking beside the entrees listed under ‘PASTA, FATTA EN CASA’ you’re just advised there’s Gluten-free options for +2$. Naturally, with no individual marking’s, one might very well assume everything listed under that category is available in G/F fashion.

That is very much not the case.

Do not make our mistake.

I advise clarification on the physical menus to save some of our community’s G/F souls from bitter disappointment. A moment we all thought could not go wrong, a bottle of wine ordered for the table, was brought into the room and sat on a counter for 10 minutes (not breathing, sealed). We had to ask Sophia if we could please be given our wine -she’d forgotten it. Besides the minor G/F let down (I do realize that was a minor inconvenience) two of our dinner guests who ordered “spaghetti Bolognese” (one was G/F) received the wrong dish, which was promptly returned to the kitchen. The dishes came out half an hour later and although they were now the correct dish, the non-G/F noodles we’re uncomfortably hard and the G/F dish was saltier than our beautiful Gulf Coast waters.

I wish I were joking.

That dish was also sent back (the other guest decided to box hers, MAYBE the microwave would bring it to a proper noodle consistency the next day). Third time is usually a charm… The front of house manager watched the kitchen cook this third meal and he then hoovered over our guest as she was taking her first bites. I wish I could say this was a moment of relief and that our dear friend finally got a decent meal, unfortunately, not much had changed. This 3rd plate was more brackish, Escambia Bay then “drown in the Gulf” salty and the noodles were quite hard. We were offered desserts for our table “on the house”. That was a nice gesture, especially since a quarter of our table still hadn’t eaten. I can’t exactly pin this last bit on Angelena’s but with nothing but their food in my belly that evening and two glasses of wine with dinner, I deeply regret to inform you all that I did see my meatballs and my pizza again an hour and...

First of all, always trust your fellow yelpers. We dined at Angelina's last night despite the yelp reviews because I really wanted to see what all the hype was about after the news journal did a feature on them (I know, 1st mistake is giving PNJ foodie credibility).

The good: the restaurant is beautiful. Honestly, one of the best looking restaurants in this city. It's obvious expenses were not spared here and the ambiance is perfect for a nice date. Also, the server (Ceba) was attentive and knowledgeable. She knew the menu well and we went with several of her suggestions. The wine was also excellent.

The bad: The food is direly lacking on flavor and needs a major revamp.

Apps: we had frutti di mare (didn't care for the tempura breading, tasted unseasoned but dipping it sauce made it edible), the meatballs were one of the better options (but not outstanding), & the bruschetta actually was enjoyable, although small (4 small pieces), the flavors worked well. The Caesar salad (with a kale base) was dreadful. The kale flavor stood out boldly in this dish and WAY overpowered the other subtle flavors. We sent it back and exchanged it for a maldive base.

Main: I had grouper picatta because I love it and wanted to play it safe on my first visit. The breading was blah and the picatta sauce was underwhelming but what I disliked most was that this fish was served over beans. Yes beans. I hadn't eaten all day and yet I only finished half, it just wasn't worth eating. My husband had lasagna which was a better choice but still nothing special. Petrellas lasagna beats the out any day. He also didn't eat the whole thing. Our other guest had the pasta carbona with shrimp and her opinion was the same, bland.

Dessert: we had the chocolate salami (it's dark chocolate with crushed biscotti) which was basic but good. Also we ordered the tirimisu which was an absolute NO. The cornmeal in it did NOT work. Although I applaud them for stepping out of the box, no one at our table would eat it.

Overall: would I come back? Maybe after a good while when I see a trend in positive reviews. As for now, skip this place if you can abate your curiosity and hold off. Hope they adjust the menu and find some better flavor profiles.

5 for ambiance, 2 for food. Our friends who dined with us own a local restaurant and gave it a 2.5 but I think it has potential so I'll be...

We went for the first time yesterday with some friends as we have heard great things. The food was decent and I would have considered it 5 star but the waiter changed this. This review deals with our waiter who ruined the evening. Because of his service I felt like leaving less stars on the review but I feel like giving the owners a break as this may be his (the waiters) first day or maybe he was having an off day. Either way he needs training on etiquette and menu knowledge as it appeared he had very little. When asked for recommendations he stated 3 times that he personally likes the steak, but when asked about other items he responded, "yeah that's good too". What we were looking for was a slight explanation of the entrees as several of the ingredients were not familiar to us. A little knowledge on the entrees would have been extremely helpful. His service was sloppy and knowledge lacking, but the biggest issue was the cigarette smell on his clothing. This single issue almost made this a 1 or 2 star review but this may not be inside of the owners control. Time for desserts, while all four of us leaned forward in a deep conversation deep conversation he did not announce his presence but rather threw my friends desert in front of her which actually startled all of us because we did not see him approaching. This was extremely irritating and unprofessional. He also topped my wife's coffee off without asking and then did not even offer to provide more cream or sugar. Which made the coffee too bitter for my wife to drink. This may sound like a trivial issue but when paying $50 a piece for your meal and a drink I assure you that it is justified. Typically a waiter or waitress would politely wait for an opportunity to interject or would say "excuse me" and if topping of a coffee they would ask if you need more cream or sugar which is something even waffle house has perfected. Because of the wait staff alone I would not recommend this place to my friends. I did not want to bring anymore attention the the situation last night or I would have spoken to the manager then. The only other small issue was the fact that all of the extra liquor and wine was stored in the cabinet behind us which made me feel like we were being served in the storage room. The bar should probably plan out their night better so they did not have to keep dipping into the...