Nona's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Petal

The atmosphere of the dining area is very nice. If you ever saw the previous establishment, you'll definitely appreciate the hard work the new owners put into the dining experience, it is really pretty, intimate, and great for a date night, birthday dinner, or other celebration. Our food was mostly great, garlic knots, calamari, tour of Italy, and chicken parm were all excellent! However, our medium rare Ribeye was way over cooked, past well done, no pink, very dry, and inedible. When asked how our food was, we kindly informed the waitress about the dishes we were enjoying as well as the steak being way overdone and showing her. She stood awkwardly silent and then turned and walked away. No follow-up, nothing. From the beginning though the waitress was probably the least enjoyable part of our experience, I'm not sure if she doesn't like her job, isn't familiar with the food or just isn't cut out for service but we added a cup of dipping marinera ($4 extra) to go with our bread and it didn't come until our app & food did and the bread was eaten. When we asked about specific dish details, we got 1 word answers or a shrug. It was honestly the weirdest waitress service I've ever experienced and while we will definitely recommend Nonas for the good food and return again at a later date, I think we will wait until the initial waitstaff turns over a bit or is fine tuned to be friendly, personable and shows genuine care when something isn't right...

My wife and I stopped in for lunch on our way home from a weekend getaway, mainly based on the glowing 4.8 star Google rating. Unfortunately, our experience did not live up to the hype.

The restaurant was busy, which we took as a good sign. We were seated quickly, and the hostess was friendly and welcoming. However, our waiter seemed rushed and disengaged from the start. He took our drink and appetizer order promptly, but after delivering our iced teas, he returned just three minutes later pressing us for our meal order. It felt like we were being rushed from the moment we sat down. Midway through eating, he asked if we wanted to go boxes, which only added to the uncomfortable feeling of being hurried out.

The food was hit or miss. The stuffed mushrooms appetizer was delicious, and my veal parmesan was actually quite good. But my wife's Works Spaghetti (ordered without sausage) was watery and bland, which was a major letdown. For dessert, the cannoli filling was spot on, but the shells were overcooked and hard to bite through.

The restaurant was uncomfortably warm, likely due to a struggling air conditioner. That is not ideal, but it is understandable.

What stung the most was the price. $88 before tip for lunch. While I did leave a tip out of respect, the overall experience just did not justify the cost. We likely will not be back since it is far from home anyway, but I wanted to leave an honest review in hopes it helps others set...

Went to Nona's for girls dinner date with a friend. The atmosphere was ok. The tables had real linens, which I appreciate, but the structure of the building and the decor of the tables fought each other. Our server was having a hard time, but tried and was honest, which I give points for. The food was really good. We ordered the calamari for an appetizer. It was fried perfectly and the marinara was flavorful. I had the Veal Milanese which was delicious. The wine list was small, which was a little disappointing. I was looking forward to a decent red wine with my meal. The red they had wasn't bad, but more on the sweet side. I would think that this will change in the future. The owner seems to be thoughtful and intentional with his flavors and having only a sweet red blend detracts from his robust hearty flavors. The owner rounded the restaurant towards the end of our meal and, knowing we had a longer wait than normal, brought us a free tiramisu. Now this item was the STAR of our night. Absolutely delicious! The ladyfingers were perfectly soaked, so they weren't mushy, the marscarpone was sweet, but not overly so, and the layers were well balanced. Over all a good experience. Seeing the owner's concern, pride, and hard work makes it easy to look past the bumps in our meal. I definitely will be back to see how they grow...