La Fontana Della Citta — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Very nice atmosphere at entry/first impression. Reservation for 5 at 2:45 we were a few minutes early. Half the party arrived 15 minutes after but still arrived before by 3. We were doing the $20 pp restaurant week lunch menu which is a 2 course meal. we ordered water bottled and seltzer for the table. Half the glasses on the table for water were dirty, had to send back and request new. One chair was wobbly, the server/hostess watched us switch it out without offering a hand, which it was her who set the table (we watched her prepare our table for 5). Given lunch RW menus we ordered. Its byob so we did have a bottle of our own wine. Proportion very skimpy. I understand its restaurant week but I have never i mean ever had a plate like this in all my RW dining experiences over the 10 years in participating. Presentation of the food had no effort. Never in my dining RW experience have I gotten for the second course 1 and a half chicken breast with a few mushrooms on top. No garnish no pretty presentation just boom two little pieces on a huge plate drowled in sauce. If yall can't give good quality don't participate. The buschetta starter was like 2 bite size crispy baguette breads with some tomatoes slapped on top. That little salad with 2 croutons. I've had wayyyyyyy better bread for way less so when I read the cost of that on the bruschetta regular menu I was shocked to see that's what it was even if you gave me less of it for RW, the overall quality of the dish was bad. This was our 3rd restaurant in a week and every bill was well over $250 so we don't participate looking for free anything we just want to experience different places, we never visit the same place for restaurant week we do return after if we are blown away, we want to give all types of food a try. She asked us if we wanted dessert 4 of 5 got something (which was not included in the RW lunch menu, it was just first course and second course so we knew we would be paying for it extra). No problem. The bill comes we are charged for dinner each. We asked her why if we were here for lunch and ate off the lunch menu. She replied that dinner starts at 3 which nowhere stated that and if I ate dinner I'd pay but not only did we arrive before 3, we were given lunch menus. She follows up by saying "you all must have been given the wrong menus" YOU GAVE THEM TO US AND TOOK OUR ORDERS. who's fault is that? You're not going to charge me for dinner when I ate lunch food. The dinner menu options was totally dinner from lunch, so thats not fair, I'd rathered the salmon and someone else in my party would have rather had the short ribs. Those weren't lunch options. Then she said "well it also depends on your check in time". Again was before 3pm. She did take the bill, did her investigating and correct it but the audacity to go back and forth with me when you clearly made the mistakes here. I think she was very overwhelmed she was doing it all. Setting tables, answering phones, taking orders and serving food, cleaning up after. Do I blame her, no. I blame management. Not a good experience at all. Taste of food, good. Portions and presentation, bad alot with customer service. A smile is very contagious and...

Tonight (March 13th, 2024) as probably been my worst experience at a restaurant in years. And I'll go in detail to explain why. Context: we came to celebrate my niece's birthday.

First and foremost, you made my 8-year old niece feel bad, completely unnecessarily. She asked for Fettuccini Alfredo and you brought a dish with a bit of pasta (not much) and some sauce. When she asked where the chicken was (we all thought it was a standard), one of your waitresses said "You had to choose between one of the complements". Oh, wait, but you didn't give us the options when we ordered? And you felt that making a kid feel guilty, instead of offering to fix it was the best option? Entrees took literally 55 minutes to come. One starter came halfway (like 25 min after ordering). When we asked when the food was going to come, your waitress said "It'll come as soon as it's ready. They have a party in the back, so it's very busy. Or do you want me to cook it for you?". Well, if you have a party in the back that won't allow you to serve us in time, then warn us by the time we ask for a table. And apologize, offer some kind of alternative. But what is this response? The "carbonara" would make any italian person weep. This is not an Italian restaurant. It's, at best, Italian-American. Cream? No guanciale or pecorino? The bread they brought was chewy and cold. We had to ask them to take out some finished starters' plates when they brought the entrees. Twenty-something dollars for medium-sized and very mediocre plate is not okay. The starter (octopus) was half burnt. The bathroom had run out of hand towels and there wasn't any air dryer. There was a spare roll of toilet paper on the sink that had some yellowish liquid stains. And the best: 20% gratuity included (forced upon us). Without any justification (we were three adults, one 8-y.o. and a very quiet baby).

Folks, if you (clearly) have no idea how to manage a restaurant when you have an event, just say it. Close the rest of the restaurant. And if you screw up (like you did), then apologize and ask to compensate, instead of giving an attitude.

Horrendous....

NEVER GO HERE OR GIVE THEM A CENT OF YOUR BUSINESS. THE WAITSTAFF/MANAGER WERE EMOTIONALLY AND FINANCIALLY ABUSIVE, REDUCED MEMBERS OF OUR PARTY TO TEARS, MADE HOMOPHOBIC SLURS AND THREATENED PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. We were college students at the time celebrating a birthday dinner. Let me count the ways:

sat us on a folding table on the sidewalk not under restaurant awning. No space heaters and was about 50 degrees. Yes we had a reservation

-said folding table was diagonally crooked so when we poured our wine, it immediately spilled onto one of the guest’s lap. Our waiter laughed and offered no improvement.

-waiter straight up didn’t take one of our guest’s order, just ignored her. -bread was freezing cold after we had to specifically request it

-fully forgot portions of our meals. Such as the pasta that was supposed to come with chicken parm. Then waiter rolled eyes when I requested the pasta and tried to charge for an additional side.

now for the questionably legal behavior of this repulsive establishment: -offered us a TWO THIRDS EMPTY BOTTLE OF RED WINE THEY TOOK FROM A TABLE THAT HAD LEFT AND TRIED TO CHARGE US FORTY DOLLARS FOR IT.

-when we complained about the 20 percent included tip for the worst service any of us had experienced, the manager verbally accosted us for “trying to get my employee fired” by yelling, making my friend cry and using the “F” gay slur under his breath.

-they then threw us out of their “restaurant” and as we waited on the sidewalk for a taxi, the manager screamed as us to leave, complete with cursing, and when we pointed out the sidewalk is public to Philadelphians he threatened to punch me if we didn’t leave. To clarify, he forced us cross the street under threat of physical violence.

I only wish I had gone to the authorities at the time, but this review is better late than never. I implore you to never go here. It sickens me that homophobic scammers are continuing to enjoy financial prosperity.

ESPECIALLY @PENN DREXEL AND TEMPLE STUDENTS: stop having BYOs here! There are better restaurants, Italian or otherwise, to go to before...