ROSSO ITALIAN — Restaurant in Phoenix

Food was great but don't ever come as a large party. 20% auto gratuity and you'll be ignored. Skip to the **s if you want my food review only. Here's how the service went down:

Service from the staff and food runners was fine. Our server was another story entirely. She was very inattentive and rude. We were a party of 8 here for Phoenix fan fusion and all coming from different hotels. Some of us joined 5 and 10 minutes later than the first half, who got there immediately. The server was very pushy about the table and the members who were on the way still, but that's not the worst part. During the service drinks weren't refilled, we ran out of water and never got more. The server spent her time 15 feet behind us loudly laughing and talking about her personal life around the bartenders and completely ignored us multiple times. We would have to look behind ourselves for about 2 or 3 minutes before she even looked up or noticed we needed something. I asked for 3 coke refills and had to beg for each one. The 3rd refill she dumped something into it because it was overly sweet and tasted like raspberry so I didn't even get to drink it. Too thick and sweet and she never came back to correct it. Every time we got help she went back to talk at the bar right behind us again and again. At the end of service we asked for the check and she again went to the bar to talk. 15 minutes went by and she finally came back with one check after we already asked for split checks. She then instead of fixing it walked away from us mid conversation to greet her new table the very second they were sat even though we were currently trying to leave and speaking to her about the bill.

Another 5 minutes go by and she brings the bills but rang some of our stuff up correctly, half of us already paid so she told us she could either refund the card over 3to5 business days or that we can figure out who owes who ourselves. (We ended to figuring it out on our own and sending the others the money for the mischarges). She then explained that there's 20% auto gratuity and we realized why she didn't give a damn about good service to any of us. I pretended to go to the restroom to speak to the manager and he said he'd speak with her. This was Sunday night around or 6 pm. They were slow and steady. The server abused the large party auto gratuity. I've truly never received poorer service then this. Nothing was comped. Apologies were made from the manager in private but my friends were charged for things she rang in incorrectly and we all felt ignored and then trapped when we tried to leave because she wouldn't give us our bills. Avoid coming here as a large party. The restaurant will never be good with a server like her.

Now onto the food

Most of the food was delicious!! Parmesan fries were a soggy old let down. The meatballs have an insane cheese pull, and the flavors are wonderful. The Margherita pizza was light and airy. It was perfect. I could've eaten a 2nd one just to enjoy it longer. The focaccia bread with its parmesan pesto sauce was very refreshing as well. The linguine was creamy with the right amount of spice to compliment everything. We had tiramisu at the end, but it wasn't as flavorful as most other things we had. As far as desserts, I wasn't...

My family and I recently dined at your restaurant to celebrate our daughter’s birthday. We were looking forward to a special evening, and while there were some positive aspects of our visit, I wanted to share a few concerns regarding the overall experience.

To start with the positives, the service was attentive, and the restaurant was kind enough to offer our daughter a complimentary dessert for her birthday, which she enjoyed. The wine selection was also excellent and, for us, one of the highlights of the meal.

However, several dishes did not meet expectations. I had the steak with rosemary potatoes — while the steak was cooked to the right temperature, it lacked seasoning and flavor. The potatoes appeared overcooked and had a burnt taste. My oldest daughter had a similar experience with her steak and garlic fries.

The birthday girl chose the Fussolini Alla Vodka, which unfortunately had an unappetizing aroma and taste. On a more positive note, our grandbaby enjoyed the spaghetti with marinara sauce, and my husband enjoyed the Calamari Fritto, though needing some seasoning, was generally well received by the table.

Dessert was a mixed experience. The crème brûlée was underwhelming and not something we would recommend. That said, we appreciated the restaurant’s effort in accommodating us by adjusting the bill and offering alternative dishes where needed.

One concern we found a bit unsettling was that the chef came out twice and sat at a nearby table, appearing to stare directly at us for extended periods, which made us uncomfortable. Additionally, the dining area was extremely warm — most uncomfortably — and definitely would benefit from improved air conditioning.

We genuinely wanted to enjoy our time at your establishment and had high hopes, but unfortunately, this visit fell short of our expectations. Respectfully, we will not...

In town for a conference and visited here for dinner with coworkers. Came on a Wednesday around 745pm. We were seated immediately and weren't made to feel like an inconvenience when we were still there a little after closing.

Positives:

Friendly and knowledgeable server. Fabio was fabulous. Very personable, and he quickly fixed an error, which we appreciated.

The bartender was also friendly and chatted with us as we were on the way out.

The cold vegetable soup!! I'm going back today to have another bowl. It's the perfect thing for the sizzling hot weather. Seasoned well, and I enjoyed being able to customize what I put in (croutons, diced onions, avocado, and one other item I am forgetting).

In-house homemade pasta. You can't beat that.

Gnocchi Burrata. Delicious! A pleasant surprise when it made me think of an elevated Chef Boyardee (I mean this as a compliment truly). If I was having a bad day, this is something I would seek out as a comfort food.

Opportunities:

Hot inside (still cooler than outside). 2 out of 3 ac ceiling units were down. They had 2 swamp coolers and a box fan trying to make up for it. We weren't too uncomfortable, but I can only imagine how hot the kitchen gets and the staff deserve a cooler work environment.

All pizza was 86'd. Maybe they only handmake a limited number of balls of pizza dough a day? There are lots of other things to choose from though.

The focaccia appetizer tasted burnt and like cigarette smoke. The sauce with it was great. Fabio offered to remove it or replace it, but we kept it on our check since we had already distributed it between us and picked it apart.

Loud, however, it seems like all restaurants are loud these days. Or I may just be getting old. 😅👩‍🦳

Overall:

It was a very pleasant experience, and if I lived here, I would put it on my list...