North Italia — Restaurant in Plano

Despite going several times over the last few years, I've never had a great experience at North Italia, and last night was no different. It will certainly be the last, however.

Around 6:40 my wife and I stopped in for dinner. We were told there was a 30 minute wait, no problem. Almost an hour later we'd heard nothing from the hostess, so my wife approached to ask where we were in the order. Seemingly bothered that my wife would even ask, the hostess told us that she would take a look around and see what she could find. A few minutes later we were taken to the back of the restaurant to an awkward, round, wobbly and wet table placed just outside of the walkway of the servers as they came in and out of the kitchen and stood at their register. My wife even had to dry the table and chair just to be able to sit as the hostess simply stood and stared at her, eager to throw down the menus and walk away. Knowing that we had been shoved in to the worst table in the restaurant that in no way provided an opportunity to sit and enjoy one another's company (it was date night), we asked a passing server if we might slide into the open booth directly next to us. We were told no, but that if we'd like we might move to a "table for 2" that was sandwiched immediately between two large parties to our right. Knowing we'd be unable to even hear each other there, we stayed and dealt with the absurdity of where we were. After what felt like an eternity, no server, no check-in, nothing, a server from a totally different section stopped to apologize that our own server had not even stopped in. He explained that she had in fact prioritized another table because it was larger. In the end, we were finally assigned someone from the bar section to help us, who quite frankly seemed irritated that she had been assigned the table, and honestly I couldn't blame her given the circumstance. I did what I could to be kind ,and she did soften a bit as the night went on. About 20-30 minutes into our "journey" that same booth mentioned above was sat with a, you guessed it, party of 2. We watched as that booth was immediately waited on, checked on, and seemed to have a great night. Our dining experience lasted over an hour and twenty minutes, with continuing extremely long delays. At one point, the same server who apologized for our initial wait for help stopped at our table to ask if we were okay; it was clear that we were somehow a nuisance to the staff. As soon as my wife had finished her meal I gave our server my card so that we could get out of there. What a disaster.

I have never understood why the attitude of the staff of North Italia is the way that it is. We've taken larger groups to this location, and service has been normal, but every single time it is only my wife and I we're treated as if they are doing us a favor by even acknowledging our existence. All of this for a restaurant that objectively is quite average food, benefiting only from the patronage of Legacy West shoppers and residents. Looking for great, fresh Italian food with good ambiance and attentive staff? Spend 20 extra minutes in the car and go to il Bracco in Dallas.

Note: The only redeemable staff member there is the gentleman mentioned above, who stopped to apologize for our own server bailing on our table. I do not know his name, but he has long dreads typically worn in a ponytail and is quite, quite friendly. He is the only reason this is a 2 star review,...

I hate leaving negative review but this one's warranted. I went here nearly 1 year ago. I remember the exact day because it was the day before my daughter's birth. Going out to a nice dinner let us relax before our big event, or so we thought. The dinner itself was as expected, but things changed when we got home. I became violently ill, vomiting for hours. I didn't sleep that night and my wife couldn't sleep much due to my condition. In the morning, I was still on the bathroom floor. My wife suggested that she go to the hospital without me but I couldn't live with myself for missing it so I dragged myself to the car and managed to suffle up to the L&D department at the hospital. Every staff member asked if I was OK because I looked like death but I had to say I was fine so I wouldn't miss my child's birth. I almost made it. I got light headed and pulled into the hallway to avoid passing out and causing more problems for the medical professionals trying to perform a C section. I got to hear my daughter's voice and a few minutes later was able to rejoin in the room. Recovery started for my wife and that's when things went south for her. The food poisoning finally kicked in and she was hot and cold, sweating profusely, and trying but unable to vomit due to half of her body being paralyzed from a spinal tap. After a couple of hours and a wide variety of IV's she felt better. Once settled, we called our Au Pair who was at home and waiting to visit. We told her to throw out the leftovers since we both got hit hard but unfortunately she was at the restaurant with us and made it all the way to the hospital before also getting violently ill. So, food poisoning is... an unfortunate yet forgiveable mistake. We called the restaurant from the hospital to let them know because there would surely be others impacted. The rep on the phone was likely the hostess and expressed condolences and said a manager would call. We did hear from a manager who offered a refund (the least they could do), but the refund never came. We called again some days later and had a similar conversation as before. A third call provided the same result and that's where we left it. It took me about 1 week before I was able to eat solid foods again. Food poisoning is never enjoyable but the timing around having a baby was about as bad as could be. On top of that, management dropped the ball on a refund and follow-up, which is a kick in the teeth considering how much trouble they caused us. It's sad to say but we would have been better off if we had stayed home and eaten...

Very Rude Host Lady!!

I have been visiting here almost every month over a year and today is by far the worst experiences…

I went there twice today with two different group of friends. The first time around 2.30pm was super nice, polite and all. The waitress even made sure we were still being taken care of after she ended her shift.

I met with my other group of friends (there were 6 of us) around 7.30pm and would love to have half-price wine with some appetizers and dessert. The host said that is only for high top and bar and would not seat us. There is one long table at the right hand by the door so I asked if we can sit there and she said No. that is not high top (which I clearly see it as a high top..I mean it is the same height and shape with other high top she mentioned? Anyway, so I asked if I can make a reservation and wait for the table. She said there will be many more reservations come so she can’t guarantee anything but we are welcome to order with bartender and seat yourself outside but there will be no server to serve you. We said then that is fine. We will serve ourselves. We order about 3 bottles and had a seat outside. Until we would like to order dessert. So I asked the host where I can get a dessert menu and she said we will not be serving outside but feel free to sit there. We will still clean up after you, the host girl said. I said I know, I can serve myself. I just wanted to order dessert and was wondering where I can get the menu or who I can order it with. The entire time, the host is very unwelcoming and pretty rude attitude when I tried to talk to her calmly. At the end, the bartender guy offered to brought us water and dessert even though I insisted that I can serve myself (and of course we tipped 20% every time even though no one serve us.)

Just not recommended to not go there without reservations so you don’t have to deal with their Host. However, Servers, Bartenders, and everyone else were super...