Osteria Alla Romana — Restaurant in Pleasant Township

I was in a party of 9, we stopped by at 7pm after a long day after calling ahead to confirm availability, and were told to come. Upon arriving we noticed they were ready for closing other than one large table in the middle for us and a man, who we later found out was the owner, sitting by the entrance welcoming us in to eat, which was nice. Unfortunately, after that is where the dissatisfaction and eventual complete unprofessionalism starts. We sit down and start looking at the menu and we ask the server how many each dish feeds as they take cash only and we only had about $130 in cash on us, so he offered us a deal that we can pick two pastas and they will make two BIG plates that in his own words “will keep us full” and that we’d be satisfied. We were skeptical so we asked in the event we aren’t satisfied as we are extremely hungry, will we be able to get more food free of charge? And the server replied we wouldn’t need it but in case we do, we would be accommodated. Once the food came out we immediately had doubts about the portion sizes as the plates were not very big at all (12 inch dishes max!) and the pasta was not piled on too much at all. Within 15 minutes all the food was eaten clean and we were all talking and decided we were still very hungry, hungry enough that we felt it warranted we ask for more food, after all we were guaranteed wed be satisfied which definitely wasn’t the case yet. So we asked for more food and suddenly “the kitchen is closed” and “the cook already turned off the water” so naturally we are a little shocked and ask about our deal, which is when the waiter just completely lies and tells us he never said that, only that it was a “possibility”. At this point we feel scammed on two fronts, one is that we paid an exorbitant amount for 2 plates of very average pasta and not a great amount of it, i probably ate a total of 10 gnocchis and a single serving spoon of shellfish pasta, which had very little shellfish in it too. The server then tells us he can ask the owner if its possible which is when things happened that made me want to put this whole story in this review. The owner came out and told us he gave us a lot of food and that he can’t make anymore food for us, and we brought up the same points to him saying we felt “scammed”. As soon as he heard that word his tone got aggressive and he raised his voice saying not to call him a scammer and telling us all sorts of things about how we are being bad guests, we kept trying to reason with him, asking that does he understand why we feel cheated, but rather than discuss anything he chose to tell us to stop talking and yelled over us. Then, very aggressively walked over to one of my friends, who he very rudely interrupted and told her not to talk when shed try to bring something up in our argument, and he got so close and aggressive that I felt the need to tell this man who runs a restaurant that he needs to stop yelling and instead have an adult conversation as this is getting very unprofessional, which he then calmed down a little but wouldn’t budge at all. We made it very clear that even if they can’t make us more food, things would be made right if they could give us compensation/a lower total bill because 1, we did not at all receive the promised extra food if we requested it within good reason and instead got disingenuous excuses, and 2, their original claim also wasn’t true for a single one of us as none of us were full or satisfied with the amount of food, not to mention that each plate being priced at $75 was an extremely overpriced meal, especially considering the food was ok in taste at best and very simple, and these were hungry mouths talking so it should’ve been very easy to impress us there but they still failed.

The bottom line is the owner did not budge and told us to get out and was very rude and unprofessional and downright threatening and this didn’t even come with good food. And to top it all off, he is now giving racist replies to my friend’s reviews as well. There is absolutely no reason to give this place...

The food taste good but the pepperoni pizza we ordered at $22.00 was over priced. The same with the salad which amounted to lettuce from a spring mix bag you would get at Kroger. The owner denied my lunch companion's request for Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper to put on her pizza. He said it would ruin the flavor. If a customer wants the cheese ... if that's what excites her taste buds, than get her the damn cheese. Who are you to dictate her palate choices?

The restaurant only takes cash ... NO CREDIT CARDS. Not enough cash on you?? Not to worry ... conveniently there's an ATM in this small restaurant that charges $3.00. Even McDonald's takes credit card. I guess everybody has their way of milking from the unsuspecting customers.

The owner is over the top crazy towing cars. He instructed the trucks to patrol and remove all cars from the lot on Sunday, Monday and the 4th of July even though the restaurant is CLOSED those days. He is towing potential customers all for the his kick back. You want local business to stay and succeed? Quit milking your customer base. Word gets out.

On this Saturday at 3 o'clock there were only 3 people in the restaurant. He called the tow trucks in to empty his lot, EVEN TAKING MY CAR after I pointed it out 3 different times. The owner said "don't worry, you won't have to pay". What the hell?!?! Was there a moment you thought I was going to pay to get my car back? Is that why you said that? That should go without saying. You drug my 2 month old 2019 Santa Fe on a roll back truck. My reward for this frustration .... a free desert.

Everybody has different business models. I don't agree with over pricing the menu, cash only with an ATM at your service for a fee, and towing customer and maybe future customers.

I give the place 6 months to survive.

UPDATE: When most establishments receive a poor review they apologize, promise better service next time, address the concerns head on, use the criticism as a training moment, etc.

His reply "we are not McDonald's". That's telling. He can take a lesson or two about customer service from McDonald's. I can't think of an Italian restaurant in Columbus that doesn't accept credit cards and conveniently has an ATM. Have a...

We walked into a hot restaurant with no air conditioning, which was fine at first. What came after was not.

What I assume was the owner came over & immediately started acting odd. He commented on my cleavage to my friend, said he’d cook our meal after finishing his cappuccino & asked if that was okay. We shrugged it off & said sure.

I ordered spaghetti & meatballs with meat sauce. Instead, the pasta came out as shells, though he had asked if that would be okay. The sauce was thin but at least coated the pasta. He only gave me one meatball, after asking if that was “enough.”

Throughout the meal, he kept popping his head beside mine from the booth behind me, completely invading my space. He sat with us the entire time, urging my friend to hurry up & finish her plate. He also launched into a long, bizarre story about himself that sounded fabricated: his age didn’t add up, he claimed his entire family had passed & he said he’d only dated one woman after his wife died. According to him, that relationship “couldn’t work” because she had previously been married to a “Black Puerto Rican.” He admitted this was racist but brushed it off by saying “all Italians are,” adding, “the only thing I like mixed is my cappuccino.”

I’m a white-passing mixed person with a Black mother & he clearly had no idea who he was talking to. He rambled about where he wanted to move next, ignoring us almost entirely. When my friend choked on her food, he didn’t pause, he just kept talking.

At the end, I ordered tiramisu. He asked if my friend liked chocolate & then brought her an unasked-for chocolate mousse along with my dessert, which we assumed was free. While we finished, he kept insulting the neighborhood, calling it full of “inbred white trash.”

I finally cut him off & said we had to go. The bill came to $102, for two dishes, two servings of bread & two small desserts. No cards accepted, of course. His ATM was empty, so we had to go to a gas station to pull out cash. By then, I felt faint from the heat.

The whole experience was uncomfortable, bizarre &...