Di Farina Restaurant — Restaurant in Pompano Beach

I was browsing google and stumbled upon this restaurant. It had excellent reviews. I booked on open table and the only available time was 5pm or 8pm on Friday 8. I booked it for a party of 4 at 5pm. We walked inside and the restaurant was empty. It had 2 other customers in there finishing up their meal. The staff all stared at us and never said a word. I went to the hostess? I told them my reservation was at 5pm. I greeted them all myself and only a couple said hello. It was not very welcoming at all. Not one person said “Hello, Welome to Di Farina!” They didn’t have any music on. The staff told us to sit by the kitchen near a dark area when it was NOT busy at all. We asked to sit by the well lit area by the window and they were hesitant. They had to discuss it amongst themselves in their language and finally said okay we can sit at our requested table. I have never been to a restaurant where the hostess said we don’t know the soup of the day is because the chef isn’t here Until 6. It’ll be available at 6pm. If the place is open for dinner at 5pm everything should be ready. We got the manager and he told us the soup of the day for us ( mushroom soup) Absolutely terrible!! It was salty as hell. My mom could not consume it. She also ordered veggie lasagna (with no pasta in between). We sent it back because it was also very salty and overcooked vegetables. It’s a pasta place there should’ve been pasta in between the lasagna.

The short rib pasta was good but nothing special. If they’re known to have fresh pasta they should be ASHAMED of themself. I have had fresh pappardelle pasta in New York and it was thin and melts in your mouth. This was pathetic. It was dry, thick, and sticking together. It seemed Ike precooked microwaved pasta. The pasta was not fresh out of the water hot. It came out room temperature. My dad ordered the ravioli chicken. There was no chicken in there. His regular tomato sauce was pretty good though. Meatballs were delicious. Their salad was fresh. My bf and I were the ones that had a bad stomach ache and issues the next day; all day. On our way out the manager waited for us outside and we told him the details of the issues. We were ready to go and he wanted us to talk to the chef. He Never came out and it’s not up to us to speak with the chef to rectify the issue. So we left.

Unprofessional place. Some of the staff were helpful and delightful. HOW IS THE PLACE OPEN IF THEY KEEP SAYING THE CHEF IS NOT THERE UNTIL 6PM. WHO WAS COOKING OUR FOOD??? Their website should’ve said specials and chef will be in at 6pm!! WE WILL NOT BE BACK. THE REVIEWS MUST HAVE BEEN PAID BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THEIR PASTA. It’s definitely not 5...

I was really looking forward to giving this restaurant a try as I love fresh pasta. I had mixed results and may be willing to give it a second shot. My experience was mixed - but the service was definitely OUTSTANDING. We had a party of 4 this past weekend and started off with the bread - I am not sure how a high end place would service supermarket quality rolls - LOL. Of all the Italian places I have eaten at this ranks as the WORST BREAD of all time. The salad that we ordered was reasonable and the dressing on the side was pleasant so it allows you to control the amount you want to use. For the appetizer we had probably some of the best veggie lasagna I have ever had - ABSOLUTELY A MUST TRY - no pasta noodles...all veggies. Portion was reasonable for the size. This is a total home run!

For the entrees we had: pesto gnocchi, tagliatelle pasta with short ribs and chicklen piccata. I will go in order of exceptional to terrible. The pesto ricotta gnocchi is like eating pillow of heaven...WOW!!! A definite home run. The chicken piccata was very good and above average. They gave us a little bit of a hard time and wouldn't substitute the side of spaghetti with penne - the first time that I have ever been refused that substitution, but it was darn good spaghetti. I would recommend this dish as well.

The third entree was a disaster....seriously I cannot believe they even call this tagliatelle pasta with short ribs....they put 3 little bites of short rib knowing that there was 4 people in our party...use some common sense if you know we are all sharing. That wasn't the worse thing - the meat wasn't flavorful at all - the sauce was terrible - it was like eating beef stroganoff versus a high end tagliatelle with short ribs. The need to fix the recipe for this or take it off the menu - and it was the most expensive thing we ordered and the worst.

We skipped on dessert as we went to the Dandee Donut shop across the street.

Overall, there were 2 things that we better than anywhere else in all the years I have been dining out (veggie lasagna and pesto gnocchi) and then 2 things which were flat out terrible (the bread and the tagliatelle with short ribs).

Like I said - I may contemplate giving one more try...

For many years, I have made a point of visiting a nearby Italian restaurant when I am visiting Pompano Beach, but last week that place was closed, so I looked online and found Di Farina--and what a welcome discovery that turned out to be.

The hostess was warm in her welcome and kindly patient as my aunt and uncle (who were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary!) arrived and joined us at the table. As we were finding our seats, the maitre d' arrived (I'm not sure if that's his official title). His approach was so enthusiastic, humorous, and familiar that I thought for just a moment that he must know me from somewhere. He made a quick impression and I felt like I was "at home" in a place I'd never been. The guy has a gift for hospitality for sure. At the end of the meal, he again paused to send us off with the kind of warmth you would expect from family.

The teamwork was pleasantly stealth: someone brought bread, someone took our wine order, someone cleared, and the server offered counsel about the many options--all without ever feeling anything other than servant-hearted.

Our meal was unrushed and DELICIOUS. I had the home made asiago gnocchi with truffle and I had to order a side of meatballs (that sauce!)

My constructive responses would be specific to our server. The soft drinks are served from a can and, to test whether the can was empty, she put her hand over the top. She asked during our meal about someone celebrating a birthday, even though I had specified in our reservation and when we were seated that this was an anniversary celebration. Both of these things are minor. The worst thing at the end of an expensive-but-worth-it meal was when she secretly leaned over the table to announce that "If anyone does yelp reviews in this group, we would appreciate a good review." I would expect that from the car rental agent or from the coffee shop barista, but it felt 'off brand' for such a wonderful, casual-elegant restaurant.

When I'm back in town, I will be back for dinner. I'll look forward to joking with the maitre d' and enjoying all of the good service--but I might...