Piccola Italia — Restaurant in Raleigh

I can’t rate the food as we were never waited on. Went there with my girlfriend last night. It was like 6pm on a Saturday, the height of the Christmas shopping season and the entire area was packed so our expectations of getting a table were pretty low, but we decided to try anyway, just to have fun. The place was definitely packed, as expected and eventually someone came to the podium at the front and said there would be a 25 or so minute wait. That was fine! Then the woman who spoke to us just walked away. We were thinking, should we give them a name? So we asked about that and this man came over and said “no need for names. I’ll remember you.” That’s cool! We asked if we could order drinks at the bar and wait on the patio. No problem. We waited at the small, six person bar and watched the bartender struggle to maintain orders, running tabs etc. He was obviously stressed and having worked in the service industry for some time we just quietly waited. Only took about 15 min to order drinks. We then waited outside. My girlfriend was still concerned that we hadn’t given the staff our name so went back in to ask if they wouldn’t mind taking our name. They did. 15 or min later the same man came out and gave us a table. Yay! We sat at the table for about 20 mins with ZERO acknowledgement from any staff, despite food being delivered to the tables around us. We played our part…placed the menus down, try to make eye contact. Finally one of the staff came over and said “Good evening.” Phew! We were getting hungry. He then asked “Do you mind if I take this extra chair?” And left. So we did as well. As I said, both of us have worked countless hours in the service industry and fully understand the stress of an incredibly busy night, rude customers et al. But we were patient, and so kind. We weren’t snapping our fingers and being rude. We waited patiently. Apparently that is not how you get service at Piccola Italia, In order to be served you apparently must be rude, make threats and roll your eyes. Since neither of us are the kind of people who would do that, we won’t be...

Piccola Italia has been a Raleigh establishment since 1982. I remember coming here since I was a little girl so I had to make this review longer than usual to do justice. It's authentic, traditional home-cooked Italian food at its best and the owner Frank, true to his Italian roots, always asks me about my parents and makes me feel welcome like family. I think a lot of people miss this place because it's not trying to be glitzy or glamorous, it's a comfortable family setting, but after 40 years in business the food still has that same special something - and my dad eats here every week!

My favorites are the pizza and the pasta. The pizza is hand tossed with a crispy crust and homemade tomato sauce. The Tomato Sauce is the BEST in TOWN - smooth and rich in flavor (the Marinara is a more bold and chunky sauce if you're into that)! The pasta is delicious and always al dente - just be sure to ask for the parmesan if it's not on the table (gluten free pasta is also really good). Sicilian Pizza is Amazing - order ahead of time for that. Meatballs and sausage also delicious. Thank you Frank and to your family for the labor of love to keep this place alive through fires, recessions and remodels - for my family it's a home away from home - Authentic Italian...

From the moment we entered the restaurant I should have gone with my intuition, the hostess was not very welcoming. We preferred a table and were told it would be 20 minutes or more, we said we would rather have a table. Ignoring our preference she sat us at the bar putting one of our guest against a wall not very comfortable for them. Then the hostess screams in my ear because we moved over so we could be more comfortable. She tells us she needs the room for other guests which there were plenty of seats. Then anyone who came to the bar was seated at a table in minutes which should have been us . We proceed to order our food one of our party was served food and 20 minutes later we were asked if we wanted a to go box the rest of us haven’t even been served yet. Then the next guest of our party was served and 20 minutes later they served me. I declined my food and paid the bill for mediocre food and terrible service. Never going back. My party left and I was hungry from no food so I went around the corner to Cape Fear where the manager and the bartender treated me like a special guest. What a waste of time, money to even have bothered to go to such a place. Save yourself the hassle and go somewhere...