Neapoli Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Red Bank

Tonight's experience at Neapoli gave me a lot to think about when it comes to returning here ever again. We had a reservation at 7pm, yet did not get seated until 7:43pm. I understand it was Valentine's day but over 40 minutes of waiting when we had a reservation locked in over three weeks in advance is a bit much to expect a customer to be okay with. Then when my date and I were seated, we were placed at a table for four, which was fine, until they let another couple sit next to us as if it was a double date. I have been to thousands of restaurants all over and there is no chance it was a normal thing to do. The couple next to me even agreed. It took away the 1 on 1 experience I was looking toward to with my date. The people next to us received bread before us, before we even received table utensils or a napkin. Then when we ordered our appetizer, it took about 30 minutes before ever seeing it. That being said, on top of that, we had to wait an EXTRA hour an twenty minutes for our entree... I ordered penne vodka with chicken.... The chicken was completely dry and the pasta itself was watered down. No one ever came to our table to check on us aside from the waitress and the bus boys who were asking every 5 minutes if we wanted to box our food up. Tonight was a great impression on me from this place but I will NEVER be back. They were completely unprepared the whole night. Chilli's would not have even done this. It would've been a more adult thing to do from their end to accommodate us. I'm sure I was not the only one who experienced this nightmare. Next year, the two adults will be...

Some bright spots, but overall, mediocre food, atmosphere & service.

Food - fried Zucchini appetizer was excellent.  The Tiramisu similarly very good.  The 10 Wallace pizza sounded good, but under-delivered, it lacked taste and the overall quality seemed on par with Dominos! :(

Atmosphere is nice, but a bit on the noisy side.  Not the place for a cozy, romantic evening.

For entrees, the vegetarian options were severely lacking, pretty much everything (with one exception) contained meat or fish.  While we would have loved to try the freshly made pasta, alas, not an option for vegetarians. Note: I called in advance and asked the hostess about vegetarian options, and she insisted there were lots of options on the menu, I guess she didn't realize none of them were entrees.

Service - mediocre at best.  Started out well - but after ordering it went downhill fast.  Over the course of the 90 minute dinner, the waiter stopped by exactly three times (and two of them were related to the check).

Lastly, a nit, but one that should be stated. A number of restaurants have gone to adding a credit card service charge.  For restaurants that are modestly priced, this is totally understandable & make sense.  But, for a higher end establishment, the restaurant is already charging a premium and then nickel & diming their customers for more.  So, to charge $23 for a small, mediocre pizza and then to add a CC surcharge is just wrong!

Net -there are better options in and...

I’m extremely disappointed with my recent experience. My son and his girlfriend dined there on Valentine’s Day. He loved the menu online and was excited to try the milkshakes for dessert. When he arrived for his reservation he was taken by surprise that there was a fixed price menu of $85 per person that was not advertised. I spoke to the manager Tim after my son’s experience and he was extremely understanding and even thanked me for the feedback. He reassured me that I was not the only one that complained about not knowing there was a fixed price menu. He told me he would like to make this right and invited my son and his girlfriend back or even my whole family which was very nice of him. He told me to call him direct when we will be coming in so he knows and can make the reservation for us. This is the way to turn a disappointing experience into a good one and I felt this was how a restaurant should treat their customers. I spoke to Tim yesterday to let him know my son and his girlfriend would like to come in this weekend and he acted like he had no idea who I was and then proceeded to completely take back everything he said to me. The only thing he would offer was dessert or an appetizer. I was very disappointed at the fact he did not follow through with his offer. This is not the way to make things right. Now I will never give this restaurant a second chance and I will be sure to tell everyone about...