Pinocchio's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Reno

Pinocchio's is staffed with poor attitudes, and poor customer service. This is no longer the Pinocchio's we all knew and loved.

On two separate visits over the last few months, the service I received from the wait staff was quite poor. On the first visit, I came with the party of 20; we had a reservation. They provided us only one server, who had a terrible attitude and very poor attention to detail or concern for individual service, and the server was also working at least two other tables! Absurd. Took forever to get, and then were wrong when received. But we waited so long, no one bothered to send them back. Disappointing.

On the second, my love for Pinocchio's died. This past Sunday was a beautiful spring day. I came in for lunch after church with a few friends with plans to sit outside on the patio. We entered, ask the server kindly if we could sit on the patio. She said no, the patio is closed until Memorial Day. But the patio wasn't close, in fact, the door to the patio was wide open, to let in fresh air. There were tables. Serving us there would have been no more difficult than serving us where she seated us inside. We mentioned that the door the patio is open, and she promptly shut it. Silly. The waitresses had bad country music blaring so loud we couldn't hear each other across the table. We ordered two ice teas, and she brought them promptly, but we told her politely that we were going to leave because we wanted to sit outside. We asked her if we owed anything, and she brought is a bill for two iced teas (that we hadn't touched). Ridiculously poor judgment, and poor service.

I will not be back. And I'm not the only one who feels this way about our once beloved Pinocchio's. It's terrible now. And there are so many other options, don't even...

I'm writing this out of concern and care. Pinocchios used to be one of my favorite restaurants in Reno. The food was ALWAYS delicious--the ravioli, chicken sandwich or soup were consistently great. The service is always friendly and the owners are wonderful. I have written 5 star reviews about them here before so it pains me to write this review but I'm writing it so that maybe things might turn around. I'm afraid this gem will go so far downhill that it will be over like so many of my favorites have in the last three years.

First of all the service and the owners are still top notch. Never a complaint there.The service adds a star. It's the food that has dramatically changed. We have now had three really bad lunches here where were couldn't finish our food after a couple of bites. Either it has had no taste at all (might as well have been eating cardboard) or the flavoring was one note and that note wasn't good. Pinocchios was known for having layers of flavor in anything that we ordered. It's so bad that now we have to make something to eat when we get home. I know that the economy and covid and everything has played a part in the problems a lot of my favorite restaurants have had. My request of Pinocchios is to trim the menu way back and focus on keeping quality high.We love you guys. You have created a warm and welcoming environment that we've been coming to for years. Please do some quality checks on the dishes leaving the kitchen. Best wishes. I haven't...

Disclaimer: I should have taken a couple of photos of what was consumed tonight.

I haven't been here in a few years so I didn't remember my last experience. Tonight was the company holiday party and this was our destination. The main course consisted of prime rib, grilled chicken, a bowtie / chicken / cheese / spinach lasgana, these unbelievable mushrooms in some sort of glaze, roasted red potatoes, and one more item that I'm forgetting, I think.

My friend who I was seated next to was wolfing down his prime rib while saying in-between bites, "this is the best prime rib in town since the Liberty Belle closed." For those who don't know that restaurant, it was a STAPLE of Northern Nevada cuisine for YEARS. I don't eat red meat so I took his word for it. What I did have, and may I should have had a little less, was the chicken, mushrooms, lasagna, red potatoes, and salad. Oh man, the plates I made myself were amazing. I said to one of the bar staff, "I could have had a tray of those mushrooms and called it a day." Full disclosure, I asked one of the bar staff if to-go containers were available. I wanted more of those mushrooms. Dessert was an offering of cheesecake. I ate what I could while offering the rest to another one of my co-workers.

All in all, this was a very pleasant visit. Hats off to the kitchen for the work they did for our meal. Thank you...