Skipolini's — Restaurant in Reno

TLDR: Tasty Italian eats being served by an amazing wait staff. Come for the happy hour specials!

Vibe: 5/5. Located in a strip mall complex just south of downtown Reno, Skipolini's is a great example of a non-chain family restaurant in the suburbs. Inside, the restaurant is massive, with plenty of seating for both parties large and small. The decor is modern meets Western meets Italian, and it works! From the oversized distressed wood tables to the little gelato cart that greets you at the entrance, Skipolini's has a great vibe.

Service: 5/5. Can't stress how impressed we were with the wait staff at Skipolini's. We had a dinner reservation for 16 for a wedding rehearsal and the staff was more than accommodating. We were seated promptly and drink orders were also taken punctually. We had arrived right at the tail end of happy hour, but our server was determined for us to get a few rounds of cocktails and apps prior to the 6pm happy hour cutoff. Both food and drinks arrived punctually as well as fresh. Mains also all arrived at the same time and as expected. This was truly a testament to the organization of the staff with a group our size. Overall, these guys have the dining room running like a swiss watch!

Food: 5/5. Everything we tried at Skipolini's for dinner was exceptional. For our table of 16, we ordered several orders of apps such as calamari, fried green bean fries, wings, meatball sliders and truffle fries. Each app was well portioned and tasty in their own rights. For the mains, we ordered several specialty pizzas as well as a handful of pasta dishes which all were fantastic. The pizza leaned to the doughy side of a NY style pie, but made up for it with tasty sauce and creative toppings. Pastas are also made in house and cooked perfectly to al dente. Cocktails were also a crowd pleaser, with many in house cocktail creations being well balanced and refreshing. At happy hour, these cocktails and apps are offered at a nicely discounted price, which is a nice plus. Overall, Skipolini's is a great place to grab a pie and a few drinks with your family or friends without having to trek to...

Service is horrifying. Pay attention to the other reviews on this site and elsewhere. This restaurant is new but not new enough to excuse their behavior on our visit this weekend.

Place was I would say moderately busy for an early dinner, we were sat right away and promptly ignored. Since we weren't in any particular rush we waited about 10 minutes without so much as a menu or a glass of water or any service attention at all.

When the busboy visited the table next to us, I waved him over and let him know that we were being ignored, he said, oh I think a waiter will be by sometime, I don't know, I'm just a busboy, so that was helpful.

After waiting another 10 minutes with the added insult of getting to watch other tables around us who were sat after us get service, we decided we had had enough. Also keep in mind we were in the middle of the restaurant, not hidden in a corner or anything.

Also, like other people have commented on here, this is certainly not for lack of staff. We saw at least 10 waitstaff, average age looked to be 15, all milling around and giggling and chatting and playing on their phones and drinking beverages in front of customers, this In and of itself seems a little unprofessional. But never made eye contact with us when it was more than obvious that we were just sitting there without so much as a glass of water in front of us.

Obviously we ended up leaving after 20 minutes of no service, did not feel that this type of service warranted our hard-earned money. I did have quite a while to look around to see what other people were eating, it looked average to below average. The burgers look soggy, the pizza looked about average.

Do what we did and go anywhere else down here within walking distance, we love BJ's but that night and we ended up at Miguels and if you can imagine, we were sad and given beverages and a menu within moments of visiting their establishment!

Save your time don't even step...

Food - 5 Service - 5 Environment - 5

I so wanted my rating to be a 5, because I have enjoyed Skip's for the better part of my life, but there were a couple of bumps along the way. The table we were seated at, was dirty, but this was pointed out to us by the server and within a couple of minutes, the table was promptly cleaned. I am sorry, I forgot our server's name, I want to say Justice, but I can't be certain if that is correct or not. In any event, she was very attentive and efficient in taking our drink orders and answering any questions that we had. We ordered our favorite pizza the family sized Prego pizza and two Sangrias. We also asked for a side of ranch, oil and balsamic vinegar (i'll be adding a tip for this). When the pizza arrived I served everyone and after taking my first bite I noticed that the ground beef was under cooked (raw) on a couple of pizzas. I promptly informed our server who, informed Tony (owner/operator?) who then asked Clayton to come talk to us. Clayton was pleasant and professional as i explained to him what was going on and showed him the raw ground beef, he promptly took the pizza away and got a new one fired up. Without even asking Clayton brought a sangria by and asked me to please accept it for the inconvenience. The replacement pizza came out very quickly and it was cooked to perfection! The toppings were plentiful and the crust was like having fresh bread sticks at the end of each slice. There was so much food that even with the four of us eating this pizza and we still brought some home.

While we were there I took a stroll around the restaurant and found that there was a full bar and plenty of comfortable seating both inside and out as well as rooms that can be "rented"out for large groups (hmm yelp event?).

In addition to pizza, there are other Italian dishes, deserts, hamburgers, sandwiches and a happy hour menu for...