La Barra — Restaurant in Riverside Township

I read many reviews from this restaurant that said the food was terrible. I don’t understand why a pizza, pasta place has such little pride in their sauce. Not to mention your portions are so small. Italians are known to give generous portions. I understand everything is expensive these days but you still have to keep in competition with your competitors. You give way less and charge just as much. I’ll choose Maggiano’s over you. I’ll choose Olive Garden over you. There are many Italian restaurants out there. I’m not gonna sit here and name them all, but you have to be generous with your portions and you have to be flavorful with your sauce. Your T-shirts say legalize marinara. Not your marinara. It is boring. Can you put a little basil in there or a little garlic in there or something to make it have some more flavor. And your tiny portion was dry, barely had any sauce on it and anytime you ask for anything different from your restaurant you charge extra!!! I’m not asking for anything extra. I’m asking for it to taste good. You’re gonna charge me extra for asking for it to taste favorable? Put a little garlic in there, put some basil in there, put a little something to give it some lasting taste in your mouth. Put some sauce on the noodles. The noodles absorbed the little amount of sauce and then it’s dry. It’s has no taste, no wetness in your mouth. It’s dry bland noodles. No one should have to say all this to a restaurant. It is the basics!!! My last comment is, I don’t eat a lot of cheese so I asked for my pizza to NOT have cheese and to put peppers on instead and they wanted to charge me for the peppers. I said If I don’t get cheese, I should get something in place of it because you’re saving money by not putting cheese on my pizza and they said that’s not how it works. Peppers are an extra ingredient so I have to pay for them. They didn’t charge me for them this time, but they will next time, but I’m never gonna get the cheese so I am not gonna order from them next time I’ll order somewhere else. Cheese is expensive if I don’t put the cheese on the pizza, I should get something in its place. Their computers are not even set up to substitute the cheese. It was a whole big deal to try to figure out how to get the price adjusted. I just find that insane with today’s world and allergies and people’s sensitivity to dairy or gluten or whatever the case may be, there should be substitutions allowed. If you’re not paying for one ingredient you should be able to get a different ingredient. I’m not asking for anything extra I’m asking for one to be taken off and a different one to be put in its place. It doesn’t make sense to me. They do a special on Tuesday buy one get one, but if it tastes terrible or they rip you off and give you tiny portions, what’s the purpose? It’s just all a game they’re playing with me and I don’t like it or...

We have been coming here since 2017. Never once had we had a problem with service or our food. Last time we ordered takeout the food kind of tasted different-- a little bland but we didn't let it stop us from coming back; maybe it was a bad night. Tonight we came back and decided to eat in. They still had the beet salad from years ago that I LOVEEEEEE...... I noticed this time it was only golden beets, no red beets- fine whatever no problem however, they tasted like they were previously frozen then defrosted... The whole salad had no flavor whatsoever... I was so upset I just left it on the side .. The bartender got a busy dinner rush and was kind of complaining how busy he was even some of his regulars were like "Hey what's the matter man and he's like I'm just busy"... Maybe pick a different career if you're upset that you're going to have a dinner rush... Especially in the food/ customer service business. He checked on us for 2 seconds and when I asked him if the beet recipe was different he just walked away and kind of turn his head and said "yeah"... The deep dish pizza also lacked a bit of flavor.... idk maybe they changed chefs over the course of a few years but the quality and flavor definitely has gone down ..... It's really sad because it looks so delectable but then when you take a bite there's no flavor.. Of course 25 mins or so later when he isn't as busy he is very attentive and wants to know how everything is actually So I just asked him for a box for the pizza and to send the beets back because they tasted wrong. You can clearly see he's talking about me and the appetizer with his fellow co-workers in the back laughing ... I get the bill and expected to pay for something that I said tasted wrong... I won't be back for subpar service and poor...

HIGHLY AVERAGE but decent location and atmosphere - We had the Fettuccini, Caesar salad w/ Salmon and some fries. Salmon was overcooked, dry and flavorless but expensive. Fries arrived hot and fresh with some green parsley garnish, I thought it was going to be seasoning, it wasn't, they were flavorless. Fettuccini was pretty bland though the quality of the ingredients seemed ok. My margarita was just OK but the pour was pretty weak which is sad considering it was $14.

Fettuccini and fries could've been fixed with just a little salt & pepper but no one stopped by for the obligatory [but sometimes actually useful] "how's everything tasting?". When I finally got someone's attention and asked for salt and pepper she apparently blew us off because she walked by several more times and even served the table next to us but never brought the salt and pepper. I finally got another woman to bring it to us but by then most of the food was gone.

I wanted to like this place, it's super convenient, especially if you live in Riverside. I'll give it another try eventually because it's literally a 60 second walk from my doorstep but if you're getting in a car to come here then there are better options and I would not go out of my way for this place.

Everyone was pretty friendly and I liked our server who bubbly and nice to the kids.

This place isn't terrible it's just not remarkable and there's a significant gap between what you might expect (given location, prices, atmosphere) and what you actually get in the...