Sam's Ristorante & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Rockford Township

This was an all around bad experience.

We had to wait about 10 minutes for our booth to be wiped down... In a very empty dining area.

Our waitress Chontelle (not sure on the spelling) was very inattentive. Also rudely and inaccurately corrected our pronunciation of an item on the menu. She messed up our order, never brought us items that were both offered and asked for, we got our salad last, we waited a long time for drink refills that ended up being warm, and she added her own tip of quite a large amount especially considering the service we received. I saw no posting about added gratuity unless you were a party of 8+. So I'd love to find out why she gave herself a large tip without consent.

The restaurant atmosphere was very tense and unpleasant, the kitchen staff or waitresses were arguing and being loud.

Their were only 3 other tables seated at the time we went to dinner and all three were people having arguments or being rowdy. Not necessarily the restaurants fault. But added to the bad experience.

The food was not bad. But nothing to run home to mom about.

We ordered two appetizers, Calamari which I heard was ok from the interested party at the table. Bruschetta which they should have called garlic toast with tomatoes.

It tasted good if you love garlic and tomato.

For our entrees we ordered,

Portobello chicken was our son's order, he said it was ok. He got a heaping pile of noodles I tiny piece of chicken in a bed of soup. He also had a Caesar salad which he didn't eat since it arrived last, and it was just lettuce with croutons on it.

I ordered the Lasagna with the Italian salad and a side of garlic mashed potatoes. The lasagna was pretty good and came with a decent amount of sauce, better then having it dried out. The salad was ok, but to be called a specialty salad feels like pushing it. It was very small and left me disappointed. I was asked if I'd like sour cream and butter with my potatoes and was never brought either after I asked twice.

Shrimp Parmigiana, the portion of shrimp to pasta was very lacking especially in comparison to the other dish of pasta at the table. Otherwise the dish was alright. Not something he'd order again.

We also got our bread after we were almost done with our food.

We were not offered our ice cream at all. When I asked if we could take it to go a got a very rude response that "they don't do that, it's for dine in customers only". I asked if thats a location thing since the Harlem location has allowed us to do that several times in the past, and got an argumentative tone and response back.

So I asked for the ice cream at the table. Which was basically a sample. The smallest ice cream portion/serving I've ever been served. It all literally fit on my table spoon.

We asked for containers and then had to wait with our packed food for the check while she served the other booth drinks, took their order and came back with whatever they asked for. If we ask for boxes is that not a clear sign we are done dining?

Overall... Very disappointed. Even if the food had been mouthwatering the service and environment would have...

Where to start... decided to order a taco pizza and calzones as we have not ordered since we moved. So person on phone asked for new address and gave it to her and took a few minutes (I guessed verifying if they deliver to us) and was excited to have some good food. Well here is were it went south. The driver got here and hour after the order (typical for Friday night) but the driver pulled up and wife walked outside to let dog out and driver looks at her and throws hands up like “well, what” as after she came in and said he was here (noticed he called after looking at my phone as was on charger after he left) I go out side and he was well this is not the address they gave me and I said I corrected my address and he had a bad attitude. But wait it doesn’t end there. After brushing that off we come in and open the taco pizza and it looked as if it got dropped or thrown as well as it was so soggy that it looked as it was soaked in water including the box. The calzones were not labeled which was what so a good guessing game. But being slightly cool as I’m guessing driver went to other township before to actual address not the biggest issue. So call to complain (wife did as taco pizza was for her) and talked to mananger as he heard the story we simply said refund the pizza and come take it back but supposedly can’t give refunds, but wait I own a business and any card purchase you can refunded. So he said either we can have a credit (yeah that’s what I want after this event) or he will make a new one and bring it personally (okay if he’s willing to bring himself I feel okay about it). Well five minutes later he calls and wants to know if we want the toppings on the side as would help prevent the soggy crust and we said yes. So 50 minutes later and my wife still not a bite of food in her gets the new pizza and wow no manager delivering it. So we open it and my wife takes a bite and then) looked in box and was ready to throw up! There was hair cooked in the crust! So darn mad called back and told them to come get it and no word if we will get a credit (hopefully on card) or if it is just a lost of life and money. Good luck with your order if you...

Carry out is a frustrating mess here. I placed an order online and made sure to arrive after my 'ready' time, to give them a little wiggle room. Inside there were about eight other people, all oddly standing around and trying to figure out what to do. There is a guy behind the bar who is pouring drinks for guests wandering over from the ballroom where a wedding is being held, and as each new carry out customer comes in for pickup, we are all asking the same question. Is this where I stand? Do I tell them I'm here? Do they yell out orders when they are ready? No one knew. I approached the bartender and asked if they need our name for carry out. He was obviously not in a good mood and told me he would "get to me soon, he was doing two things at once". Hey no problem. I don't mind waiting, but customers should not need to figure out what to do when they get there. And I've been here before for carry out and recall the same "invisible" treatment you get. When you're at Sam's your not family, you are seemingly another task. They don't bother with all the "be right with you", or "sorry for the wait" banter. It's customer service void here at carry out.

I had plenty of time to stare at my phone, so when my order was ready, I was asked to pay $1.00 more. Not a big deal, but I was curious where that was coming from. He looked at my phone and said "it's just a dollar, it's probably a convenience fee. If you order online, you won't have that". Aren't convenience fees for when you pay online instead of at the store? Shouldn't that be told upfront? And more to the point, I did order online. But decided I didn't want to upset the growing crowd behind me.

As a fitting end when I bought our three sandwiches with fries, my wife looked at her Meatball sandwich and said she got the wrong order. After we both looked closely, there were meatballs on the sandwich. They were just so small and few that they looked like all sauce. Check out the picture. You may need to magnify the image, but there are meatballs on that bread. A fitting end to my carry out...