Michael J's Italian-American Restaurant — Restaurant in Ruidoso

DREADFUL EXPERIENCE

We were denied service, kicked out of the establishment, and publicly humiliated by the owner. Everything began when we booked a reservation around 5 in the afternoon for 6 people at 8:30. Despite the long waiting time, we were willing to wait since we had previously attended that establishment and enjoyed the food. Nonetheless, in the end, we added another person to our party (my brother), something that was notified to one of the servers at the restaurant, and we were told there was no problem and even agreed on providing us with an extra chair. However, when our server (a blonde-hair woman) approached our table, she did not greet us and she immediately proceeded to say that because we were 8 (counting my 2-year-old baby cousin) instead of the 6 people stated in the reservation, she could not serve us as it was a "fire hazard" according to New Mexico's legislation. We make her know that we had notified a server about the situation, to which she rudely denied by saying: "I don't think you did." When asked the lady for a possible solution she responded, and I quote, "None." Bemused, my uncle asked the lady if wanted us to leave, to which she first responded: "Yes." She did offer us to wait until another table became unoccupied, but that was not a flexible solution for us. The restaurant was visibly packed, and there were no signs that a table would become available soon. My uncle did ask to see the manager as the blonde woman's behavior had been nothing but rude and unwelcoming. She claimed that she was the owner's wife and that her husband was not in the establishment. Moreover, we tried to talk things through with her, but her response was to open the door and ask us to leave. It is important to note that our behavior was never disrespectful. Our only intentions were to spend a nice family dinner. Servers came out to our location and started to aggressively demand us to leave. The lady proceeded to attempt to snatch my uncle's phone by slapping his palm (who was my baby cousin in his other arm) when she noticed he began recording the event. From there, the environment became even more hostile. Servers became more aggressive and screamed "Leave! Leave!" and even threatened to call the police. A tall, brown hair, with a long beard, server approach us in a daunting manner by repeatedly striking his fist against the palm of his other hand. All this happens outside the establishment, making it possible for other customers to hear. Completely humiliating. I have never been treated in such a dehumanizing way. It completely disheartening that a friendly family experience turned into a such hostile situation. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND THIS RESTAURANT! It is not worth your time, nor your money and they treat their customers poorly (please take reference of other reviews). If you are in Ruidoso and are looking for an Italian Restaurant, please take Domino's into consideration instead of this so-called restaurant. They have cheaper prices, no reservation is needed, and they treat their customers like human beings.

Ps. Would rate establishment's experience ZERO STARS...

Our family dined here together tonight (party of 7 adults) and it was not a good experience. This is not a large restaurant, and upon arrival, it was not busy. To start it took the server 20 minutes before taking our food order once drinks had arrived. Once food came out one family member didn’t get their food with everyone else, totally understand mistakes happen but the server said she would get it “right out of the window” & it proceeded to take another 10 for the food to come out while everyone else had finished theirs. Turns out the order wasn’t placed correctly (we were told by another server) yet our server lied and said the cheese needed to melt on the dish….. After we finished our meal it took another 15 minutes before we saw our server to get tickets. They came back with the wrong food and drinks on the wrong tickets for the entire table. It took another 10 for the server to try to correct it (mind you, not a difficult table, a grand total of 2 glasses of wine, 3 salads and 1 appetizer with an entree for everyone) and they still came back wrong the second time after clarifying what each person got & what went on each ticket. After the server brought back our receipts she still charged 2 of our cards with the wrong tickets. One family member gave cash and the server never brought back change (even though he never said keep the change). After asking for the change back to another server, that server came back & said he had never paid, even though the money was misplaced by the same server who took the payment book. He eventually got his change back once they located the ticket book. The best service and experience we had all night was the girl serving water to our table, she always made sure our glasses were full & we were well hydrated. There’s a point of being understanding because mistakes do happen, but tonight’s experience was absolutely ridiculous. Writing this review as someone who served in both chain restaurants and a small local upscale restaurant for a total of 5 1/2 years....

Overall not bad for small town Italian. Highlights: pretty outdoor spot, all our favorite dishes were seafood ones, kind and attentive staff (our waitress was very fun and sweet). If you're looking for a casual date night on vacation this spot will fit the bill. (Details below)

Our party was pretty large so we called ahead and made a reservation for 10. They were unable to seat us all together and so we had to split up into groups of 5 with a walkway in between us. So they weren't super equipped to deal with large parties and we didn't find out until we got there.

Appetizers: The highlight of the whole meal were the Salmon Crostini. They were really wonderful and our party ended up ordering extra after their entrees. Caprese Salad (pictured) was simple but tasty. Not nearly as outstanding as the Salmon.

Entrees: Favorite of the party was the Special which was Mahi Mahi Tuna on Risotto. Light, tasty, tangy, delicious. Several people ordered Eggplant Parmigian (pictured) and many were underwhelmed. Small amount of pasta and the eggplant wasn't crispy. The Chicken Marsala was tasty, sauce maybe a bit thin, but very yummy. NOTE: All portions were very small. We had some pretty small eaters in our party and even they wouldn't have been full only ordering an entree. Plan to get several courses and have no leftovers.

Dessert: Favorite was the Chocolate Torte, while delicious it was extremely rich and it was hard to have more than a bite. The Strawberry Buttercake was yummy, like a dense angelfood cake with warm strawberry compote on top. The Wild Berry buttercake however, we had to send back. The compote was mostly seeds and they were very bitter and crunchy. Maybe it was an off night but blackberries are my favorite fruit and the wild berry mix was just too crunchy and...