The Colosseum Restaurant — Restaurant in Salem

It pains me to write this negative review. I will begin by pointing out that the restaurant was extremely busy this evening. That said…. the only positive was the bartender, Frankie, who was 100% on point and picking up the slack of the other bartender. We ordered the Caesar salad and Eggplant appetizer. Salad was B, more oily than creamy. Eggplant was also a B, mostly because the breading was overly saturated in oil. Sadly, this foretold the rest of the meal. My dining companion had a lemony shrimp dish. While the lemony sauce was delicious and pasta perfectly al dente putting breaded shrimp in a wet sauce caused the shrimp to disintegrate and become mushy and inedible. I ordered the veal parm with homemade gemelli pasta. Pasta was al dente, but the “bolognese” that covered the pasta and veal was a watery, flavorless meat sauce reminiscent of Chef Boyardee rather that one of the most renowned Italian chefs in NH. I am not one to complain often and it’s nearly unheard of that I send food back, but the first plate was inedible. Oil had so saturated the breading on the veal that it overwhelmed the other limited flavors. The owner even came over to apologize and explain why the dish came out the way it had - the pan wasn’t hot enough to sear the breading. I get it. It happens. What doesn’t usually happen is the second dish coming out in the same sorry state as the first dish - arguably worse. The breading was again saturated in oil and the watery meat sauce (not bolognese) and half-melted mozzarella completed the tri-fecta of making for an awful plate of food. Again, it pains me to have to write this review because I watched Chef Todesca on the Channel 9 noontime segment for years and promised myself one day I would dine there. To summarize, bartender Frankie was a solid A and largely the only bright spot of the evening. I refuse to give a grade to the rest of the experience because doing so would simply further embarrass this well regarded...

First let me say that I truly love the Colosseum. The food is great and the atmosphere perfect. We have been there at least a dozen times. However, the past couple of times have been the same disturbing trend. Let me explain...We ALWAYS sit at the bar, simply the way we like to go out to dinner. Last Saturday was very busy so I do understand why the service would be a bit slow, but here is my issue...the 2 bar tenders are responsible for providing drinks to the entire restaurant (Like most bar tenders in most restaurant's are). They are also responsible for serving the 5 high top tables located in the bar. And finally (and I do mean finally) they are responsible for the bar patrons themselves. We were there for 3 hours and spent nearly $300 dollars. Not once did one of the bar tenders come to us to see if we were in need of service or to see if we needed anything. Each time we needed a drink I had to call to the bar tender, and believe me this was no easy chore. I am not blaming the bar tender per se , as stated the restaurant was very busy, BUT this is unacceptable service. I will honestly re-think going there again because of the service at the bar. As I said, I understand that the restaurant was very busy and that the bar tenders were working VERY hard BUT is that my problem? It is the owners responsibility to provide good service to go along with good food. One without the other is not acceptable. So here is my message to the Colosseum owners...hire another bar tender on...

After years of thinking we should try this place we finally did. Not sure where to begin. This will be a mixed review, skewing to the negative. First, when reserving online I asked for a quiet table. We were put bythe kitchen, so servers were running back and forth by our table the whole time. Our request to move was shot down. Drinks - great. Perfect. Then the ladies room. Of the 2 stalls, one was in use, the other - the lock did not engage; no worries, it seemed to wedge firmly shut. Nope! It swung open on me several times. Let it go. On to the menu. So many enticing choices! I love a chicken saltimbocca, but no where in the description is sage - the defining ingredient in saltimbocca. I pivot to a safe bet, the piccata. I take full responsibility here for not reading the description carefully. Green peppers do not go in a picatta. Period. With the first bite of chicken I could tell there were green peppers without even seeing them. It wasn't inedible, but very wrong. The pasta that came with it was under cooked -- chewy and sticky. That said, my husband's lobster ravioli sauce was very good. He very much liked his dinner. He said there were good chunks of lobster and liked the overall flavor. I only tried the sauce and it was very good! I will give this place a 2nd try. I'll read more closely. ...