Per Noi Trattoria — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Way overcharged for a simple meal on a not-so-busy night. Won’t be returning.

Visited last week with a few friends for a simple dinner, as per my recommendation. Been going to this place for years, back when it was called Michelangelo, and the quality has been steadily declining since. Our food was okay— fettuccine lacking in flavor like something you’d make for a kid, lasagna “al forno” (oven baked) cold in the middle. Given one basket of bread for the entire table of six and two tablespoons of balsamic and oil dip, split between two sauce dishes.

10 mins after sitting down (on a springy, sticky bench) the lights over our table and several others were turned off to entertain another table with the bananas foster performance. While I appreciate the theatrical showmanship, it was hard to see our menus or dip the bread on the table. Thank goodness no one was walking to the bathroom at that moment or they might have actually tripped. From where we were sitting, we couldn’t even see the bananas foster show, but nonetheless were subjected to lights out. Could use some wifi controlled lightbulbs so that only the table with the “show” would be darkened, rather than the entire row of overhead lights.

Mixed drink I ordered was out of stock, so I settled for a glass of Prosecco, which did not arrive until the food came out, long after the other two drinks were brought, and was served in a skinny champagne flute halfway filled.

A bit disappointed with everything up to this point, but was just catching up with friends before the holidays ended and did not want to ruin the dinner by complaining about a few things that altogether, didn’t bother me enough to speak up and kill the vibe.

In all, our table ordered one pasta entree per person, and 3 drinks— 1 for each of the girls— no appetizers, no desserts. Our couple-split bill left each receipt with two entrees and a drink. On my bill, there should have been Lasagna Al Forno $22.95, Fresh Fettucine alla Quattro Formaggi $28.95, and a glass of Prosecco $9. The transaction’s line items were confirmed on the screen quickly, then flipped away from the customer, and a printed receipt is handed to you with 3 bolded tip options of 20% and two other higher tip percentages. I checked the box to tip 20% because I know the service industry is tough and our server was nice, and just wanted to get out of there and go relax at home.

The charge on my card finalized today for $93.43. After comparing the menu prices with our order and this total, I believe I was charged extra for chicken with my fettuccine, although the menu implies this dish includes either shrimp, chicken, or bacon, unlike some of the other pasta dishes where it’s an extra charge. I also believe I was charged twice for a 20% tip, which was auto-included in our party of 6 as gratuity, but this was not addressed by our server and I couldn’t even see the screen anymore to confirm. The printed receipt did not have a breakdown of charges, just a few tip boxes and a place to sign. I haven’t seen this method of checking out in any other restaurant; if you’re using an iPad checkout, usually the tip stage is decided on the screen, and the signature is taken on the same screen for full transparency in the transaction. Instead, I feel like this overcomplicated the tipping process and provides a perfect opportunity to double charge tip on bigger parties, hoping they don’t notice. $94 for two pasta dishes and a single drink is ridiculous, especially when the service, atmosphere, and food quality was far from outstanding. I live 2 minutes down the street from this restaurant so this is especially disheartening, as I would have loved for this restaurant to give me a reason to come back time and time again.

Honestly, I don’t think I’d ever come back nor recommend it to family and friends, even though I live so nearby. It’s always just alright. You’re better off going to Olive Garden where they’ll give you larger portions of a similar quality for less $$, or Sicilia Mia, where the cost is justified by the delicious food...

Pomp without circumstance. We see how busy it gets for dinner so we thought it must be good. Whoa were we wrong. That this is a restaurant you should get a reservation for is preposterous. The hostess that inquired about our “reservation” was wearing skinny jeans and a leopard print t-shirt type blouse. We read a few reviews from people that had difficulty getting seated due to this making reservations malarky, and decided if we had any problem we would go across the street to Sushi Groove. We wish we had. Because we didn't have reservations it's hard to know who dropped the ball, the hostess not telling the server we were seated or the server not checking his area. It used to be called Michelangelo's. This is made evident in that the name is still painted on the wall in red 3-foot letters (minus the 's). In an attempt to tie this in with the decor, there is a giant picture of the hands touching from the Sistine chapel. Because of the delay in service our arancini appetizer was comped. They whole time I ate it I was wishing it was the risotto cakes from Citrus Grill. My pasta carbonara had cold wrinkled peas, and bacon instead of pancetta. The Veal Saltimbocca came with a side of seasoned veggies. The potatoes pieces were the best part of the meal second only to the focaccia bread with oil and vinegar the real star of our dining experience. I decided maybe it's the dessert that people love so much, so we tried the Tiramisu. Tiramisu is 4 things: mascarpone cheese, espresso, rum, and lady fingers. No mascarpone cheese or rum, and instead of espresso it tasted like watered down decaf coffee. Although we will not be going back to eat here again, we thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment. The drunk ladies were hilarious. One was so enthralled with something as she exited the bathroom that she insisted our waiter take her and her date's picture with it before she wandered from table to table holding up peace signs saying “peace and tranquility” to anyone that acknowledged her. Another couple were asked if they wanted clean glasses for their second glass of wine. This prompted the man to chug the rest of his glass for the server to come back with two new filled glasses(as is expected). As she sat the wine down she couldn't remember which was which and the woman commented “it doesn't matter, we'll drink whatever is in front of us” as if she was excusing the haphazard wine goof as just a funny happenstance. At 6 o'clock the pianist started playing. While the Peanuts theme and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” aren't exactly classical Italian tunes, they were so much better than the weird Italian opera style songs they were playing over the speakers for the first half of our visit. I was looking for our server to request our check when I glanced at the pianist and saw him looking around for some recognition from the diners as he had just finished another number. I felt bad that no one applauded. I wanted to look nice for dinner so I wore a dress, styled my hair, and put on a little makeup. I felt very out of place next to the couple with their two young children. He was wearing flip flops, and she had on UGGs. As we left we passed a young man dressed in shorts, a tank top, and a beanie hat. The hooting and cheering at the flambe’ desserts was pretty funny. The layout of the restaurant is unique. We were wondering why on the main level there is a sort of server hub taking up over half of the floor space. It’s similar to the deck of the Enterprise on Star Trek the Next Generation, with tables where Warf and the lower level crew stood. The food was fine. Not good. Not bad. Just fine, which is not what you want from a fine dining restaurant. I suggest...

My experience at a restaurant is about the food, but sometimes service can’t be ignored.

-Some of the bread they gave us was fresh and delicious, other pieces were old and firm. Whomever makes those baskets isn’t paying attention. The balsamic/olive oil dip was exactly that, 80% balsamic and 20% olive oil. I prefer olive oil with a touch of balsamic. -The carpaccio was bland and was strangely ice cold. -The spaghetti carbonara was tasty but not special. -The gnocchi was excellent. The waiter wisely asked if I wanted two sauces, so I got one tomato basil and one Gorgonzola. The Gorgonzola sauce was mouth watering and delicious, zesty and surprising. The gnocchi itself was good. The pieces were large and somewhat gummy, but I’m no gnocchi expert. The tomato basil sauce was more like a tomato oregano sauce. The oregano was overpowering. -I got the chocolate pudding for dessert and was surprised when they brought out a brownie with a scoop of thick pudding on top. I don’t like brownies and asked the waiter why they served it with a brownie without listing that on the menu, he shrugged and did nothing to rectify the situation. I ate some of the pudding and left the brownie. -The bananas foster was yummy. Although we saw it expertly made at the table next to us where the waitress perfectly browned the butter before making the rest of the dish. The small filled the air and we ordered one of our own. Our waiter dumped the cream and brown sugar in with the butter without browning the butter first, so ours didn’t have the depth of flavor that comes with browning the butter.

Service was not great. We were in no big hurry and my date and I were enjoying dinner and visiting. -Three people walked up while our appetizer was 3/4 the way finished and asked if we were done. Two of them came back twice. -Our waiter was very difficult to understand, I’m not sure if was his heavy accent or if I just couldn’t hear him well. -They brought our entrees before we were finished with our appetizer. -As soon as we had eaten about half our plates and were visiting, we were asked 3 times if we wanted boxes. Were they trying to rush us out? The fourth time they asked I frustratingly said yes just so they would leave us alone.

All in all, not worth the $80 I paid for dinner, although the gnocchi was memorable. Sad since Per Noi used to be my favorite Italian restaurant...