The Old Spaghetti Factory — Restaurant in San Jose

It was 7 at night, and, I was seriously tossed as to where to eat. Last night, I ate at Luigi's, at the Winchester Plaza. It's the last stop if you take the Light Rail. Great place to grab an absolutely delicious spaghetti dinner, and, down a glass of cold water, and, oh yes, I did - this time - went for there nice cold salad, as well, and all for about $15. Pretty hard to beat. There's more to tell about this restaurant, and, the active surroundings, as well, but, all that in another review. But tonight, I was quite thoroughly dismayed by all the possible options . . . but, again, I was leaning toward a spaghetti dinner . . what's up with that? It must be the meat & mariner sauce. As I began to really think it over, all signs were pointing toward, Ye 'Old Spaghetti Factory.' Why should I be on this kick? Well, to start with, I'm 25% Italian, and, though this may not seem like alot, to be of any authority on Italian dinners, try this for size . . . my most predominant trait, just may very well be, my environmentally influenced Italian background.

If it's outside dining you had in mind, you've most certainly have come to the right place. It's a place that percolates with atmosphere. The 'Old Spaghetti Factory,' is just one of a chain of restaurants throughout the Bay Area, but, this is one of the oldest - built back in 1975. Gee! That's almost 50 years ago. And, I could have been amongst their first customers, as I had just gotten out of the military. I think I could go so far as to say, that 'The Old Spaghetti Factory,' is just a cut above, most any other Italian restaurants. Check out a brief description, and pictures, I'll show, and see if you don't agree. Just for openers, it's 2 floors, with quaint, rather old Victorian rod-iron railing, and, this will lead you up to the banquet rooms, where private parties can be held. It's beautiful wall to wall carpeting, is exquisitely done in all the Italian tradition, to make you feel warm and comfortable on even the coldest nights, with incidentally, any pre-planning for the coming holidays, will be something you won't want to hesitate on, as this restaurant does not lack for attendence. And, reservations would be most seriously encouraged.

There are two main dining halls to choose from, and, you can even pick, the inside of an old exquisitely refurbished trolly car if you like. Once in, you'd feel as though you were in a 'hollodeck' in Italy. And now, we come to ask ourselves, where is that sumptuous smell of Italian food coming from. As you look up and around, you might also appreciate the structurally solid, Post & Beam construction, that assures you safety of a well built structure. Well - the smells wherever they so may be, we'll find out soon enough, if we take haste, and quickly scan, the place-mat style menus. If the prices sound quite reasonable, just remember, if you're not accustom to Italian eating, your meal will come with choice of soup or salad, a small loaf of sour dough, and, a nice scoop of vanilla , or, Italian Spimoni ice cream, a desert ladened with roasted and salted pistachios, and, chips of dark chocolate. It's an ice cream that's something like a layered Cosmopolitan, but, offers mint, strawberry, and, chocolate. If you want your taste buds to experience a little variety (the spice of life), as they say, then this would be the choice. Try it with a nice hot cup of coffee, and you'll surely have fulfilled the pleasant ending of a great meal.

'The Old Spaghetti Factory,' can be more specifically located at: 51 N. San Pedro St., in San Jose, CA. The gateway, to a great Italian meal!

review...

Sadly, our experience here did not meet our expectations. I only hope that it was just a random occurrence otherwise this place wouldn't stay in business. Our group was about 15 - we made a prior reservation well in advance.

As we sat down, we first ordered wine. Only half of us had wine glasses and it took nearly 30 minutes for them to find more while we all had to wait for the washing cycle to complete. Meanwhile, the server kept returning to tell us that the wine we ordered was out. Finally, going down the list of whites, we hit the jackpot which was available - Pinot Grigio. Few minutes later a Pinot Noir arrived. While I don't expect everyone to know this, a restaurant server should know that it's red. Oh well, that did not lose a star, after all, anyone can make a mistake.

At last, the glasses arrived. I don't know how they wash them but the wine glasses did not appear clean, we had to send a few back and so were the silverware and plates. An advice for the bar and other staff: the water stains should be wiped off the glassware and silverware and so are the remnants of the lipstick from previous customers.

The food was blend, I expected a lot more flavor but it tasted like something I'd get in a roadside diner for a lot less money.

As we began to hint at our displeasure after an hour wait for the appetizers and the wine, they finally offered to bring some bread. What was more annoying, is that a manager who was cruising around the dining area did not stop once to either ask how we are doing or even offer an explanation as to why the delay. We finally called him over and he was no help at all, not rude but not cordial either - "the glasses are being washed", he said.

I believe the server was inexperienced which is completely understandable, she might have also been under 21 as she didn't know anything about the wines. But that is totally fine, we have all been there and I could tell she was trying her best but the manager of a restaurant needs to be available to help when there is a large party ordering several bottles of wine.

The tip was of course automatically included. We decided not to challenge it despite of our dissatisfaction as not to punish the staff.

My conclusion is that the restaurant is mismanaged. It's beautiful inside and clean and has a great potential. The food needs more flavor, dishes better cleaned, glassware sufficiently stocked, wines stocked and shift manager to walk around and survey the patrons.

I hope I get a chance soon to revisit this place and update my review. I really do not like leaving...

I went to a Murder Mystery dinner here and was treated very poorly by the staff of the restaurant, not the murder mystery crew. Before I get started I will say in the end the General Manager Tyler and his assistant GM Kenny made things okay, however because of the treatment there is no way to make things right. Everything was reserved and paid for before we arrived. My party arrived around 6:30 pm and we were seated around 6:45 pm. We had a party of 13, 11 at my table and the Birthday guest and friend at the VIP table, the 13 of us were the only black people there. When first being seated I walked past tables that already had water and bread waiting even though no one was seated at the table. My table did not receive water or bread until around 7:30 pm after I had to go ask 3 times. Everyone was up playing along with the game and at the end of the night the birthday guest and friend let me know they had never been served their food. By this time it is around 9:30 pm. Somehow everyone else at the VIP table had been served except the birthday guest and his friend. When I let the kitchen know they had not yet received their food, that was already paid for, they took the orders and bought back the wrong food. At this point it is around 10 pm and we are ready to go and the boys do not even want the food. I spoke with the murder mystery crew and restaurant staff who both placed the blame/ responsibility on each other until finally around 11 pm the GM Tyler agreed to give a refund. Tyler also took soft drinks off our bill and gave cheesecake to the bday guest and his friend. While that is appreciated I still have to say our treatment and experience there was horrible and unacceptable. There is no way we should be waiting 30-45 minutes for water and bread and there is no way a whole table should get served except 2 people. Like I mentioned we were the only black people there and I feel we were definitely treated differently then all of the other guest. Again Tyler did try to make things better after about an hour of negotiating but I still have to warn others about the foul treatment they may receive at this restaurant. Just to be clear we received a refund only for the two guest who did not get their food. We were refused that at first and told that basically we needed to pay for food that was never received and ask the murder mystery company for a refund. We were not refunded for our entire party we only got back the money that was paid for food that was not received. Soda's were taken...