Baraonda Ristorante — Restaurant in Sandy Springs

HORRIBLE Experience HORRIBLE Owner

I was so looking forward to enjoying dinner at this nice little restaurant before seeing Wicked at the Fox Theatre. I read all of the reviews and even got a positive reference from my next door neighbor who had eaten here a couple of weeks prior. I called the day prior to our show to make reservations but was told by the woman that answered the phone that they were not taking reservations. She said we would be seated as walk-ins. Living in central GA we knew we had to carefully plan our trip so that we had plenty of time to enjoy dinner without rushing to get to the theater. After our 2+ hour drive, we arrived well in advance of our show and put our name on the list for a table for three people. Both the hostess and the owner told us upon check-in they could seat us as long as at least 2 of 3 in our party were present, which we were. Our daughter was driving from North Georgia to meet us for a nice family evening however, having never navigated the downtown streets of Atlanta she became lost. The hostess called our name and when we got to the podium the owner asked where the 3rd person was in our party. I told him she got lost trying to find parking. Again, he said if at least 2 of us were there they would seat us but then he shooed us away from the podium and instead seated the next couple. This fiasco continued over the next half hour. We watched helplessly and HUNGRY as the entire waiting area emptied out and we were the only ones left. He still would not seat us even though we assured him over and over that our daughter was in the area, just lost. (Oh, I might mention that at least two tables nearby were empty.) Both my husband and I had to take turns running outside to try to see her or call her to see where she was. We told the owner over and over again that we would order for her the minute we sat down so as not to hold the table too long since they were so busy. His barrage of excuses for ignoring us ranged from "You're next, I promise." to "You'll make it to the show. I promise." and "All of these other people waiting will get upset if I seat you." I finally tossed the menus we had been looking at on the hostess stand and stormed out. We ended up eating a turkey sandwich at the theater. This clown (ahem, owner) apparently does not value customer service one iota. He was too busy trying to pack in as many people as possible at the tables in order to pad his pocketbook a little bit more. His comment about other customers becoming upset if they seated us is so laughable. How would another customer know how many people were supposed to be in our party?? They wouldn't! I will NEVER step one foot in this restaurant again. The sad part is the owner will never care about losing the business of three people because of the high turnover of customers thanks to their proximity to the Fox Theatre. I hope he can sleep at night knowing that he ruined what was supposed to be a nice family night out. At least I can sleep at night knowing that I did not help to pad this jerk's pocketbook...

Updated Review - See previous one below. I received a message from management, after writing my 1-star review. The gentleman agreed that the lasagna was not up to par, stating that when he looked at it at the end of the night, he knew it had too much tomato sauce and water. Ewww!

He also stated he would like to refund my money, but I forgot to ask about that, and it was a different manager on duty when I went today!

I was invited back for a meal on them! I took them up on it because I have had great meals from them before, and I knew I would never be ordering lasagna from them ever again, so I went back with all positivity.

I ordered a Cesare salad ($10) with dressing on the side and Fusilli ($13). Of course, I also partook in the complimentary bread, olive oil, crushed black pepper and shredded parmesan cheese. My salad was traditional with romaine, croutons, parmesan and classic Cesare dressing. The romaine was shredded, crisp and cold. The croutons were crunchy and shredded parmesan was good. The dressing was thick and creamy. I used less than half of it.

The Fusilli has applewood bacon, creamy carbonara sauce, parmesan, shallots and green peas. It came out piping hot and the fusilli noodles were cooked perfectly al dente. I thought it was pretty good and really creamy. This is a comfort dish. And, I wanted to stay away from anything tomato based, after the tomato sauce and water fiasco.

All in all, this was a much better meal. And, I will probably come back. They righted a wrong, listened to the guest and admitted a mistake. I appreciated that.

My only complaint is that if I were to order this dish again, I would request that they fry my bacon crisp and crumble it on top of the dish. I did not like the soft, chewy and fatty bacon, that is mixed in.

Previous Review: 1-Star: I ordered the Lasagna. ($16) It was a soupy mess! I could barely find the noodles and there was a minute amount of meat. It was like an orange soup with yellow pasta. I was so disappointed. Yuck! I found myself dipping into this cesspool of goo and trying to get a sturdy piece of lasagna. The taste left a lot to be desired as well. It was bland and SOUPY!

I have eaten here before and have typically been pleased with a salad, with added grilled shrimp. I have enjoyed their pizza and even other pastas.

This lasagna was gross and I can't believe I spent $16 + tax and tip. Save your...

It was probably one of the worst dinning experiences I have ever had. We will never go back.

Thursday was my birthday, so Friday was going to be a night at the Fox to see Jersey Boys and dinner before the show. It was a beautiful evening, so we asked to sit on the patio (super small, and the servers do not yield to the guests walking through). It took about 10 minutes for someone to finally come by to get our drink order. Once we got our drinks, we ordered our apps and dinner all at once since we wanted to make sure to get to the show on time (we gave ourselves 1.5 hours).

Our server brought us bread, but no oil or cheese like the other tables around us got until we asked. And we still only got oil. Our dinner was served, but our server was nowhere to be found. The pizza had no sauce, our beverages need to be filled, no cheese was offered for pasta. Once our server finally came around, everyone at the table had forcibly ate what they could and he asked how everything was. By that point it would be to late to send anything back and make the show. So we ate what we could and waited for the check. In the beginning we told him that we were going to the Fox and wanted to be out of there by 730. We sat there for 20 minutes waiting to see him again to ask for the check. My boyfriend even got up to find him, and he ignored him twice. He finally flagged him down and he came to the table with the check. As he was about to walk off, we told him to go ahead and take the card since we needed to go. He gave us a nasty look like it was an inconvenience to him and walked off.

Our server, Oscar, did not seem like he wanted to be there. When he greeted us he said, "sorry, it's been a long week". I didn't ask how your week was. It should not affect my dinning experience You are there to make money, so why are you complaining. I have worked in restaurants for many years and still work in the service industry. My boyfriend is a general manager of a restaurant, so we know how long of a week it can be; you just never express that or let it show to...