Matzaluna The Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Sanibel

It has been tradition for our family to eat at Matzaluna on our first night at Sanibel for the past 5 years, but after our last meal there and the RUDE manager (Adam)... we'll find a new tradition. Our FIVE year old is Gluten Free, so we ordered him some plain pasta which he enjoyed with a little olive oil from the table and some fresh parmesan. He loved it so much..that we ordered him another plate. I had a rather bland crab and butter appetizer..so I decided to order myself a plate of plain pasta as well to throw my appetizer in and make it edible. Well, everything was fine until the bill arrived. I expected a $3 upcharge for the Gluten Free pastas...but to charge almost $60 for 3 plates of PLAIN pasta? C'mon. Our waitress was new, so she called for the closing manager ADAM upon my request..and after 20 minutes, he showed up. He was the most ARROGANT, RUDE, UNHELPFUL and CONDESCENDING restaurant employee we've ever met in Sanibel in the past 5 years. He kept rolling his eyes and repeated a dozen times "DID YOU HAVE A MENU I FRONT OF YOU WHEN YOU ORDERED??? DID YOU HAVE A MENU IN FRONT OF YOU??" I explained that NO ONE told us that ordering plain pasta would count as "Build your Own". No butter. No chicken. No cheese. No Sauce. NOTHING. PLAIN PASTA is not a build your own. And the Gluten Free pasta portions were smaller than a kid's size. That's how my 5 year old was able to eat 2 plates. I requested to speak to another manager and ADAM refused to get anyone else. He refused to give me their name or even call a manager. I have NEVER threatened to walk out of a restaurant but I did, and he threatened to call the police. I am trying to enjoy my first night in Sanibel and now I might have to deal with police because I'm being ripped off on 3 plates of plain spaghetti! Eventually Adam gave in and reduced the bill. Adam said "Sorry...SHE (the waitress) should have billed you for a kids meal." His tone sure changed from "DID YOU HAVE A MENU IN FRONT OF YOU WHEN YOU ORDERED"?!?!" to "Mr. Nice Guy" after I started asking around for the owner's name. I paid the bill, apologized to the waitress and left with my wife and 2 kids. But my wife was not done, she wanted to apologize to the waitress, because really..she did nothing wrong. When my wife went back inside...the waitress was crying! We felt so bad. My wife explained to the waitress that it was not her fault, and Adam should not be throwing blame elsewhere. We will NEVER return here again. This happened 3 weeks ago and it still bothers me, that's why I felt compelled to write this review. I will add this, the waitress we had was wonderful and the General Manager Mark Blest was excellent in explaining the menu to us and how they could accommodate my son's Gluten Free allergy with their menu. I tried to get in contact with Mark for 2 days while in Sanibel, but he was not there the following day and the restaurant doesn't open until later..so I gave up trying to confront the issue further. I'm sorry, but 1 bad person ruined your restaurant for us and there are WAYYYY too many good options on Sanibel and Captiva to have to deal with all that. Like Cips...that'll be our...

I have never before left a review but the experience my family had last night calls for one. It absolutely blows my mind that this establishment is in business. Where to begin? Right from the start! We were never asked what we wanted to drink until finally after we ordered our DINNER and had to ask ourselves..makes sense???? We also never were asked if we wanted a refill but by the end of the dinner this made sense. They messed up my salad and demanded I take olive oil and vinegar when I wanted dressing, along with forgetting to bring 4/8 salads as well. They never gave us new silverware forcing us to use dirty forks and knives throughout the dinner. They brought 2 people the wrong dinner including myself who ordered the same thing as 3 people at the table and made this clear when ordering. Here’s the kicker: not only did they NEVER clear our plates until we after we had received the dessert and had to request the table be cleared, but the birthday cake that had been purchased for the adorable 89 and 92 year olds at the table..came out in the PLASTIC container and was plopped on the table. No silverware, no plates, no candles, not cut, nothing. Additionally, the cake was frozen when it was brought to the table and could hardly be cut. What a special birthday surprise! Oh I forgot to mention, our unqualified waiter asked “are you ready for the birthday cake” out loud to the table- what a surprise for the birthday lady and gentleman! Thanks Matzaluna for one of the most unforgettably AWFUL experiences, the most ATROCIOUS service I’ve ever witnessed, and the most SUBPAR food I’ve ever consumed and additionally, for successfully ruining not one but two birthdays. AVOID THIS TERRIBLE “RESTAURANT” AT ALL COSTS. Enjoy your Sanibel vacation and...

The food was great, but was charged a fee that I feel was unfair. I stopped in at the bar for drinks and appetizers. We also ordered 3 pizzas to go. They are more of a personal sized pizza. I liked that because we each were able to get exactly what we wanted. My sister has a gluten intolerance and she had no issues. She also liked the taste of their gluten free pizza which is a big deal because she tends to be picky. The other pizzas were really good too. My only complaint is that while having drinks we had ordered appetizers which we never received. Suddenly our to go pizzas appeared and our check had a 5.00 carry out charge. If we had just called in an order and picked it up I'd understand. Even without the appetizers that we weren't given we still spent around 40 dollars just on drinks at the bar. I don't see how an extra charge was fair. We planned on spending even more on food while we waited. It wasn't our fault the bartender didn't bring the appetizers to us. Then he had the nerve to charge us the additional fee. So we paid the 40 for drinks, over an additional 40 on pizzas, and the take out fee. Like I said if I hadn't spent money while I was there I would have been fine with it. Plus, I tried spending even more money on food while having drinks. If I would have noticed the charge sooner I would have asked for a manager. Unfortunately I didn't notice until in the car. It's sad because I loved the food, but because of this I decided not to stop there even though I was just in Sanibel\Captiva. I had my dog with me so I couldn't eat there and after being charged the extra 5 bucks a few weeks ago I wasn't feeling like paying it...