Joey's Italian Grille — Restaurant in Saybrook

Well, to help my mother celebrate mother's day we decided to take my mom out to dinner. She loves Italian cuisine. Joey's of Madison was a recommendation offered by a colleague . When we walked in the overall decor was amazing. However, the foyer waiting area was filthy, buy given they just finished up with a massive lunch rush... i guess i can understand. We speant maybe 4 minutes waiting to be seated.. truthfully it being mother's day I was expecting a longer wait so that was a very nice suprise. As we sat down the waitress came right up and took our order for drinks. 5 mins later she came back and took our orders for our entrees.. at this point We were very pleased with the overall service. My mother and I ordered salads with our entrees while the third party only ordered an entree.. salads came right out along with the complimentary bread that the restaurant offers to its guests. Again, we were very pleased with the overall service.... but this is where it ends. We were forced to wait 45 mins for three entrees which include a re-heated lasagna, pasta, and a salad entree. We finished our drinks requested refills. It took us tracking down our waitress, who took the refill order by means of another waitress. 5 mins later the entrees finally arrived. Food was okish... you can tell the lasagna wasnt fresh. And the chicken in the pasta dish was charred and tasted burnt. The salad was drenched in dressing covering up any other flavors that may of been present in the salad. Overall I more than likely wont be returning. We drove 45 mins to be patrons of this restaurant... and it really wasnt worth the drive. Shame.. the decor was beautiful.. and i loved the atmosphere it presented... but that was its highpoint...

The food is always outstanding! I am pleased to find they offer a gluten free pasta option and sandwich bun option as well as vegan sauce and cheese options for people who have dietary concerns!

We dined in on Friday night and had been given a $25 Joey’s giftcard, which was our main reason for driving through all the construction in the area to go to Joey’s. When we went to use it the server told us that they “weren’t taking giftcards right now”. Nowhere was this posted - not the front door, not the hostess stand, literally nowhere. So while it’s “fine” and we just paid for it outright, it was really frustrating that this was a thing and they were just like “oh you can’t do that”. Okay, well, when is it going to get fixed? Are you going to acknowledge my frustration? How is it possible for your credit cards to process but not giftcards? Are you going to communicate this to patrons before they come in so they can make alternate arrangements if this was also why they came this time? The server kind of had an attitude about this and said she could get her manager. I would think at this point in the issue she should have done so so that some explanation could have been made, but that didn’t happen. I just told the server that if the answer was going to be the same that it was a moot point to do so, but it would have been more helpful if they had posted this somewhere on the way in. She just said sorry and ran my credit card for the full amount. So while the food is spectacular, I’m not sure how much I really want to brave the construction and deal with this wishy-washiness of a $25 giftcard I should have already been able to use,...

Thoroughly enjoyed this place. It was crowded so we added our name to the waiting list and went back to the bar to have a drink and relax before dinner. The bar was out and inside. The building could have been a auto mechanic shop at one time and if it wasn't the design of the building was remarkable. We sat outside so that I could enjoy a cigarette with my drink which is rare anymore. There were tons of TV's broadcasting everything from the news to sports. There were two Bocce pits and music as well. We were seated within about 20 minutes or so and even though they were short staffed our waitress was very patient, friendly and helpful. We started with Bang Bang Shrimp and it was delicious, crunchy with just the right amount of heat. We were given garlic knots along with a salad we split and the waitress was nice enough to bring an extra bowl and a side of salad dressing for us. The bread was fresh and full of garlic and butter and the salad was fresh too! Next up was the main course of which I had Chicken Piccata and my husband had Lasagne. The Chicken Piccata had lots of capers and I asked for mushrooms and onions added and oh my goodness, the sauce was amazing and the chicken slightly crunchy and tender. My husband loved his Lasagne, he said the meatballs were very tasty and the sauce was a very traditional Italian sauce. He can't wait to come back and enjoy the meatball sandwich. It was overall the best experience we have had in an Italian restaurant in quite some time. Very flavorful food, good people and good prices. We...