Nonna's Taste of Italy — Restaurant in South Carolina

Well. We must have gone at the wrong time cause this place now ranks as the slowest food service I have ever experienced. It took over 1hr 15min for us to only get some of our food. We did have to wait 39 minutes to get a table of which there were at least 2 open tables during our wait. We heard the manager say they could put the 5 of his on a 4 top and they got the table prepared but we waited another 10 min even after our table was ready to be seated... Not sure why but heard that the waitress wasn't ready. After being seated we got a friendly waitress that took our order right away and then we got our bread and salads right away but that's where the fun ended. After almost an hour I asked for our food and was told that the other big parties ahead of us had tj get their food forst.... To which I replied "they all have to go bixes" they have been done for a while. My kids neutella pizzas came out immediately afterwards and I let them eat. My dish was at least another 5 minutes after that, I had ordered chicken Marsala. Although a generous portion it was near tasteless. I had to ask for salt and again for Parmesan just to try and give it some taste. The sauce was just ok but the mushrooms weren't properly cooked and tasted like... Mushrooms. My friends had ordered baked chicken parmesan with a side of spaghetti and even the spaghetti with red sauce didn't come out till I and my kids were almost done. The baked chicken was almost 1hr. 20 minutes after we were seated. As an Italian restaurant I have no comprehension of why it would take over an hour for spaghetti and sauce... The max that should take would be 20 minutes. Our sweet waitress was full of excuses but they just served to make me more upset as they weren't applicable. We werent offered anything during our wait more bread and appetizer, nothing. In fact I'm pretty sure they had forgotten about our order until just before we asked about it. Nonna's just wasn't equipped to handle anything more than the party there. Our server tk pay for a dessert once it was ordered and my kids immediately asked for some as well.... Since they were paying for it. We all eventually ordered a free dessert and they were served quickly and were yummy. They should have been free. In fact our whole meal should have been comped! Itside if the wait, my point of reference for chicken Marsala is cheesecake factory. One of their most popular dishes... It's the exact same price. I would rate cheesecake factory a 9 and Nonna's a 5 for the same price not including the wait. Would you believe that my kids were still hungry and ate my pasta and my friends as well? Anyway, I'm sure it's a good restaurant most of the time. The Manager came out and explained that the cook was also out that evening not feeling well and asked us to give them another try. For me. I wouldn't even if I lived here.... With so many options in town. Everywhere we went there were big parties but management stepped in to helpanahe the impact of the parties on the wait staff...

So we’ll start with the good than go to the bad.

Good: The servers were excellent! Very apologetic about the long wait times. Yesterday was a soft opening of sorts but the staff were very apologetic and pleasant. Plus they kept a decent eye on refills of booze/sodas for our table. Very understanding of the situation they are in as a new restaurant that people in the area are trying out. For the first month or so expect to need a reservation/for the place to be busy in general. We went there for my moms birthday dinner and to be honest I was hesitant when my father mentioned he made a reservation AND mentioned it was her birthday I was not excited to get sung to. Thankfully that did not happen and we just enjoyed the meal.

The food: I have to say it the food was okay. Was it the best Italian meal I’ve ever had in my life? No. Was it the worst? No. It was very middle of the road food taste wise. Not very flavorful but not bland either. Although a standout was the fried mozz! Was almost like a fried grill cheese very tasty. Appearance wise the plates were designed well with the standout being their meat and cheese platter. Something for sure that the whole restaurant will turn and look at when it comes out. The one thing I can not speak to though is how the pizza was. Unfortunately the pizza oven was not up and running at the time of this review. There is no need to harp on this. It is a new place they are going to have some growing pains give it about a week and it’ll probably be running. The food was maybe a tad to pricey but it really depends on the type of person you are to decide that. That is something that if you go you will have to decide at the end of the meal if it was worth the price.

As far as the facilities themselves go: It was a tad noisy whether that was the acoustics or just because it is a small place remains to be seen. However, they were very clean and the appearance of the restaurant was something that stood out in particular as unique/comfortable. If you are reading all this and say hmm the place sounds fancy rest easy as it is casual enough to be dressed appropriately in some nice jeans or shorts and a t-shirt. Heck one guy came in and was in shorts and a football jersey. The one thing I really wish I could speak on is the restroom facilities. As with all my reviews now and in the future I will try and mention the restrooms for all my fellow IBS havers. I did not need to use the facilities though so I can not speak on how dirty/clean they were.

Overall an okay restaurant that I will stop by again at some point to check on that pizza oven! As with always my reviews are my experience go there yourself and give it a shot and see which side of the fence you are on. Always good to give new places a try and expand your food horizons!

Stay on course...

I can only give this 5 stars because that is the limit for Google. As far as the actual experience goes... We had a reservation for our 25th wedding anniversary and we arrived early. We were greeted swiftly and sat at the bar for a quick pre dinner cocktail. The bartender was very personable and knew how to make a great drink. We were then seated and ordered the Whipped Ricotta with tomato and pistachio served with fresh bread sticks and fresh oil and vinegar. This was not just any olive oil either. We also got the stuffed mushroom as another appetizer. It had almonds and walnuts in it...which really appealed to our palate. Something different from the NY Italian restaurants. It made us think. This is NOT NY Italian. This is Authentic Italian. It brought me back to memories when I was a kid and my Italian friend would invite me over to her Sunday dinner in Queens, NY because her "Nonna" was cooking. It was food that I never had in a restaurant...until tonight. What a nostalgic taste. Although not planned, we were able to watch the most brilliant sunset while dining. The service is impeccable and I applaud the restaurant's selfless and smart decision on keeping it a soft opening until they are ready to go. Oh... and Stefano's garlic knots...just WOW!!! We were greeted by the Chef, the owner...and even Stefano... who had just played his double header little league baseball game still in his baseball uniform. (Again, try those knots!) The entire staff and our servers kept us smiling. I wish we had enough room for dessert because that was some menu they had! As far as the ambiance, lighting and music... it was ON POINT! I cannot recommend this restaurant enough I also felt the menu was priced very reasonably. This was arguably the best Italian food I have ever had! Thank you again and I look forward to being a regular there! Many blessings to the...