Vesuvio's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Statesville

• UPDATE * As the owner has responded, I need to clarify a few things. First, the waitress that sat us did so very quickly...running two menus to an empty booth and then disappearing to the kitchen before my elderly dad and I could make our way over and sit down. No other contact was made until approximately 18 minutes. The woman behind the counter taking carry out orders did run over to the booth behind us and state that she was sorry for how slow everything is going but they were short staffed. This is why I added this observation in my review. Third, when I got up to leave, I met the waitress coming down from the raised seating section of the restaurant and asked if she was the proprietor of the restaurant. She did not know what this word meant. When I asked if she was the owner or had ownership in the restaurant she said "no" and, once again, didn't apologize nor show any empathy at all. The reason why I asked this of her is because she was definitely running the floor, directing the male and other female wait staff to help other tables. Therefore, if this owner reply is truly from the waitress what sat us in our seats so we didn't need to wait at the front door, why did you lie to us? Shouldn't you expect to be busy on Friday night at 6 PM? If your seating space allows someone to be sat down, then it is obvious to me (having 35 years experience in hospitality) that you had a staffing issue or the kitchen was running behind or both.

A little southern hospitality would have gone a long way with me and my family yet you failed to even give a simple smile and a small apology for the delay. Oh, and an offer of a glass of water would have been great too during the wait never mind that the table sat in the middle of the restaurant was sat after us and had full service provided. We must have been outside your tunnel vision. My expectation about the simple basics must be way too high.

Original post and owner reply below. I wholeheartedly standby my rating on one star:

At the time of our visit, 6 PM on a Friday evening, this restaurant was busy, understaffed, and the team members on working the tables did not seem to want to be there. My family and I waited 10 minutes for a vacant table to be cleaned and then, once sat, we waited another 18 minutes before leaving the restaurant. No staff came to take our drink nor food order and several attempts to wave staff down were met with “someone will be with you in a minute” as other tables sat after us and they were waited on. As we left the staff seemed to not care at all but more relieved that now they had fewer customers to deal with. No apologies nor empathy. I would have loved to experience a meal and wine at Vesuvio’s but when you don’t care about your guests and show basic hospitality, I’ll take my...

Simple misunderstanding turned into an awful experience and poor service after the server PLACED HER HAND ON ME. My family of 3 went here to dine in on a whim since we were hungry and grocery shopping next door. We normally go to Sorentos or Amalfis but decided to try Vesuvius for once out of convenience. We patiently waited to be sat down and waited another 20 minutes for menus and water. We kept in mind they were busy and were very understanding of that. We ordered a large pizza and a kids spaghetti in meat sauce add meatballs. (The menu stated kids spaghetti around $7, and add meatballs for a $1.50 more total being $8.50). When the server brought out the food she delivered a whole side of meatballs in a separate bowl with the kids spaghetti in meat sauce in a bowl. I kindly asked her if she added the meatballs to the kids spaghetti or was charging us for a whole side of meatballs (which are around $8 alone on top of kids said spaghetti $8.50) She said you have to pick one or the other meat sauce or meatballs not both. I tried explaining to her that we did not know that and told her what the menu said. She asked if we wanted the meatballs and I denied because I didn’t want a whole side of meatballs along with spaghetti for my toddler.. I kindly explained how we normally eat at local Italian restaurants and get meat sauce & like 2 meatballs added for extra charge. This woman PLACED HER HAND ON MY ARM and told us “well maybe you should go there then” and sprinted away. I felt so disrespected and violated. I lost my appetite because I was so uncomfortable and disappointed, we asked for our check and left. I will NEVER give my business here again. Another thing to note I believe this was the owners wife or relative. It was very disappointing how a simple misunderstanding turned into an aggression against a paying customer. I hope she thinks about how she treated me and made me feel because that was highly...

Great place to eat good Italian food. I always get the Cheese steak works and it’s always delicious. Most of the time it’s more than I can eat so I save the other half for the next days lunch. It came with homemade chips and ranch. They were crisp and very good. My wife got Chicken Marsala with bread and a side salad. The chicken was quite tasty and plentiful but the salad was a little on the skimpy side. She has plenty of leftovers for her lunch tomorrow. We called the order in and it was ready upon my arrival. If I could give a 1/2 star, I would have rated it 4.5. We will continue to support this great little restaurant.

4/2/22. We just ordered two new items. I got the stuffed shells and they were great. Love the ricotta cheese and marinara sauce. Had a salad with balsamic dressing. Wife ordered cheese ravioli and she really enjoyed them. This place doesn’t disappoint!

4/14/23. In fairness to the whole review process, I’ll do another update. Tonight we dined in and was seated immediately. Wasn’t very busy it appeared. We sat in our seats long enough that we started discussing where else we could go and eat. We were just about to leave when the owners wife came and took our order. Service did move quickly after that. We ordered some side salads and a white cheese type pizza with spinach. Was delicious! However, our drinks were never refilled. The food service industry was hurt after the stupid pandemic and we understand that. I guess we will stick to “take out” from here. As I’ve said above, the food...