Italian Bistro - Hampstead — Restaurant in Surf City

I ordered to go and was very disappointed. The salad was ok, a bit wilted, but average. I ordered the Baked Penne and my husband, the Chicken Carbonara.. To begin with, we only received two, very small pieces of bread, which was quite good. I’d think for the price of over $50 for this order, we would have received at least a basket or half loaf. The pasta, was not cooked in salted water, and was greatly under seasoned. Just bland. My penne, barely had sauce in it, and was this light pink color; very unappealing looking. The cheeses, too much ricotta or whatever was used, I believe caused this entire dish the previously mentioned “ pink “ color. More Parmesan and more sauce, baked to a slightly golden brown, was what I was hoping for. I even tried, the next day, to warm up in the oven with additional shaved parm on top. That pink color, just didn’t work so I ended up tossing the entire pan in the trash. I barely ate two bites of . I had ordered grilled chicken with it, and it had a strange texture/taste as well. My husband’s carbonara tasted like Alfredo not Carbonara ( which is supposed to have some egg added for richness and cheese, olive oil, bacon . This dish tasted nothing like Italian carbonara. It was very rich , like Alfredo . Too sad, to see another tasteless and bland restaurant in...

On Sunday afternoon yesterday, I thought I'd get an Italian combo hero sandwich to go. I placed my order and paid. Went to the nearby Harris Teeter to do some quick shopping. Placed items in car. Went in to pick up my order. It was not yet ready. Three red shirted employees were standing in the kitchen area joking. The young lady who had taken my order was standing next to the food prep table while the pizza cook was mixing a liquid and flour in a steel mixing bowl. She was eating the remainder of a sandwich. One of the tall pranksters threw a piece of garbage in an arc over the mixing table (cook still working with his ladle) and missed the trash can next to the mixing table. At this point I asked was there a problem with the sandwich. I was assured it would be out momentarily. The red shirts continued to joke around, as I looked at floor and surface areas they could be cleaning. (I've worked in food services.) Then, after waiting several more minutes (no one else was in the front of the business at the time), yet another employee came out with my to-go box. The string fries were fresh and hot, and the sandwich was wrapped like a mummy in its...

Decided to order pizza on the way home from work at 6:05 PM. They said 60-90 minutes for delivery so decided not to stop and pick up. 40 minutes later (after passing by the restaurant and getting home) they called and claimed we were outside their delivery range (I am 7 miles away and have ordered delivery previously on a Monday). When we said we would not pick it up they agreed to deliver just this one time. About an hour and 45 minutes after placing the order we called again requesting an update and they told us about 10-15 minutes. The pizza arrived cold over 2 hours after ordering and when we called to request a refund we were told that they have a shortage of drivers on Mondays and we should order pickup on Mondays and not delivery. They have claimed they will issue a refund, but the story has been inconsistent and there is no reason 7 miles within the same town as the restaurant can be considered out of range. Additionally, there is no reason they couldn’t have told us when we placed the order that they could not deliver and I could have stopped on my way home instead of wasting our...