Via Italia Woodfired Pizza & Bar — Restaurant in Tampa

First let me start by saying I review for the sake the patron, giving you an inside view the way I would want it.

We love pizza so we were excited to try this high-rated authentic iltalian restaurant with woodfired pizzas.

Service/Staff The first thing we noticed were the exceptional staff and service. Greeted immediately with a smile. Very accomdating to allow us a bench table. Everyone smiling and friendly. They genuinely made us feel like they were happy we were there. That is a rarity in today's world and should be applauded. (Thank you, Juan for exceptional service)

Every Italian knows that making people feel welcomed and at home is almost more important than the food itself.

Cleanliness - As part of a fairly new-build strip mall, it was expected to have a clean environment and this place was prestine!

Food taste/freshness Very happy with the clearly labeled vegetarian and vegan meals /options!

We had the Alivi Cunzate (Olives & Bread) appetizer ($11). This was a disappointment for us. 2 thin slices of mediocre focaccia bread and an olive mix that didn't really fit the description on the menu. Menu says rosemary & fennel pollen... what we received had red peppers (which i can not eat for medical reasons) and lemon peel pieces. The flavor was good... not great and we were really hoping for some authentic iltalian olives for that price.

A glass of Rosso Wine will run you around $9. It was a 5 out of 10 wine.

Onto the woodfire Pizza. This is why we came. We ordered the 12" Double Pepperoni and 12" Quattro Formaggi (vegetarian). Crust was amazing. Perfectly fired. FRESH ingredients. Amazing cheese. Husband says red sauce was "ok" on the Pepperoni and my Formaggi was all cheese so no sauce. Overall, we both thought there could've been more flavor to the pizzas... needs more oregono and garlic.

AMBIANCE - Unfortunately, this is where it all falls apart for us. I guess.... what can we expect from a contemporary strip mall iltalian restaurant? However, for the elegant staff/service/ingredients and Price... we would've appreciated some small changes... like cloth napkins /table cloths and more comfortable seating.

They have booths, tables, bench tables and a bar.... it feels like a deli or cafeteria style with cold colors Blue/grey. Plastic (cold) contemporary chairs. Grey tables and black ceilings. Bright lighting and no music. Even the artwork had a "cold" element to it. Italian restaurants NEED to have warm colors and textures...soft lighting and definitely not high ceilings.

These high contemporary industrial ceilings created an echo and amplification of every sound making it impossible to hear the person right across from you...even though the restaurant was 1/3 full. The busy loud bar directly next to the dining with no real separation added significant noise pollution. It was all too much for us and made us want to rush out of there.

Dining is an experience and Italian dining should be calm, warm and inviting. Unfortunately, the quality and taste of the food would needed to have been extraordinary for us to endure the cold loud bright atmosphere.

Definitely not a romantic dinner or place to have great initmate conversations.

In summary... Above par service/staff. Average food with clean but cold noisy atmosphere... Not worth the $20-30 per person price.

It's like getting all decked out in a ballroom gown, hair/makeup, gloves and accessories.... but wearing crocs. Lol

There's your...

RUN don't walk. Hands down the best all around. Service is top notch from the moment we walked through the double glass doors first greeted with a smile from the hostess and 3 other staff members welcoming us in. We chose to sit at the bar and were immediately greeted by the Bartender as well as bar back staff member. We placed a drink order and were pleasantly surprised our drinks were made and placed in front of us quickly almost as if they already knew what we wanted before we even walked through the door. Next to our drinks was a sidecar of water that was fantastic as a palette cleanser throughout our meal. Back to the drinks, I like to think I can make a darn good espresso martini at home, but boy oh boy was I wrong! I don't think I have ever tasted an espresso martini so deliciously flavorful in my entire life (I would come back just for this on it's own). We ordered an appetizer of the caprese, I'm not a fan of black pepper seasoning and they were more than accommodating to make half with and half without. We ordered out entrees I went with their new Chicken Parmesan and was blown away!! Again something I feel I have always made well at home but boy oh boy was I schooled. The chicken was so moist and very lightly breaded. It had the perfect amount of cheese to sauce ratio and their homemade sauce is to die for. This entree came with a side of pasta as well with their pomodor sauce, and yum just YUM. My spouse went with the tagliatelle bolognese and opted for the added meatballs and in his exact quote "I could eat this every meal of my life". So I would say it was good. We finished off the night with dessert, I ordered the limoncello sorbet flute and let me tell you I could eat a gallon of it. My spouse ordered the tiramisu and let me have a sample and I was almost jealous I didn't have a piece of my own. The bar staff Leslie and barback Dominic were very attentive all evening introducing us to other patrons sitting next to us at the bar and it made us feel like we were family. The owner also came out and had chatted with us for a bit giving more recommendations of things for us to try from them menu, which we will! I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. Not only was the food and drinks delicious we were treated like family the entire time we were there, the restaurant was so clean it really made us realize we have discovered a very hidden gem here in the Wesley Chapel/New Tampa area. We will be back very soon, planning to make this one of our new frequent places. Looking forward to working through their menu but their woodfired pizza was highly recommended so...

We had dinner (outside) here about a month ago and had the best experience. Our server was really attentive and the food was delicious. Since we live not far away, in Cory Lake Isles, I was excited to have a really nice neighborhood restaurant in my neighborhood vs South Tampa.

However, things quickly changed. We returned yesterday and it just wasn't the same. Our server hinted that "he wanted to help us out" by pushing us to order everything at once (with our drinks order) because he was running around a lot and didn't know when he might make it back to us. We really hadn't made up our minds, so we took our chances. Maybe we should have taken him up on his offer and just ordered what we had last time, because he neglected us for quiet some time after taking our drink and appetizer order.

Although we were enjoying our visit, it took way too long between the time we ordered drinks and when we actually received them and allowed to order our entrees.

Then it got worse. I ordered the Tagliatle Alla Bolognese (substituted with spaghetti). The food arrived and didn't seem to have the same quality and taste as before, but not terrible. However, about half way through my dish, I bit down on something that caused me to bite my tongue. I summoned our server, who came and returned my plate. A few minutes later he came back to inform me it was probably a piece of Brillo pad. He continued by conveying the manager had offered to "comp" us the food item or prepare another dish. I asked to see the manager and was informed he was too busy to stop what he was doing. I asked who was the owner and the server replied "he is also the owner". The server apologized repeatedly, but said there was nothing else he could do.

I thought about making more of it, but my tongue was bleeding and hurting me almost as bad as my feelings were. Now, after having slept it off; I really wish I had made more out of it and demanded a better explanation, a more sincere apology or refused to pay anything. I am very disappointed and regret the arrogant disposition of Via Italia's management. It's back to...