Verona Ristorante — Restaurant in Town of Babylon

This was the worst dining experience we've ever had the misfortune of having. We have come in as a large group (20+) to celebrate my father's 65th birthday and opted for one of the catering packages.

A few minutes into the festivities the electricity goes out in the building which knocks out the lights and air conditioner. Now, we don't fault any restaurant for this as it can happen to anyone - it was the way it was handled that was so appalling. The staff had brought out candles and a construction-grade floodlight that lit up half the room with a harsh glow while leaving the other-side still pitch black. To make matters worse, we've noticed the other half of the restaurant had fully functioning electricity. Neither owner nor manager bothers to explain what happened and we only find after asking one of the waiters that the electrical outage is due to a leaky roof which has been plaguing them for years (apparently this isn't the first blackout).

While we waited 2 hours+ for our food in the dark as the lights were also out in the kitchen, we finally requested to see the manager as we finally decided the evening was sufficiently ruined and we would just like to pay for what we ate and leave. The owner comes up to us saying to sit down and eat the food as if we were planning to dine and dash as a group of 20+ for a 65th birthday. He then blatantly lies that he's come to us multiple times throughout dinner and tried to make every accommodation to make up for the situation (this was the first time seeing this man the whole night). He finally throws down the ultimatum that he will call the police while, who I believe is his wife, is taking pictures of our license plates. Long story short, we call the police ourselves as we don't want there to be any problems and they respond that they have never received a call from the owner/establishment - no surprises here.

Police arrive, reports are filed, and he finally comes up to us and says he will waive the bill for the appetizers and drinks as long as we don't leave a negative review on his restaurant. We believe in paying for what we ate so we ask him to bill us and notify him we will be leaving a review. Bill comes out a little bit under the total package price as he reasons there is no pricing for individual items from the catering package, so we end up paying close to full price for 3 courses of appetizers and wine. In regard to the food, it was average at best, but I suppose my opinion can be a bit skewed just based on the terrible dinner experience.

To the owner if this is ever read: shame on you for ruining a special occasion with our family. It really is unfortunate you choose to run your...

I wasn’t expecting a lot from this place, but for me to give a perfect rating, this had to blow my socks off, right? Yes, it absolutely did, starting from being greeted very friendly by the manager and seated right away. The server gave us a few minutes to look at the menu and then took our entire order hastily. Our appetizer came out before the drinks, which was odd, but the appetizer, calamari, was very good, and it wasn’t rubbery or chewy. They even have chili sauce that isn’t too spicy or too plain, which I really enjoyed! My lemonade was fresh and tasted home-made, and they also have a decent selection of wine. My entree, their squid linguine, was very unique and had flavor unlike many pastas that I’ve had in other places. The dessert was pretty good as well; the flourless cheesecake isn’t too rich, and it isn’t frozen either. As for the service, normally I would penalize for delays in restaurants in the US, but this place seemed to try to create an ambience of a real Italian restaurant in Europe, which I respect; therefore, I will be giving you all the stars there because you have perfectly resembled Italian cuisine perfectly as it is in Europe.

One other thing that concerned me was that the pricing on the lemonade was a little high. $6 per glass, in my opinion, is very expensive for a glass of lemonade to not get any free refills. $18 for 3 glasses of lemonade is a lot of money. However, the lemonade was very good, so I let it go and didn’t say anything; however, it is a dollar or two overpriced in my opinion.

Other than that, though, the pricing was that of a standard Italian restaurant on the higher end, and I would highly recommend this place to anyone in the area. As for why I gave them 5 stars instead of 4, the guys in the place had an amazing sense of humor and hustled to provide true Italian cuisine to the people inside the place, thus making me experience world-class. I will definitely be returning with my family one day, and I strongly recommend this place since I don’t leave 5-star reviews often anymore and this place has truly figured out how a restaurant should be run. Thank you for showing me what a real Italian restaurant is supposed to be like, and I will never forget this place!...

4.5 stars is my rating per my engagement party Saturday night in July. We had a wonderful engagement party at the beautiful Fontana outdoor area at Verona Ristorante. It managed to seat over 90 guests in a cozy patio area with sufficient space for a DJ and the dance floor (fountain in the middle, only slightly cumbersome but a very elegant and fun touch) along with welcome sign, seating arrangement sign, and a dessert table with cake. Very nice venue with reasonable pricing that is perfect for many different private events and dinner parties. They were most accommodating when there were issues with seating and party size last minute and helped make the night absolutely amazing.

Couple of minor but easily fixable issues for future reference: 1) had to apologize to the florist as they were left waiting for an hour just for the cake because the deliverer left it with a waitress who then left it somewhere else for some time before they realized they had it 2) most entrees were served and most people were able to take to-go no problem, but several important plates went missing way too soon without request and without being packed to-go and we’re all still charged for a full house despite this.

Overall, though, the food, drinks, and service was great for the relatively fair pricing that summer weekend night and they offer lots of amazing options for indoors and outdoors, help with set-up, and for me also referred a great DJ on the Island (DJ Bobby Shea). The pasta and calamari are amazing, while entrees and wine were great as well. They were very thoughtful too, as they gave us a couple of glasses of champagne for pictures and had a good mini-table prepared for the engaged couple. I liked the owner from the start and believe he’s very good at what he does. I’m very satisfied with the venue overall and will likely continue eating their casually or for future...