Joey's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of De Witt

Say what you will about the food, but the hospitality and customer service in this establishment is among the worst of any I have encountered. We made a dinner reservation ONE MONTH in advance to celebrate my daughter’s college graduation. Upon arrival we were informed that the table they reserved for us was given to another party. Very disappointing!! We were then led to an alternate seating area which amounted to a booth intended to comfortably seat no more than four adults. There were seven people in our party. Tell me how that was supposed to work!! After complaining to the hostess that this was not acceptable, they devised another alternate seating arrangement by squeezing in a small table at the end of another small booth. Needless to say, this was not acceptable either but at this point we had no other options. By this time my daughter was in tears, and it was too late to try and find another restaurant, so we reluctantly settled for that table/booth. I have never been so disgusted as I was to find out our reservation had been given to another party. Once again, this reservation was made ONE MONTH in advance! There was no reason for our table not to have been there when we arrived. The worst part was that the hostess just brushed it off and could have cared less about our disappointment. That was obvious by the way we were just stuck in a tiny booth in the back and were expected to be satisfied with that arrangement. I would strongly recommend to anyone making a reservation that they verify that reservation prior to heading to the restaurant, as it is apparent that the reservation is not guaranteed. The management cares more about filling every table than they do honoring previous guests’ reservation requests. Due to the lack of respect we were shown and the disappointment seen in my daughter’s eyes thanks to this fiasco, I will never dine at this establishment again. What began as a joyous celebration of college achievements soon turned into an evening full of regret. Thank you very much Pronto Joey’s for ruining what should have been a wonderful...

Best Italian restaurant in Syracuse. As a lunch for two, try a large cold antipasto with tuna fish, Italian cold cuts, cheese, artichoke hearts, olives, pepperoncini, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and roasted red peppers on top of crisp lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Goes beautifully with their crusty white bread. If you're still hungry, add a bowl of minestrone soup. For dinner, you can't go wrong with anything on the menu. My favorites include Steak with Italian spices, Manicotti with a side of sausage, Chicken Riggies with vodka sauce, Chicken Francaise, and Chicken Marsala. The service is excellent. If you like to cook, pick up a signed copy of Joey's Italian cookbook while you're at the restaurant. UPDATE: The downstairs fine dining restaurant is no longer open for lunch. The hours are 4 to 9 p.m., closed Sundays. (The casual upstairs restaurant, Joey's Pronto, is open for lunch.) The cookbook is sold out, but is available at Amazon for $90, a considerable upcharge from the original price. But, with the great results I've had following the recipes, I still recommend it. UPDATE-2: Still a great restaurant with Joey in charge. However, a new Joey's restaurant is being built next to the current one and is expected to be completed by next March. New ownership will take over. We hope they will continue to use Joey's recipes, but in the meantime frequent the restaurant as often as you can. We returned for dinner on a Saturday night. Reservations are strongly advised unless you want a long wait in the bar or to be sent upstairs to the more casual Joey's Pronto restaurant. Fortunately, we had a reservation so we were seated immediately The bread, the shared cold antipasto salad, and the meatball appetizer were terrific as always. Tried a new dish, stuffed rigatoni with crispy prosciutto bits in a vodka sauce. Probably won't order again because I have a number of favorites on the menu which I'll turn to before the change in ownership. Service and atmosphere we're...

We came here to celebrate my sister’s graduation yesterday, and unfortunately, the experience was very disappointing.

First and most importantly: if you have a food allergy, I would not recommend this restaurant. We ordered gluten-free pasta with sausage, explained the allergy clearly, and yet the dish was served with a gluten-containing meatball. When we asked for the original order, the pasta came back almost immediately with sausage — making it obvious the same pasta had just been swapped out, without any consideration for cross-contamination. Our server never asked if this was acceptable, which could have been dangerous for someone with celiac disease or a severe allergy.

The service overall was extremely slow and inattentive, despite the restaurant being nearly empty. We waited about 15 minutes before anyone greeted us, and when our server finally arrived, she didn’t introduce herself — she just asked what we wanted to drink. After letting her know we were ready to order, it still took about 10 more minutes before she returned. While the food itself came out in a reasonable timeframe, everything else about the service was drawn out.

Paying the bill was especially frustrating. We asked for boxes and the check, but only received the boxes. After waiting another 10 minutes, I had to remind her again. When the check did arrive, we noticed a cider was rung in as a slightly more expensive beer. It wasn’t worth correcting, but it added to the overall sense of carelessness. Even after bringing the check, the server disappeared for another 10+ minutes, and I eventually had to walk to the host stand to ask how to check out.

To be fair, the food itself was good and the atmosphere pleasant. It’s possible our experience could have been very different with another server. But given the lack of care for allergy safety, the extremely slow service, and the dismissive, unprofessional attitude we encountered, this was not the celebratory experience we...