La Novella — Restaurant in Town of Hempstead

Left the place thinking are Italians supposed to be mad all the time or something? Front staff didn't smile at all. Only the owner was smiling, and only when he was greeting customers. Otherwise he was just smoking it up with someone else right by what looked like an entrance that was decorated for a previous wedding but the decorations never got taken down.

The waiter today was undertrained. Didn't pour water, didn't introduce himself, got my order wrong (I had asked for alfredo sauce on my pasta and just got the regular tomato sauce). He wasn't paid enough to be there and he wasn't trained enough to be there. I'm not even sure he was supposed to be my waiter to be honest. I just said I was ready to order after 15 minutes had passed to the nearest staff and he happened to be the one and he took my order.

Portobello mushroom appetizer (Portobello al Donatello): I know mushrooms can be juicy but this was just SOGGY. Lost all its texture and for the love of god all I could taste was the sweet balsamic vinaigrette. Overpowering flavor and no texture. At least the premade salad it comes on top of was alright.

Seafood Risotto (Risotto Alla Pesatore): Salty. 30 minutes later and multiple cups of water after, all I can taste right now is salt. Seafood can be salty, that's why you must use other ingredients to balance it out. . Also one of the mussels wasn't even clean. Still had seaweed gunk on it. thought it was strange something was so tough until I realized I was chewing on gunk.

Music was good quality but it was loud. I couldn't think straight nor enjoy a comfortable meal there.

I came here to see if this was a good place to bring friends. Perhaps I came on a bad day but today didn't leave a very...

Good portion sizes. Toasted bread served at beginning clearly toasted because it was too stale to serve any other way. Even then it was very difficult to eat. They could definitely up their game by serving olive oil and seasoning instead of cheap butter packets.

Reason for 3 star is mostly the service. We wanted a nice single course meal after a weekend of over indulging. Waiter came and was clearly disappointed when we didn't order alcohol or apps. He came back once more before food arrived then never returned and never looked at us (we spent a decent amount of time trying to get his attention as he walked all around us. )

We got another server to at least give us more water but when we asked him to let our server know we would like another soda, the drinks never came. Considering they don't even offer free refills on soda you'd think he'd at least jump at the chance to over charge us on a glass filled with ice and only a little soda.

At the end we managed to get another server to bring us the bill. He asked whether we had been offered dessert and we told him we hadn't seen our waiter in 30 min. The new waiter brought our bill and gave us a round of very sweet prosecco as an apology. A nice gesture, though none of us wanted to drink alcohol that meal. But the original waiter glanced over when told but never came to apologize.

It was very clear that only those wishing to over indulge were welcome. Funny thing is we are high tippers and usually very devoted customers to good restaurants. We however will not return...

We had our wedding reception at La Novella on Sunday, August 31st, and it turned into a very upsetting experience.

When we booked, Michael (the owner) was so friendly and offered us $50 per person, with soft drinks included and wine at $30 a bottle. We had 40 guests and 10 bottles of wine. The math is simple: the total should have been around $2,300, maybe $2,500 with the extra drinks. Instead, we were charged over $4,000 plus tip. The wines weren’t even finished, and the “included” soft drinks were never provided.

We had already paid a $500 cash deposit, but it’s obvious he didn’t apply it to the bill. My father-in-law was only given a credit card transaction slip that night, not an itemized receipt. When we went back to ask for a copy, Michael lied and said he had already given it to my father-in-law (he didn’t). He flat-out refused to provide one and hung up on me when I called back to ask him to review the charges.

This is shady and dishonest behavior. On top of that, the room was roasting hot even though we were told there would be AC, and several guests complained but nothing was done.

Our wedding reception should have been a happy, stress-free memory. Instead, we left feeling cheated, disrespected, and extremely upset. Michael was rude, dismissive, and refused to double-check his own mistake.

⚠️ Stay away from this restaurant. If you care about honesty, transparency, and professionalism, this is not the place to trust with your...