Iavarone Italian Kitchen + Pizzeria — Restaurant in Town of North Hempstead

Loved the food asits prepared fresh and delicious. However two huge thumbs down are the problems with seating and we understand 50 percent capacity due to pandemic. Hiwever they won't allow reservations for two so they told us yet when we arrive there are several other couples in booths or at tables seated with just two people. We've had unusual long waits to get a seat even after calling ahead and waiting at restuarant ( and this is at 4.30p.m nice and early before the rush). Like I said the other booths are reserved for later and I've seen two seated after we were told they wouldn't accept only 2 reservations. So I guess it's who you know at Iavarones and that is not cool. So I should lie and say 3 for my table then when I get their say "oh one couldn't make it" (as we overheard done) to get a reserved prime spot? We went 3 saturdays in a row and each time it was more of a fiasco to get seated that we got so disgusted. The other major thumbs down is this is the first Italian restaurant we've dined at and we've eaten at many that gives you such a small nd meager portion of pasta with your dish! Why? Pasta is relatively cheap. At Vincent's, Umbertos, Casa Mia, La Trattoria etc. you are always given a generous amount of pasta with your veal, chicken etc!!! I mentioned this to our waiter two times two different saturdays we went and still a meager portion served that we were done with the pasta ( had none left) before the veal as we like to eat them both together. At $27 dollars a pop for my entree it would server Iavaarones if they have an equal portion of pasta and sause to match the generous portion of meat they offer. I would love to give 5 star review but I take off a star for each unsatisfactory topic I mention here in this review. Both are easily fixed with reservations for two allowed and larger portions of pasta served with...

My dad has been in the hospital with pneumonia for the last week. He's been recovering but I am unable to leave work until almost to the end of visiting hours. His only request has been pizza.

I'm 15 minutes from the pizzeria when I called to this pizzeria and tried to order two slices of cheeze pizza to go.

The person who answered the phone then told me that she 'can't just hold the pizza' and that to go orders need to be 'from the kitchen'.

I thought I was being stupid, so I asked what she meant by that, after which she just simply repeated herself. I then tried to also order a calzone and some garlic knots and she again refused. It was then that I figured out that they were insisting that I order something 'from the kitchen' in order to be able to hold my pizza. Their salad was $14. Their pasta was $22. I ordered the salad.

I get to the place, only to find that they've put my salad in a paper to-go bag, and my two slices of pizza in a pizza box, like you know, the way a pizzeria does.

If I wasn't in a hurry and 30 minutes from the end of visiting hours, I would've chewed them out. I saw the box and asked her "so this box containing two slices in front of me, I couldn't have just ordered that?". And she acted like I was intellectually disabled in not understand that this pizza, was in fact, "not from the kitchen".

What a gross abuse of customers. Just despicable. I recommend that you do not eat here. If you're a pizzeria attempting to be a fancy Italian restaurant then name yourself something different and don't write the words 'pizzeria' and 'take out' on the outside of your store.

Edit: just to be clear, this place wasn't a fancy restaurant. They're literally part of a strip mall and the inside looks...

Went for Dinner and Our Waitress Ghosted Us.

First off, their take out slices are great. My coworkers and I go here regularly for take out slices. I have also taken clients here for sit down lunch service in the past and the food and service were fine.

That's why I was so surprised by the dinner experience we had earlier in the week.

The Food: The Calamari was rubbery and lacked flavor. They didn't give us any squid heads, which we found odd. The Pizzette Cauliflower was quite tasty. We were surprised how soggy our pie was (we only got mushrooms, sausage and onions). Considering how good their slices normally are, I was very disappointed.

The Service: I brought some colleagues from work here for a quick dinner and we decided to order a pie. Our waitress seemed annoyed and impatient that we didn't know what toppings we wanted on the pizza, so she said she would come back. We finally had to flag her down later to give her our order and those were the last words we had with her until she brought us the pizza. We saw her plenty of times after that, however she never stopped at our table, made eye contact with us or asked us how everything was. My coworkers were from out of town and joked that it must be typical NY attitude. I assured them it wasn't. We even counted how many times she passed by our table without even looking in our direction. Luckily there were some other wait staff there nice enough to take our drink orders and were able to get our waitress for us when we needed the check.

So stick to take out slices and you won't be...