Passione Della Cucina — Restaurant in Town of North Hempstead

Passione Review Fantastic Experience from Start to Finish! My niece and I started planning for my sister’s big birthday surprise party in August. We decided to go to one of her favorite restaurants, Passione, in Carle Place. I could not be happier with the overall experience! The guests also commented numerous times about the scrumptious food and service. Many guests said that they would be back! I began my journey with Emilio, the owner. He was incredibly accommodating, friendly, funny and immediately made me feel that we made the right decision to have the party at his restaurant. On the day of the party, I was greeted by the head chef, Edwin. He was so personable and proactively discussed all the party’s details. I interacted with Edwin on a few occasions as I was decorating. At one point, I had to share a mishap we had with the cake my niece purchased at the bakery. Edwin immediately told me that he would look at it and fix the cake for us. On several occasions when he saw me, he told me not to worry, we are all here to make your sure your party is a huge success. And a huge success, it was! The dining room attendant, Raul, hustled to set the room exactly the way that I wanted it. He made last-minute changes with a smile on his face, which I appreciated. Shortly after the room was set, Sergio, lead server, and Linda, Maitre D’, arrived. Linda immediately offered to help us decorate the room and she came up with the script so that my sister would be surprised up to the moment that she was going to be seated. I laughed so hard because Linda was incredibly funny and talented with her suggestions. Sergio won the Emmy for his performance! He was hilarious. When the guests arrived, they were greeted immediately and welcomed. Sergio and Linda played off a great seating routine so that my sister would have no clue that it was actually a surprise party rather than her children and I taking her out to eat. The staff was flexible, the food was outstandingly delicious and plentiful. Sergio and another server took care of our event. I feel horrible for not recalling the second server’s name because he was friendly, funny and put a smile on my face every time I interacted with him. I could not have asked for a better experience both in food and hospitality. If you have not experienced the Passione way, you are missing out so book a...

Service: We were initially informed that two adjacent tables were reserved for couples, limiting our seating options. However, the restaurant later offered to combine those tables for our party of four. Instead, we chose to sit outside, which turned out to be a great decision given the pleasant evening weather. Unfortunately, a significant delay in having our orders taken made the experience frustrating, especially with two hungry and tired toddlers. After waiting too long, I had to go inside and ask the host at the entrance to find us a new server. Fortunately, Louis stepped in promptly and provided excellent service. He took our orders immediately, and at that point, a full basket of assorted breads—including one topped with tomato sauce and cheese—was placed at our table, helping to keep the kids occupied until our entrées arrived.

Food: The kids' pizza slices took quite a while to arrive. While they were flavorful, they were overly saturated with oil. I had to grab paper towels from the bathroom to blot some of it out, but even then, only one of my kids ended up eating their pizza due to the excess oil.

The Melanzana Parm appetizer was a generous portion and paired well with the bread basket. While enjoyable, it could have benefited from additional seasoning to enhance its flavors.

The NYC chop salad with a side of salmon was well-portioned, and I appreciated the variety of ingredients included in the dish. However, it also lacked basic seasoning, such as salt, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil, which would have brought out its flavors more. Although both the salad and salmon smelled fine, I had slight concerns about their freshness. Thankfully, at the time of writing, no one has reported any issues after dining.

Payment & Pricing: The restaurant offers a discount for paying in cash versus using a credit card, which is clearly advertised. However, their point-of-sale system calculates suggested tips based on the total bill including tax, rather than the pre-tax amount. Be sure to double-check the suggested tip, as the calculation is misleading.

Overall Impression: The restaurant served its purpose by providing a last-minute dining option, but considering the abundance of Italian restaurants—including those that serve pizza—I wouldn’t rank this place as my top choice for...

My family and I decided to dine here last night for a special mothers day dinner. The whole experience from beginning to end was a nightmare. We had reservations at 6:30 while we didn't get seated until 7:00 and we were told if we don't like that table that is fine, but we would have to wait for another and they did not know how long it was be. Being an owner, running an establishment i would say that excuse is poor and uncalled for. Making your customers happy should be the number one priority because if it was not for us, you would not be in business. The attitudes and cockiness if the owners and staff was uncalled for and we were very unhappy.

the waiter came by to take our drink order, when we said we would all like a glass of water, it took him an additional 25 minutes to show back up with the glasses, why they aren't on the table already was beyond me? The bread basket came out after 30 minutes, with 4 pieces of bread, when we were 6 people. We had to ask 3 additional times for additional bread that took another 15 minutes, and finally the bread was brought out.

We than ordered our main courses, and while asking questions to the waiter was very rude and was annoyed like he was doing us a favor. The clock was ticking after 50 minutes our entrees were still NOT out. we had to speak with the owner again and explained that with customers pregnant and diabetic that was totally unacceptable, unacceptable even for a normal customer. We were ready to leave if our food did not come out, but decided to give it 5 more minutes. Half of my family had issues with their food as it was cold, burnt or didn't taste right. The service here sucked, the food was terrible and we will NEVER be...