Vespa Italian Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Town of Oyster Bay

As an update, Lahna and I returned to Vespa on Wednesday 3/14/18. As a back story, I recently started using Yelp because we've been dining out so much lately, that I thought it would be a fun way to keep track of where we've eaten, what we've had and comment on our experiences. While on Yelp the other day, I noticed there was a private event at Uncle Tony's for Yelp users. I thought it would be nice to go and meet other people who share the same passion for food that I do, but it turns out that the event was full. I've been following Uncle Tony's account on Instagram so I sent them a direct message asking if they had room to squeeze in two more but they responded that they didn't. Little did they know, this was strike 2 for Uncle Tony's. Last summer, we went there for dinner and wanted to sit outside because they had some tables set up out front. Understanding that it was busy, we put our name in and waited. What I witnessed was sheer unorganization. Every time our hostess would tell us a table would be ready next, someone would walk up to the owner who was standing out there, shake his hand and he'd give them our table. This went on for over an hour. When we did finally get a table, we sat down and not a single person came to our table to greet us. After about 15 minutes of sitting there, we finally got up and left. That experience alone was reason enough for me not to give that place another chance. But again, I thought going with other Yelpers, I'd change my opinion. After the Yelp event I got a few messages saying that I didn't miss anything and there was hardly anyone there, so I don't feel so bad about not going. Anyway, this review is about Vespa, so I'll get back to it. Because it was national pi day, 3.14, I wanted to have pizza for dinner. Since it was Vespa that we went to after the first mishap at Uncle Tony's, I decided that's where we should go back, plus I've been dreaming about the pizza Vespa since the first time I had it months ago. When we walked in, I asked for a table for 2. The hostess immediately brought us to a 2 seater high-top by the bar. A. I hate sitting at high tops, B. 2-seaters are too small for 2 people; so I asked the waitress for a different table. She brought us into a small room, opposite the main dining room. I'd prefer to sit in the main dining room, but whatever. It also took a while for our server to come over. When he did, we eventually ordered our drinks and meal. We decided to share an order of the calamari fritti and the pizza vespa. This was our third time eating at Vespa and the food has been consistently amazing! The calamari is perfectly fried and delicious. Their marinara sauce is excellent. And that Vespa pizza!! It is unbelievable! It was better than I remember it being. It lived up to my expectations from this past summer. I run a pizza page on Instagram as well, so I eat a lot of pizza, but this is by far my favorite pizza! I will not let so much time go by before eating the pizza vespa again. My only complaint was the service. And it wasn't that bad. Our server wasn't very attentive and the busboy seemed to hover over our table asking if we were finished when we weren't. Other than that, the food was awesome and...

Seven of us went out for a friends birthday. The restaurant has a nice ambiance but it is LOUD! We were screaming to hear each other. The food was mediocre. We ordered meatballs and a pizza as an appetizer. Bread was on the table which was ehhh. Our meals came out shortly after that and they were typical. Didn’t blow any of us away. After we ate the crowd was starting to die down. We asked our waiter to take a picture of us. He said “give me two minutes and walked away”. My friend joked around and said “ohhh your tip just went down”. He replies “gratuity is already built into the check” RUDE. After ten mins, he came back and took our picture. He was very nice and asked us if they were okay. Maybe when he said he couldn’t take out picture in the first place and said that rude comment he was overwhelmed. We gave him the benefit of the doubt. We got the bill which was $598.00. We paid and gave him a tip on top of his “built in” gratuity. He took the check and thanked us. We still sat there talking. About 20 mins later, my friend wanted another drink (the birthday girl). She asked our waiter if that was okay and he said yes. He brought over her drink. She drank it and we left. As we were saying goodbye to eachother outside he came out and said are you girls leaving? We said yes. He said “well you have to pay for your drink.” Really??? So my friend went back inside and paid for it. I think for the amount we paid that night a drink should have been on the house. We didn’t try to get out of paying but we didn’t ask either. Lol. Regardless, it would have been the nice thing to do. The waiter knew it was my friends birthday and she was the one who wanted another drink. Anyway, this place was sub par. I wish we went somewhere else. We could have gotten amazing food somewhere else for what we paid. And a...

My family and I love coming to Vespa. We always have a great experience and the food is incredible. Our waitress, Ashley, was outstanding, she was attentive and sweet. The reason I’m only giving a 4 star review was due to one of the hostesses. She was unprofessional and had quite an attitude. We were a party of 6 but my mom and I were the first to show in our party. The hostess wouldn’t seat us due to our whole party not being present, she said she would seat us if 4 people from our party were present. We listened and waited. Once 2 other people in our party showed up, my mom went up to tell the hostess that we are now a party of 4, the hostess then asked “Where are the other two people in your party?” My mom replied “They seem to be no shows” the hostess responds “Well if the other two aren’t coming you can just tell me that!” We did not like the tone, no one wants to be questioned when they are spending a lot of money. We thought it was rude and not professional in this situation. On top of her being rude to us, we overheard her being rude to her fellow hostesses. A hostess is the first person you meet when you walk in the door as a customer, they are supposed to make you feel welcomed. I hope her attitude changes and management brings this to their...