PepeNero — Restaurant in Traverse City

This was my 4th time in Traverse City and my to go restaurant will always be Pepe Nero Ballarò which i believe to be the best chef-owned restaurant in town. So many things i would like to point out: High quality and fresh ingredients all the time I was born and raised in Italy and can confirm this is an authentic Italian restaurant. Food is DELICIOUS. It definitely reminds me of Italy, mostly Sicily especially when i eat Spiedini Don Ciccio that my dad used to make me when i was little (he is from Sicily) The chefs and bartender are always creative and work really hard Impeccable service from every member of the waitstaff Incredible Attention to details They are taking every precaution for the COVID-19 : Social distance, gloves,masks, sanitation The wine list is large and they keep adding new wines House-made desserts are the cherry on top of the cake.

You better try Pepe Nero, i promise you won’t be disappointed and you will keep going back for more.

July 2020

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Pepe Nero should only get 5/5 stars, not sure how people could give less.

This was my second time in Traverse City, being italian born and raised and living in NYC i expect a lot from well rated restsurants and always looking for great food made with fresh ingredients as well as home made plates. Second time at Pepe Nero and i’ve been happily surprised. The food is excellent, only fresh ingredients from either local farms or imported from Italy. Their menu changes every 3 months includi g the desserts menu. Monica, one of the owner, makes all the desserts herlsef from scretch - heaven! Giorgio, the other owner, born and raised in Italy, is one of the best chef i’ve ever met, hardworking, humble and very professional. He also makes salsiccia himself and it really tastes like home (Italy), hard to find good sausage anywhere.

I tried the branzino which is one of my fav dish from this menu. Olive all’ascolana (dish from Ascoli-Marche-Italy) are good as well, but hard to find something which doesn’t tastes good.

Not to talk about cocktails! Michail, the bar manager and bar tender made me try some amazing cocktails that he invented himself. He is very creative and passionate about his job and loves people, you can tell since the very first second.

This said, i need to go back to Traverse City to have more food at Pepe Nero, no other restaurants in TC...

My husband and I had dinner at PepeNero for the first time on Valentine’s Day, we were celebrating our first Valentine’s Day married and having our offer accepted on our first home.. it was a big night for us. This restaurant had been recommended several times to us by close friends, but I could not believe the way we were treated while we were there. The menu was extremely difficult to understand and the way our server spoke almost made it more confusing. That was fine and a part of the fine dining experience I guess. When handed our bill we were happy and almost didn’t review the bill before paying, but decided to glance. Upon review I noticed I was charged $16.00 for a bowl of soup and $18.00 for a salad. We politely asked our server about it and said he would need to get the manager to speak to us about it. We expressed to the manager that we did not order the soup/salad, we were asked when we ordered our entree “would you like a soup or a salad?”, this statement is the same question asked to you at Olive Garden and the food comes with your meal. My husband and I definitely would not have ordered a soup or salad, but felt like we were losing out on a portion of what we were paying for by not accepting the offer. So we each chose either a soup or a salad. The manager proceeded to explain to us that we read the menu and that we ate the food and he would not be accommodating us as we should of known. I reiterated the concern/ confusion we were having and he doubled down. I suggested to him that they train their staff to ask, “would you like to ADD a soup or salad to start?”, but he again refused to understand or help us. The only solution he offered was to give us a free desert after we already politely declined as nothing was strikingly interesting and we were extremely disappointed in their level of disrespect at this time. In the end we decided to not leave a tip for the server (which we have NEVER DONE and always find great joy in tipping well as we did this line of work while in college) in hopes the restaurant would pay him.

The food was good, but we paid $40 for three raviolis. Don’t show up hungry. I’d go to Stella’s over...

We had a reservation for 7 people supposed to be in the lounge, at 7:00pm. As we arrived we were seated in the main dinning area, and we questioned this as our reservation was for the lounge. We said we would be happy to stay put in the main dinning area if we could have access to the lounge menu. However we were told this was IMPOSSIBLE. The manager told us the reservation was never for the lounge, when the hostess looked in the computer and stated CLEARLY it was for the lounge.

We were then told we could either sit in the main dinning, with the main dining menu; or wait 30-40minutes for a lounge table.

After agreeing to wait we then waited in the bar area, PURCHASED appetizers and drinks. While sitting in the bar area we then witnessed the manager begin to seat other tables. Concerned by this we re-approached the host stand and questioned what was going on. (at this point being 7:30) and were told they had reservations. Which mind you our reservations was for 7:00.

We then asked if we could push together the two tables they were about to seat people at. The manager once again said this was IMPOSSIBLE. A booth then opened up that seated 6 and we offered to try and squeeze. The manager said that was "WE DONT DO THAT".

Shortly there after, the chef/owner came out asking what was going on. A female in our party explained the situation to him, at which point she was referred to as "honey" and spoken to in a condescending voice. Instead of offering to help he told us we could get out of his restaurant .

After this encounter, WE PAID OUR BAR TAB, and left. Only to be chased out by the restaurant manager into the parking lot. At that point pleading us to come back in, as it wouldn't be too much longer (at 7:47pm). Needless to say we did not go back in as they were not accommodating and willing accept responsibility for their mistake.

We have never experienced such a thing in a restaurant before. What ever happened to...