Villa Ravenna Fine Dining​ — Restaurant in Tulsa

My husband and I are retired teachers on an extended road trip from California. We pulled into Tulsa hungry and tired from a long drive. The hotel recommended Villa Ravenna as casual, authentic Italian restaurant, nothing fancy. I was dressed in overalls and my husband was in t-shirt and jeans: clean, but very casual. When we arrived at the restaurant, which was across town from our hotel, we immediately felt underdressed, but the little hostess assured me it was fine and led us to a table. Our waitress obviously felt quite the opposite. When we said we did not want wine, she asked in a tone dripping with disdain if we wanted anything else or just water. I thought I must be imagining this, but her attitude just got colder as we proceeded with the order. My husband asked if he could order spaghetti. She said "No, but I can set you up with the next best thing," which she proceeded to describe. He thanked her, but said he would order the eggplant instead. She replied, "You mean you're not going to order what I just suggested." My husband actually felt manipulated by her pushy tone and changed his order. She asked if we wanted soup or salad and I asked if that was included, because I didn't think it was. I guess that was final proof to her that we were financially strapped and therefore not worth her time. Five minutes later, she practically tossed our plates on the table and, without a word, disappeared until she brought the check. We had to ask another waitress to refill our tea. Meanwhile, our waitress was very attentive to her other tables. I cannot accurately convey how upsetting this experience has been. For the first time in over 30 years, we left no tip. I have never left a bad review on the internet before, but Villa Ravenna appears to be the type of restaurant that wants to ooze class. It takes real class to treat all of your customers with respect, regardless of how they are dressed, or what they order. The food, by the way,...

Full disclosure first - It was New Years Eve. Our reservation was for 8 at 8:30.

With that being said - This celebration was a hot mess. First of all I found out that this place was shutting down for a week on 1/1/24, and may account for some of this. The menu was restricted to several choices. We waited about 10 minutes for water, ordered drinks, and waited 30 minutes for those (and no bread). When we ordered although on the menu but they were out of the beef options half of us wanted but had Bison. Otherwise our menu has primary seafood. Can we just get plates of spaghetti? No- there is only what's on the menu. Caesar salad - on the menu but sorry - out. So half of us were having to settle. Salads came but some were incorrect, then they brought salads for everyone , even those that did not want them. Oh well. Entrees came EXCEPT for one they got incorrect. It finally arrived about 25 minutes later. We ordered some martinis but were told there were no available martini glasses so we got them in short water glasses. Meanwhile the staff started shutting down the place around us. I asked to see the manager but no one came.

Oh and they added 20% tip to our tickets, and the only comp we got after all this was the one guy who's entrée arrived after the rest of us were done, got his free.

Now I understand the circumstances but at least try to act like our satisfaction was desired. At least have something in case you run out of food, perhaps some humble spaghetti and meatballs, but something. The food we actually received was good tasting. My tab came to $175.00. The bottom line here is do not go here on NYE or if you do, go early to to insure they have food you prefer, instead of what is left over on the menu.

The eight of us were all disappointed as this was one of our favorite places to eat. We will go again but not on a...

Valentine's Day 2025

Spent the special evening at Villa Raveena where we had eaten 7 months ago and had a very nice experience. I now know not to expect V-Day to be as good an experience as a regular evening.

Pluses:

Atmosphere is still great, especially with restaurant full. Felt a slight bit of vibe. Food, but only to a point. It wasn't as good as the last time we were there. The pasta texture was such that you could tell the pasta had been cooked well before the Carbanara Sauce and then combined and served. Not cool. Table of our choice was allowed. Got to sit at a cozy corner table.

Negatives: Service. While we weren't ignored by any means, and anything we needed was attended to, our waiter Anthony was obviously stressed, hurried, and perhaps due to that, was unable to smile or offer any sort of cordiality expected from a server at an establishment where you drop multiple hundreds of dollars.

Also, we were rushed through our meal I'm sure so they could fill the table again.

Prices: The menu was for Vday only. Everything was jacked up significantly in price. The Carbanara was upgraded with scallops, small shrimp, and lobster and they added $20 to the price. The scallops were from frozen but not horrible. The shrimp tiny but tasty, the lobster was torn to shreds and like shoe leather.

We considered desert which was good the last time, but it wasn't going to be worth another $25 at that point.

We enjoyed ourselves still since we weren't treated poorly or anything. I still like the place. But I'll never go there on Vday again. Tulsa has so few good ops ale restaurants it's just not worth going to a mediocre one and paying 5...