Antonio's Restaurant and Winebar — Restaurant in Virginia

We live about 3 miles from here and for the last year have debated going to try it because of the mixed reviews. We recognize that many reviews are personal opinion so we decided tonight was the night to give it a try. Now let me preface by saying that in our household, Olive Garden is not “real” Italian food but does serve as the bar when eating/rating Italian food…

Olive Garden is 10x better than this. The food here was terrible.

First we ordered the mozzarella sticks, at first they came out and looked amazing, we bit in and they were cold. We sent them back, and got fresh ones. The fresh ones were actually pretty good! (And ended up being the best thing we ate) Then the bread came—a toss up with the mozz sticks as being the best thing. The pesto/oil dipping sauce is also really good! We even ended up taking the bread home.

I ordered fettuccine Alfredo with Italian sausage (from the create your own pasta menu option) the noodles were cooked well. But that is where it stops on positives. The sausage was cold, tasted like they went next door to Walmart and grabbed a pack of sausage and just threw it on the plate. But the Alfredo sauce…it made me gag. It was disgusting. It had a very unappealing texture and no taste but also the aftertaste of Play-Doh (or a latex balloon? Which is just as weird, I know!) nothing on the plate was hot, or even warm.

My wife ordered spaghetti in olive oil and garlic sauce with meatballs. She asked for cheese to be mixed in as well (it’s also an option in the CYO pasta menu section) and we were told they can’t add cheese to the pasta…..? An Italian restaurant, can’t add cheese to pasta? But okay fair enough. When it came out it was DRENCHED in oil. Now to be fair, I get it—oil sauce. But this is a frequently ordered item for her, and no restaurant has ever given it like that. But I digress. Moving on to the meatballs…these were without a doubt frozen from a bag. Okay, maybe I can understand that in today’s economy but the texture I can’t forgive.They were mushy and gummy but also somehow tough and also oddly tasted like a balloon/Play-Doh (I know it doesn’t make sense how food can taste like that!) The spaghetti noodles were too undercooked, well before al dente-closer to being straight from the box. Nothing on the plate was hot or even warm. It honestly tasted like it was made 3+ days ago and thrown in a microwave for 20 seconds, I’ll maybe give it a cold pan for 60 seconds. My wife served in the Navy for 8 years and compared it to the taste of ship food.

The waiter we had spoke very quick and I didn’t catch his name, but he was great. Not super knowledgeable on the menu, but it is a rather large menu, so I also get not being able to know every detail. The older lady who I am assuming is the manger and/or owner was also at the front when we came in and waited for about 3 minutes before being sat (not a problem at all) but did not greet/acknowledge us at all. When everything went on with our food, she did not come to our table to speak to us or anything. She did walk by our table at one point though loudly announcing to another wait staff of how slow of a night it was. The restaurant itself is decorated nicely and has a nice vibe and SO much potential.

Do with this information what you will. But if your bar is Olive Garden or it’s equivalent, just stick with...

Never reserve the back dining area without having a "written" contract in place. I was charged a $200 deposit and was told the deposit would go on a gift card. The management refused to give me the gift card. I was told that the gift card would be applied towards meals on the day of the event. Immediately upon our arrival, they took half of our seating space and refused to honor the gift card agreement. The General Manager, Blake, took the gift card and used it for his own personal gain. It is called stealing. We have truly gotten to a sad place in the world where establishments steal from the customer. MAJOR ALERT: Do not fall victim to this scam because a scam it is. They made up rules that were never discussed nor agreed upon. A wonderful occasion was disrupted by toxic management. I would advise just stay clear of the restaurant. The management needs to be investigated. How many others have experienced this extortion????

Reply to Owner: It is amazing how you have tried to clean up your actions in your response. Please address the rudeness that you and your other manager exhibited. The argumentative tone, insinuation that we, grown and well established women, were going to destroy your room, refusal to take our orders in a timely manner, and displaying unprofessional remarks in front of other customers. All that you stated in your response is not what we agreed upon when I entered your establishment to make the reservation on Feb. 27th. I did not have a count; therefore, you wrote down an estimate. You stated, so long as I had 15 people and a $200 deposit (which would go towards the food) then the room could be reserved. Upon my arrival, I was to let you know my actual count. You need to develop written contracts and provide the utmost professional and respectful courtesies to your customers at all times. Remember, your customers keep your business afloat.

To the community, please act with extreme caution when working with this company. They also failed to address that the manager took half of my seating immediately upon my arrival so she could accommodate other guests. When she did not have the crowd she was expecting, it is at that time, she decided not to honor the deposit agreement. This restaurant was well compensated because my guests ordered enough food to cover all anticipated expenses. The bottom line: they did not adhere to a business/customer agreement. They were very rude and downright distasteful in their actions. For these, they deserve a below one-star review and customers need to think twice before using...

The place was packed and had a decent atmosphere for a place located in a suburban shopping center. Host and folks at the front were very friendly and inviting.

Service was poor, as it seemed our server may have been new to the business. She didn't know the specials, could not pronounce the dishes, kept forgetting our drink order and generally didn't seem confident in what she was doing. She was nice though and appeared to be working hard to try to do a good job. Food came out cold and drinks took forever, which isn't necessarily on the server (except for forgetting the drink order). One of our party received chicken instead of the veal they ordered, but the restaurant did a decent job of rushing out a veal replacement. I'm pretty patient with new servers and I would not give a restaurant a bad review just for that, but unfortunately our food wasn't great either.

Food was mixed. The Tortellini ala Panna was very good; properly cooked and the sauce was delicious. Enjoyed the Pineapple Triple Layer very much and pizzas our kids ordered were fine, as was the bread. My Manhattan up cocktail was made correctly, which counts for something because a lot of places can't seem to make a proper Manhattan! Vegetables were fine.

On the downsize, my medium rare ribeye was delivered medium well, with no hint of pink at all. The meat had a good smokey flavor, but it was a thin, somewhat tough cut that reminded me of the cheap ribeye steaks you get out a country restaurant on Saturday nights. Broccoli cheese soup was tasteless and more like a goo than a soup. The veal was also tasteless, delivered in a very watery sauce. The spaghetti side looked and tasted like what you would get in an institutional kitchen.

This is not an expensive place and I wasn't expecting to get blown away, but based on this experience I think I'd get more consistent value and quality from a chain like Applebee's or Olive Garden. Too bad, as I'd much rather go to a local joint. Surprised at the very high ratings, but maybe I just got unlucky that night. My parents have eaten here four or five times and have found it consistently "fine", with the Tortellini ala Panna keeping them...