Zibibbo 73 - Authentic Italian Trattoria — Restaurant in Virginia

Went to dinner at 6:30 pm on Saturday night with wife and daughter. My wife ordered Cannelloni Ripieni con Pesto Genovese, described in the menu as a hollow pasta stuffed with jumbo lump crab and Maine lobster, béchamel pesto sauce. My wife is allergic to shrimp so she confirmed with the waitress that the Cannelloni was stuffed with lump crab and lobster. However, when the dish was delivered, my wife quickly discovered that instead of being stuffed with jumbo lump crab and Maine lobster, the Cannelloni was stuffed with crawfish.

My wife showed the dish to the waitress, who didn’t know what crawfish looked like. She suggested that we speak to the manager. The General Manager, Rocco, came over and said that the kitchen must have used crawfish by mistake. I told him that it looked to me like a bait and switch, knowing that most customers wouldn’t be attentive enough to catch the much cheaper substitution of crawfish. He then said that the dish was a special two nights prior, which also doesn’t make sense. Did he really mean that they were serving meals made two days earlier? (According to their website, the special on Thursday was Salmon Neptune with crab meat and lobster sauce and there were no other specials this week with crawfish.) I then told the General Manager that my wife was allergic to shrimp and doesn’t eat crawfish, so we don’t know what kind of reaction she was going to have and that I was not going to pay for the entire dinner. He agreed and offered my wife something else. She asked for a Caprese Salad. The salad that was delivered did not have the “vine” tomatoes as described in the menu, unless by “vine” they mean unripe. Again, the dish she ordered was inedible.

When my daughter and I were finished, to my surprise the waitress showed up with a bill. Though the Cannelloni stuffed with crawfish instead of lobster and the Caprese salad with unripe tomatoes were not on the bill, everything else was despite agreement from Rocco the General Manager that I wouldn’t have to pay for the entire dinner due to the egregious mistake with her meal and distress caused to my wife. I again asked the waitress if I could speak to the General Manager. Instead, she returned with Heather, supposedly another manager, since Rocco had left. That’s surprising since it was 7:20 pm on a Saturday night. I assume that Rocco just didn’t want to talk to me since he didn’t keep his word. That should have come as no surprise since they try and pass crawfish as lobster in their Cannellonni. Heather said that she could not override her GM and I asked that she call him, which she said she would do. After a few minutes, she came back and said the GM denied agreeing with me that they would not charge me for my entire meal.

The only bright spot in customer service was our waitress, Erin, who was very pleasant and attentive. Our visit tonight confirms what we’ve heard from others that the new GM and chef don’t care about...

Just finished dining in (21 Jul 2023/ 6:15 pm). Let me start by saying my wife and I really wanted to like this place. We felt like having Italian and wanted to try a new place. We are new to Stafford and are trying to get a feel for the local options. We saw the reviews and decided to go here since we had already ate at Robiolina before. We made reservations and were seated immediately. The atmosphere was a bit loud and made the place feel more like a bar scene or "hang out" than like a restaurant. We ordered the Arancini for an appetizer to share while we waited on our drinks. The rice in my rice ball felt a bit "al dente" but not enough to complain. Our drinks however, (Limoncello Martini and Old Fashioned) were very strong. Both tasted more like alcohol than one would like, making it just difficult to palate. We couldn't pass them and sent them back. My wife opted to change her drink for prosecco and I just didn't get a replacement. Once our meals came out, they were visually excellent. I ordered the Tagliatelle Ragu and my wife the Spinach Tortellini. Unfortunately, before I could even take one bite, I noticed a hair in my food and lost my appetite. I made our waitress Alessandra aware of this and she quickly took the plate back. She asked if I wanted it to be remade or replaced but I could not stomach the idea of having the same chefs make me another plate. I instead asked for a cappuccino (delicious) to close out my evening. Sad but the evening dinner was kind of ruined due to all the problems experienced. Alessandra was attentive and did her best to try to help, but nothing could make up for the hair in the meal. When we got our checks, the two bad drinks were removed and so was my Tagliatelle. I only had to pay for the Prosecco, Arancini, and my wife's Tortellini. My cappuccino was complementary I assume since it was not on the tab. No, I never asked to see the manager but, I found it strange that the manager never came to the table once the hair incident happened. I would have thought that would be an instant trigger to come and check on the customers. Well, at least part of the dinner was complementary. My wife did say her Tortellini was really good. Not sure if I could give this place a...

We arrived on Mother’s Day for our reservation (back story - I had mistakenly made the reservation for 2 on opentable, and caught it a couple of days prior. My husband called the restaurant and he was assured that it was no problem, and the gentleman changed it to 5 people) and were greeted by a host who asked us if we were “the ones to changed the reservation to 5 people.” Taken aback by such a “friendly” greeting on Mother’s Day, I said yes, but we were assured it was going to be ok. (If not, we would have just gone somewhere else - no worries.). She then told us that she didn’t know if she could seat us. After some time and her going from the back to the front, she told us that the only way she could seat us would be to bring a table in from outside and pair it with one inside to accommodate us. We graciously accepted and were finally seated in our mismatched but totally functional dining table. Thankfully, our waiter was super friendly, and frankly, he saved the meal. My husband had the snapper and didn’t care for the preparation, but my swordfish special was incredible. My teens also enjoyed their meals, as well as dessert. I know that big brunch holidays like Mother’s Day are difficult for restaurants to manage - I just think the hostess could have handled things more graciously and professionally. She didn’t need to make us feel like an inconvenience - we did have a reservation and were assured that we would be fine when we called. I almost walked out, which would have been a detriment to the business and the server that day, considering we ordered drinks, meals and dessert for 5 people. I’d also like to note that the restaurant was relatively quiet and not even 40% full the entire time we dined at our makeshift table. In the future, probably won’t count on them to manage another holiday reservation, as they were the ones who were unprepared - and no one likes to dine in an establishment when they feel like they’re...