Bocelli's Italian Eatery — Restaurant in Waynesville

I never leave negative reviews. I’ve only left 3 reviews prior to this and they were glowing 5 star of service companies. Our experience at Bocelli’s on 12/19/2021 was abysmal and I feel compelled to share it. I fully understand restaurants can have “bad nights”. As diners we are very understanding if the proprietors and/or staff make an effort to explain any conflicts or update us if anything may impact our dining experience. The owner and staff at Bocelli’s chose instead to be the opposite, disclosing nothing, denying accountability for poor service, cold food, and significantly long wait times, just to name a few. Their dismissiveness began immediately: We arrived before 6:30 and were not seated for 15-20 minutes. We took note of all the empty tables downstairs as we waited. We were led upstairs to a large room with our table set for 8. Next to us was an empty table set for 20+. No other patrons were dining in the room. There were no waters set at the table. It took 20-25 minutes to take our drink order and return with them at which point we asked for water and ordered 3 appetizers as people were getting hungry. The apps arrived in a reasonable amount of time. At that time, we ordered our entrees. No customized orders were requested, and my son ordered a personal size plain cheese pizza. At this point, it was approximately 7:20-7:25. At 7:30, the Davidson College Women’s Basketball team filled the table next to us. They were not a problem at all, but we did notice water at all their seats and their main courses arrived within minutes of sitting. At 7:50, almost 90 minutes since our 6:30 reservation, my husband went to speak with the manager/owner about our entrees. He was polite, simply asking when we could expect our food. She acted as if SHE was offended by his question; her snarky response informed him that the basketball team ordered ahead. While this makes sense, our orders were placed before the team arrived. We waited. And waited. And waited. During this time, I had to bus the table after appetizers and salads. No one came by to see if we needed more water or drinks. My child was starting to fall asleep. Finally, our food began to show up at 8:15- almost 2 HOURS after we arrived. Everyone’s food arrived by 8:25 EXCEPT my child’s simple, plain cheese pizza. We once again had to remind them of his pizza which arrived COLD at approximately 8:35. I tasted his pizza and it was disgusting. Ironically, the Davidson party had already finished eating and left. Many of our entrees arrived like-warm or worse. We all chose garlic knots as our side item. All 7 of the adults got cold garlic bread instead. Moments after our food finally arrived which was 2 hours from our arrival, a server arrived with cannolis for the table “on the house bc our food arrived a little late”. We had not yet finished eating!! Almost simultaneously, our checks arrived, split in 3 as we requested upon arrival and again when we placed orders. The restaurant charged 20% gratuity to each bill without telling us. Not one word about it when we asked if we could split 3 ways. Luckily, we caught it before we overpaid gratuity. It certainly seemed like a last ditch effort to keep us from tipping based on our experience and their servers profiting from terrible service. Bottom line- we all have bad days, even restaurant owners and staff. If they had just shown us a little respect and human decency, then I would not be leaving this review. There were ample opportunities for the owner to approach us and say “hey, we took on too much with these parties” or she could have updated us as problems arose. OR BETTER YET, we could have chosen go...

Went for Mother's Day dinner on Saturday,I have been to this restaurant multiple times order the same thing thing multiple times never had a problem, I always order the same pizza every time (I create my own pizza) I always say I want a Alfredo sauce,grilled chicken and spinach pizza , never have a problem the waitress asked me if I wanted their white pizza I said no I want a Alfredo grilled chicken spinach pizza without your white sauce please ! she said okay no problem walked away comes back 5 minutes later and says the cook is having trouble figuring out how to put alfredo sauce on top of our white sauce so he's going to put the Alfredo sauce on the side!? I looked at her confused and said no I did not want your white sauce,I wanted to make my own pizza (Alfredo grilled chicken and spinach ) if he can't figure it out it's fine I will take your white sauce it's not a big deal just forget about it please. she then comes back a minute later telling me that he's going to put the Alfredo on top of the white sauce lol I look at her and confusion wondering how difficult it is to understand that I don't want the white sauce I want to make my own pizza very simple I've had multiple waiters at this restaurant and no one has ever had this problem! she came to my table probably 5 times looking so confused I pretty much knew there was going to be a problem,So the pizza comes out looks disgusting because he has poured alfredo sauce on top of their white sauce,which I said not to do multiple times so I tell her I will give it a try and see how it taste she comes back after me and my child have took 2 bites and I tell her it is disgusting I tell her I'm sorry, sorry but this is very unedible even my husband took a bite and he will eat anything she just smiled and said "oh I'm sorry to hear" that and walked away no regard for the fact that I'm sitting in a restaurant filled with food and I'm starving on Mother's Day . She comes back again asking if I wanted to go box for the pizza I look at her and say I guess so if you're going to make me take it it's an unedible and I'm still hungry ! she giggles and says oh I'm sorry I will make sure the kitchen never makes a pizza like this again does not offer me anything else to eat does not say I'm sorry that I misunderstood your order or we both got a lack of communication and offer to get me something else to eat so while she's packing up my pizza I look at my husband and say can we please stop somewhere else to get me something to eat because I'm very hungry he says yes honey we can, she smiles and says oh that would probably be a good idea if you have any concerns you're welcome to talk to my manager about the pizza. why on Earth is this manager hiring staff members that don't care if their customers are sitting there talking about how hungry they are having to go to McDonalds to fill their needs after spending almost $50 on food that they were unable to eat?? I think I was in shock that she assumed that I was just going to eat the pizza did not offer me any other choices did not say she was sorry for the confusion or call a manager over to my table so maybe I could eat something besides the horrible Pizza that she brought me. In hindsight I probably should have made a scene.I probably should have told her no you get me a manager right now you do your job I'm unsatisfied and you figure it out but I was trying my best to be a polite pleasant person and see how she would handle the situation but apparently she could care less and that's sad, I've never been treated this way at this restaurant and I honestly don't think I will ever come back to this restaurant...

I used to love this place.

Idk what changed within the last few months but the staff is so rude now about small things that most restaurants are happy to do for their customers.

I placed an order to go then 3 mins later called back to make a small change (because the order was a delivery for a certain app that I won’t name. I don’t deliver often as I work fulltime and only do it for extra spending money.) I had been quoted 30 mins and I assumed they would be happy to make the change as their was no possible way the food was done…or even started. The lady who answered the phone was extremely rude even though I began by apologizing for the inconvenience.

She basically implied that making that change would require her to walk to the kitchen to see if they had started the order….which is a lot to ask of a service worker these days apparently, because she didn’t want to do it and was hoping I would say nevermind I guess.

She then had the manager come tell me that they couldn’t make the change because the food was done. Either she was telling a bold face lie or they have the fastest cooks in the business…but given the severely diminished quality of their food as of late, perhaps the cooks had, indeed, already finished microwaving it. The manager then told me that “they don’t associate with (delivery apps) because their is always a problem”…like I don’t know they pay to be listed on delivery apps. When I picked up the food they were rude.

Maybe it’s a little known fact that Delivery apps don’t just list restaurants for free or without them paying to be listed. The restaurants load their own menu into the app as well. The change was requested because one of their menu items is loaded incorrectly but I guess that my fault for existing. All in all, avoid this place as the food is bad and not at all hand made authentic Italian and the staff is rude. But judging by the reviews from the last 4 months they are doing a great job alienating themselves from the community though, so...