Panico's Bistro — Restaurant in West Cape May

We decided to have our rehearsal dinner here as we got married this weekend in Cape May. We have previously had dinner at Panico's many times, even their new location Secondo, and loved every experience we figured it would be a good choice.

We sat down at 7:30pm for our scheduled reservation that we booked months ago and no one greeted as we arrived. No was offered a soft drink, which was apart of our booking. We were promised to have our own server taking care of our guests, getting them drinks and taking care of us. It took twenty minutes to get our guests water, let alone any wine we brought because they are BYO. Looks like we paid for something we didn't even receive.

I had to track down the one server who was passing through our private room because we were not greeted by anyone when we arrived and had no idea who was supposed to be taking care of us. The only reason we knew where to go and sit was because me and my husband were given a tour of the restaurant and private room when we booked the party. There is a separate entrance to their PDR on the side of the building away from the main host desk. I stopped the gentleman and he said, "Ill be with you shortly", however it everyone had already been sat for at least 15mins by now, as I said, no one had drinks and we had not been greeted so we had no clue if anyone was even coming to attend to us. We could tell he was so overworked but that's when the floor manager needs to step in if the server needs help with the amount of work expected from them given at that given time. I worked in the restaurant industry in dining rooms for six years and my husband was a chef and floor manager for over a decade.

I made it known that we were unhappy with what was going on. Max, whom we booked the party with and the manager of the evening, ensured us everything was okay. It was our wedding rehearsal dinner and we did not want to have anymore added stress, just a calm evening with great food. We just nodded our heads and tried to enjoy our time. But based on the service, it added unnecessary stress.

A few positives I can point out are that the private room was well decorated, Max did kindly stick around for a bit when I had to pick up my wedding gifts after I left them in the restaurant and the food tasted great. About of our guests had stomach issues the next day but nothing so bad to make a note of.

Overall, will we most likely come back to Panico's for a date night, but I will never have a private event here again. If you do not have the resources to accommodate a large party, then don't do it or just communicate with the head of your party that you are having issues and compensate...

Make a reservation ahead of time . We did and were glad we did this time. The crowds descend on this old church building turned quintessential Italian bistro like a WNBA game in Indiana .The menuis great , the garlic in the air is wafting throughout upon arrival. The brick oven fire and overall atmosphere scream “family dinner”. Share everything ! You will want to taste it all, I promise.

Appetizers are a good size , so an appetizer and salad would be a filling meal for sure . The complimentary bread is hands down the best I have ever had , anywhere at anytime- never change this ,pretty please. Likely some iteration of their light crispy pizza dough it arrived oven fresh with a well seasoned EVOO . You will be tempted to just eat the bread that’s how good it is . It is BYOB so keep that in mind .

We were seated right away just after the 5 pm opening as we had made a 5:15 reservation . We were greeted immediately by a gracious well trained hostess. The entire restaurant was full with a wait by 6 PM, a testament to the summer crowd or just the overall experience at Panico’s, likely the latter , as it’s probably busy year-round.

Our server Riley introduced herself and recited the specials by memory, and kindly offered corking service for our wines . Top notch Professional service was evident right from the start. Any menu questions were answered right away without hesitation, the hallmark of a well trained seasoned server and great training .

We ordered The Gnocchi appetizer, fried calamari, and Mozzerella Fritto for the table . Of course we were devouring the heavenly pillows of brick oven bread too! It was the Gnocchi for the win but all were delicious . Calamari was tender and fresh, mozzerella crispy and melted perfectly.

For Dinner we ordered Chicken Parmigiana , Cavatappi , And 4 pizzas. The pizzas are available in 10” or 14 “ and they are all equally amazing. Fresh ingredients all around and that crust! South Jersey giving New Haven Connecticut pizza a run for their money here! Well certainly NY city pizza for sure. We selected the Marinara , marinara with pepperoni, the Pizza Bianco and the Margarita pie in various sizes to make sure we had leftovers.

Every dish we had was amazing and as described. Service was impeccable and efficient. Dinner for six well under $300 . We cant wait to go back again . Thank God they are not closer to home because I might gain quite a few pounds if they were. Kudos Panicos! The world needs more...

Came here this evening with my family, we were a party of 10. We had heard great things and were very excited to try.

Our reservation was at 7 and we didn’t finish until 9:45 so don’t schedule here unless you have hours to spare, the service was SO slow.

The appetizers were delicious and things seemed like they’d go in a great direction.

Dinner came out and only half of our party was served. After ~5 minutes of us waiting to start eating before the rest of the entrees came, our server came back and asked both my husband and my pregnant sister “what did you guys get?” Finally the food came but by the time everyone had theirs, those that came out 5 minutes prior were starting to get cold. My dad is gluten free and the server had no idea what items on the menu were gluten free. He ordered the special of the evening and almost all of his clams were completely shut. He brought this up to the server, who apologized and then the manager told him they would bring out more for him that were open and able to be eaten….. they never came.

I will say- I got the pork chop and despite being a little cold, it was delicious.

Dessert is where things really went downhill. We waited about a half an hour for dessert and coffee to come out. After waiting 30 minutes, we were told that the gelato that 2 of us ordered was no longer available. Why couldn’t they have told us this sooner so they could have ordered something else? Not that there were many options, as the server said “slim pickings on the desserts” because they only had 3 options slopped on a display plate. So disappointing!

Myself and my 3 siblings and my husband all have worked in the restaurant industry for well over a decade so we understand that some things can go wrong and it’s not always easy but this was just ridiculous. We didn’t even get an apology from the manager, who first promised my dad would receive edible clams and never delivered and then continued to see our frustration through the rest of the evening. Our server did profusely apologize and we are never looking for free handouts but the fact that the manager didn’t even come over and offer so much as a free dessert for the absurdly long wait was baffling. We planned on coming back with our extended family, but this will NOT...