La Mezzaluna Café — Restaurant in West Virginia

Tonight was the first time I've eaten at La Mezzuluna Cafe in years. In my opinion this is a "used to be" place rather than the place. Upon entering, we we're greeted by a hostess who didn't get up from the table she was sitting at to come to the counter and just told us to pick a seat. Our waitress greeted us and took our drink orders. My wife went to the bathroom and came back remarking about how dirty the bathrooms were. I asked the waitress about some of the most popular menu items and her response made me feel like we were an inconvenience being there. Mind you there were two waitresses working and 3 small parties in the entire restaurant. We we're this particular waitresses only table. Her response regarding menu options was that there were so many items on the menu she wasn't going to mention any and I just needed to take more time to look at it. She brought out garlic knots. They tasted a little bland and we asked if we could have just a little more garlic and butter added. She mentioned there was no melted butter to put on and my wife mentioned packaged butter would be fine then. We received a very oily basket back and sliced garlic was piled all over the bread. The garlic was cold as though it were in the fridge. The bread though warm had alot of tough spots as though it were microwaved. I ordered shrimp and chicken with pink sauce. My wife ordered chicken and broccoli with pink sauce. Our salad was brought out, the greens seemed fresh and there was a right mix between dressing and salad. There were also a complimentary mix of olives, onions and tomatoes to taste well. The chicken and broccoli tasted okay but the pink sauce could have had a little more flavor as we are used to with other Italian restaurants we frequent. My chicken and shrimp had an overpowering taste of shrimp infused in the entire plate. It's as though the shrimp juice wasn't drained before placing in the sauce pan to cook. The waitress kept our drinks filled appropriately and otherwise came at the appropriate times. I went to the bathroom and also experienced a dirty bathroom. If the bathroom is like this, how is the kitchen? I attached photos of the bathroom for you to decide yourself. I also included photos of our food. I hope management takes this review to heart and cleans up their restaurant and provides their staff remedial training in how to wait without making the customer feel...

I think they need more people. We came here a while ago and it was fantastic. We live an hour away so we when we had friends come out we wanted to take them here and it was a let down. Service was terrible. Wrong drink order, our drinks stayed empty half the time. Had to ask for refills several times and it was 2 sprites and 2 cokes, nothing complex. Had to ask for garlic knots several times. They brought out everyone’s food but my wife’s, then had to go back and check and bring hers out of once they realized we’re sitting there waiting on hers. The garlic knots are good. The calamari was really good. The fettuccine with spinach and red sauce was good, but the spinach was overpowering. my son’s spaghetti and meatball was terrible. My wife’s food and her girlfriend’s food was boiled chicken, no flavor. Sauce tasted like cream poured in with the noodles and was very thin. My son’s spaghetti sauce was thin, almost looked watered down. Salad was good. Seemed like 1 of the 3 servers had their stuff together, so it’s a gamble if you’re going to get decent service when you go I guess. 3 dishes out of 5 were 1 star. Me and her husband both got the tortellini with cheese and red sauce and that was the only thing that was good aside from the salad and garlic knots. Unfortunately we won’t be in a hurry to make this trip again and risk this same experience happening when we have people from out of state visiting and looking for a nice place. Has allot of potential. I’d go back for the salad, garlic knots and calamari, that’s about it at this point...

We have now been to La Mezza Luna 3 times in less than 30 days. Words cannot describe how wonderful the food is. We heard about it through word of mouth (they really should advertise more)...then again, maybe they don't need too! We would have NEVER guessed that an outstanding mom-pop Italian restaurant would be positioned in such a poor location (strip mall with a Food Lion store). I only have two complaints - the location and the ambiance. It's fairly casual, but with a few little touches, dinner could be more than just casual. Tea lights on the tables would be a nice addition, cloth tablecloths and napkins could take it to the next level. The seating is a bit tight but it's cozy for sure. Why do I mention these things? Because the food is what you would get from a great little place in Venice. I haven't gotten one meal yet that has been anything shy of phenomenal. They couple the meal with salad, to-die-for-garlic knots....they even have carafe house wine like in Italy that's delicious. This place reminds us of our honeymoon in Italy...we can't keep from going back over and over. The only thing I hope is that they expand to a nicer location with more seating. (There is usually a line of people waiting to get in!) Prices range from about $12-22 per meal - a bargain in my opinion!

RUN...don't walk to this great little nook in Charles Town, WV - our new...