Maurizio's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Williamsburg

We've been coming to Maurizio's for years. As far as the food I think it is very good. The food has always been good but it has improved dramatically more recently. I am not sure if this is due to ownership changes or management/chef changes(?)

Our last trip (12/19/2022) - we called ahead and were told no problem for seating and to come on in - no need for a reservation. When we arrived it was very crowded and people waiting to get in. We went back to the car and I was curious what I would be told if I called again. I called again and was again told no problem getting a table...come on down no reservation needed. This is not cool at all. We left.

FYI - the restaurant does take reservations. However, apparently because they were so full with people waiting it was not possible for the house to give a reservation so they just said 'no problem come on down'. Not cool for the owner to do this.

We came back two days later and we found a much better situation. They were busy but we were seated, we received good service and the food was very good. I'm giving it two stars because it is not ok to say all is good "no problem" when, in fact, it is not possible to get in. It was 40 minutes of driving round trip on the night we were not able to get in. Also it was getting late on a Monday night and we had limited choices because restaurants were closing. I do not have a problem not being able to get in - the problem I am having with this is that they tell you it is no problem to be seated and no need to make a reservation. I don't know of any restaurants that won't just tell you the truth and respond by saying 'It is busy right now and there is going to be a wait' or 'there are no reservations available' or 'we won't have a seating available until...' etc; I called about a corkage fee for purposes of bringing our own wine. Very few restaurants these days do not offer a corkage fee. The wine list is limited, lacking and generally very uninteresting. Most of the bottles offered are considerably lesser wines than we would care to drink. I am not saying that they are undrinkable but they are low end wines that we would prefer not to drink. The wine list suggests that the owner is not a sophisticated wine drinker and does not place much imprtance on how the wine impacts the dining experience. I think the food is very good and it deserves better wine than what the owner offers. I do not think he has really thought through the corkage fee issue. Most of the profit margins on the wines on his list will be the same or even less than a corkage fee ($15 - $20) given that he has $00.00 in the inventory that a guest brings in.

Food gets 5 stars - wine list gets 0 stars. Owner's attitude gets 0 stars. Overall 2 stars. I do not think the Busch Gardens crowd will be bringing in a lot of their own wine but the Kingsmill crowd may be more inclined if they know there is a corkage fee. I have noticed that the clientele is mostly leaning toward the Busch Gardens crowd with only a...

We dined in as a party of 11. The put our table so close to the "wine island" that the servers repeatedly hit my husbands chair and back. We asked to move the table down closer to the door and the server said yeah go ahead. No offer to help us do so but still no big deal. Our food was great I have no complaints about that, everyone in our party was very pleased with the food. But when the bills came not only my bill but my sister in law and her father's bill were not charged correctly. We were brought the bills and my sister In law and her father were taxed on the auto gratuity so they brought it to the servers attention and after some back and fourth it was fixed. My bill on the other hand was a nightmare. I got charged 3 times. My bill was supposed to be $119 and some change. I got charged $240 and some change. The server did apologize and ask if I wanted proof he voided it and I said yes. He said he lost the slip. I told him I wasn't leaving without it because we aren't from here and I wanted proof. So he goes and finds it. Brings me a tip slip to sign for $83 and change. I said I'm not signing this because this isn't my correct bill. My bill was $119 and you were supposed to void the $83 one. I asked for a manager because the server was growing more and more agitated and it was making me uncomfortable. Repeating "what do you want from me" "what can I do for you to leave" "was it you are looking to get" I explained everything to the manager and she was just as frustrated as I was and was downing the server to me. Then tells me she needs to go take a order and will be back. At this point we had been dealing with this for over 30 mins and my toddler had lost all patience. Server comes back again while I'm talking with my dad and interrupts and starts in on me again and finally I said "look with all due respect I'm trying to keep my cool and I'm not trying to be rude but please leave me alone, I don't feel comfortable talking with you and would prefer to solely speak to the manager" manager comes back tells me she is going to do something about the bill and talk to the owner. She leaves again. Comes back another 10 mins later and tells me the owner is too busy to talk to her and if I would like a dessert for the mistake. I declined and told her I was very upset that now we had wasted over 45 mins, I'm out $140 for a number of days til the bank returns my money and that the unprofessional server made me uncomfortable. We got up and left. What's sad is the food was great. But it seemed like no one knew what they were doing. They were busy, I get that but the aggression and the chaos was not necessary. And a manager should not tell someone they are going to do something with the bill and then go back on it stating the owner was too busy to talk to her. Clearly customers aren't...

Ate at another local restaurant while on a weekend getaway and server recommended Maurizio's. Nice ambience... easy to be seated without a reservation on a Saturday night at 745pm (which is a huge green flag).

Server - Alexander? - was kind yet made me feel rushed to order a beverage when I had not even decided on an entree. I'm not a wine snob but I know what I like based on what meal I will eat. Started with water and complimentary garlic knots that didn't pack a garlicky punch as I had hoped. They did have an ample amount of grated parmesan (pictured). Considered mozzarella sticks for starter (I was in the mood for cheese) but server suggested calamari (pictured) so I changed. BAD decision ... all rings..no tentacles... very chewy... flavorless (like... not seasoned before breaded and breading had no distinguishable flavor)...and (in my opinion) undercooked (pictured). Absent tentacles, I question whether this was fresh or frozen calamari. Not a fan either way. The house salad (not pictured) was ample portion but mostly greens with a few shredded carrots and a single cucumber slice (I opted out of the tomatoes). Blue cheese dressing tasted fresh and homemade - with ample chunks. Orecchiette maranzano (ample portion) had slightly more flavor, definitely was fresh pasta, yet the accompanying broccoli rabe was almost unnoticeable as it was cooked beyond green and looked almost like wilted kale (pictured). Dining companion had the lasagna bolognese (not pictured) which was perfectly seasoned and great portion. Overall, a decent experience but compared to many other casual Italian restaurants at similar price points, it...