Tarantelli's — Restaurant in Wilmington

The fact that I'm taking time out of a hectic Monday morning to write this review should be testament enough.

With the intention of celebrating my recent promotion, my sweet boyfriend (who typically flies by the seat of his pants) excitably made reservations for us at Tarantellis for Sunday, January 7th, at 7:30 PM.

In the eleven years of living in Wilmington, I had never found reason to visit and, being Italian myself (grandparents fresh off of the boat and many trips to Italy under the belt) I was excited to finally get my hands on a rumored-to-be-delicious heaping bowl of pasta, reminiscent of "the homeland".

We arrived to our reservation four minutes early at 7:26 PM and were greeted by two absolutely LOVELY hostesses. The girls were clearly busy and giving all they had to seat what looked like an already crowded waiting area. They were so kind and polite.

This is where my compliments end.

Upon taking a seat to wait, I noticed the 96.5 sanitation rating propped against the wall. After working many years serving and bartending in Atlanta, Wilmington, and DC during my college years, this alarmed me. I thought back to an establishment I had worked in that received a 98 with live cockroaches in prepared food, and this score unsettled me immediately. I made a comment to my boyfriend, but we remained optimistic.

With 7:30 PM reservations, we were seated at our table around 7:50 PM, twenty (20) minutes past our 7:30 PM reservation. Understandable. These things happen. Especially on a Sunday afternoon. We took our seats, made note of the absolute chaos of the room (children hollering, tables left with glasses and plates piled up, servers running loops, the inability to almost speak to one an other) and began reviewing the menu.

The hostess brought us bread and oil and water and assured us that our server would be with us shortly. Stellar.

After sitting for ten (10) minutes, I started to get a bit frustrated that we hadn't yet been greeted by our server. I've worked in fine dining. I've worked in dive bars. To not be greeted within five minutes (three for any restaurant I ever worked in) is just unheard of. I'm willing to wait any length of time for my meal, with a glass of wine in my hand. To be left with water and to not have your drink order taken after ten minutes? It didn't sit right with me and I began contemplating the future service of the afternoon. I bit my tongue and said nothing to my boyfriend, who was still hopeful and excited for our afternoon.

Within the next ten minutes, the table to our left complained of their service and the table to our right had the manager called over to complain about the quality of their food, which was, in their words, "not cooked". I noticed that they had several dishes with meats and seafood and listened intently as they relayed their qualms to their server and who appeared to be the on duty manager or lead server. (She was apologetic and maintained the stance that their food is "usually good").

After waiting twenty (20) minutes to be greeted and have our drink order taken, I was done. I told my defeated-looking boyfriend that I wouldn't allow him to spend $150+ on a meal to celebrate my promotion at a "place like this" and that I would honestly rather go anywhere else.

We folded our napkins, let the hostess know we would be leaving, and made our way to an absolutely PHENOMENAL German Biergarten a few blocks away where we experienced top tier service, a much cleaner and enjoyable ambiance and insanely fantastic food.

At the end of the day, I'm afraid Tarantellis is another over-hyped, over priced Olive Garden that relies on tourist buzz rather than quality food and service. Save your money and go to Quanto Basta if you're looking for a quality fine dining Italian experience.

SUMMARY A 96.5 sanitation score . A delayed reservation (reservation at 7PM, sat at 7:20PM) Two food complaints from neighboring tables while waiting to be greeted. Not greeted by our server for at least twenty (20) minutes after being...

I'm not usually one to write reviews, but I was sorely disappointed with this experience. My sister and I went as a farewell to her moving out of the state and we wished we had stayed home instead.

I'll start with the few positives:

-Food tasted pretty good and the portion sizes were large. We both got pasta dishes. -Our server, Gabriel, while clearly stretched thin was kind and doing his best.

Now for the disappointments of the night:

-The two hostesses didn't have a clue what they were doing. We arrived ~25 minutes early, were greeted kindly, and were told that we should be able to be seated in about 20 minutes. Perfect, what we expected. For the next 15 minutes, the two argued and couldnt determine what servers were seated which tables and we watched one of them loudly talk across tables in restaurant to servers to figure out what the hell was going on. Not nearly the professional environment I was expecting to be in for this "fine dining" establishment. -Another party of 2 arrived ~25 minutes past their reservation and were greeted with "oh don't worry about it at all" and were immediately seated, even though we were 5 minutes shy of our reservation time, had been waiting for 20 minutes, and their policy states a 15 minute grace period. Unimpressed. -A busser did get us bread and water quickly after being seated, and our server did apologize and say that he would get to us soon. After we ordered our food, however, it took over an hour to get two pasta dishes. -I finished my water and wine and sat with empty glasses for ~40 minutes before finally getting a water refill shortly before we were ready to leave. -While I understand that the seating layout made for some tight quarters, the staff was constantly running into each other throughout the night.

This all comes from two former servers/hostesses with multiple years under our belts in the restaurant industry. For the price point, I was severely underwhelmed with the quality of the experience, predominantly stemming from the service. This is giving moderately nicer Olive Garden and I would not...

Tarantelli's was a wonderful place for us to dine on our anniversary celebration! We sat at the high top tables near the bar, as this was the only option, other than outdoors in the high heat, that was still available at 5:15 on a Saturday night when making reservations 24 hours in advance. A mother and school-aged son without reservations came in while we were waiting for our table, only to find out the only thing available would be at 9 pm, so they left. The high top table was certainly adequate, but the regular seating may have been a better option, though it looked quite busy over on that side. Delicious bread was served with garlic and rosemary infused olive oil dipping sauce. On account of having relatively small stomachs, we did not order any appetizers. I got the halibut over farro risotto with marinated roma tomatoes, and lemon sauteed spinach. It was wonderful and I am more than pleased to finally find a restaurant offering a whole grain (farro) along with the meal. I have searched far and wide and this is the 1st place I've found that offers not only healthy pan-seared fish with vegetables...but also a whole grain (farro), as well! I would not have thought to use farro for risotto, but it worked well. I thought my husband's entre, which was the fish of the day special of Alaskan sockeye salmon over farro risotto and mushrooms, was even more tasty!!! For each entree, we had enough leftovers for 1 huge meal or 2 smaller meals. Yum! They were just as good re-heated. The flavors were spot-on. However, we did find many bones in the salmon, which was quite a surprise. We ended our meal with the vanilla gelato, which was creamy and wonderful, as well as the mixed berry gelato, which seemed more like a semi-sweet sorbet. It was perfect for a not-too-sweet ending to our meal. I wish our wallets would allow for us to visit here more often!!! This was our first time at Tarantelli's, but hopefully...