Italianissimo Ristorante — Restaurant in Woodinville

Supposedly "allergy friendly"... NOT SO MUCH!

If you do not have a serious food allergy, it may be hard to understand how scary it is to eat out at places. It requires so much trust and yet, living life without restaurants sucks... so you risk it sometimes. But it's scary! Layer on top of that first-trimester extreme pregnancy nausea, and that will hopefully help you understand where I was at when I ordered to-go food here tonight.

I spent several minutes talking to someone who answered the phone (later found out, it was server Jeff). The very first thing I outlined was how allergic I am to cheese and salami (well, specifically, the enzymes they use to ferment these foods). Jeff then spent several minute navigating the menu with me, helping me explore choices that seemed palatable given the persistent pregnancy nausea. When we got off the phone, I felt super cared for. I was excited to try this place for the first time.

When my spouse arrived with the take-out food, it looked terrific. I habitually inspected it... and thank goodness I did. It was super subtle because there were tiny chunks of garlic throughout the food... but low and behold, there was also parmesan cheese.

I contacted the restaurant and they were not particularly apologetic or anything. They just confirmed that the ticket was made wrong and offered to either remove it from the bill or remake it. But it was a pretty unremarkable response given they just fed me my food allergy.

When I picked up the replacement, I spoke to Jeff. And this just pushed me over the edge. Jeff argued with me that he wasn't sure I even mentioned I have an allergy and that the issue was that we spent so much time on the phone. Really, Jeff? You think someone with a serious food allergy to CHEESE wouldn't mention it at an Italian restaurant? Clearly, you misunderstand just how much a blunder like that would make me sick because I promise you, I mentioned it several times. But instead, you tried to pin the circumstances on how long our phone call was.

I wanted to speak directly to the person who made the error because people DIE from these sorts of events. My allergy would not kill me, but it would make me very very ill for 3-4 days (debilitating migraines that last a minimum of 72 hours, if you must know). I think these are important conversations to have. ESPECIALLY AT A PLACE THAT ADVERTISES ON THE MENU THAT IT IS ALLERGY FRIENDLY.

So, Jeff, here how I think this conversation should have gone: Me: "Hey, Jeff, I really appreciate all the time you spent on the phone with me, but you missed the whole part where I listed my allergies to you. That was the most important part! I don't think you understand just how sick that would have made me" Jeff: "Wow, I am so sorry. We really want to take care of our patrons, particularly with sensitive things like allergies. You did mention salami in the beginning and I am so sorry that I didn't remember the cheese part. That was never my intention. What can I do to help make this right for you?"

I still gave them two stars because the food was really stinking delicious. I really would have appreciated some sort of apologetic response though.... I am still sort of in shock that I was blamed for the mistake because we were on the phone...

It's funny.... we have all wanted to love someplace (or someone) that we probably shouldn't. Italianissimo has become that place for me. First time here, we stumbled in with no reservations and got seated at the bar. My husband had a delicious ribeye, I ordered linguine and clams and fell in love with that dish, and the restaurant. We took a peek into the dining room that night, and the place was filled with happy diners- eating, laughing and enjoying. The perfect restaurant picture! Next time we would book a table in the dining room, which we did and had our second trip back to Italianissimo. This time it was New Year's Eve. Special Occasion Dinner, and the restaurant was indeed, packed. I had my clams again, which were delicious. My husband tried the lasagna which, to his disapointment was so-so. It was tomato rich, lacking any meat or cheese flavor. Sheets of pasta with tomato sauce...very bland. Had better lasagna from Trader Joe's. We chalked it up to just a bad order....maybe that's how they make their lasagna? My husband's birthday rolled around in February, and we decided to take a large group to Italianissimo for his birthday dinner. The meal had mixed reviews. Our guests began to question our judgement. We had claimed that this restaurant was top notch, yet many in our party thought the food and service, and atmosphere was simply "mid". Had we been so wrong?? Was Olive Garden really in the same conversation?? We stayed away from Italianissimo for a few months. Partly out of embaressment (Risotto here will definately disapoint). Finally tonight, Thursday June 22, 2023, we decided to give Italianissimo ONE LAST CHANCE. It was a Thursday night, but a very popular night for dining out. We arrived at Italianissimo, to find it....Dead. Barely a pulse. Couple of people at the bar, but the dining room had the unavoidable stench of "Dying Restaurant". We sat down anyway, trying to be objective, and actually give this cozy, sweet restaurant one final go.... Alas, it wasn't to be. The writing is on the wall for this place. It's dying. They were out of clams (my favorite dish) so I substituted Shrimp Scampi. My husband had fettucini with sausage and shrimp. We split a cup of Minestrone soup, and a ceasar salad as appetizers. The salad was average (again think Olive Garden) and the soup was raw.... like the chef just started it an hour ago. No flavor, and veggies still crisp enough to be considered "steamed". Not much to say about the pasta dishes. "Mid" comes to mind. Nothing special, just average. Service was nice, kind of like the waitor wanted us to throw him a lifeline and save him from this sinking ship.... It really is too bad. This could be a fantastic restaurant, simply by raising the bar on the food, updating the dining room a tad, and maybe knocking down the prices a buck or two. The place has got good bones, but you get the feeling that ownership has taken a vacation, and simply doesn't care...

Italianissimo has been one of my favorite go-to restaurants bringing family, friends and clients since 2000.

I will spend the significant money to relax and enjoy lovely food in a calm atmosphere.

Sadly, the last 2 visits at Italianissimo have been abysmal. Reviewing the online reviews, I noted there is an increasing amount of unhappy customers and there is no management response or apologies to these people.

Last night we arrived at our reservation time and was not greeted by the seemingly high schooler who was the “host”. There was nothing professional in his appearance or actions as he scrambled for 15 minutes through the restaurant as we waited in the entrance.

We waited another 10 minutes at our table with no water, bread, drinks or attention.

Finally another seeming frantic high schooler/ young man arrived at the table to ask for our drink selection. I asked a question about one of the Italian wines and he did not know the answer.

He was gone for over 10 minutes when he arrived with my glass of wine, it had wine dripping all over it and no wine for my friend. We waited another 10 minutes for her wine to arrive.

We asked twice for Balsamic Vinegar for the cold bread that was unceremoniously plopped on a plate. This took 15 minutes.

It took another 15 minutes for my cup of the signature Shrimp Bisque to arrive and alike my visit from a month ago, it was a thin and quite lackluster facsimile of the typical delicious recipe.

We waited another 20 minutes for our main courses to arrive and mine arrived lukewarm. At the risk of waiting another long period to get it back, I simply gave up and ate a portion. This young waiter was a very nice but obviously poorly trained which is the fault of the management. He constantly apologizing but we were there to relax after a busy week. It was anything but relaxing and we ended up with a high bill. He charged us for an item that we did not get and he did not know how to take it off and there was no one to ask. Again, Italianissimo has not trained their staff in good customer service. In years past, they had superlative professional waiters and waitresses where we always felt like welcome guests. Without exception, we always had memorable, relaxing meals. While I considered Italianissimo the “crown jewel” of Woodinville for almost 20 years, save your time, frustration and money until management decides to become...