I am confused. I am baffled. I am in shock. I am disappointed.
When I read the reviews I was a little surprised but I figured somehow I must have looked over this place after all these years and I was actually regretting it! Now...not so much. I quickly realized there was a reason I grew up right around the corner yet never visited this place. I realized there was a reason I never even stepped foot in this place on a lunch break while working at the neighboring Food Lion as a squeaky teenager with braces. Back then I thought Ragu was gourmet so I wasn't even picky but STILL knew to stay away from Juliana's There is a reason why our Italian family of 7 never bothered ordering from here even though it was cheap and close by! You have to realize this was before the restaurant scene really even popped off in Charlotte!! There were no options! Uptown was downtown, the arboretum was for the wealthy and Ballantyne didn't exist. But still....Juliana's was never an option....now I see WHY!!
We opened the door and immediately fell back into 1973. The diner feel of this place gave me the creeps and the whole restaurant turned to stare as we entered. It was awkwardly quiet and just didn't have a comfortable feel AT ALL. I wanted to leave from the moment I stepped in but I figured I needed to get over myself and give it a try. Sometimes the best food comes out of little hole in the wall restaurants. I wasn't expecting much but I realize decor is not the only thing that matters.
We decided to stick with the absolute basic. I ordered Spaghetti and meatballs and my husband ordered the chicken parm 12 inch sub. My husband isn't as picky as I am so I was counting on him to enjoy this sub. It is pretty hard to mess up a chicken parm sub.
My pasta came out and all I can tell you is that the sauce was brown. It looked like gravy. When I mixed it in with the spaghetti it somehow just vanished so it was basically like eating noodles with a hint of brown gravy. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. I took one bite of the meatball and thought I was going to throw up. It was atrocious. It was spongey and tasted like deer meat. It was so gross. My husband's chicken parm sub had the same doo-doo brown gravy on it and the chicken was like rubber. Literally. He could hardly bite through it. When he said he couldn't eat this sub, I KNEW it was bad. He eats anything. I for darn sure wasn't eating my dish so we just sat their staring at each other. I forgot to mention the salad and texas toast that was served with the meal...the salad was frozen iceburg with nothing else and the toast was a piece of lilly white bread with some butter and garlic slapped on it. BLLLLEH!!!!
Eventually the waitress made her way over to us and we weren't sure what to say but I can tell you I have only not been able to eat a meal due to COMPLETE dissatisfaction twice in my whole life. The waitress noticed that we didn't eat our meals and asked if we wanted a box to go. Um, WOW. No, we want to just get out of here. We asked for our check and told her we weren't really satisfied but that we didn't want to make a big deal, no need for managers, etc. Well, one of the "managers" (son to the woman who owns and cooks) came over. He offered us anything else off the menu to replace our meals. We didn't want anything else from this dump. We wanted to just LEAVE and go eat. We were starving and on a time crunch.
Long story short--They made us pay for the meal that we didn't even touch. The owner came out and was extremely nasty. She said she posted that they do not refund for food. She then pointed to this itty bitty note on her cash register. She said she can't please everyone's taste buds so she is not going to refund anyone. What? So does this happen often enough that you have to have a disclaimer on your food? That is TERRIBLE servie for a small mom and pop, or just mom shop. It was like they were used to people not liking their food so they were prepared to argue their point. IT was bizarre. I don't understand that concept. They said you can order a pizza or something else so they are still losing money by having to make a whole other meal! Either way, it was their approach and the fact that the food was absolutely disgusting. I would NEVER want to support this place, local or not.
I asked them where they were from because no one that was born and raised in Italy would have created the mess that they did. They were actually greek. I suppose they just have a different way of preparing Italian food because it was NOT authentic.
I looked back at those who offered such stellar reviews and realized that most of the people were from random towns/areas. Maybe they haven't been exposed to the real deal in terms of Italian food so somehow this place was okay to them. Not me. I'm telling you...If you love Italian food and have had real authentic Italian food...DO NOT GO HERE. End of story