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| - At 7 pm on a Saturday night, this place was, at best, maybe 1/4 full, not a great sign in itself-we waited about 5 minutes before a staff member came by and said "someone should be with you soon". Five minutes later, "someone" came by and seated us, not at one of the several available spacious booths, but at a small card table near the kitchen. We had to ask for water, which didn't come until much later. When our soup came, we had to ask for crackers-one package to split between the two of us is all we received. I decided to go all out and ask for my very own package of crackers and one package containing two saltines is exactly what I received. Generally, in an Italian restaurant, garlic bread with olive oil and Parmesan are brought with your appetizer. Nope. Supposedly, you had a choice of either garlic or regular bread with each meal, but when our meals came-no bread. We finally asked for and were given exactly one slice of bread each. Ok, let's talk about the meal. I had been going to this place for decades, and I have always ordered the same thing-half ravioli, half spaghettini. I started to inquire about this, and this random woman cleaning a table behind us chimed in quite loudly and aggressively "we can't do that! That just isn't possible!" Um, why would that be, exactly? It was "possible" the many other times I've been there, and, as both items are still on the menu, one puzzles over why this would suddenly not be "possible". Most business establishments realize that making their customers happy is not only good business, but a nice thing to do. But, ok, message loudly and clearly received. I picked the spaghettini and added meatballs. We placed bets on how many meatballs close to $5 extra would buy you at Manzella's. I bet 2, and I guess you could say I won if 2 meatballs for nearly $5 is winning-not sure I do, actually. Of our meals, mine was the most edible, and it tasted like a $20 bowl of Chef Boyardee spaghetteos. We all drank water, which we did have to ASK for and wasn't brought until our meal. I guess that's a good thing, and I wish we had drank it more slowly because that one glass was all any of us ever got. My pregnant daughter-in-law was trying desperately to get extra drops out of the glasses she was so thirsty, and my son gave up trying to get a refill. They were t exactly busy but, ok, whatever. By this point, we pretty much knew what the answer was going to be to this next question, but what the heck-we were there specifically because my son's birthday was a few days ago, and my daughter-in-law's is a few days away-this was turning out to be quite the birthday celebration! BIG shocker here-No, Manzella's could give a hot damn that you chose their establishment to celebrate your birthday in-no free cake (or even an extra package of saltines or a refill of that water you had to ask for!) So then the bill comes. My daughter-in-law had asked for Alfredo sauce to be substituted on her pasta dish. By this point, I'm fully expecting a pretty healthy up charge for that, although we weren't advised of it ahead of time. I mean, this entire thing, from walking in the door to paying the bill and never coming back had been so relentlessly mediocre at best, I really didn't think they could surprise me anymore. Then, I looked at the bill. And yes, there was an up charge of about $3.75 to switch the sauce-AND another $15.00 for a dish we didn't order, written right underneath the dish she DID order-with the up charge listed below it, then, apparently, the dish that would normally have come with the sauce she asked for, we were charged for too, but of course never asked for or received! If the good had been great, or the service out of this world (in a good way), maybe that would have mitigated some of the overall unpleasantness of this entire experience. Not a single one of us had a good meal, and we truly aren't picky or high maintenance. I've been a waitress, my sister is a waitress, I still work in customer service and know what people can put you through. We aren't complainers, we don't send food back if it's not perfect. My daughter-in-law's salad dressing was full of watery substance, my sauce was runny, and my son's ravioli was half cold, and we never sent anything back or asked for better, we just tried to eat as best we could and get out of there, agreeing that we'd never go back nor would we recommend it to anyone we didn't hate. This used to be a pretty good place to get a delicious meal at a decent price from friendly and attentive staff. Sadly, none of that is true now. By 8 pm, as I sat here trying to write this, the parking lot was completely empty on a Saturday night, so I don't really think my review is really much of a surprise to anyone.
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