Let me start by saying - I'm not a huge pasta eater these days. Â
With that in mind, I must say that my evening here was a very enjoyable experience, and I suspect it will become one of the 'regular' places in Louisville when the mood strikes.
First off, I would STRONGLY suggest calling ahead for reservations if you are planning on making an appearance here on the weekend, or near 'standard' dinner times. Â Especially if you have 4 or more people in your party.
The ambiance and history at this restaurant are enthralling, and elevates one a bit up from 'just a pasta joint'. Â I honestly don't think the names does the place 'justice' and though the food may pretty standard fare for the most part, there are a few things that definitely shine.
Try the crab ravioli. Â Seriously. Â Almost like ocean sex in the mouth. Â And the bread that comes with 'everything', also incredible. Â
If you are in the mood for some 'Olive Garden' type Italian - do yourself a favor and upgrade to The Old Spaghetti Factory. Â I think it was actually less expensive, and the food is MUCH better. Â
I'll add more useful 'specifics' with followup visits, I promise.
One of my favorite places to eat when I visit Louisville. Â The layout of the building and the decor is a throwback to the 40's -50's and make this restaurant pretty unique. Â I love the mizithra cheese spaghetti dish. Â I can't give it five stars because the meat sauce spaghetti is pretty bland.
Review Source:The jumbo crab ravioli was fantastic.  We also had a shrimp  spinach artichoke dip,  a chicken pasta and a chicken pene and let me tell you they were delicious.  Just when we thought things could not get any better they served spumoni ice cream. In a word.... WOW.  Recommend if you are a fan of Italian food.
Review Source:On a recent stay in Louisville at the Galt House, we met the sister-in-law at the Old Spaghetti Factory for our first meal in the city. After reading some of the reviews, I was very leery of what was to come considering that some folks were so loathsome in their reviews.
  I found the place to be delightful. The first thing that hits you is the decor. It is in the location of an old bank building and you are immediately whisked away to an era long ago when dark stained woods, majestic staircases, and over-the-top chandeliers ruled the banking world.
  With a party of 6, we had about a 10 minute wait, but it was worth it to take all of the place in. I found myself staring at the wood tiled ceiling and all of the different chandeliers, and then hoping we would be seated at the big red caboose car (not a real one) in the middle of the restaurant. We didn't get seated there, so I had to hide my disappointment for the children's sake.
  Once seated, we were quickly taken care of by our waiter. He was very courteous and helpful, even when one of my daughters was being difficult in a way that only 5-year-olds can (she was enacting a temporary hunger strike until she got her way, but the power of fettuccine alfredo soon swayed her).
  The next thing that struck me was how reasonable the prices were and that they included tea and an ice cream dessert. Me being a true southern gentleman, I drink tea with every meal. Hey, it's who I am, deal with it. They also make all of their sauces in house and even have a house made pesto ranch for their salad, that I thougt was very good. I tried the crab ravioli and really loved the sauce that was on it. The ravioli wasn't drowning in sauce and it was a perfectly balanced dish. The pasta was not freshly made, but, hey I'm not expecting Mario Batali at The Old Spaghetti Factory either. The bread they offer is very good, and I found myself cleaning all the sauce remnants off my plate with it. I don't want to leave too big a mess for the dishwasher to deal with. So, I was being considerate.
  My wife had the chicken parmesan and loved it. Both girls had a nice bowl of fettuccine alfredo and didn't leave any for the dishwasher either. The sister-in-law had an interesting dish called "Garlic Mizithra", which was a spaghetti with mizithra cheese, garlic, bacon, browned butter and sauteed mushrooms. I stole a bite, and it was even better than my dish.
  The final surprise was the nice spumoni that was served after the meal. It arrived in a chilled dish and was the perfect ending to the heavier proceedings that occurred beforehand.  All in all, a very good meal that fed a family of four with dessert for under $40 dollars. Plus, just seeing the place was an added bonus.
  The Old Spaghetti Factory is a chain, but this location stands out for no other reason than location alone. Great ambience, good meal, and easy on the wallet. Momma's happy, kids are happy, and mission accomplished. We will be back again the next time we are in Louisville.
If you judge this restaurant by the restrooms, you would never eat here. Both restrooms were filthy, no paper towels, no soap, trash overflowing. How do employees wash their hands? We told an emplyee, but did not get any response. Food was just okay. Service was okay. Will never go back again. Â we only saw our waiter once and had to wait until we could find her to get refills. Needs better management all around.
Review Source:We have always favored The Old Spaghetti Factory but over our last several visits, its just kinda icky now. Tonight we arrived VERY early as this place gets packed. We were there around 5:30. We came right in and got to sit right down. We waited what seemed like forever before we even saw someone who resembled a waiter or waitress. When we finally see her she says she'll be right back. No bread or anything for maybe 20 minutes when she comes to take drink orders we asked to go ahead and order our meals since we had waited so long. Our drinks came and then our soups and salads probably the longest we have ever had to wait for them and literally I had barely taken a bite out of my salad and they were bringing out our entrees'. I got the jumbo crab ravioli and I have had it before and this time it was rubbery mostly cold. My husband got minestrone soup and chicken parm and he said the soup was lukewarm and his chicken was hot but the pasta and sauce was cold. So was my sons. When we take the kids out, they used to enjoy this because it looked fancy to them and had kid friendly food that included dessert that we didn't have to argue over as its included in all meals, but the price has gone up, the quality down and did I mention they forgot my broccoli and mizithra cheese? They were going to charge us for it and just let me take it home. Told them to take it off the bill. I don't think we will be going back. We used to go every other month or so, but Its just not worth it anymore.
Review Source:Can't beat the value and experience of a meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We've been to locations in Washington, California, Minnesota, and Missouri, so of course we had to try the one in Louisville. We arrived around 1pm on a Saturday for lunch. It is across from the Yum Center, so we'd probably avoid this restaurant and area if there was an event, but there wasn't anything until later that day. The setting and decor was beautiful. It felt like we were in a well-loved old home with antique furniture. We were told there would be a 10-15 minute wait, which seemed fine as there were several other people waiting as well. We were seated within 5-10 minutes. This was suspicious as the area we were seated in had several open tables. We've noticed this process at other locations as well and have wondered if it's an intentional strategy to generate a crowd to bring in more people, build anticipation, or regulate the flow through the restaurant. Anyways, we were not disappointed by our meal. Iced tea was sweet tea, demonstrating the menu flexing for the area. Salads were basic iceberg lettuce, although good-sized for side salads. Bread was fresh, although the butter seemed to be plain rather than infused with garlic like at other locations. Spaghetti with mizithra cheese and browned butter was pleasing and is an item unique to Spaghetti Factory. Pasta with white clam sauce was also warm and hearty. We finished with classic spumoni that was included with the meal, although we noted this location has Derby Pie, another tie-in with this area. This location also seemed to provide larger portions than other locations. A great value for approximately $10 each, which included salad, tea, bread, pasta, and spumoni. Staff was very attentive and quick with refills, and food arrived quickly. Thanks for a pleasant dining experience!
Review Source:At first glance the Spaghetti Factory's menu looks dated and boring. Â However they make up for that by consistently serving delicious food. Â From the crisp salad with house pesto dressing to the pasta to dessert the food is always right. Â So, for a classic Italian meal the Spaghetti Factory remains among my favorites.
Review Source:Took my family here during the Thanksgiving weekend while staying at the Galt House. Â Seating came quickly (due to fans of Louisville departing at 7 PM), but we were placed in a darkish table underneath the stairs. Â Waitress missed my appetizer order and seemed very distracted.
Food, considering it was spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, and chicken parms etc., was better than average. Â Spumoni was delightful.
McDonald's for Pasta...
You know how you can find a McDonald's everywhere? You know that the food isn't really amazing, neither is the service, but you know how the food is prepared, there are no surprises, and its a decent value to what's around. Well, this is The Old Spaghetti Factory. One of these babies are always located in medium downtown city and you know just what you are going to get-college prepared Italian.
I was going to start to say, it was like having my made at home Italian brought to me by a server, but even I make better dishes. I had the chicken fettuccine and it was served with CANNED mushrooms and CANNED chicken. I mean, come on, try a little. I have been to this place a couple times and all the dishes that I have tried taste like someone heated up a value lean cuisine.
This place is great for downtown tourist who refuse to try local, because I know Bistro 301 ten steps away is going to taste better and I haven't even been there yet!
I will not be back, until we get lazy again and want starch.
One positive is that with every entree, which is around $12, you get bread, a side salad, and some Spumoni.
The last time I tried to eat here there was a 2 hour wait- so coming in at 8pm on a Saturday night and being able to sit right down was nice.
The server was friendly and effiicient (I forgot his name but I remember his southern accent).
I ended up getting an Italian Cream Soda (which I got to keep the glass!) and started with an order of cheese/garlic bread- that was yum- and funny too since we didn't realize the meal came with bread as well!
I decided to live outside the box and I got crab ravioli- and sure enough- it was pretty decent! Â Nice portion too.
All in all it was nice to come back and have a great meal- They had closed the one down in Midtown Atlanta so this was a treat!
I had been to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Nashville, Tn. years ago and loved it. Â Although this place was beautiful, the food was okay at best. We had the Chicken Marsala and the sauce tasted like a cheap instant brown gravy. The spaghetti noodles that came with it were very good, but didn't make up for the chicken marsala. I guess for the price it was edible, but i'd rather pay a little more for great food. My salad with blue cheese was good, but my wifes salad with ranch dressing tasted like black licorice, which isn't a good thing. The service was very good though. I nice place to visit, but this will be a one and done.
Review Source:I was at the Spaghetti Factory the other night for a wedding's rehearsal dinner. Â There was a space in the back reserved for our large group of about 45 people. Â Unfortunately it was in the same room as other guests who were eating, so for a while it was quite noisy and there were a few rounds of "Happy Birthday" being sung which was a little distracting. Â After a while the other families cleared out and it became a more intitmate experience.
Our choices were chicken marsala, spaghetti and meatballs, or lasagna. Â I got the spaghetti (which is my favorite food.) Â I felt bad that the staff had to serve so many people at the same time with drinks, water, wine, salad, bread, entrees, and desert. Â Perhaps they could have used a few extra hands to make sure everyone had appropriate silverware, water, and that the bread was brought out before the meal. Â The bread came with garlic butter which was delicious, I could have taken home a stick or 2. Â The salad was pretty standard and the balsamic vinegar dressing was flavorful. Â My spaghetti was ok, not the best I'd ever had but I ate every bite. Â The meatballs were large, cooked well, and everything was very tasty.
The inside of the restaurant has a lot of character with cool architecture, funky lamps and lamp shades, and various eating arrangements from tall tables, booths, and free standing tables. Â If I lived in the area I would try it again, I'm sure with a smaller party the service would be much more attentive. Â Overall a yummy choice.
The restaurant decor and location is quite lovely and interesting. It makes one expect a great meal, but it does not deliver. I don't recommend this location. The appetizer was very unappealing-we stopped eating it after a couple of bites and our food was very bland and average. If Olive Garden is considered good American-Italian, then this place is very bad American-Italian.
Review Source:Interesting place. Â Swank interior design with a theme of back in the 30s or 40s...in my opinion. Â There is a bit a class to this place that most other restaurants lack. Â Atmosphere is a big plus for this place.
I can't say it's the best spaghetti that I've ever had. Â For a place that specializes in Spaghetti, I found it to be a bit bland. Â The service is great and the food comes up quickly. Â Make sure you have plenty of pepper to add some spice and flavor. Â If you are interested in a decent meal without breaking the bank, then it's worth going to. Â I've had a pleasant time each time I've been there. Â They do accommodate large groups quick well, which are the only times I've been there.
They do have a full Italian menu to pick from. Â It's not JUST spaghetti. Â If you go in knowing that you aren't going to have the best spaghetti, but can justify it because it's rather cheap, then go. Â Lower your expectations of Italian and you'll be OK.
A group of us decided to eat here simply because 301 Bistro was closed and we were walking. Â
The salads are a joke. Â A few people kept adding more and pepper trying to add flavor, but to not avail.
I only had an olive spread, which was pretty decent, however, the bread that accompanied the spread was not good at all. Â Â One person in our party asked for olive oil to give flavor and moisture to the pasta.
Someone else enjoyed their pasta. Â And one other person said the chicken was moist.
Overall, I really love the ambiance, old time feel of the place, however, the food has much to be desired. . .and I'm saying that mildly. Â Skip this place and go to Bucca Di Beppo instead.
Went here with a group of friends for dinner. I've been to a few of these restaurants in CA, and have never been overly impressed with them, but one of the people in our party wanted to go, so we did.
We started off with drinks upstairs while we waited for our table. The bartender seemed a little stressed, but he made my drink well. We requested and got seated in the train in the middle of the restaurant. I got the Mizithra Cheese and Browned Butter on whole wheat pasta. It was fine, but nothing amazing. The cheesy bread that we got as an app was yummy, but how can you mess up bread with melted cheese?!
Our waitress was Kathy, and she was pleasant and efficient, aside from when she failed to give my friend her receipt, and then we couldn't ever find her again.
Just fine. I am sure there are better places to go for Italian food, but will certainly do in a pinch.
I think that the previous reviewer must have had a fluke experience. Â Don't get me wrong this is not the best Italian food that i ever had but I always find the food and service to be pretty good. Â What keeps me coming back here is a dish that they have that I have not found anywhere else. Â It is the spaghetti and mizithra cheese. Â It is phenomenal! Â It sounds weird and looks very plain but it is delicious. Â The rest of the menu is good but this dish is great!!
Review Source:
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