It is similar to getting into a time machine and coming out in 1982. Â How can one be in business for so long and never update a thing? Â Go and find out. Â Actually don't go and I will describe it to you. Â Actually I will just tell you that my wife became extremely ill from the shrimp pasta at this place and now she can't even look at it without becoming sick to her stomach. Â Enough said. Â But there are no negative stars so it gets a one.
Review Source:"Babe, I don't think we can go here."
"What? Why not?"
"Do you remember Rachel? She gave it ONE star. For service."
"They've been open a while now,. You have to give them time to get the kinks worked out. Let's just give them a chance."
So we've been wanting to try this place for a few months now since we always see it on the drive home. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised, we made the 30-second drive and stepped into the restaurant. It was pretty busy, which was initially comforting, but the absence of a host(ess) for the first couple minutes brought my hopes back down. The hostess arrived and looked stern, stating that it would be a few more minutes before we would be seated. No welcome, just a firm statement. Okay.
Service was definitely slow, but our waitress arrived in a few minutes. I ordered wine and watched in a panic as she haphazardly reached across me to place it on the table, spilling wine down the sides of a tiny, but very full glass. My date and I placed our orders and I made my usual "ew" remark as he ordered his steak rare. The waitress picked up on it and shared an anecdote about her daughter and son-in-law--a strict vegetarian and a meat-and-potatoes guy. Totally us. We had a laugh and looked forward to our meal.
The crab stuffed mushrooms were pretty good, but there was a long wait for entrees, so we ordered another round of drinks. My wine came out in an even smaller glass (!?) than the first and my date was given a different beer (the first was still on the table, so I'm not sure why there was confusion.) I ordered a pasta dish, which was generously sized, but consisted solely of cooked noodles, blobs of cheese, diced tomatoes and shriveled spinach. It lacked sauce, flavor, seasonings--everything that would make it into a $15 bowl of pasta. The boyfriend's steak was disappointing enough that he didn't even bother taking home the leftovers.
The waitress noticed I didn't eat much of my pasta and must have told the hostess, who came over and asked if I didn't enjoy my meal. I told her it wasn't what I expected and she walked away without another word. The server then came over and told me she was "fixing" the bill, which had already been presented. She then gave us the new copy of the bill with the pasta dish taken off. It was a nice gesture, but I'm surprised that the hostess never apologized, told us that she was offering a comp or took the opportunity to ask how they could improve the dish. It's like she knew what to do for customers in terms of service recovery, but not how to actually recover. It left me more disappointed and uncomfortable than if she had not done anything at all.
I'm glad that we satisfied our curiosity about the new Italian restaurant down the street, but this was definitely one of the most disappointing restaurant experiences I've had in a very long time. I would recommend stopping by Serafina's next door instead if you're tempted.
The food was not as bad as I expected from other reviews. I had a salmon dinner and thought it was quite good; however, my husband (who has a somewhat more sensitive stomach than i) has gotten sick the last two times we've been here, spaced out about a year apart, so I don't think we'll be back.
The atmosphere is abysmal. It's dark. There was no music in the dining room. My water glass had water spots and food residue, and all of the plates seemed too small for the food that was on them.
We had a reservation for 12 on mothers day, but they only set up 10 chairs. We were set up against a wall in a half full back dining room, which meant our server was constantly wedging herself next to me and handing food across the table (and complaining about how she couldn't reach, and never apologizing to me once). The server also tried to prevent us from ordering a kids meal, saying "kids don't eat here" and "she won't eat it" which was just ridiculous and insulting -- especially so on Mothers Day.
I had not been to this restaurant in several months, but had liked it on two or three previous occasions - thought the Italian dishes were pretty good. So we decided to have dinner there as we had tickets for a show in the area last night. We arrived at 6:00 and were immediately seated at the table of our choice by the very friendly hostess. It was downhill from there.
As we were running a bit late, we decided to forego three-course meals and have (him) a Caesar salad and (me) a hamburger and fries. No appetizer, no soup - just the salad and the sandwich. Now, I know perfectly well that this is an Italian restaurant, with Italian specialties, not salad and burger specialties. But there is no excuse for the food we were served last night. The place was less than half full, but it took 30 minutes for our food to arrive, and when it did, it was appalling. The burger, which I ordered medium well, was overcooked, dried out, and tasteless. It was served on a dessert plate. The fries - obviously frozen - arrived lukewarm in a small bowl. I have never seen such poor presentation and bad food outside of a truck stop. And for this I paid $9.25. I could have had a much better burger for less money - not to mention better presentation and faster service - at Eat 'n Park. My companion's Caesar salad was edible. And that is the best we can say for this very, very disappointing meal.
A word to the management: if it's on the menu, then do it right. If you can't do it right, then take it off the menu and don't do it at all.
We won't be back.
Prior reviewer called it old school and that describes this Italian restaurant perfectly. Â We thought it was OK, we both got veal dishes. Â Great service here too. Â When we were there it was not very busy and we got the impression it never gets busy busy here, which is a plus at times. Â Please note we like it quiet. Â We went back and got the same meals again on a 2nd visit, so we thought this establishment was overall OK.
Review Source:I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about the Tambellini restaurants. Â I'd heard one too many negative reviews so I just decided to avoid the restaurants all together. Â Today was the end of that avoidance. Â Oh, and those rumors of negativity. Â Totally true.
As Jackie P says, I'm always a little fearful of Italian restaurants because no one cooks better than my little Italian grandma did! Â So to come close to that is a feat that's pretty much unheard of. Â To say they missed the mark on that big ole' boot we call Italy would be an understatement. Â
We walked in and I swear I heard crickets.  NO ONE was in the place except for a party going on in the very back  I literally had to chase down a server because no one was even in the front to greet us!  She pretty much waved me off and said that our party was "probably" downstairs.
We had about 25 people in our party and only ONE server. Â She never introduced herself, never asked us what we'd like to drink, never came around to really do anything except serve us a meager portion of buffet food. Â
And the food....um....the Italian bread was good. Â Seriously, the food wasn't gross. Â It just wasn't a real hearty Italian meal. Â The choices were parm fish, roast beef w/ gravy, chicken and rigatoni. Â The fish was probably the best...but anything coated with cheese is! Â
Best part for me? Â The homemade biscotti that a family member brought. Â Oh wait, that doesn't count for a star upgrade here....
I love "old school" types of restaurants, and I wanted to like this one more than i did, but there are a few things that could use some improving: First, all the host and the server both reeked of cigarettes. Â Also, I ordered a medium steak and it was beyond well (dry and hard to cut, let alone chew). Â I did like the blue cheese dressing on my salad. Â It was different from others I've tasted. Â Beyond that, I'm hoping a further visit will be a good one, so I can change my review. Â If you're searching for a good restaurant with a similar menu, try the Grant in Millvale. Â It's a bit better.
Review Source:My wife and I went here tonight. Â Cute little restaurant. Â Server was ok, older lady that wasn't very personable. Â Maybe it just wasn't her night. Â I had sirloin steak for 16 bucks. Â It was in this puddle of sauce and mushrooms that was very strong and salty tasting. Â I wouldn't have it again. Â My wife got the chicken ala Granny. Â It was a different kind of dish, but she really liked it, she also got a side of the house pasta. Â The marinara sauce was the best. Â I wish I would have done something more Italian after I had a bite of that! Â Oh well. For the two dishes and just water we spend 40 bucks. Â Since it was that much I wouldn't go back again.
Review Source:It hurts my little Italian heart to write this review but it's also probably my little Italian duty to write it, so here goes. Being that I grew up in an Italian-centric household (no, not Jersey Shore Italian-centric) I feel a tie to every neighborhood Italian restaurant in this city. I want to love them all. I want to leave their dining rooms with the smell of eggplant parm wafting off me. Is that weird? Well, regardless. When my fiance and I decided to check out Tambellini's in Bridgeville I had high hopes.
Walking through the doors, I looked around and noticed the majority of the wait staff was older than 40. "This is going to be good," I thought to myself. After all, everyone knows all the good little Italian restaurants have an older generation wait staff. And that's no joke. I figured I was in for some good dining. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
My Tambellini's disappointment was due mostly to weird customer service. No one was overtly rude to us, but the hostess couldn't have been more annoyed with her job. Even though we had a reservation, she acted as if we just showed up unexpectedly on a busy Friday night and demanded to be sat. She seemed to be confused that people were coming through the door. Our waitress was extremely slow, although very kind, and our meals took much over the expected time to be brought out. Continually joking about how long the kitchen was taking, the waitress kept throwing her fellow employees under the bus. A simple apology would've done. I had the Chicken Marsala and my fiance had the Veal Parmesan. I was not impressed with my meal but enjoyed the veal mostly due to the sauce, which is "famous" according to their menu. Had the food been outstanding, I would've most likely ignored the customer service and chalked it up to an off night, but that wasn't the case.
It could totally be that I am a picky Italian eater, or that I caught them on an off night, but i probably won't be returning to this restaurant any time soon, much to my dismay.
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