Oh, how it saddens me to write this review.
Whenever I visit my sister in Garfield, NJ, I have to go to the great mom and pop Italian joints over anywhere else. The place we loved changed hands and the new owner doesn't have the gift that the old man had. My sister mentioned this new place La Sicila so we gave it a shot.
We went on a Thursday night. The owner isn't very personable, he just stood there looking like what do these people want? The waitress was prompt and friendly. I ordered Ziti Bolongnese with a side of Meatballs and Sausage: I have to try both to know if I found home or not.
The Ziti was overcooked, but acceptable because the sauce (or gravy as my grandparents called it) was wonderful. The meatballs were good, not like homemade, but good and the sausage was very good, they had a hint of rosemary which was not expected, but quite delicious.
My sister had a bowl of Pasta Fagioli which was quite bland and a side salad. It's a BYOB place, so fortunately across the street you can buy beer and wine. I was very happy and the price was reasonable.
Two nights later, I needed another fix, so we went back. No sign of the owner that I recall, but a different waitress who was also prompt and friendly came and sat us.
This time we decided to try the Pizza. We both like meat, so we tried the meat lovers which includes sausage, meatball, and pepperoni. My sister ordered a cup of lentil soup. The bread and soup came and the lentil soup was awesome. We never tasted any as good. The pie took a long time and when it came we were blown away at the presentation. The pizza looked exactly like they went to the supermarket, bought a frozen pizza and then proceeded to forget it was in the oven. The crust was super thin and super dried out, like cardboard. There was very little cheese and instead of slices of meat, it was a sprinkling of ground up meat which was probably the left overs of the day ground up. There was very little sauce so imagine a bad supermarket pizza.
I ate the topping and a few bites as I was hungry and suffering in disbelief of what was happening to my NJ mom and pop experience which I look forward to. I have not been to NJ in four years. My sister choked down a slice and the whole time I was saying this has to go back and she was saying no, lets just eat it and not make any waves. Well, this is not how to go out dining. I don't spend money to be upset and hungry!
I asked for the waitress, I explained the situation. She asked if we would like to order something else, but by this time they had all the chairs in the front room up on the tables and I sure didn't want to force them to stay late just for us. I said "don't worry about it," this happens, we loved the food the other night and we will come again.
She comes back with the bill and says, "I am sorry, but I have to charge you for the two slices!"
That threw me to the floor. The manager has a new business, we are back a second time in three days, we leave a good tip and we don't complain unless there is a reason to do so. Instead of taking the pizza off the bill, he wants $5 or $6 bucks for one and a half slices when we came to eat a whole 16 inch pizza and are going home hungry and disappointed!
I would have been fine with paying for the small cup of soup and the bread, since we did enjoy that, but the pizza! If I owned the place, I would have taken the $8 bill (+6 pizza) and said, next time the pizza is one me. Not here, we are some kind of restaurant scam artists who come order a full pizza so we can eat two slices and not pay. WOW.
I gave the waitress $5 and out the door we went. So, to the owners of La Sicilia, look at my reviews. I eat out a lot and maybe review 10% of the places I go when I remember. I remember the best and the worst. My sister and her daughter and friends would have become regular customers for years and years to come (assuming you stay in business). This would have been a five star review. Instead, you go for the fast $6.
I had 14,902 readers of my reviews in the last 90 days. People check Yelp and respect a good reviewer. They don't want to eat burned or improperly prepared food. They have about 50 other choices nearby. This is the power of Yelp. read more
