Food:
The food was decent overall, with some definite hits…read moreand misses. I ordered the stuffed shells and enjoyed them. My husband had the pepperoni calzone and liked it as well, particularly the crust, which he described as having an almost pretzel-like quality.
The fried zucchini came out extremely hot and fresh and, importantly, was not soggy. Unfortunately, it was also almost flavorless and mostly tasted like plain fried batter.
The Italian wedding soup itself was nice, although the serving was quite small. The roll that came with it was stale and tough and seemed like a basic store-bought roll.
Service:
Our waitress was very good. She was professional, personable, attentive, and pleasant throughout our meal. I want to make that distinction because our problem was not with her.
Our issue was with the woman working behind the bar. We arrived at approximately 2 PM during an active monsoon, with rain and lightning, while a flash flood warning was in effect until approximately 4 PM. She told us that we could not sit inside because my service dog was not wearing a vest labeled "SERVICE DOG."
We explained that she is my service dog, but the woman continued to insist that a labeled service vest was required and told us that we would have to sit outside.
This was not simply an unpleasant customer-service decision. Under the ADA, service dogs are not required to wear a vest, patch, identification tag, or specially labeled harness, and a restaurant cannot deny someone accompanied by a qualifying service dog access to areas where customers are normally permitted solely because the dog is not wearing one. Denying us indoor access on that basis was contrary to federal ADA requirements.
Rather than turn the situation into an argument, we complied and ate outside during the monsoon, rain, and lightning while the flash flood warning was still active.
What made the situation even more confusing was that Argenziano's Yelp listing itself currently states "Dogs allowed." Regardless of whatever their general pet policy may be, however, my dog is a service dog, so the lack of a labeled vest should never have been the reason we were denied indoor seating.
Atmosphere:
The restaurant itself was very dark and muggy inside. There is a difference between dim, cozy lighting and simply not having enough light, and this leaned toward the latter. It honestly had an almost medieval feel to it.
The restaurant could easily feel much more welcoming just by turning on some additional lights and paying a little more attention to the indoor comfort level.
Value:
This was another major disappointment.
Before our waitress's tip, our bill was approximately $62 for stuffed shells, a simple pepperoni calzone, a very small serving of Italian wedding soup with a basic roll, fried zucchini, and two iced teas.
For the quantity and overall quality of what we received, I simply do not think it was worth $62. The food was not bad, but nothing about the meal justified that price to me. When you also factor in the drive to Corona de Tucson and the experience we had upon arriving, the value simply was not there.
Overall:
There were things we genuinely liked. My stuffed shells were good, my husband enjoyed his calzone, and our waitress did a very good job and was both professional and personable.
Unfortunately, those positives were overshadowed by the high price for what we received, the dark and muggy atmosphere, inconsistent food quality, and especially being denied indoor seating during an active monsoon and flash flood warning because my service dog was not wearing a vest that the ADA does not require.
It was not worth the amount of money or the drive for us, especially given the experience with the woman behind the bar.
I sincerely hope management addresses this and provides proper ADA service-animal training to its staff. Customers with legitimate service dogs should not be put in the position of either leaving their service animal behind or being sent outside into severe weather because an employee is enforcing a requirement that does not actually exist.
