I visited Vocelli again today, this time for dinner service. I decided to try something different, so I went for the meatball marinara with linguine and cheese sticks. Let me begin by saying I think the food is fine here, but after the experience I had tonight, I will no longer return for dinner service. I'll gladly return for lunch service, but my dinner business has been lost.
To keep this short(ish), I will just try to give bullet points:
-They were out of thin crust,
-A lady's special order of Vocelli rolls was messed up. She asked an employee about them, who said he'd have to check with his manager. He returned and said they'd make a new order, but she'd have to pay for them, and they wouldn't be made a priority because there were already other orders ahead of hers.
-The couple who came in with me, ordered a couple of minutes after I did. They both ordered stromboli. I only ordered a meatball marinara with linguine, and an appetizer of cheese sticks. Over 30 minutes after we ordered, they were just putting one of the stromboli in the oven and had started making the other. Mine hadn't been started yet. When they finally got their order about 10 minutes later, I was told my cheese sticks were in the oven and the pasta would take twice as long to cook.
-Another couple came in and ordered about 10 minutes after we did...two pasta dishes. They weren't given cups for their drinks and had to ask for them, and about 10 minutes after the couple with me got their food, the gentleman of that other couple was asking what the deal was with their order, saying had he known he would be waiting 45 minutes, they would've passed. They got their pasta about 5 minutes later, while I was still sitting at the table...still without even the appetizer I'd ordered. I got the cheese sticks very shortly afterward, but still over 55 minutes after I'd ordered them. (The dining room had a max of maybe 7 people) The cheese sticks also had cheddar thrown on top of it, as if someone forgot to put it on initially, then threw it on after it came out of the oven, and they let it sit in the back long enough to melt the cheese-which contributed to some of the delay, and didn't work since only half of the cheese had melted.
-When I went up to the counter to ask that my pasta (which still hadn't arrived) be packaged up to go and to ask for a box for the cheese sticks, since I'd have to now be taking everything with me due to being there over an hour by this point, I was instantly met with, "Your pasta's in the oven now and is almost done." I hadn't even opened my mouth yet. The guy running the shift clearly knew he'd messed up, causing people to be upset. The people with me had not only gotten their food before me, but had finished as well...before the appetizer had even been brought to the table. The couple who ordered 10 minutes after me appeared to have the same meatball marinara dish I had, only with penne instead of linguine, and got theirs before me too. What...the...hell???
*For a while, it was just the "manager" working inside, so I understand him getting swamped-especially since I have managed a Papa John's location- but it clearly seemed like he was trying to get all of the pizza and stromboli orders done first before moving onto any other type of dishes. At one point, he had the 4 drivers who had returned also helping. When I put my order in, there were only 4 orders on the screen to be made, yet it still took over an hour to get my full order, and that's with drivers helping, and 2 couples who ordered after me getting their orders before me.
Now, for the other things I observed/heard while there (all of which happened BEFORE getting food).
-A driver comes back from a delivery run. He's told, "You're coming off the road to help with orders." The manager is told, "You are not taking me off the road." This was said loud enough for everyone in the dining room to hear.
-When the gentleman asked for cups, the manager reached over, grabbed cups for him, then went RIGHT BACK TO WORKING WITH DOUGH...without washing hands. I checked to make sure he wasn't maybe putting gloves on before going back to the dough instead of washing hands, but that wasn't happening either! He did this several times-including when others would come in for carryout orders. He'd take their money, close the register, then go right back to stretching out dough.
-One of the drivers made a comment to the manager that the chicken was frozen, to which the manager replied, "It's always frozen. I don't know why they don't thaw it out before we use it, but they don't. We always cook it frozen."
I'm dropping my rating to a 3 star because the food is fine, but my business has now been limited to lunch service only after this debacle. read more