Antonios' Pasta Grille

About a year ago or so, my girlfriend and I dined at your Temple Terrace location and the food & service was so memorable that we chose to celebrate this Valentine's Day there.

However....  might as well close that one too.

NEVER GOING BACK. EVER.  Without a doubt, the absolute WORST dining experience I've had in my life! Anticipating a busy night there, I made reservations and true enough, there was a line of couples at the front desk. I wove my way thru to the hostess and told that we had reservations for two. Amazingly, she had no list to consult or verify our reservations yet ushered us to a table... ahead of couples who had clearly been there before us.

 No silverware or napkins on the table.  The service was abysmal- we sat for .30 min before our order was taken. The waitress was more interested in what was going on elsewhere in the restaurant, barely listened to our orders, didn't know the menu at all (we had to point out and describe our selections from the menu) and completely forgot to ask for our side dishes. When our salads finally came, they were wrong and by that time, we had STILL not been given silverware or napkins. The waitress, who seemed to be in the middle of an anxiety attack, kept mumbling and doing the "dump and run"- bringing cutlery and plates and dumping the on the corner of the table without a word and running off to the next table. the hostess had to bring us refills for our drinks. A male waiter came by and presented us with another table's order. When we declined the food, he seemed distraught- never apologized- and began scanning the other tables in a panic.

As we waited and watched the chaos around us, we grew genuinely concerned that when it came, our food might have been "tampered with" by a spiteful kitchen or wait staff.

The second round of refills were presented in Styrofoam cups without ice, again with explanation or apology. When our order finally came, the waitress failed to properly place the plate in front of each of us- giving my girlfriend's to me to pass to her. The presentation was awful and was accompanied by a random and unexplained bowl of penne pasta and red sauce we had not ordered.

The food itself was only so-so, the chicken bland and over-cooked.  I swear that the Italian sausage in my order was Johnsonville from the Publix around the corner- and were accompanied by a bowl of penne pasta and red sauce we had not ordered.  We had another 30 min. wait for the check and never got our sodas refilled the 3rd time.

The manager, who was dressed unprofessionally in T-shirt & jeans (to their credit, the rest of the staff were in "uniform"), was going from table to table making half-hearted apologies to the MANY dissatisfied diners. Smiling and chuckling all the time as if everything was a joke. The manager spent a large amount of time with the unhappy couple immediately behind us, eventually comping their entire bill and having the waitress deliver them a huge slice of cheesecake. As she served it, she loudly announced, in a voice usually reserved for a 3 year old's birthday party, "look what I've got"

We waited another 15-20 min. for our check and the waitress, who we let know our dissatisfaction throughout, had the gall to ask ""How was everything?" in a tone that indicated that she had not processed or even listened to our complaints or those of the other diners.  The waitress tried to cover her a** by saying that she'd been in the restaurant business for 15 yrs. I call shenanigans on that- too many basic wait staff failures.

My girlfriend had to use the restroom and found it filthy and devoid of toilet paper or paper towels. The trash can was overflowing onto the floor.

Looking at Yelp after returning home, I found that ours was not an isolated experience.

2/11/14- " the bread basket had a live cockroach in it"
2/8/14- " The fish and chicken dishes are dry and tasteless...new owners disheveled and unkept appearance is inappropriate for a food establishment.  Their lack of respect for women and customers overall leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They can't be bothered to put paper towels in the restrooms anymore
1/17/14- "It was like watching a train wreck. Car by car - - Service was awful. Food poor, at best. Atmosphere painful. Watching waitresses fail at basic tasks"
1/4/14- "cold pasta ...... Oh the meatballs. They were cold and raw inside and completely foul. I took one bite and returned it right to my dish. They also have me some rotten Parmesan cheese... the butter had rotten garlic in it."

As I said before, never going back.... ever.