Cafe Graziella
| Address: | 390 US-206 #8, Hillsborough Township, NJ 08844, USA |
| Phone: | +1 908-281-0700 |
| Site: | cafegraziella.com |
| Rating: | 4 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–11PM 11:30AM–11PM 11:30AM–11PM 11:30AM–11PM 11:30AM–11PM 11:30AM–11PM 11:30AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 62
Reviews 5
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A Private User
DO NOT BOOK YOUR PARTY AT THIS RESTAURANT. Here’s some free advice for the management – do not book two huge parties in the backroom! One large party and one small party – sure, fine. Having over 65 people jammed into the backroom on two long tables is not a pleasant dining experience for your guests or for the service staff (hmmm…makes me wonder about fire codes). The space was so tight that we had two of our wine bottle stands knocked over. One was knocked over by a staff member – just in case you were wondering, no one offered a replacement bottle – and the second bottle was knocked down after it was moved by another staff member to behind another guest’s chair. While on the topic of chairs, our party was also given the ripped, damaged, garage-sale looking chairs while the other party had the nicer chairs – the chairs my mother was shown when she went to book the room. Another hint – if you have two bigger parties - try to stagger them. Our party started at 2pm and by 2:30, the other party started to arrive. And, to make the experience even more uncomfortable, the other party brought a stereo to play music (all OKed by management - what??). I guess we had to be fine with it too. The overall noise-level made for such wonderfully memorable experiences while talking and opening presents. I couldn’t even hear myself say thank you. Awesome. Overcrowding equals too much noise AND too much body heat. The room was so hot that the staff needed to open the back door, an open invitation to all of the dumpster flies. The flies were crawling all over the last of the cake. Here’s another piece of free advice, please consider giving your host another job. Maybe he can be the person that scares people away from illegally parking in your lot? Or, perhaps you can sic him on customers who try to skip out on the bill? He certainly does not possess any kind of people-skills and is as hospitable as a bill collector. From this point on in my post he will be referred to as “host”. When I arrived at the restaurant, I inquired about possibly putting up a divider between the two, super long tables. A hospitable response might have been, “oh, I’m sorry. We don’t have anything like that.” I would have found that acceptable. What can you do at this point? But no, I was told that this place was a restaurant, a business, and what did I expect? I was also told, and I quote, “…what’s the big deal? You eat, you open your gifts, and then you leave.” Fantastic job, Buddy. Just how every bride would like to hear her bridal shower described. I tried to stay away from the angry “host” but we were bound to meet again. He pushed us to eat cake immediately following dinner (yes, there were still dinner plates on the table). Obviously we weren’t the only ones who notice that the noise level in the overly-crowded back room was getting to be too much. So they tried to push out our party even though the second party arrived a mere 30 minutes later. The “host” brought out the cake and basically plopped it in the middle of the table making the icing crack down the middle of the cake. It’s a mom-thing, but my mom was so excited to write “Showers of Happiness” on the cake, and now we had a crack down the middle of a beautiful cake. What a jerk. There was one positive point, our female server really tried given all of the incompetence around her. She tried to smile through everything. I thank her for that. In the end, I now live out of state and I’m not sure if this place had a change of management or what, but please for your party’s sake, please go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Especially if you want what you paid for. Very, very disappointing.
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Dan Z
This is your typical expensive Italian food restaurant. The menu wasnt extremely diverse. Food was good, but pricey. The menu has one page that clearly states the chef will grant any special request, which should mean if you want something modified, they would be happy to do it. I ordered a chicken dish (Scarpariello) and asked for no sauce. The waiter kind of looked at me funny, as if it was insulting, but wrote it down. When I received the dish, of course it had the sauce on it. I decided to just deal with it because I dont trust kitchens when sending something back. I know what goes on there and I definitely didnt trust our waiter. I just scraped the sauce off the chicken using a piece of bread, which was manageable. After we finished eating, the waiter came by the table and said that he told the chef to put extra sauce on mine and I must have loved it since I ate it all. Im glad he apparently knows what I want. I was angry and thought that was extremely rude. He must have thought he was being funny... or helpful, but I didnt find it to be either. I guess you have to explicitly say you have a food allergy to get them to honor your special request. Hes the main reason Ive only given this place 2 stars, as my family seemed to enjoyed their meals. I hope this waiter isnt a reflection of the entire restaurant.
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Liz O
The food is not terrible, but the service is HORRIBLE! The food took over an hour to arrive and waiters never checked on us to make sure we were doing OK. At the end of our meal we left a 12% tip. A day later we find out that they ended up charging to our credit card a 20% tip!!!! Naturally, we went back to Cafe Graziella to complain to the manager. He immediately started raising his voice to us saying that they can make mistakes as we could also make mistakes. Since when "good customer service" is telling your customer that they can make mistakes and be wrong??!! The manager was very unprofessional. At the end of the day we demanded our money back (+12% we had left, they do not deserve any tip), so we received back our money (we just paid for the food). NEVER go to this place full of unprofessional people, you will save yourself a headache.
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A Private User
keep driving by. Since moving to this area several months ago, and seeing this restaurant several times, my wife and I thought why not give it a try. this was a mistake, as the food is not up to the standards of other restaurants in this price range. Very mediocre food served in a nice setting, but the food.........these people just do not know how to cook. You could do better out of a frozen food box. My wives chicken dish was just passable, my pasta dish had very overcooked vegetables and poorly made pasta. Caesar salad was okay - just not great.
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A Private User
Took my dad here for fathers day 2011, food was absolutely outstanding. Its a very relaxed atmosphere and they do not rush you out. The dinner bill can be a little pricey but TOTALLY worth it! It is authentic italian with real italians working there. DO NOT believe the negative reviews on here!! TO DIE FOR! My family wouldnt stop raving about the food!
