Provesi: Italian BYOB Restaurant of Morristown, NJ

Reviews 4

JE

Jessica McGrover

If there was a half star... I would give it. I generally do not like to write poor reviews. Sometimes people are not having a good day or things just arent working efficiently in the kitchen. I get it. However, my experience on NYE was devastating. My dining experience at Provesi that evening was the worst I have EVER HAD in a restaurant. I have eaten at Provesi once before a year or so ago, and it was nice. This time... not even close to okay. I felt disrespected, manipulated, and mocked. My friend made a reservation for NYE 3 weeks in advance for a party of 19. Then, the week of NYE, he called to see if they were able to accommodate 2 more. The manager said it wouldnt be a problem. Okay - great. Here are a list of issues that happened that evening: 1.) The reservation was for 8:00 and we did not sit until 8:50. The manager continued to say for 15 minutes, that they needed 5 more minutes because the table was being set for us. The wait staff worked so hard and diligently once we were seated. These young men were excellent. However, they set up the table as we sat there. So, thanks for lying to our faces, manager. We sat downstairs (what a cool looking room with rock walls... felt like you were in the basement --- oh wait, we were!). A family was there down (huge party) and so they sat two huge tables at the same time. Turns out their reservation was for 8:00 as well. I cant believe 2 big parties waited almost an hour to be sat. One party of 20 (one of my friends left) and one party of 23. Too bad the max capacity for the basement seating was 38. 2.) The server told my one friend who was ordering apps that they offer family size. My friend asked if we should do that, and so the server said that he would because our party was so big. The apps on the NYE menu they provided were $11 a piece. When we got our bill we were charged $100 for 2 plates of calamari, $80 for 2 plates of eggplant rollatini, and $80 for 2 plates of hot antipasta. ??!!!!??!!!!!!!! 3.) The dinner prices were inflated. Understandable to jack up your prices a bit for NYE, but then you should deliver with the value of the meal. The food was terrible. It was not hot, and it looked terrible. My boyfriend got the shrimp scampi and it was oily, cold, and had 6 small shrimp on it with a hand-full of pasta. His plate was $28. I got chicken for $25 and it was one chicken cutlet, 5 beans, 2 slices of carrot, and half a white potato. The server told my friend that the chicken came with pasta, which it did not. 4.) The menu had multiple misspellings (kind of funny, but also horrifying). Beef was beff. (eh, who cares, right?) Well broccoli rabe was spelled as "broccoli rape" throughout the menu. 5.) When we received the bill for $815, we talked to the manager about the outrageous app prices. (Did I mention this bill did not include booze?) He told us there was nothing he could do. The server stood in the corner smirking at us and laughed to a co-worker as we gathered cash for the bill from our friends at the table. The server eventually did take $60 off our bill. How he was able to do this and the manager was not is beyond me. I got a funny feeling he played us. I will NEVER return, and I do hope that for those of you who held out and read this entire scathing review, you will not go either. There are so many incredible Italian restaurants in Morristown that Provesi isnt worth your time or energy.

RI

rick laricci

Went there with a party of 20 for New Years. Had a reservation for 8:00 pm, arrived at 7:50 and wasnt seated until 8:45. We waited for 25 minutes and then the owner/manager assured us it was only 5 more minutes and then blew us off for another 20 minutes. We were seated around 8:45-8:50. Ordered food by 9:10 and our food didnt arrive for until 10:20. They said we should order their appetizer dish that fed 10 so we ordered 2. Lets just say it was underwhelming at best. 50+ per tray it way insulting for what we received, and that wasnt even the worst part. The entrees were 25$ at the cheapest. I ordered chicken francese. It is was a small piece of chicken and what my self and the table called 1/8th a potato (it was smaller than a spoon full) and 3 green beans and 3 small a Carrot strips. Insulting portion size and even more insulting flavor. A 15$ meal at BEST! So we waited 45-50 minutes to be seated when we had reservations for over a week, and then were Insulted by the portion size. And then received the bill and were insulted by the lack of compensation, and lack of respect by the manager who ensured us our wait was only going to be ten minutes. The bill came out to 45 per person. Insulting... Just completely disgusted by this place. Never again.... Dont feed people lies about how long they will be forced to wait when already having reservations, or lie and say the app plate is a good value and the charge 25$ more than its worth. Ps... When you print a menu...make sure you spell the words right. The menu said they had "broccoli rape" its broccoli rabe. Unreal that you would print out a menu and has the word rape in it, not once, but twice... Ohh And its beef not "beff" As you can see by the owners response below, hes a class act. Shame on you!

MI

Michelle M

Avoid this restaurant. As a local Morristown resident I can tell you there are MANY better choices for BYOB Italian food & pizza within walking distance of this restaurant and I would pick any of them over this restaurant. We came here to celebrate my fiances birthday last night because the restaurant we actually wanted to go to was too full to seat us. This place had room for a last minute reservation for 9 people on a Saturday night. That should have been an indication that nobody wanted to eat here. On one of the hottest nights of the summer, we were seated inside with no air conditioning. It was very unpleasant and my group was sweating the whole time. The food was just ok. Nothing extraordinary. The staff didnt bring out parm cheese until halfway through the meal, despite being asked for it multiple times. The entertainment was unpleasant. They have a very enthusiastic guy singing a plethora of songs. Hes not bad but the music blasts through the restaurant so loudly that you cannot hear the people at your table. It felt like we were at a dance club, screaming over the music to talk to each other. Paying the bill was a fiasco. We tried to pay with a credit card and we were told that the machine was broken. The owner came by and insisted he called us before our reservation to tell us. However, we NEVER got a call and they never mentioned it when we were seated. Instead of apologizing or offering any consolation, he argued with us and addressed my female friends with patronizing names like "honey". We had no problem paying with cash, but the way the owner handled it was completely unacceptable.

A

A Private User

DISGUSTED with our choice of where we had dinner tonight. I made a reservation at 7 to come it at 7:45, a party of 5 people. They said that would be fine. We showed up at 7:40 and they sat us in the basement. We have had dinner many times at this restaurant and have NEVER been sat in the basement. It was fine at first, until the first party of 15 showed up. Since we were in the basement, there is NO way to control the noise level... which is why is should be for LARGE party’s ONLY!!!! There were two huge parties’ downstairs and our party of 5 shoved in to the corner. Both parties’ were extremely loud, to the point where I could not hear the person next to me!! I left the dinner table to get up and speak with the manager and owner who told me I would have to wait over an hour if I wanted to sit upstairs and next time I call, to make sure I specify that I don’t want to sit in the basement. And that maybe by the time we have desert, we could move upstairs. Had I known that they sat parts of 5 in the basement, I would have obviously specified. We ate our dinner shouting at each other and got the check and proceeded up stairs. I wanted to state my case one more time that it was horribly wrong to put us on the basement and to do nothing about it. I them told him it was "un-professional" how he ran his business and he told me I was wrong and rolled his eyes! The owner never even got up from his seat when I was speaking with him! I feel that because I am a young woman, I was treated wrongly. We will NEVER go back and I will spread the word that they run a bad, un-professional business.