Ordered to go yesterday evening 5/5/22.1) The food was very bland, no flavor at all. My fiance' had bowtie pasta with shrimp, and I had "spaghetti" with clams and a salad.2) I was up most of the night sick. ? I am still in bed, in pain as I type this review this morning. My fiance' didn't feel very good either. I "think" mine was related to the mushrooms in the salad (bad). It could have been that we got older food, as they were closing soon. Either way, we won't be back.3) We have eaten here in the past and it was very good. What went wrong?
Delicious spaghetti ? great service
Well, this spot use to be out of this world with regards to the cheese pies...seriously it was like being in Brooklyn having a slice! Went there recently and boy was it a disaster. ?Ordered a pie and some meatballs, sausage and a salad. It was as if they changed owner's, the food was completely different! The meatballs were tasteless the sausage was so hard I couldn't even cut it with the knife. Like the old saying goes," when the cats away the mice will play!"WILL NEVER GO BACK!! Sorry Sprito's/Mike(owner).
There was a time when I would have told anyone who was looking for a great slice of pizza, a great meatball, or a great plate of pasta with a sauce that only Italian angels could have made, that the place to go (if you lived within a reasonable distance) would be Spirito's. I first saw them on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives about seven years ago. As a displaced New Yorker living in Los Angeles, I am on the eternal search for really good Italian food. The weekend I saw that episode my wife and I drove the 90+ minutes to get there, and we were not disappointed. We met Mike, the owner, and of course we spoke at length about him being from Jersey, life, and of course, food. Well, fast forward seven years and Mike has retired, and with him went everything that made Spirito's so special. Today (4.9.22) we ordered our normal whole pie, antipasto salad, meatball and sausages in their special gravy. Nothing tasted the same. Not even close. The sauce (gravy) has lost its zing. Gone is the taste of all the fresh ingredients that was slow cooked for a long time. The meatball, which was normally tender, juicy, and spiced just right, tasted like, well, it had no taste I could pinpoint. The pizza? Forgetaboutit! I mean literally, forget about it. I'm so disappointed because another place which I could once count on for a 5-star meal, has just come down to a generous 1-star. Sorry, Mike. I hope you read this review, because they're spitting on your name.
So me and my gf were just heading back to LA from LegoLand and we decided to stop by here. So to start off, nobody wants to take our order, which is understandable since they were a little busy.Once seated, the elderly woman who I'm assuming is the owner is going around talking to everyone in all the tables and we assume that she's nice. She literally talked to everybody but us.Then, after we order, they did not give us the table number. As we waited 30 mins for our food all the tables around kept receiving theirs and maybe it's what we ordered but I don't know. Once we get our food we received no utensils at all so we waited for like 5 mins and decided to go to the counter to ask for some and we got some plastic ones because they were "washing them". The chicken from the penne literally had bones which took away our appetite(see pictures).To be honest, I'm sure it's the fact the we were the only brown people in the restaurant but I'm hoping that was just a coincidence. Or maybe the fact that out of all the servers and staff working only the brown girl was cleaning and working hard. If you ask me, these people are quite racist, but I hope not.
We have been going to Spirito’s in Elizabeth, NJ for 40 years. The original was famous for the best veal parmigiana and ravioli in NJ, so when we came out here, we had to try the west coast version. The ravioli were a close second. The gravy (tomato sauce) here was better. This is classic, old school Italian food. Nothing fancy about it, just delicious. You’re not going to find anything better for 2,700 miles.
I have been to Spirito's in Elizabeth, NJ many times and came on vacation to Carlsbad and tried this location. Didn't think it would be as good, but it was. Their gravy is awesome and the Ravioli's are just like I remembered. The Pizza was really good, but not as good as the original, but close. We went twice in a week - that's how good it was.
Place was definitely a dive but the pasta sauce was the best I've ever had. The spaghetti with smashed meatballs was amazing! Chicken parm was a hit with my kids and husband!
Great Italian food. Prepare for a wait. They get busy. We live about 30 mins away and called ahead and then drove down to pick up our food and then ate there. Friendly people. Two of the younger girls need to learn how to pick up the pace. The one poor lady I felt was picking up all their slack. We've gone here like 3 or 4 times in the last few weeks. We love their food!!!
Oh my goodness. Our last supper while on vacation and so glad I chose this restaurant. I ordered to go and took it back to our hotel. I think to go orders are the way to go but the food was absolutely amazing.