Disclaimer: I grew up in New Jersey, an hour drive from either Philly or NYC, so I might be a bit harsher Italian restaurant critic than most here. That said, this restaurant was just terrible! In no way did this place even come remotely close to my already low expectations…I ordered fettuccine carbonara and it was *literally* chunks of fried egg with large pieces of bacon—not bacon bits—pieces of bacon from out of a frying pan, broken up and placed on my plate. There was no sauce or anything like that…just bacon & egg chunks on top of fettuccine. My fiancé had vodka rigatoni that was equally bad—over cooked pasta with sauce that tastes worse than out of a jar. Almost forgot the extremely forgettable appetizer—the bruschetta was made with stale, dry herbs and sad tomatoes.Frankly, I wish we had just ordered dominos because it would have at least tasted good and not been as sad and depressing.
I really don't know how Luigi's got almost 5 stars!We went on Mother's day May 8th 2022 . The glasses were cloudy with a dirt film. Where we were seated the waiters kept bumping the back of my head without apology (tables to close together) The waiter Kevo'n is what he called himself kept talking over my head telling dry jokes. Then the food comes out lacking in flavor, the sausage was 2 different colors in a bowl of water. I ordered lasagna before I was half way through I started feeling nauseous. The owner and Kevin kept peeking around corners watching you which was creepy. End of story diarrhea for 3 days. I wanted to get up and leave but didn't want to ruin anybody else's Mother's day... Then when I saw the news articles about hepatitis A, I can definitely see why it happened... this place seems really sketchy... I feel like I will be safe cooking meals at home and my food tastes way better anyway and is prepared and cooked with clean hands!
Lovely first time visit. Service was outstanding. Salad was crisp and the house avocado dressing excellent. I had shrimp and scallops with linguini. All were cooked perfectly, however the lemon sauce was overpowering and way to lemony. My husband had a filet that was excellent and cooked perfectly to his requested medium rare. We’ll definitely visit again.
Worst dining experience I've ever had. We used to love this restaurant, thought it would be the perfect Valentine's day spot, but they went downhill FAST. We won't be going back ever again First off, there's no structure. For how long they've been open, you'd think they'd have the holidays down. They do not. We had reservations at 6pm, showed up 10 minutes early, still had to wait till 6:30 to be seated & watched as two sets of walk ins got seated before us. Service was horrible, they had plenty of waitresses& yet it was like pulling teeth to get one around you. Despite the amount of waiting staff they couldn't handle the amount of tables that were coming in, ran around like chickens, & the cooking staff clearly couldn't keep up either. The table next to us said they had been there for 2 hours already& hadn't gotten food, salad, or bread yet. We did get bread & water, salad took a while but wasn't too terrible (we didn't have to wait for 2 hours on it), all the while the table next to us still hasn't gotten anything yet. They were there for 3 hours when they decided to put in for a delivery service, & ate fast food at their table, never received their order from Luigi's. It took 2 & 1/2 hours for our food to arrive & it was not good, not near the quality they were last year. Not only that, but we only received half our order. Not worth the wait, not worth the over priced mediocre, at best, food. With that being said, back to structure. We later found out the hostess was the owner, & despite knowing how backed up the kitchen was, & how overwhelmed the wait staff was, still sat walk ins. Making a reservation doesn't matter here clearly. When you know your restaurant is already past max capacity & can't handle the tables already inside, you have to turn people away. Wait staff was rude. We were nice the whole time, kept giving people the benefit of the doubt, heard countless tables complain the entire time (rightfully so) but we didn't, we entertained our selves the entire time, were nice to everyone there. They were just rude& nasty. Clearly overwhelmed, however, you don't take that out on your tables, take that up with your boss who's overflowing the restaurant. Also why lie? They kept telling everyone "we're plating your food now" or to us "2 more minutes promise" just to have to wait 2-3 hours to get your food. Very unprofessional. If all the above wasn't enough to prove that, this last piece ruined the entire night. We didn't eat much, asked for boxes, the check, & the rest of our order to go. We were told we would not be receiving the rest of our order, she "didn't know what happened to it" & "they don't have that in the kitchen" all the while tables around us were currently getting exactly what we had asked for. We simply asked how other people were still able to get it when we weren't & had put in our orders well before them. She steps behind me, grabs another waitress & tell her we were cussing her out & she can't deal with a ride table.... We hadn't said a single cuss word, just wondering why we weren't receiving the rest of our order, & we were very nice& reasonable about it. This lady thinks she needs to "calm us down" (visible confusion) then decided to grab the owner, who we realized was acting as the hostess, for the night. Who clearly didn't understand anything, was brushing everything under the rug, barely paid attention to what we were saying (as we were confused why it even got to this point) she was more worried about cleaning the floor??? She didn't care that not a single table in the place enjoyed their night, she's didn't care we received half our order... she just didn't care They might've lasted 50 years, but with the lack of respect, professionalism, structure, & simple care for your customers...I don
I’ve never been to a more authentic Italian restaurant in all of Roanoke. The menu has a wide variety of truly delicious choices. I recommend the lasagna and eggplant parm. You won’t be disappointed. Their dessert is without question natural. I highly, highly recommend the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. Finally, the service here is wonderful. Professionalism aside, the staff is just kind and happy to be there, which makes the atmosphere much more pleasant. I love this place; you and your family will too. Enjoy!
It was okay. The staff were pleasant but the food was a bit meh. Might come on a special day.
I’ve never been to a more authentic Italian restaurant in all of Roanoke. The menu has a wide variety of truly delicious choices. I recommend the lasagna and eggplant parm. You won’t be disappointed. Their dessert is without question natural. I highly, highly recommend the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. Finally, the service here is wonderful. Professionalism aside, the staff is just kind and happy to be there, which makes the atmosphere much more pleasant. I love this place; you and your family will too. Enjoy!
Ordered takeout and was very quick and easy to pick-up. However food is overpriced and not the quality we expected from previous reviews. Caesar salad was good but the other salads did not have dressing. Entrees we’re far below our expectations. The seafood scampi was overly seasoned and tasted like they poured an entire bottle of wine on top. Manicotti was burnt and had similar tougher consistency to a crepe rather than pasta. Disappointed is an understatement.
I first want to say that we've been a huge fan of Luigi's for years. My late mother-in-law loved it and every time we've been before tonight was excellent. We never minded spending the higher prices as it was so worth it for the quality you received. That said, tonight was our last time. We understand that the Covid pandemic has had a huge impact on the service industry and if it were minor things we would have overlooked quite a bit. However, it wasn't just minor things but the culmination of the entire evening. It started from the beginning when we didn't get menus until 2 tables, which came in after us, had received theirs and already placed orders. We actually had to ask for menus twice before we received them. We would have been ok with that but, then, our food arrived. The chicken parm wasn't seasoned, the seafood fettuccine was watery while the mussels tasted off, the beef bracciolini had huge pieces of uncooked fat and the beef matriciana had unseasoned pasta and raw onions. I sent back the beef matriciana and got it back with more gravy, which was luke warm, but when I tried the spaghetti again it was unseasoned and was so hot it burnt my entire mouth. When items come out that hot its clear its been placed in a microwave. Especially, when the sauce is luke warm but underneath is scolding hot. These are just a few of the examples of how bad our experience was but just those were enough to make us reconsider going back.This night was a special occasion as our twins were turning 17 and we wanted to give them an extremely nice dinner to celebrate. This experience has turned them off to ever going back and, honestly, driving an hour for a disappointing meal isn't worth it. To say we are disappointed doesn't truly convey how bad our experience was. When one spends over $200 for a meal one expects an extraordinary experience. As stated previously, we understand that the pandemic has hurt the service industry the most and we do truly appreciate that. However, when a restaurant charges higher prices they have to back it up with quality. The chef appears to have lost the passion for cooking because when a microwave enters a professional kitchen it's all downhill from there.
Great meal, Great service, wonderful restaurant.