Italy Dining Advice?

FlyingBelle

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 14, 2006
Messages
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For our trip in August my Mother-in-Law wants to eat in Italy. I've always by-passed it for more scenic dining.

We're a party of 4 adults. Any comments/food suggestions???? We're flexible with our day/time - more concerned about the quality of the food or some of your favorite menu items.

Did I mention we're a bunch of I-talians from Chicago? :smooth:
 
We ate in Italy more than 10 yrs ago and were not impressed (I-talians form Long Island). We went there for a late lunch last summer and were pleasantly surprised. The food was excellent and the service was wonderful. It's not easy to impress DH with italian food as he would always say why pay for something he could get better at home. But we put it on our dining list again for this August. Can't recall what everyone had, but we were not disappointed.
 

We love Italian food.....and we adored Alfredo's!! We went twice on our last trip and we are going back again this year! The experience is very cool.
Give it a try... you might like it!
 
We had lunch there on a mid week day in June. The place was not busy at all. We had lousy service, which started as soon as the waiter relized we were not going to order multiple courses or wine. We could barley get our drinks refilled and all of our food was lukewarm-ick! And of course we could not flag down the waiter to get it corrected.
We had better service/food at Olive Garden. We won't go back again...

Bev
 
I suggest a late lunch over dining at regular times. We've found we get MUCH better service and food quality by doing this. We were married in the Italy Pavilion, so we love going there and after several disappointing meals, someone suggested the late lunch to us. We're amazed how much better it's been -- many fantatic meals at Alfredo's in the last four years. We love the calimari, chicken parm., al fredo (app portion is perfect for DH and I to each have a sample without getting stuffed) and the Italian Margarita (made with Lemoncello). Enjoy!
 
While Alfredo's is off my list of places I'll ever eat again (questionable service and terrible management policies...I'll elaborate below), the signature fettuccini is very good. I've come close to replicating at home, but haven't obtained the Plugra butter to make it complete. Other menu items are ok, but nothing to ooh and ahh about. You'll get just as good I talian in Chi town or Long Island. We've had better lunch experiences than dinner.

Now, here are the things that put me off about Alfredos, and it's mostly management related, although the servers are more often than not rushed to even rude and inattentive (but not always). You see, Alfredos is a little different from most of the Disney operated and managed Epcot restaurants. Alfredos is operated by an outside vendor, the company that has the original restaurant in Italy. Being that they are independently managed, they make policy decisions that I think are at odds with what Disney generally does. Yes, it is their right, but some of their decisions to me seem bad. Let me relate a couple of stories.

This one was the drinking straw that broke this camels back. As you know, softdrink refills are free at all WDW sit down restaurants (well, not all as I learned). That includes sodas and lemonade. I opt for the lemonade in the heat, and had been drinking lemonade, including free refills, at all manner of WDW restaurants for a week leading up to our last and final Alfredos meal. As usual, and as I've done at Alfredos before without issue, I had the lemonade. I had two refills. When the bill came this time I was charged for three lemonades. $6+ for lemonade. I politely brought it to the attention of the server, who seemed less than interested in helping me, and informed me that their lemonade comes from the bar and is not considered a softdrink. Well, things change I guess and you live and you learn......but in cases like that I always make management aware of my opinions. So I speak to the manager on the way out, and he progresses through a bunch of BS stories before we get to the heart of the matter. First he states that Alfredos lemonade if different from that served elsewhere throughout WDW. That was bu.....let's just say it was the same lemonade I'd been drinking for a week. Then he tells me about the management situation which doesn't move me as I think it's bad business, for Alfredos and WDW, to treat an item differently in their location than it's treated elsewhere in the World. So he elaborates a bit more on management decisions, which I agree are their right, all the while still unmoved as I state that it is my right not to patronize an establishment whose policies I don't agree with. To which he asks, "So you think the lemonade was too much?" Yes, this manager knew well and good that they were pushing a decision to try and squeeze out a few extra dollars of profit, and I assured him that it did indeed cross a line for me. At that point he did offer me my $4 back, but I refused as it was more about the principle to me, not the money.

Now I suppose one might overlook that principle issue if it were the only instance where I disagreed with management decisions, but it wasn't. Let me just say that I suggest avoiding Alfredos if you are on any kind of a package, or have any kind of a voucher. They limit your selections much more than any other location, and we've eaten at most places throughout WDW. When I've paid for a package or voucher that entitles everyone to an app, entree and dessert, it irks me when they tell me my kids can only have a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or that the only appetizer I can have is a salad.

End of rant.
 
Just an aside, we've never used a package at Alfredo's, but we've always used DDE without a problem and before that our CM discount.
 
Our family ate at Alfredo's last year during the F&W and we all said "NOT AGAIN". Granted it was F&W and the restaurant was busy but the service was poor and the food was boring and bland. We had eaten once before a couple of years back and it was OK but we thought we would give it another shot...bad idea. As others have mentioned, service was not great, servers seemed more interested in being anywhere but there and food was dropped off and they just plain disappeared until they came peddling dessert and the check. I think DW may have had a glass of wine but the bill was over $120 for two kids meals some Alfredo and some Veal meal for the wife. I think we would eat burgers and chicken fingers before doing this again.

Everyone's experience is different and it was very busy but I would not expect gourmet italian by any means.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Schuey
 
Does anyone know what the DP limitations are here? We have ADR's for my daughter's birthday dinner next month and am wondering if we have made a mistake. I know she will not want to be limited in her choices on her birthday!
 
Although I do agree that most of the items on the menu are nothing special... By far thier food is not bad and some are very good. First understand that Italian food is a matter of opinion.. there are many different types and one may prefer one style over another. I am Italian and my grandfather owned a large restuarant in NYC (another story)... He could cook... another friend of mine who is Italian went there last year and loved it.....not to mention my family..
This is a place for Pasta... if that is what you want and like then it is for you if not try Portobello or Moma Melrose they are both great as well and have differnt types of menus. as far as the service never had a problem in fact I think it has been better there then some others.... Agreeing with Managmanet well I understand the issue but I have had Pizza at places with service charge me 2.50 a COKE 10.00 for my wife and I....... not happy but hey I know better next time :bounce: and I do mean a Pizza place with tables and chairs with no special decor no theming and a Pizza counter... I will stress i was not happy aboout paying for it but you have to laugh when a place like that has the balls to cahrge 10 for coke and 8 for pizza :rotfl: GET A GRIP is what I say
I would recomend I have always had a good time and the food (pasta dishes) are very good. :thumbsup2
 


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