We made a 9:00 PM reservation for Valentine’s Day, knowing it would be busy, and arrived about 10 minutes early. The restaurant was packed, but it didn’t seem out of control — just what you’d expect for the holiday. Unfortunately, the night didn’t start off well. The hostess didn’t make eye contact or greet us. She simply looked at her iPad, asked for the name, walked away for a minute or two, then returned and said “follow me” while walking off ahead of us. I understand it was likely a long, stressful day, but first impressions matter, especially on a special occasion.
Once seated, we were given a prix fixe menu with five options. Our server was very kind and friendly, though she seemed a bit overwhelmed. The bigger issue was that it took over an hour just to figure out what we could order. Every 10 minutes, she would return to let us know that another item we selected was sold out. We tried ordering three different entrées — ravioli, fish, and steak — and each time were told they were no longer available. Eventually, we were handed the regular menu instead. By this point, it was after 10:00 PM and we still hadn’t successfully placed an order. At one point, we were also forgotten entirely.
When the food finally arrived, the spaghetti I ordered was cold. After the delays and menu changes, that was especially disappointing. For $160 for two entrées and a bottle of wine, the overall experience fell well short of expectations.
It wasn’t a disaster, but on a day like Valentine’s Day — when you make a reservation and expect a certain level of service — it felt like the restaurant came up short. The night wasn’t ruined, but this was easily the most disappointing part of our evening.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Jessica Nicole
Went there on Valentine’s Day wanting to have a nice dinner, we got there, it was extremely unorganized, we were seated, waited 20 minutes just to get water. Management was walking around telling everyone that they were shorted staffed because “life happens” and that they only had one server for the whole restaurant. I have never experienced service this unorganized or management this unapologetic, I do not recommend at all, the food was maybe even worse than the service. Recommend spending your money somewhere else 100%.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Jason Coleman
The food was very very fresh and the service was excellent and the pricing was great
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cristobal Salas
Terrible experience. We were seated right away and it took 40 minutes just to get our drinks. We put an order in and got the wrong salads, and when we finally got the appetizer, it was cold. Started noticing other tables walking out half meal and we decided to do the same. Manager was there and you could tell she was very overwhelmed so there was definitely something going on in the back. Hate to cast judgment on one bad experience, but we’re likely never going again. Way too expensive place. Walked across.to Amicci and found room at the bar and had an amazing meal, great service, and great atmosphere!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Keon Williams
Went on Valentines Day service was horrible, 20 minutes just to get order taken and water, mid ravioli and overall horrid experience.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Luke Schaffer
Went on Valentines Day and absolutely the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had the dinner took 2 1/2 hours to start and that’s not the worst part. They switched the cheese they put in the ravioli, dessert was terrible, apps were cold, the ravioli was also cold, the waitress seemed like it was her first week.
We should have left from the start like the 3 other tables that walked out during our meal. DO NOT TRY THIS PLACE.
Go to La Scala we trained and reservations were full.
stephanie
We have been trying restaurants in Baltimore since our daughter started med school last Fall. La Tavola will definitely be one of our favorites for the next 4 years! Ambiance is excellent - so adorable inside! The bruschetta was outstanding, and all 3 pastas we tried were delicious! Wine, martini, and a mocktail were all terrific! Cannot wait to return!
Tony
I took my daughter to an early dinner on a Sunday and we ordered pasta dishes. They were amazing but very small. Neither of us is anywhere close to overweight but we left hungry. It may have helped if they had put some bread on the table but we saw the servers about twice. My daughter could hear Tic-Toc coming from the back. We left still hungry.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 2
Abimelec Torres
Honesty, is not a good place. Don’t waste your time and money here. Bad food, horrible service.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
daniel
We had New Years dinner here and it was delicious . My husband had chicken Parmesan which he thought was very good and I had Spaghetoni with truffles, cheese, speck and mushrooms. I can honestly say this was one of the best Italian meals I have ever had. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious. And the Italian beer was not your usual stuff and also excellent. The restaurant was cute too. We will definitely be back.
Very slow kitchen on NYE for uneven food. Most restaurants are hit or miss on NYE but this experience was more disappointing than usual
Bradley Hendrix
I visited La Tavola with a party of 6 and we had a pretty good experience. We came in with high expectations based on the neighborhood, and all the reviews. Overall it was good, but nothing really blew us away, and the pasta did t really have the homemade quality we were looking for. I had the Veal Scaloppini, Eggplant parm appetizer and some olives. My friend had the fish and an antipasti plate, the cheese was good but the fish was a bit bland. Nothing was bad, but it didn’t quite live up to our expectations.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Jay
Very enjoyable for a date, attentive service and quality food. Got very noisy despite tables being spaced well.
Andrew
We had not been to LaTavola in a while and are so glad we went back! The restaurant was clean and it had a relaxed atmosphere. Our server was fantastic and the food was amazing. We highly recommend LaTavola.
Steven
Service was not good at all. the restaurant was busy but there were empty tables in the dining room, so they were not at max capacity. The most basic tasks were overlooked. First of all, the waitress could not successfully get the cork out of the bottle of wine (I had to take over after breaking the cork in half. Simple requests like grated cheese for my daughter's spaghetti were ignored until after she finished her meal. My lasagna was cold in the center, and the waitress didn't even stop by to check and see how the meal came out. By the time she stopped by, I handed her the credit card to get out of there. The meal took 2 hours to complete from start to finish. I was over the entire experience after 1 hour...
We made a 9:00 PM reservation for Valentine’s Day, knowing it would be busy, and arrived about 10 minutes early. The restaurant was packed, but it didn’t seem out of control — just what you’d expect for the holiday. Unfortunately, the night didn’t start off well. The hostess didn’t make eye contact or greet us. She simply looked at her iPad, asked for the name, walked away for a minute or two, then returned and said “follow me” while walking off ahead of us. I understand it was likely a long, stressful day, but first impressions matter, especially on a special occasion.
Once seated, we were given a prix fixe menu with five options. Our server was very kind and friendly, though she seemed a bit overwhelmed. The bigger issue was that it took over an hour just to figure out what we could order. Every 10 minutes, she would return to let us know that another item we selected was sold out. We tried ordering three different entrées — ravioli, fish, and steak — and each time were told they were no longer available. Eventually, we were handed the regular menu instead. By this point, it was after 10:00 PM and we still hadn’t successfully placed an order. At one point, we were also forgotten entirely.
When the food finally arrived, the spaghetti I ordered was cold. After the delays and menu changes, that was especially disappointing. For $160 for two entrées and a bottle of wine, the overall experience fell well short of expectations.
It wasn’t a disaster, but on a day like Valentine’s Day — when you make a reservation and expect a certain level of service — it felt like the restaurant came up short. The night wasn’t ruined, but this was easily the most disappointing part of our evening.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Went there on Valentine’s Day wanting to have a nice dinner, we got there, it was extremely unorganized, we were seated, waited 20 minutes just to get water. Management was walking around telling everyone that they were shorted staffed because “life happens” and that they only had one server for the whole restaurant. I have never experienced service this unorganized or management this unapologetic, I do not recommend at all, the food was maybe even worse than the service. Recommend spending your money somewhere else 100%.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
The food was very very fresh and the service was excellent and the pricing was great
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Terrible experience. We were seated right away and it took 40 minutes just to get our drinks. We put an order in and got the wrong salads, and when we finally got the appetizer, it was cold. Started noticing other tables walking out half meal and we decided to do the same. Manager was there and you could tell she was very overwhelmed so there was definitely something going on in the back. Hate to cast judgment on one bad experience, but we’re likely never going again. Way too expensive place. Walked across.to Amicci and found room at the bar and had an amazing meal, great service, and great atmosphere!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Went on Valentines Day service was horrible, 20 minutes just to get order taken and water, mid ravioli and overall horrid experience.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Went on Valentines Day and absolutely the worst restaurant experience I’ve ever had the dinner took 2 1/2 hours to start and that’s not the worst part. They switched the cheese they put in the ravioli, dessert was terrible, apps were cold, the ravioli was also cold, the waitress seemed like it was her first week.
We should have left from the start like the 3 other tables that walked out during our meal. DO NOT TRY THIS PLACE.
Go to La Scala we trained and reservations were full.
We have been trying restaurants in Baltimore since our daughter started med school last Fall. La Tavola will definitely be one of our favorites for the next 4 years! Ambiance is excellent - so adorable inside! The bruschetta was outstanding, and all 3 pastas we tried were delicious! Wine, martini, and a mocktail were all terrific! Cannot wait to return!
I took my daughter to an early dinner on a Sunday and we ordered pasta dishes. They were amazing but very small. Neither of us is anywhere close to overweight but we left hungry. It may have helped if they had put some bread on the table but we saw the servers about twice. My daughter could hear Tic-Toc coming from the back. We left still hungry.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 2
Honesty, is not a good place. Don’t waste your time and money here. Bad food, horrible service.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
We had New Years dinner here and it was delicious . My husband had chicken Parmesan which he thought was very good and I had Spaghetoni with truffles, cheese, speck and mushrooms. I can honestly say this was one of the best Italian meals I have ever had. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious. And the Italian beer was not your usual stuff and also excellent. The restaurant was cute too. We will definitely be back.
Restaurantji Recommends
Very slow kitchen on NYE for uneven food. Most restaurants are hit or miss on NYE but this experience was more disappointing than usual
I visited La Tavola with a party of 6 and we had a pretty good experience. We came in with high expectations based on the neighborhood, and all the reviews. Overall it was good, but nothing really blew us away, and the pasta did t really have the homemade quality we were looking for. I had the Veal Scaloppini, Eggplant parm appetizer and some olives. My friend had the fish and an antipasti plate, the cheese was good but the fish was a bit bland. Nothing was bad, but it didn’t quite live up to our expectations.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Very enjoyable for a date, attentive service and quality food. Got very noisy despite tables being spaced well.
We had not been to LaTavola in a while and are so glad we went back! The restaurant was clean and it had a relaxed atmosphere. Our server was fantastic and the food was amazing. We highly recommend LaTavola.
Service was not good at all. the restaurant was busy but there were empty tables in the dining room, so they were not at max capacity. The most basic tasks were overlooked. First of all, the waitress could not successfully get the cork out of the bottle of wine (I had to take over after breaking the cork in half. Simple requests like grated cheese for my daughter's spaghetti were ignored until after she finished her meal. My lasagna was cold in the center, and the waitress didn't even stop by to check and see how the meal came out. By the time she stopped by, I handed her the credit card to get out of there. The meal took 2 hours to complete from start to finish. I was over the entire experience after 1 hour...
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