Villaggio Prime Bar and Grille

Review summary

1. J

   Jared

   Greater Boston

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   The Christmas menu was fantastic! Had the elk sirloin & it was perfect! Tanya the bartender was great fun. We had a wonderful holiday feast.
   

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2. R

   Robert

   VIP

   Greater Boston

   35 reviews

   4.0

   35 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 3

   We enjoyed Christmas dinner this year at Villaggio. Unfortunately, our experience started off negatively. We arrived on time for our reservation, only to run into a crowd of others, squished into the hallway with a line out the door, waiting to be seated. There was no host or hostess to even take our name. We ended up managing to get a drink at the bar before getting seated - 45 minutes late. Bartender was great, but there was only one and she was badly overworked and certainly very stressed. Finally got seated at our table and enjoyed a very good meal, but not what I would have expected given the premium fixed price that Villaggio charged. Waitress was excellent (but so overworked she literally yawned taking our order). Appetizers were so-so, Caesar salad was overdressed and somewhat wilted (but still very good) and bread on table could have been very good but it had clearly been sitting in the basket for too much time. However, our two pasta entrees were truly excellent - both quality and portion size! And dessert, a dark chocolate cake, was very moist and delicious. We’d go again, but restaurant was clearly overbooked and/or understaffed.
   

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3. E

   Esila

   Key West

   6 reviews

   5.0

   6 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   The food here was fantastic! We sat at the bar and our bartender/waitress, Tanya, was terrific. My eggplant rollatini was a lighter entree (this can be heavy, but not here), with a delicious marinara sauce—Gorgonzola cheese was bonus flavor! My Villaggio salad was fresh and chopped and the Chianti creamy Italian dressing was sooo good. My cod entry was lemony, salty goodness. And the desserts were delicious. It was so cool eating in an old home..really loved it!
   

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4. M

   Michelle

   Greater Boston

   6 reviews

   5.0

   6 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Perfect Christmas Dinner! Delicious! Many thanks to Jenna and Chef Jay!
   

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5. k

   ken

   VIP

   Greater Boston

   19 reviews

   1.0

   19 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 1

   When you make Christmas dinner reservations two weeks in advance for eight adults and are required to pre-pay for dinner, you’d expect the restaurant to be prepared. That was not the case. If I didn’t prepay, I would have left. The waitress was certainly nice enough, however she did not have the support she needed to serve a table of eight as well as the other tables she was serving. The restaurant was clearly under staffed. Here’s how the four hour torture went. Arrive, wait fifteen minutes to be seated. Sit down, order water and drinks, wait thirty minutes. Receive drinks, order appetizers. Wait thirty minutes. Finish appetizers and wait thirty minutes to order dinner. Wait forty five minutes for dinner. Seven out of eight dinners served. Wait twenty five minutes for the eighth dinner to be served. Tell waitress we will be taking dessert to go. Wait an hour for boxes for take out and bill. Look for waitress to pay bill. Infuriating! To say the least. Four hours, the food was good, but the service was horrendous making the food seem just ok. The sad part is that the owner won’t see this but if he did, he won’t give shyt. Sad! Needless to say I will not be returning. Ever !
   

   Villaggio Prime Bar and GrilleResponded 3 days ago

   Hey Ken, my only response is sorry that your waitress ordered a veal instead of a chicken piccata, funny though when I visited your table everyone was happy. Merry Christmas.
   

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6. B

   Beverly

   Greater Boston

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Rose was awesome. The food was divine. It was a memorable Christmas. Things were a little slow but with 4 courses, slow was preferable. I loved it!!! I had a wonderful filet and the Cape COD salad.
   

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7. J

   Jill

   Greater Boston

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 4 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 3

   7:45pm reservation. Got seated at 8:15pm. Restaurant was overbooked and understaffed. Food was underwhelming considering the price. If a plate states it has a lobster tail in it’s Fra Diablo there should be a whole lobster tail, Not a couple of small pieces. Also was not very spicy. Other plates were adequate but did not reflect their price. Waitress tried her best but had not been adequately trained. Did not get served dinner until 9:30. Table of 8 in same room as us, left and table was not cleared for an hour. No bus staff and hostess did not bus tables either. Manager was in the kitchen cooking, an assistant manager is needed to manage the front of the house. The hostess was overwhelmed and unable to stay organized when turning the tables. All 4 of us work or have worked in the restaurant business so we know what we’re talking about. We tipped well as we appreciated someone working so we could enjoy a dinner out, but we will not be back here until staff shortages and lack of sufficient management have been addressed.
   

   Villaggio Prime Bar and GrilleResponded 1 day ago

   Hello Jill, yes very busy. Just wanted to point out I have never served a lobster tail in my fra-diavolo, not sure where you read that from and yes every lobster meat portion is weighed out and store in individual zip lock backs, I am sure you missed a few pieces within your tomato sauce. If you wanted your sauce spicier you could have easily sent it back, would have taken a minute to make to your liking. If you have worked in the business then you understand about staffing. Things happen outside the restaurants control, will stop there because should I say anymore you will be upset you even wrote this review.
   

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8. D

   Denisy

   Greater Boston

   4 reviews

   3.0

   4 reviews

   Dined 5 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 4

   Second year at Villagio on Christmas Eve, we had such a great time 2023 we brought guests … We don’t mind the wait at all, in fact the amount of time we’re “allowed to stay” at a table is why we chose Villagio, servers are always helpful and polite, no moodiness here in spite of complaints all around due to delays - it took 45 min for our drinks to arrive after we sat down, we had water and olive oil dip at the table but no bread, that was a very long unpleasant wait! - We kinda came prepared for the wait however food quality we’ve never had a problem ‘till now … Crispy Pork Belly Bites for starters was not crispy and barely warm, also ordered the Calamari ( it was hot and crispy and delicious), I ordered the “ Oscar “ Grilled asparagus + Lobster covered in hollandaise sauce and added Veal, hadn’t seen this in the menu before so was thrilled to try, It was COLD, hollandaise had congealed on top of everything… it’s a pricey plate so the least u expect is hot food! We were afraid to complain and have food taken away to warm up since it took 2:45 min for it to make to the table … other dinners were Chicken Parmigiana (our guest didn’t complain) + and a couple of the Seafood Fra Diavolo (always very good, very consistent dish)…ordered tiramisu and apple crisp to share, server forgot extra spoons and made a funny joke about it we all laughed in good humor, however he never brought extra spoons, last year I found the jars and utensils station and refilled our waters and grabbed extra utensils however this year we shared our 2 spoons with 5 people. I was unfortunately disappointed this year, for Special Occasions will NOT be taking this chance again. Sorry NO food pictures, was too bummed to take any!
   

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9. N

   Nancy

   Tampa

   1 review

   4.0

   1 review

   Dined 5 days ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Staffing shortage! Long wait for service. Yet I have to say that the wait person did his best.
   

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10. J

    Judy

    Greater Boston

    2 reviews

    4.0

    2 reviews

    Dined 5 days ago

    1. Overall 4
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 4
    4. Ambience 5

    Our party of five went to Villaggio for the first time on Christmas Eve, the only place open for an early dinner. Our server was excellent and made it a fun experience. The place was packed and he was the only server for several parties in our room. He did a great job juggling all of the tables, especially when he could have been home with his family and friends. My hope is that there would be additional servers on a regular night.
    

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