Italy dining???

[KAT1811]

Any new information on the new italian eatery in Epcot? I saw the "menu" in info central but was hoping that someone had some feedback. How drastic a renovation did they do?

[Figment!]

How drastic a renovation did they do?

The location itself has yet to be renovated, it is essentially the former location under new management.

The physical renovation of the location will come as phase II.

See The Patina Restaurant Group Selected for New Epcot Dining Location for more details of the transition.

[KAT1811]

I've read that but figured maybe someone had some additional personal insight.

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

We had dinner there last week. The appearance looked to still be the same as it was when we ate there two years ago. Only difference that I noticed is that near the check in where they have the glass viewing area, they were not making pasta, but instead were now preparing some of the desserts I think.

I wasn't impressed with the food. It was ok, but for the price, we were on the dining plan, but without alcohol our dinner still would have topped $100 for two people, and it just wasn't that good. And the service was just ok and they no longer interact with the guests by singing and napkin waving, at least they didn't when we were there.

It's a busy place, but we left with just an ok feeling, which was a lot different then our first visit there.

[Mackflava99]

We were there last year and the food was blah-
not bad buy not as good as our local italian restauran in NJ, Maybe i am spoiled, but i had much better meals at other countries- . Again, not bad, but not worth the $$- i hope they do re-invent the menu.

[grego77]

I will be there Sat night...so I'll definitely let you know.

[KAT1811]

I will be there Sat night...so I'll definitely let you know.

Looking forward to a review. Very interested in the new menu.

[ldn324]

We were just at Tutto Italia last week and were horribly disappointed. Service was atrocious - server insisted on taking our DP card/room charge card and keeping it the entire meal. We finally asked for it back and she gave it reluctantly. Food was very inconsistent - for instance, DH's entree was tiny and mine was huge. I had the fennel roasted pork and, while the taste was OK, it was dry and chewy as a dog toy. Just not impressive at all and could have done much better for food and service at a local Italian place. Finally when we were finished, the server asked for our card again. We hadn't received a bill. She said, no, I'll just "run it through" and refused to let us see the check first. We were on the DP but had ordered wine on a separate ticket. Last straw - we called for the manager, Claudio, who did comp the entire meal. We just wished we had cancelled that ADR and gone with something else so we could have caught Illuminations that night.

I'm hoping this was a rare instance and that service is not always that horrible. DH is an Italian born in Jersey so we definitely can appreciate good authentic Italian food - Tutto Italia is just not it. We won't try it again.

Hopefully your dining experience will be far better than ours. Salut and best wishes for your upcoming meal!

[KarenP]

We had dinner there in October and the food and service were excellent. It was the best meal of our trip.

[KAT1811]

Wow I am not thinking at this point that we'll not be dining in Italy on our next trip. DH will be so disappointed but, afterall, we are used to very good authentic dining. To begin with our standards are very high (as all of you with great italian restaurants in your area know) and this does not seem promising.

[kriskay]

I visited Tutto Italia in early November and I was very happy with the food. I ordered the Penne Caprese. My friend had some kind of panini that she also really enjoyed. Our bill was not too bad either...although I don't remember exactly how much.
Our server was REALLY busy! She was running around crazily...I think they were understaffed. It was obvious that they teach "team effort" there, however, because we were well taken care of for refills, extra napkins etc...it was just a different server each time!
Overall, wonderful experience. Would go back if I were the type to eat at the same places..but I like trying new things every time!

[MrsDevlin2007]

I don't think they did much of a renovation. I ate at the old restaurant in Italy and just ate at Tutto Italia on Friday evening. AMAZING. The food was phenomenal. I had the Taggliatelle Bolognese (sp?). GREAT! DH had the Penne Caprese and we ordered the Tomato & mozzarella salad for appetizer.

[MrsDevlin2007]

Oh, and also...we had an ADR for Tutto Italia for 9:15 on Friday and stopped in around 7pm. We had NO issue getting a table earlier than our scheduled reservation. We were able to catch Illuminations, which was great!

[plumberswife]

We were there this past Friday for lunch. It was a beautiful day so we sat outside. We ordered a $65.00 bottle of wine, the antipasto, and my husband had the Fish Fillet & I had the Salmon. Everything (including the wine) was EXCELLANT. My husband is not a big fish eater and he said it was very good. The Antipasto was big enough for 3 people, alot of variety of meats,cheeses & olives. The whole bill came out to around 150.00 but we have the DDE so it ended up being some where around 120.00. Our waiter was very attentive also and the food came out at good intervals. Yes, we did finish the bottle of wine!

[Knitty Kitty]

We ate at Tutto Italia on Thursday Dec. 7, 2007. I admit I was a bit leery about eating here, since I'd been reading some not so great reviews. How silly to have worried!
Flat out amazing food. We started with the Grand Antipasto Misto platter for two and completely demolished it. What can I say, we were hungry.
For entrees, I had the veal tortelloni and DBF had the fennel roasted pork loin. I absolutely loved what I ordered. It is so easy to screw up a cream sauce; either too heavy or by having it break. This was perfect, nice delicate flavor and rich without being greasy. It was finished with a bit of truffle oil which gave it just a little something extra that was wonderful. The pork was really good too, not overdone and very juicy. Desserts were good but not great. DBF had tiramisu and I had the chocolate torte. I thought the tiramisu was a bit too sweet and the torte was good just not outstanding. We decided that Tutto Italia was the best meal of our trip. I wouldn't hesitate to make an ADR there.

[ldn324]

Out of curiosity, those of you who used the DP for Tutto Italia and enjoyed your meal, was your DP card taken from you for the entire meal? And when it was time to settle the bill, were you allowed to see the bill?

We were just terribly confused as to why they treated us that way and even guest relations in the park seemed baffled why the waitress would insist on this. Is it a policy of that particular restaurant to hold your card the entire meal, then refuse to give you the bill if you are on the DP?

I hate to even mention - or think - of this, but we couldn't help but feel that we might have been discriminated against by our server. We are "non-traditional" looking individuals - mainly DH with lots of tattoos and piercings. Again, I don't want to believe that anyone in WDW would be that judgmental, but we couldn't help but feel that our server somehow looked at us and thought we seemed like the type of people to skip out on a bill or something.

Paranoid of me perhaps, but if I knew they asked that of every guest, it would make me feel a little better.

[The Hitchhiking Ghost]

We had 8 dinners on the DDP, everyone including Tuto Italia took the card for a brief period of time and each one came back with the bifold dinner bill book with a 3 receipts, one that had the itemized total bill, and the other duplicate that we signed for them and one we kept showing what we had left for remaining TS.

Our bill for two people on the DDP, no alcohol, was over $100. In the midwest that's a lot to pay for an Italian dinner, and I didn't think it measured up to it's cost. The difference between the service and atmosphere at LeCellier and Tuto is miles apart, yet the cost at LeCellier was actually less.

I'm pretty certain we would not dine at Italy again, too many other choices that we like and too many that we haven't tried yet.

Our service was friendly, but hardly personal. Everyone just looked too busy to spend any more time than was absolutely necessary at the tables. I think we had to request refills twice.

[ldn324]

We had 8 dinners on the DDP, everyone including Tuto Italia took the card for a brief period of time and each one came back with the bifold dinner bill book with a 3 receipts, one that had the itemized total bill, and the other duplicate that we signed for them and one we kept showing what we had left for remaining TS.

We fully expected to have the restaurants take our card when it was time to settle up. But our server at TI insisted on taking the card when we first got there - before we even ordered - and planned on keeping our entire meal. Then she refused to let us see the bill before running the card through, even for the items we were paying separately for. When we asked for the bill, she actually said "no, I will just run it through". Umm, no you won't - not until I see what you are charging to me. And she was horribly rude about the whole thing.

Sounds like it was just us this happened to which makes me sad for the original reason I mentioned - but at least happy for those of you who enjoyed your experience. Guess it's just not for everyone.

[KAT1811]

I'm sure there are other factors involved:

1.) Maybe one of her tables had recently skipped out on dinner. (I've worked in restaurants that hold the server responsible for the entire bill if this happens, many have had to pay OOP above and beyond their nightly tips) Maybe she was being overly cautious.

2.) Maybe she was very inexperienced and didn't know better. Dining in Europe is very different than in the US.

3.) Maybe she was having a very bad night in general. (not that it would be an excuse but maybe a reason.)

4.) Maybe that is how she "turns" her tables quickly. (By running their check at the completion of the meal and not taking the time to drop the check, wait for the party to look it over, put their card down, pick it up, run it, and then return the check and wait for them to sign. Plus it is a rude "it's time to go" hint some servers in the industry employ.) The more table turns she has the more money she makes. Not good service but it happens.

One of the beautiful things about WDW is that people can be who they are and everyone fits in. I'd like to think that there isn't a WDW employee in the World that would discriminate simply because of an alternative look.