Tutto Italia - Awful

[DonLefNY]

If you get terrible service or food - complain. For lunch on 11/12 we dined at Tutto Italia. The food was the worse we've ever had at WDW and the service was awful.

First, our waiter had the worst breath I've run into in my memory and he'd get right in our faces. Minor thing, we requested some butter - never got it. Nancy's food was burnt and you could tell they tried to hid it. My sandwich turned out to be the most awful ham and cheese basically. To top it off we sat near the servers station and watched them make fun of quests. We would hear Italian with "Amerikano" accompanied by pointing at guests and laughing. Nancy was fumming when we left and got the info on their corporate headquarters in Calif. Upon our return home she fired off an email. :mad:

Today we got a reply offering to refund our money and asking for the guest check so that the staff could be tracked down.

[lighteningqueen]

I so did not want to hear this.. I have ressies for Dec10 for dinner. I just wanted to try something new. I will order the caprese I think it has no meat and I am not hung up on dead tasting meat so take it carefully by not ordering it. Maye it will be ok when we get there. What was the waiters name so we make sure not to get him??

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I am so sorry you had such a rotten experience!

But, I am relieved to hear that the company responded so quickly and is taking your concerns seriously...hopfully the complaint will bring about change.

[Polynesian Dweller]

I have to agree about the food quality at Tutto Italia. We started with appetizers which were great and thought this was going to be good.

And then, the entrees. My pasta was absolutely the worst I've ever had. The pasta was mushy and the sauce was so bland I didn't even get the slightest taste of tomato much less any spices. Terrible.

My DW had a fish dish and she loves fish. This is the first time I've ever seen her not finish the fish portion. She too found it so bland (to the point of tasteless) that she couldn't think of finishing it. So this wasn't just a case of my ordering a dish that the restaurant doesn't do well.

The desserts afterwards were Ok but by that time the meal was ruined.

We did not have any problems with our wait staff and they were friendly and attentive. However, I still could not recommend this restaurant and we won't return.

[J9]

I have eaten at Tutto Italia twice since it reopened...and I LOVE IT! I haven't had bad service yet. I got the Papparadelli both times and it was to die for. The rest of my family loved it too and we have made it a must for our trips. (We're a very italian family too, so we're very picky about our food!!)

[PetefromRI]

Another big fan here.The service to the the food.All was good.

[Ms. Mode]

You know, I've seen pictures of their food and decided against it. Thanks for the report.

[SBETigg]

What a terrible experience! So sorry that happened to you.

But keep in mind that different guests have different experiences and points of view. I love restaurants that have gotten bad reviews and people love restaurants at which I had really terrible experiences. There are ups and downs. If you have ADRs for Tutto Italia, I wouldn't let it scare you off. Which isn't to take away from the OP's really bad time there. Thanks for reporting. I hope the staff is tracked down and corrections are made.

[marlaine]

We ate at Tutto for the first time this past Sept. and it was amazing! By far, the best meal of our trip! Service was flawless, from the server to the hostess to the busgirl. The meal itself was outstanding. My DH had lampchops and loved them. I had pasta which was great, and my DS had spaghetti, which he loved. The sauce was great!
The whole experience was wonderful. In fact, when we go back next Sept., I'm trying to fit lunch and dinner into our itinerary.
Goes to show you, same place, different experience. I would never be hesitant to dine there again.

[lighteningqueen]

I think what worries me most is all the post and where they are from. Italian food from up in the northern states is way different than southern. If it is anything like Olive Garden then I just cannot eat it. But at the same time I do not want it to taste like they opened a can of crushed tomatoes with no seasoning either. We eat at Crystal Palace at 8am that morning maybe we should stuff ourselve's silly :sick:so just in case it is not so good. If waitstaff is bad to us I am not afraid to go get someone or get the manager to get us another one. I have never had a meal that I could not wait to get back to to eat at WDW. I think alot of reviews on the good can sometimes be that its our first or few times we went and we are so glad to be there and enjoying every minute of Disney that anything can taste good. I know that was the case with us. 2007 wonderful. 2008 wondered why we thought those places tasted good then.Not 1 of 9 days did we have the dinner meal taste good. But we put alot of breakfast in last year and that made a difference. How can you mess up breakfast... So we ate counter at night.

[Polynesian Dweller]

I understand lighteningqueens point but in our case it's not about from being from the north. We travel extensively and enjoy trying things from different regions and cultures. Not all things end up being to our taste but we can still appreciate them and that they were done well.

That was not the case for us at Tutto Italia. This was a case that the pasta wasn't cooked to any standard it was almost a paste rather than pasta. It had almost zero flavor. The fish was like it hadn't seen any seasoning at all and was actually flavorless, not even a fish flavour. So it wasn't about different tastes but rather poor prepartion and no flavor.

SBETigg is right about different people's perceptions and I still encourage people to give places a try I'd they haven't. But we have to say what our experiences were and hope that it's better for the next people.

[lighteningqueen]

Thanks for understanding. I know you will understand. You might think foods we have in Texas are no where as good as what you get up North. Vise versa. I have never been north so cannot comment on that. Canadians also post on here and have different taste as well. We do not all cook the same so our pallets are not the same. I am going any way and hope for the best. If not, I will not give it a second chance like I did O'hanas and it was a totally bad meal. 2 times.

[BrerGnat]

We had an excellent experience there in April, so this is disappointing to read. Everyone in the staff that we encountered was so friendly! Even the host joked with me when I arrived late and my friends were already seated. Our waiter took time to answer our questions about the menu, and even taught us how to correctly pronounce a few words in Italian. He was awesome! Our food was excellent. And, we had a very authentic and picky Italian in our party. ;) I think she loved it the most...

Hope this issue was isolated, and that they work to correct it soon!

[Bellewannabe]

I don't know what to think! We were there on Halloween for a wine and food pairing as part of the International Food and Wine Festival and we LOVED it. We'd never tried the restaurant previously because we are from part of the northeast known for access to good Italian food and figured we'd be disappointed. So our experience in Oct was such a pleasant surprise that we said we'd try the restaurant's regular menu. Now I don't know if I should!

[PlutoPlanet]

We had a good meal at Tutto Italia in August. They moved us in and out quickly, maybe because we were seated at 5 pm. We have some excellent Italian restaurants in the Boston area and thought TI was fine.

[DVCDisneyMom]

We love it there! I'm so shocked to read this! Never went for lunch before, but our dinners have always been INCREDIBLE!!!

[Shugoondola]

Oh no...I didn't want to read a bad report. I have an ADR for next month and it'll be my first time there. I sure hope my experience will be better.

:mickey:

[DonLefNY]

OP here, just some more info. My wife is from an Italian family (grandmother was born there, southern) so she's pretty familiar with Italian food and the language. She ran some stuff by her mom (whose first language was Italian) who confirmed that they were making fun of guests.

Several years ago we had one of her favorite meals here.

We sent our info off to the company today.

[ElenitaB]

Don, glad you wrote them and that your concerns were addressed. If I were your wife, I would have been furious too.

We've eaten a few times and found certain dishes to be quite good and a few to be excellent (I grew up in the next town over from Bellewannabe). But you're right, some of the staff does have an attitude (in our case, it was the maitre d'). And others are also right: we all have different palates and expectations.

[TheDuckRocks]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed as we will be having dinner at Tutto Itlaia in 18 days as in the past we have found TI to be one of our dining highlights at WDW. We have gone there several times since they opened for both lunch and dinner and have never had any problem with either the food or the service, it has always been excellent for us. I do know that all restaurants do have bad days with food and/or service. I hope that we don't run into what you experienced or that it has become the norm there.

[Ian]

Huh ... just goes to show you that WDW dining is unpredictable at best.

I've eaten at Tutto Italia twice and had nothing but fantastic service and fantastic meals.

And just for context, I come from an Italian family and live in the Northeast which is home to some of the best Italian food outside of Italy. I know good Italian.

As far as the making fun of Americans goes, I'm quite certain that happens at many of the Epcot restaurants and it honestly doesn't bother me that much. Many Americans deserve to be made fun of. ;)

[NJGIRL]

Nothing is worse than being ready to have a great experience, looking forward to it and being disappionted whether it be a meal, vacation etc... especially when you are paying good money for the experience.

I always believe that if you are paying for something and not happy you should let the proper person know. It is always good to give management feedback good or bad. I'm sorry you had a bad meal.

We have eaten there before liked the food and had no problem with the staff and probably will go back but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't give them another chance. I can't see me having a really bad meal then going back when there are so many other choices in EPCOT.

[tesslor]

We were also there on 11/12.
We had spectacular food and service. In fact, it was our favorite meal of the trip and we had 11 TS meals. DD asked if we could cancel something and go back to Italy!

Our waiter was wonderful. The pumpkin raviolli was delicious!

We did have a very late ADR 8:25, so maybe this had something to do with it.

[bruin1344]

I found the food mediocre but i am an italian food snob. I would eat there again if someone i was with wanted to.

I was disappointed they didnt have chicken parm.

[jillluvsdisney]

I'm shocked to read your review. We had a great lunch there last year. We have dinner ressies there before CandleLight in 2 weeks.

@Ian....I agree with you.

[chrisie703]

Sorry you had a bad meal, but thank you for complaining. That's the only way things can improve.
We ate there 3 years ago, when it was under other management. Alfredo's maybe? It was excellent. But with the prices up, and the food and service down, we will not be returning.
Thanks for the review.:mickey:

[Terk24]

I think the food is mediocore and the prices excessive (even for Disney's standards).

[wildernesslady]

I have always enjoyed it there. Looking forward to it next Tuesday.

[lockedoutlogic]

Huh ... just goes to show you that WDW dining is unpredictable at best.

No truer words doth be spoken...especially since the dining plan has allowed them to cut the corners of the quality...resulting in all meals appearing in the shape of a donut:secret:



I've eaten at Tutto Italia twice and had nothing but fantastic service and fantastic meals.

We were there in November of 07 (last food and wine festival trip before the kiddies....ohh, the pain) and it had literally opened two days before - after the management changeover....the food was excellent...the service was good....it was basically the same as what alfredo's had been. But as you say - that is more often than not a WDW crapp shoot


And just for context, I come from an Italian family and live in the Northeast which is home to some of the best Italian food outside of Italy. I know good Italian.

Yeah...this comes up all the time. I know there's this thing between Philadelphia and Boston about "real italian"...and granted, it is warranted in some cases...but it really is just a reflection of saturation...my work town (the great capital of the great garden state) has 400 restaurants within 10 miles...and 397 of them serve italian. some of the vaunted northeastern italian is great, some of it is average...some of it is bad. It's not geography that guarantees anything in food...it's about who's cooking and what they're using. (wait...pittsburgh has terrible fish and terrible italian...that is a geographic certainty)

The "hey...I'm ITALIAN" thing is way overdone. My wife's family talks about It-ly all the time, but they wouldn't know anything about it if the boot came up and gave them a kick in the tuccas. I'm a Scot...but i don't wear a kilt and toss a caber in the backyard. you know? American is good enough.


As far as the making fun of Americans goes, I'm quite certain that happens at many of the Epcot restaurants and it honestly doesn't bother me that much. Many Americans deserve to be made fun of. ;)

here's another one of my pinpoints (boy...seems like there's alot of that going around lately:thedolls:)
Remember that alot of the staff at the showcase restaurants are WDW International program participants....and they tend to be kinda loose (by that...i mean kinda lucky kids that can run wild in probably the best state in the US without any real consequences) kids looking for a good old time in the USA....disney boxes them up in those apartment complexes over by Little Lake Bryan....they show up for work (occasionally)...and tend to run wild the other 128 hours a week.

The college program is largely the same...only comprised of a usually privileged (or spoiled...your choice) teenies/twenties living it up

I know, I know...THAT"S Horrible!!!

Well...it's also the truth, so some snickering at customers in the Showcase is kinda where the bar is set by WDW's labor arrangements...
It is still not appropriate...but Europeans (in particular) have been snickering at Americans since V-E Day...and Americans have been doing it back (with increasing frequency in years as of late) just as much.

Here endeth the geo-politico WDW dining review:mickey:

[ElenitaB]

Remember that alot of the staff at the showcase restaurants are WDW International program participants....and they tend to be kinda loose (by that...i mean kinda lucky kids that can run wild in probably the best state in the US without any real consequences) kids looking for a good old time in the USA....disney boxes them up in those apartment complexes over by Little Lake Bryan....they show up for work (occasionally)...and tend to run wild the other 128 hours a week.

The college program is largely the same...only comprised of a usually privileged (or spoiled...your choice) teenies/twenties living it up
I really think that we need to stay on topic. I've had the privilege to meet kids in both the International program and the college program. I believe that the view you've put forth here is not only off topic but erroneous. Had the College Program existed when I was in school (back in the Middle Ages :old: ), I most certainly would have applied as it is a great opportunity to gain some experience in an organization highly-thought of in the business world. And my friends who have participated in the College Program are anything but spoiled, priviliged kids heading down to FL for a beer fest.

I'm stepping off my soap box now but not before reminding everyone to stay... ON TOPIC.

[lockedoutlogic]

I really think that we need to stay on topic. I've had the privilege to meet kids in both the International program and the college program. I believe that the view you've put forth here is not only off topic but erroneous. Had the College Program existed when I was in school (back in the Middle Ages :old: ), I most certainly would have applied as it is a great opportunity to gain some experience in an organization highly-thought of in the business world. And my friends who have participated in the College Program are anything but spoiled, priviliged kids heading down to FL for a beer fest.

I'm stepping off my soap box now but not before reminding everyone to stay... ON TOPIC.

Well..the service was called into question....and the fact is that the IP staffs a large amount of the requirements in the showcase....

so misguided...maybe...off topic...not really

As far as both the CP and IP...i'm about as far from an "observers" opinion as you can get. Worked with them, lived with them, friends with them...etc.

You may not want to hear it (and i understand that)...but it is not some sort of professional intership where youths learn how to succeed in life....it is just another source of cheap (extremely cheap) labor. Many people...both those with a personal history and those that just know alot about disney...know this. But it usally is not spoken about...

i'm just gonna stop talking about it...it seems everyone is just more comfortable that way...

sorry for the deviation:secret: