Spiedini Italian Grill, Fayetteville

My husband and I thought Spiedini’s would be a nice place to go for dessert. When we arrived, the restaurant was about half-full. The other half of the restaurant was comprised of empty tables, covered with dirty dishes and debris. There was no hostess that we could see, so we patiently waited. One of the waitresses walked past us multiple times, as did (we later found out her title) the owner’s wife, and neither of them even acknowledged our presence. While waiting, we had a direct view into the kitchen, which has clear windows. Clouds of white smoke were billowing up from the stove and filled the restaurant with an overwhelming stench of burnt grease. After ten minutes of waiting to be acknowledged, let alone be seated, my husband walked to the cash register at the back of the restaurant to see if there was a hostess working the front of the house. There was tall female employee who was standing behind the counter, and as he approached her, I could see him ask her a question. From across the restaurant, over the noise of all the patrons eating, chatting, clinking dishes, the kitchen, and the party of eight conversing in front of me, I HEARD her chastise him, exclaiming that they had no place to seat us because all the tables were dirty. She loudly informed him that there were only two people working, and then threw her arms up in an overly-theatrical shrug and told him there was nothing she could do about it. He walked back to the front of the restaurant to stand beside me, and we continued to wait (more out of principle than desire). Finally, we were rushed to a clean table, given menus, and promptly abandoned. We waited, again, for quite some time before a young waitress came over to speak with us. She, like the tall employee, complained to us about how they were very short-staffed, but – to her credit - she did apologize to us both for our wait (which, up to this point, has been about 20 - 25 minutes). She told us she would try to make our experience better, and wanted to know how she could help. My husband told her he was not happy with how we, as paying customers, had been treated up to this point, and calmly asked if there was a manager we could speak with. The waitress, again – very nice, told us that one of the owners was working, and she would have her come speak with us. The owner, whose name started with a “J”, walked over to our table, but left immediately to seat incoming guests, and to help other patrons. She only came back to our table when our original waitress reminded her to do so. When my husband and I tried to explain to her why we felt the service we were receiving was sub-par, she regaled us with the same excuses we had already heard by two other employees. *As a side note, contrary to what we were told, we SAW there were more than two workers in the restaurant during our time there. There were three on the floor, a couple cooks, a couple prep-cooks (if I had to guess their title) and then a few others standing around doing nothing. We, however, did not mention this, as it seemed irrelevant by this time.* She then told us that she was the owner, and wasn’t trying to make excuses, but that they were, in fact, short-handed due to two cooks taking bereavement leave. We attempted to explain to her our experience, from the wait time, to being ignored, to being chastised by an employee for asking a question, was all highly unprofessional and unacceptable. However, as we tried to speak, she spoke over us, regurgitating the same excuses like a broken record. I was so appalled at how blatantly rude the owner of Spiedini’s was treating us, potential repeat patrons, that I told her we would not be returning. We left without purchasing dessert, and will never go back.

We (as a party of four) went here for the first time tonight. After we were seated, it took about 10 minutes for a waitress to finally come to take our order, both drinks & dinner. We received our drinks and bread, and shortly after some garlic bread. Over 15 minutes later, the salads were served. After being at the restaurant for over 45 minutes, without receiving our food, we decided it was time to leave. We actually had to hunt down our waitress to let her know we just wanted to pay for our drinks & salads, since she had yet to even check on us since we placed our order. We ended up walking out with our salads & drinks “on the house”, but still sorely dissatisfied with this restaurant. I will definitely not recommend it to anyone!

Average at best. I won't be back to be honest. I just paid $45 for two create your own pastas to go and did not even get bread and / or salad. They didn't even put silverware and napkins in the plastic bag that they gave me. Based on the menu that I looked at the price should've been way cheaper but I didn't complain because it was my fault for not making sure of what I was being charged. I have had italian all over the US and you always get bread and/or a side salad to go with a dinner entree. In my opinion the price is too high for average italian food. Sad to say but I could've went to olive garden and my $45 would've been put to better use. All I could think about is a trip that I took to chicago about 2 years ago where we ordered take out from Maggianos in Schaumburg, IL. We got calamari, meat lasagna, chicken manocotti, and the meals came with salad and bread. The total price was $55 not including tip and it was given to us in caterating disposable aluminum pans. It was so much food we ate off of it for at least 2 more meals. And that was in Schaumburg like 25 minutes from downtown Chicago not NW Arkansas. So comparatively, I guess I can say that I have a broader outlook. I'll cook my next italian meal at home! We are great cooks that rarely eat out anyway.