Acqua Ragazza

Review summary

1. S

   Scott

   Seattle

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 1 day ago

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

   By far the best and most genuine Italian Restaurant I’ve been to in the Lake Norman area. Service was great, food was outstanding and the prices are reasonable for great cuisine. Well done.
   

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2. D

   Diane

   Charlotte

   3 reviews

   2.0

   3 reviews

   Dined 3 days ago

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

   Christmas Eve. Very excited to get a reservation. Was greeted by friendly server and served water promptly. Ordered drinks and waited at least a half hour to be told they had no pomegranate juice to make a martini. What?!?! On Christmas Eve? Ordered different cocktails and waited another 20 minutes to be served. Had special limited menu. Two of us had meat courses and one had the fish. The fish dishes looked terrible. Took approximately 1 1/2 hours to get our first two courses individually. Salad was scant. Meatballs were delicious! Next course was orecchiette-delicious! (Except for long wait again) Never offered any bread. Had to ask for it. Filet served next. For medium, it was a little tough. Cutting it with a butter knife didn’t help. Had to ask for steak knives since they weren’t offered. Strange that such a good cut of meat was served with fried potatoes, almost like potato chips and a tablespoon of overcooked, julienned mixed veggies. Really disappointing. Cannoli was last AND THEY WERE OUT OF THEM! Shocker! Let us order dessert from their regular menu instead. We were never checked in on by our server. Never asked how our food was. Never had water refills. All the servers seemed to be smiling and friendly but disengaged. When we got the bill we were shocked (as was the table next to us) that we were charged a 20% gratuity for a large party. Haha! There were three of us. We normally tip at least 20% but that was a little off putting. Note: They have an open kitchen. You can see everything going on. It was absolute chaos in the back. The servers, sometimes 4 or 5, were gathered around the front of the kitchen picking up orders. They were clearly unhappy with kitchen not getting orders out. In addition, one was texting and a few girls were readjusting their hair. Yuk! May want to rethink that whole open kitchen thing. It took 3 hours to eat. Not because we were having a good time. Just took that long for the food to be served. Just disappointing!
   

   Acqua RagazzaResponded 2 days ago

   Hi Diane, we acknowledge the long wait times for meals on Christmas Eve, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We tried something new, and it didn't work, unfortunately. The portions are smaller because we were serving multiple courses, so the salad was a side salad, but you would still be full in the end. In regards to service, I'd like to know more about your experience and who your server was, so we can address the issue moving forward. Also, the employee wasn't on their phone, we use tablets that look like phones for mobile ordering, but we would love for you to let us know who you think was adjusting their hair, as that is not acceptable. Would you be so kind as to reach out to let us know who it was? Thank you!
   

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3. R

   Raymond

   VIP

   Charlotte

   4 reviews

   5.0

   4 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   This is one of our favorite “Go-To” special times out. We will be back for certain.
   

   Acqua RagazzaResponded 2 days ago

   Hi Ruth and Ray, thank you again for your grace and patience on Christmas Eve! We appreciate that you've been here before and know that this is not our normal standard of service. We can't wait to have you back soon, under normal circumstances! Merry Christmas!
   

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4. A

   Andrew

   Charlotte

   6 reviews

   1.0

   6 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   We went here for Christmas Eve. The website did not advertise they would have a pre-fix menu. The 3, 5 course options were not ideal for any palette and they would not substitute amongst the 3 options. None of the courses were anything to rave about at all, and it was $99 per person!!! It took 2.5 hours for us to be finished and we even requested our dessert to go because it would have taken even longer. We understood they were backed up in the kitchen but we waited one whole hour between our first and second courses which were salad and then side of pasta. The manager never came by to thank us for coming or apologize for the back up. We will not go here again based on this experience.
   

   Acqua RagazzaResponded 2 days ago

   Hi Andrew, Thank you for your feedback regarding Christmas Eve. We have only advertised a Feast of the Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve, since the day we opened, so I apologize if it ended up somewhere without showing the designated menu. This is an Italian Tradition that we will do every year. We acknowledge that our wait time was much longer than we preferred, we got off to a rocky start and acknowledged as many tables as we could regarding the wait. Did we not speak with you as well? With such a busy evening, we appreciate your patience and understanding. Our pricing was the lowest in the area for a special occasion dinner, with nearby restaurants offering their Holiday menu at $125 and $150 per person, so I think ours was very fair considering a seven course dinner.
   

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5. C

   Cynthia

   Western NC

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   We were looking forward to a nice 7 fish dinner for Christmas Eve…We waited to long between every entrée and didn’t get to finish because fish was awful!!! The kitchen could not handle the amount of orders. For the price they were asking for this dinner , it was not worth  it! Stay away from this restaurant for Christmas Eve!
   

   Acqua RagazzaResponded 2 days ago

   Hi Cynthia, thank you for your feedback on our Christmas Eve Celebration! We understand that we a few tables had a long wait that evening. As you've noted yourself, we got backed up, but we tried our best to speed up the kitchen and address as many tables as possible regarding the issue. We tried something new regarding the tickets, and it didn't work. We will make the necessary adjustments moving forward. Thanks again for your patience and grace this Holiday season! Merry Christmas!
   

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6. K

   Kathleen

   VIP

   New Orleans

   19 reviews

   5.0

   19 reviews

   Dined 4 days ago

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

   Beautiful Christmas Eve dining experience. Very festive. Staff did a great job with the pace of the courses. The food was delicious and beautifully prepared - the only comment being that we booked before the menu was set and there was a lot of calamari this year (2 courses - which is really an acquired taste due to its unique texture). We enjoyed our evening!
   

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7. B

   Brian

   Baltimore

   5 reviews

   5.0

   5 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

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

   Get the bolognese and branzino washed down with Brunello
   

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8. M

   Meredith

   VIP

   Charlotte

   68 reviews

   5.0

   68 reviews

   Dined 7 days ago

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

   It was a delicious food experience. I had the Gorgonzola chicken and it was amazing and my friend got the crab and lobster ravioli which was a very close second to the chicken. It was a delicious food experience. In a very chic atmosphere !
   

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9. M

   Michael

   Charlotte

   3 reviews

   3.0

   3 reviews

   Dined on 19 December 2024

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

   Experience was ok. Would likely order something different next time.
   

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10. L

    Linda

    VIP

    Charlotte

    16 reviews

    4.0

    16 reviews

    Dined on 11 December 2024

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

    Wonderful food and service. Nice choice of entrees. Very noisy.
    

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