Amore Uptown

It really pains me to rate this place so poorly after the change in ownership — «Amore Victoria», as it was previously known, was one of my favorite Italian restaurants ever. We really wanted to give this one a fair shot and tried so hard to make the best of things, but alas. We won’t be back unless we hear of some major changes.
Our server was friendly but, as we overheard from the table she was serving next to us, it was literally her first day on the job. I wouldn’t fault anyone for being inexperienced, but she seemed to be in charge of the entire back half of the restaurant, and didn’t have anybody shadowing her or helping her out. She was clearly in the weeds and was left to fend for herself. What a disservice to her!
That being said, our entrees came out before we were finished with our appetizers, and then we never saw or heard from our server again. It took about 45 minutes after we were done eating to flag her down and get the check, and easily another 15 minutes after that before we got it back and were able to leave. As we were waiting for our card to be returned, a manager (?) came out in a kitchen apron to awkwardly ask us if everything was okay. We mentioned our long wait, and he stuttered a bit before asking if we would like dessert on the house. Well, no — we wanted to leave 45 minutes ago, we’re not interested in staying any longer. We would have appreciated if at least our drinks were taken off of our bill instead, but… we were ready to leave ASAP. I feel like he wasn’t ready or willing to have handled a customer recovery situation, so I’m not sure why he bothered.
–THE FOOD–
–Fried Calamari: We enjoyed this one, and I thought it was a nice touch that there were slices of banana peppers breaded and fried along with the calamari. It added a nice depth to the dish.
–Artichoke Dip: A cheesy, creamy dip served with toasted crostini sliced on the bias for a satisfying and manageable bite. We enjoyed this one, too.
–Gnocchi: The pistachio flavor didn’t come through at all, and this just tasted like freezer-​aisle packaged food. A real disappointment after the previous owner’s version of this dish. We dipped these in the remaining artichoke dip to liven them up.
–Spaghetti and Meatballs: Spongy, bland meatballs in an extremely forgettable sauce.
–Lasagne: Tasted like it was made with no-​bake noodles and layered just with pasta and ricotta, no sauce or mozzarella on the inside, just over the outside. It looked delicious on the plate, but my friend was disappointed with the dry texture and the lack of a satisfying bite on the pasta.
–Scallops Italianos: This one was tasty, but compared to the other entrees, it looked like an appetizer portion’s worth of food.
–Frutti di Mare: The only thing good about this dish was that the mussels were cooked properly. The shrimp were overcooked, but to say that the scallops were also overcooked would be putting it mildly… It was like chewing pencil erasers. The dish is advertised as assortment of seafood with «fedellini and tomatoes» but what I received was a sauce that was SPICY. Not just tossed with some red pepper flake, but literally spicy enough that after two bites my nose was running. I wouldn’t have ordered fra diavolo sauce if they were honest about what it was. I picked at my seafood and had a few bites of overcooked pasta which I struggled to eat without being provided a spoon to twist the pasta around my fork. I asked for one when the food was delivered to our table, but didn’t receive it until my friends were already done with their meals. And can I say… «fedellini» is just a pretentious name for spaghetti, used as a thinly veiled attempt to justify charging you $ 30 a plate for Olive Garden quality food?
This is the first time I can even think of that I not only barely ate the meal I was served, but I didn’t take home the full plate of leftovers. Nobody even asked me if there was a reason why I barely touched my meal.
The marked decline in the quality of the food from the previous owners is not only noticeable, but it’s embarrassing. Why would you get rid of HOMEMADE PASTA and gnocchi and replace it with grocery store mediocrity? And WHY wouldn’t you lower the price point of the dishes if you were going to cut corners?!
The craft cocktails were thankfully delicious — each of us got a different one, and all of them were exceptional. It’s a shame that our server didn’t pay more attention to us, because we all would have loved to have more than one round. It would have at least made the wait a lot more tolerable.
Again, if it was just one thing, I would have chalked it up to growing pains for a new business… but based on this snapshot, it was just too much of a train wreck not to mention. It makes me honestly feel terrible to leave such a scathing review, but I would feel dishonest trying to whitewash it just so I didn’t sound so mean. Alas, it is what it is.