Gennaro's Italian - Charleston

The food is here is great! Top notch Italian Food serious! Just got the eggplant Ala Michael and the chicken parm. Both flavorful. Great to have with wine. Really all you need. I usually get it to go, but the hostesses in the front are very nice and fast. Old school family style Italian ambience.

We were invited to Gennaro's, and the group of 8 of us were seated quickly as we had made a reservation. The place is medium sized, but I got the feeling right away that this wasn't a chain it's a family run place. Our waiter was efficient and personable, attentive when he needed to be, and otherwise not interrupting our conversations. He brought drinks and took our orders, and kept an eye on our needs from afar. I ordered the lasagna. Gennero's version was delicious; it was a hearty helping covered in cheese. Those looking for a multi layered stack style lasagna will be disappointed, but one taste and those expectations vanish. The chef came out, genuinely interested in how we liked our food, and talked with us for a bit. Whether you find Gennaro's Italian offerings to be the best or not (a highly subjective area), when you dine here you know you'll be treated like family by a team that cares. I'll be back.

We started off with the calamari appetizer and it was great! We ordered a small pizza to share and it was ok the crust was nice. We had ordered some pasta dishes and they were not good. The marinara sauce was too bland and it didn't have any flavor. The service was ok. The server started off ok but forgot about us after the pizza arrived to our table. Our salads had not made it to our table yet and I had to ask the server why it was taking so long. Since our pasta dishes were pushed back due to our pizza order, it seems they forgot about our main entrees and had to catch up. The ambiance was dark with minimum lighting and had booth and table arrangements. I won't be returning to the restaurant for any more meals

The only negative thing I have to say is the slightly longer than told wait time, which is totally fine when you're dining at a fantastic restaurant and hour before they close. Bread was great, house wine was great, I had the special that included tuna which was a 10 out of 10.

The food is what you would expect from an Italian restaurant but the atmosphere is dark and depressing.