Trattoria Amalfi - Salem

My wife and I went there several months ago and had a great experience. The food was superior and the portions were incredible. Tonight (Tuesday, July 14 , we went there again for our anniversary dinner and took our 14-year-old son, whom we told about the huge portions. Tonight was the complete opposite of what we experienced a few months ago. We were stuck in a corner of the restaurant almost walled off with the rest. We didn 't place our orders till about a half-hour after we were seated. When our dinners arrived, the portions seemed to be about half what we experienced months ago (I just figured it may have been the economy and they were just trying to cut back but the prices were the same. The waitress never came around to us to make sure everything was ok and we went throughout our dinner without drinks. My wife 's Chicken Amalfi, which she raved about before, was dry, plus the overall taste was subpar. Our son was completely underwhelmed with his Chicken Broccoli Alfredo. My Frutti DeMar was good, but, again, the number of seafood it came with was vastly diminished from the last time we were there. It wasn 't until we had all-but finished our dinners when the waitress came over and told us she had told one of the girls working there serving water to make sure she came over (ultimately the waitress is supposed to make sure her customers are satisfied . My wife couldn 't stomach the rest of her dinner, but the waitress took what was left quickly and never asked if she wanted to save it. By the time we spoke up about the drinks, it was still perhaps close to another 10 minutes before someone came over. We had thought about dessert before dinner, but after our experience, we didn 't feel like waiting around for another 20 minutes for it to arrive. My wife mentioned to the waitress when we received the bill about the service and all the waitress could say was, I 'm sorry. I 'm sorry, but never once offered to get the manager! Adding insult to injury, later tonight, I called the restaurant to try to speak with a manager about our experience. When I tried explaining what had happened, he listened a little, but then cut me off and acted like he didn 't believe my complaints were valid. He could understand why I might complain about some of the service, but to complain about the food in any way? I might as well have accused his mother of preferring to French kiss a dog. Had I done that, he might have treated me with a little more respect and not done everything he could to get me off the phone as soon as possible. His responses to me were like the waitress: I 'm sorry. I 'm sorry you feel that way. Unless we hear differently about some changes to how they conduct business, they 've lost two customers who may have given them another shot (and we know a lot of people, so word-of-mouth will spread!

We typically do not dine in restaurants that are in a Plaza setting. Tonight we took a chance? it was the best decision ever!!!!! We had dinner at the bar. The bartenders Craig, Jen and Liz are amazing!!!! Great authentic Italian food, drinks and delicious desserts. Highly recommend!!!!!! We will definitely be back soon ?

Best Italian in the area. Never had a bad meal. Staff is always friendly. Highly recommend! Make sure to make a reservation, it is a busy place.

Had a wonderful dinner.... Really like the pasta and dessert options.

My family came in with formal clothing jeans and T shirts. Host looked at my family and I up and down almost with a face of disgust and rejected to seat us when there was space in the dining room. We were a party of 4. After a party of 4 came in she seated them with no problem and when I asked a member of the other party they had no reservation but since they were dressed up she decided to seat them. But we are Hispanic wonder if that?s the true reason why?. We eat at high end restaurants very frequently. Their decor and ambiance is a T shirt and Jean dink. Disappointed!