The review prior to this one could have been written by me. My group of 8 showed up at 12:30pm on Mother’s Day as well. The back dining room was not completely full with two empty tables. Drinks took too long to receive, we finally got them at a little before 1:00 pm. Food showed up in drips and drabs almost 45 minutes after we ordered.

I was shocked at, not the prices, but the proportions. The mozzarella salad was about a skimpy as they come, so were most of the other appetizers. Evidently Stephanos has decided not to raise prices but to just give you less food. I was almost ready to complain but was really in no mood to make a scene, with 8 people there for a celebratory Mother’s Day, which is not typical for me. I let it slide.

One of my guests had to ask for more spaghetti sauce, it was as if they had spray painted it on, the amount was so thin. The food was good but there is surely better value elsewhere. Either that or they were just cashing in on Mother’s Day thinking that only pikers go out for lunch/dinner on this day.

Because we had 8 in our party, they automatically added the usual and quite presumptively arrogant gratuity for crap service and skimpy portions. Then they leave a space open for an extra tip! BULL!

I am not going back. Why do restaurants think that they can get away with this sort of thing? You’d think that with the current economy they would not want to drive anyone away! There are tons of other places to try…at least once.

I am proud to say that we have an annual tradition each year on Mother’s day…Mother’s Day Brunch. Over the years the group has grown to include not just family, but extended family and friends…and it is a tradition we all look forward to.

This year left us wanting for more.

We chose Stefano’s because it had a great location, could accomodate our reservation of 11 and it was Italian…how can you go wrong…well…read on…it is almost a comedy.

Our reservation was for 12:30PM…we arrived promptly on time and waited for 15 minutes to be greeted and directed to a table. Once seated the wait began. 30 minutes in…we got drinks…but didn’t see any food until 2:00PM. In a nutshell, we were finally leaving the restaurant at 3:30pm.

Now the details, some of the service was a bit off…the waters finally arrived but at the expense of a salad. Then, a few ordered lobster tails…which arrived without butter. When it was asked for…a tiny condiment cup of melted butter arrived….for the entire table to share?!?!?!!

I, along with others, did try to offer some feedback to the owner BEFORE we settled the bill, literally had the cash in hand and I was met with an elevated voice stating that there is nothing she could do at that point….now, I am not an expert, but an apology or sympathetic response would have been appreciated. Literally yelling at your customers does not scream repeat patron to me. To boot, the little comment box in the entry way was out of comment cards….that should have been a clue.

To top this off, about an hour earlier, another customer who was not happy with the service either was met with a similar respose and rude behavior.

What I can say is the food was ok….but not worth a repeat visit.