Jamie L.
Yelp
If I could give this place 0 stars, I would not hesitate.
My parents threw me and my fiancé an engagement party here. The owner, Mike and my parents discussed a price per head which did not include open bar. They negotiated a price for the alcohol as well. My mom had expressed that because he was giving her such a phenomenal price for the headcount and the bar, that she would come back to La Novella for my bridal shower, as well as for when my sister's engagement party/ bridal party considering she isn't far behind me as far as getting engaged.
As the guests were arriving, Mike and his staff were demanding everyone immediately sit down so they could take everyones dinner orders. They had 2 waiters taking orders for 12 tables of 10 people so you can imagine how much time that took. To start off the afternoon, my mom and Mike had discussed that they would have bottles of wine on the tables and at the end of the night only pay for the open bottles. When we got there the waitstaff was already opening one bottle of white and one bottle of red wine per table. He charged us $20 per bottle, so that was nearly $500 in wine. When my fiancé explained that this wasn't what we discussed he told him "I gave you a good price, leave the bottles alone or cancel now." Cancel our party a half hour before guest we're coming!?! Our appetizers consisted of half a slice of tomato and half a slice of mozzarella at each place setting. They served a plate with 4 mushrooms, 4 baked clams, and 4 mozzarella sticks for tables of 10 alongside a 10 inch plate of fried calamari. When it was time for dinner, it was served cold and the waiters didn't remember who got what entree aside from the fact that they wrote down everyones order.
Heres where it gets insane... Mike and his bartender did everything the could to ring up the bar bill. He only had one bartender for 100 something guests, she wasn't filling the cups up all the way with the mixed drinks. When people asked for a mixed drink, Mike told his bartender to use the "cheaper" alcohol before opening a new bottle of the better stuff. The bartender was extremely rude, rolling her eyes at guests when they asked her to fill the cup up completely, which I don't think is an unreasonable request.
At the end of the night they tried to hit my parents with a 5,000 bar bill. At 100 guests, drinking 5,000 worth the alcohol all my guests should have beens stumbling out of there. But we know that's not true because most of my guests were from out of state and had to drive home, and there were 15-20 of those guests were underage. They kept track of drinks by tallying on a piece of paper and multiple guests told me they sat at the bar for lengthy periods of time and did not see her tally once. Towards the end of the night, the owner Mike had allowed random customers to sit at the bar in the area we rented out. How do we know their drinks didn't get counted in our tallies? He told a couple who was planning to book a party to sit down at one of our tables in the middle of our party.
Mike was extremely unprofessional, he walked around with a cigarette in hand all night and was behind the bar drinking. He got into a blowout argument with one of his waiters, screaming and cursing in the middle of the restaurant. Lastly, at the end of the night when my dad questions how the bar bill could possibly be so high, Mike got so defensive and pulled out a badge claiming to be a police officer.
My parents put so much time and effort into trying to throw my fiancé and I an amazing party only to get taken advantage of and lied to.