Luna Rosa Of Mauldin

I am not sure why they have a second location in the suburbs at a strip mall when it does not compare to the quality of the original downtown restaurant. The large, industrial decor is the opposite of the cozy and intimate atmosphere that I look for in an Italian restaurant. The salads had wilted lettuce, the dressing tasted overly sweet like a store-bought brand, the silverware was dirty, and the water had an odd taste. It was a series of disappointments leading to an unsatisfactory main course and a feeling of having to pay for food that we did not enjoy. There was no ambiance, no view, and no customers, as we were the only ones there on a weekend night. The server was friendly and made a good wine suggestion, but good service cannot make up for mediocre food. We will not be returning to this location. A note to Luna Rosa Downtown: Having this second location is damaging to your reputation.

The service at this restaurant was top-notch. We chose to celebrate our anniversary here and the food was outstanding. The atmosphere was pleasant and we received a great recommendation on the wine. Everything was done perfectly here.

I was very excited to try out this restaurant, but unfortunately, I didn't even get the chance to order. When we arrived, we were seated right away even though it didn't seem very busy, with only about six tables occupied. The water was brought to us promptly, but then nothing else happened. Another table that came in after us, who seemed to know the staff, was able to order and have their drinks served quickly. It was clear that they were short-staffed, as I only saw three people working and one seemed to only be allowed to serve water or run food and couldn't take orders. While I understand this, we were constantly ignored. The waitress checked on the table next to us to see how their food was, but didn't even acknowledge us or look in our direction. The two wait staff also had to remake all the drinks, which I can see would slow down service. However, they still made an effort to chat with the tables near the bar, discussing cocktail ingredients and making jokes. It seemed like some tables were receiving all the attention while we couldn't even get noticed. Perhaps if I had been able to at least order a glass of wine, I would have stayed longer, but after 15 minutes of no interaction, we decided to leave.

My wife and I tried to go to dinner here but evidently you have to know someone who works at or owns the restaurant to get served food even when you’re their only customer. We were seated promptly which made sense because the restaurant only had one other party of 4 inside and another party of two outside when we arrived. Once we were seated, we were given menus and waters and then ignored completely. After twenty minutes of not getting asked to order drinks or appetizers we decided to cut our losses and leave (as did the couple on the deck outside). The waitress assigned to our table never talked to us but checked on other tables several times and chatted with a customer at the bar casually about cocktail ingredients while we were left to twiddle our thumbs. Based on the cost of the menu I expected to spend $80 $100 on the check. No staff asked why or seemed to care that we were leaving. We went to another restaurant called Yard House and spent $90 and were treated with excellent service. I usually don’t go out of my way to leave a review unless I really like something but this was just a truly horrible customer experience I feel like other folks should know about.

It was our 2nd time visiting the mauldin location. We decided to try the pizza this time around.The dough tasted as if it was bought frozen from a grocery store paper thin crust. Flavors were good but they definitely need to consider a thicker better quality crust.