Deno's Kitchen And Spirits - Rowlett

Well, it was great while they lasted. Really loved the Sicilian Lasagna. Unfortunately they have been closed for quite a while. Miss you guys.

Deno's was an amazing place with an enthusiastic, creative, friendly owner who made all who entered feel like family. The menu was well planned and dishes were well executed. I attempted to go for dinner last week and was unfortunately greeted with a note on the door explaining they the restaurant is closed indefinitely and Deno has moved to pursue other things.

Closed for good unfortunately! Got here today and found a sign on the door that they are no longer here.

I really want to love this place. We were frequent diners at the original restaurant, before they built this one, and always enjoyed Deno and wish him unbridled success. This restaurant is beautiful and it 's obvious that a lot of thought went into its design and furnishings. But this new place is just a shadow of what it used to be a decade ago (in its original location) when it was not much more than a cramped, warm, crowded place where we didn 't mind waiting over an hour in the grocery store parking lot for a table.On our most recent trip back to our hometown we took a chance and went in for dinner on Friday evening. We were the only table for most of the meals duration. There was a dead moth in my iced tea. The bathrooms stank; we could smell them from our table. The dining room floors were filthy. Table sticky. The food, which used to be spectacular, was mediocre. The ambiance is now bland, where it used to be happy and warm and fun with Deno walking through, hugging people and singing. This visit we heard him, but didn 't see him once. We miss the old place, and — even after a decade — can 't really recommend the new.

I really, really, REALLY want to give a great review for this place. But alas,,,, the horrible service just can't make up for the wonderful food. We have been several times and each time it seems the service gets worse and worse and now, unfortunately, it's unlikely we will return. Maybe because they are open limited days of the week they can keep good servers or maybe that the restaurant does not have a POS system. Every single time our handwritten check total has been incorrect. There is no itemized dollar amount just a total. The first couple of times, we just got a check shock but paid without comment. The next couple of times we asked for a menu and added up our check total ourselves. Inevitably the server made huge mistakes (in the restaurant's favor). When you try and explain the problem, the server was clueless how to deal with the situation. The same server was unable to provide separate tickets for our table. Three couples. She explained she could only do one ticket or 2 tickets with 3 people on each. What the what? When we told her to pretend each couple were at separate tables (and not sitting at one table) she ALMOST understood but mumbled something about how she would not have three tables sat in her section that quickly. But the food is amazing!!!! Maybe only get it To Go but I'm still now sure the total cost would be correct.