Via Tribunali

VERY BAD FOOD

by Jacoboneboy at Citysearch

I just have to say that after eating Lasagna at the restaurant in capital hill I was sick to my stomach for several hrs after. I must also point out that I asked about the types of lasagna and asked for BAKED lasagna twice before ordering from the bartender that seemed to have a generic response for everything. I receiver a 4x4 square of regular lasagna, NOt Baked Lasagna at all. It was extremely bland as well. The house wine given to me was very mediocre to poor out of any thousands of Italian restaurants I have been too. I was sick for a good 8 hrs.

Sincerely

Very disgruntal customer

Dreamy Pizza- SO Good!

by jas19 at Citysearch

I would give them 5 stars except for the fact that they make you cut the pizza yoursefl with scissors. That is dumb. Apparently that's how they do it in Naples, but if you want your restaurant THAT authentic- go open one in Naples!

Besides that, the pizza is SO good- way better than Tutta Bella so I will cut my pizza with scissors and put up with the less than stellar service just because the pizza is so good. It's also really romantic in there so that helps too.

Rustic Charm in Fremont

by Kelly Vigesaa , Citysearch Contributor at Citysearch

Via Tribunali's Fremont location is quaint with a modern-rustic charm.

It is everything you want a pizzeria to be, with its wood-fired oven upon entering, carved wooden booths and tables, and dim, warm atmosphere.

And the pizza - a slice of Neaopolitan heaven. It's light, slightly crispy, tangy, and delicious.

You almost feel transported away from Seattle to a little spot in Southern Italy where conversation is good, the food is authentic, and everyone is relaxed in the moment.

• Pros: Atmosphere, food, location
• Cons: parking can be difficult

lousy management

by downtownuser at Citysearch

When I requested that my pizza not be completely charred the manager responded "Its 1000 degrees, thats how it comes". And yes it did! Completely black. Also with only one leaf of basil on a pizza advertised as cheese tomatoes and basil. One Leaf!

When I expressed my dissatisfaction the manager showed no concern, so I left no tip, and sent an email off to the owner of the business. Below is the response I received from the management:

On behalf of our entire staff at Via Tribunali Georgetown I would like

to express to you our deepest and most overwhelming joy that you no

longer will be coming into our restaurant. I would like to add as

manager that you are no longer allowed on our property and if I find

you anywhere near my restaurant I will personally take it upon my self

to remove you by any means possible. Every single one of my staff

members have expressed to me your overlwhelming rudeness and classless

behavior while dining in our restaurant. We can now assure ourselves

that we have one less waste of space within our confines. Mr.

Philipps, your reputation preceeded you long before I set foot in this

particular location and it has declined since which I find amazing as

I consider you the lowest and most dispicable forms of human life on

this planet. Thank you for saving me the embarrassment of having to

throw you into the street in front of our restaurant.

Fondly,

Cary Kemp

Manager

Via Tribunali Georgetown.

• Pros: burnt pizza
• Cons: no concern for the customer

Probably good food but we'll never find out...

by sandrier at Citysearch

Finally tried Via Tribunali in Belltown – in spite of the fact that we’re only a block and a half away. We’d tried the Capitol Hill location after it opened; food was good, but attitude was bordering on rude. We’d heard the same from other people over the next couple of years so never bothered to go back. We were seated without delay by a pleasant-enough host. Our server came after about 5 minutes, took our drink order and appetizer order (the olive miste). The drinks came promptly and were very well made so we were expecting a pleasant evening. A slow evening; kitchen staff would occasionally come out to the bar to chat; the servers would stop by talk to them. So after another 10 minutes and no appetizer, and I stopped the server and asked if we had forgotten to order the olives – her response was no, we had ordered it and she had placed the order. She asked if we’d like to order dinner and said we’d wait until the appetizer came and order then (I was beginning to think it was something more elaborate than a bowl of olives since it was taking a while). Another 10 minutes passed and now there were 2 or 3 kitchen staff at the bar – obviously they couldn’t be very busy – we stopped our server and asked about the olives. She said she’d check. Five minutes later we’re at 25 minutes post drink delivery, our cocktails are just about finished, no olives, and at this point we’re somewhat perturbed – and assuming that what must be coming out of the kitchen on such a slow night must be some elaborate creation that could take at least 10 or 15 minutes to put together. At that point the server arrived with a bowl of olives. I asked her how it could possibly take almost half an hour to get a bowl of olives. Her attitude was somewhere between ‘absolutely don’t care/slightly amused’ and her comment was ‘Well, I reminded her a few minutes ago’. We gave her our dinner order, but immediately after she left we looked at each other and realized we would not have a pleasant evening if we remained. So we got up, told the host to return the untouched appetizer, and to have our server cancel our order and give us a check for the drinks. We also told the host what had happened. At that point the server became apologetic and offered to buy our appetizer or dinner, and when we turned that down, attempted to comp our drinks. We refused that as well and paid for our drinks. We didn’t leave a tip (we generally tip in the 25% range; not so great service gets around 15 and poor at 10). A server has to be quite accomplished to rate a 0% tip, and on the very, very rare occasions it does occur (maybe once every 2 or 3 years?) we always write the complaint on the charge slip so that the manager/owner will be sure to see it. (If I owned a business I would certainly appreciate that level of feedback). We dropped the car off at home and on our way out of the lobby to get some dinner, told the evening shift concierge what had happened. Apparently he’d heard similar stories about both locations. And we had a very pleasant dinner just a couple of blocks away. We eat out several times a week, and still can’t cover all of the wonderful restaurants in Seattle (although we do have a handful of favorites that we like to get to at least monthly). We expect both good service and very good food – 90% of the time, we actually get that, and much more. Seattle’s a food-lover’s town. Very occasionally, either the service or food will be exceptional and compensate for lack of the other; Via Tribunali is certainly not in that latter case. Good food but incredibly rude and negligent service – why bother when there’s so much to choose from.

• Pros: Atmosphere was very nice
• Cons: Attitude -- no service in a service industry