70

23 E Beverley St

Staunton , VA 24401



(540) 885-0102

We had a family reunion here and it was a horrible experience...and the place ripped us off on the deposit. I see others on Yelp have complained about the same thing!!! I guess a leopard can't change his spots. We had a large party, with lots of kids. They clearly couldn't handle it with the staff (even though they took the reservation and a deposit...which they then squelched on saying we didn't have enough people -- like that would have helped). Took forever to place drink orders...which they never returned to see if we wanted more (lost money there, they did). Then, after our food was order, it took 2.5 hours for our whole party to be served...and one individual was NEVER served. Moreover, that individual that was never served had to make a scene to not get charged for the food he never received. Quality of food was spotty. Some was quite good...some extremely poor. DON'T GO HERE. THEY DON'T DESERVE YOUR BUSINESS. I WISH I COULD GIVE THEM ZERO STARS. [REPLY TO OWNERS RESPONSE -- Emilio A.] Recently I received two ugly messages from Yelpers...and thought I should clear the air. First, I want to make three points. 1) I have no reason to lie. I have no ties to the restaurant or Staunton, except for some family that lives there (the hosts of our family reunion live there and love the town...but were extremely embarrassed by the experience). The owner has every reason to stretch the truth. 2) I have never written a bad review. The worst review I've ever given was 3 stars...and even those are mostly positive. 3) I wouldn't have written this review had others on Yelp not had the same experience. Instead, I would have chalked it up to a bad day for the restaurant and moved on. (Dale M. Todd D., Karen M...the last one is a hidden review -- all had similar experiences before ours). On to my rebuttal. First, the owners numbers are inaccurate. It is true that we arrived with less than our original reservation, but it is no where near the numbers he gave. As I recall it was less than 10...my memory says 5. Plus, one family of four decided to leave after not being served for ~75 minutes. So, ~45 arrived for a reservation of 50, with 4 leaving after a lack of service -- this is a MUCH more accurate number. We did have a number of kids and they were seated in a room apart from the bulk of the parents. However, we ALWAYS had a least two parents in this room helping to entertain the kids and control ruckus. And for the first 90 minutes, control and noise was maintained. At this point, no child (or adult) had received food or even bread rolls (adults were served bread rolls as I recall). After the 90 minute mark (approximately), even the adults were getting frustrated, so the noise did rise. But banging of glasses and throwing silverware is an exaggeration. One bowl of spaghetti was knocked over by a child (a 12 year old, who was making his way to the bathroom). However, this is partly because the server placed the tray half-way blocking the door. The owner says the whole tray was knocked over...this is inaccurate. Only a single serving of spaghetti was lost. As for the missing meal, the individual did change seats with someone who order the exact same meal. So, the one individual who did get served thought nothing of it...since he received the correct meal. The other assumed his food was still to come. The food did not come out together...it started to arrive well after 90 minutes and the last plate arrived at around the 2.5 hour mark. The individual who never received his food just waited patiently, until the bills started to arrive. That's when he realized he was not going to be served. He then talked to the waitress and said it was fine, just not to charge him for the item. But the waitress fought with him, saying he was served. He then spoke to the owner, who adamantly took the waitress side. If, as the owner says, they always serve to seats then both individuals would have received food. Moreover, if they had made the correct number of plates, then the server would have had an extra...yet told no one. The owner's explanation suggest that one individual ate two plates of food...this is nonsense. As for drinks, the owner is inaccurate. We were served our first round of drinks promptly, but the wait staff never asked if we wanted more. This became a joke at our tables how much money they were loosing, since the core family (I'm an in-law) is Irish. After returning to our hotel, some of our party members found our host crying (local Staunton elementary school teacher), embarrassed by the restaurant and upset about the lose of the deposit. It is true a few of our members then returned to the restaurant to voice their complaints and demand the deposit returned. I can't comment on their actions, as I wasn't there. I'm at my word limit for a review...to sum up...none of this would have happened if they have served our party timely and with respect.

I just held a wedding rehearsal dinner for my son and his bride at Emilio's The guests and family had a wonderful experience. I live in Florida, so when I found the restaurant online, I sent my son and his bride , who live in Virginia to check it out. They did and told me:"Dad you are going to like these people." I spoke with the manager Ashley and she was very accommodating. I explained to her that we would have approximately forty guests and she told him she had the perfect private room for us. Importantly, unlike some other restaurants in the area, Emilio's does not charge a separate fee for the use of a room. I was able to customize the menu to three entrees. Ashley suggested that I could save some money by bringing in our own cakes and the restaurant would cut them up and serve them. Upon arrival on the night of the dinne , I was greeted warmly by the waiter William and his associate Brady. They were helpful in suggesting the best place for me, the host to sit. Through out the night they were able to strike the perfect balance between being attentive and remaining low key and staying in the background. William coordinated service of the various parts of the dinner with the speeches that were being made. The guests raved about all 3 entrees and about the warmth and coziness of the room. It was truly one of the best dining and celebration experiences that I have ever had. Without hesitation, I recommend Emilio's Italian Restaurant for its hospitality and food.

A regular visitor in Staunton (3-4 times a year), I had not been in Emilio's for several years. Dinner, 6pm, Friday 10/26/18. Reservation for 5, squeezed into table for 4 upstairs.Many other groups because parents weekend at local university. Loud. Very pleasant waitress. Asked her to take my 'short pour' glass of wine for a 'top-off'; it came back at same level. I said no more. Two of us ordered gnocchi bolognese. Meals slow to arrive, perhaps due to number of guests. My friend got his bolognese. I got spaghetti; warm. Given our need to get to theater, no time to replace mine with a hot correct entree. I mentioned it to waitress at billing; no adjustment made. I mentioned at the door as we left. "Oh sorry". Will I go back? Never.

Pros: great location, good bruschetta, comfortable table, nice ambiance. Cons: gluten free pasta has a $4 up-charge and was terrible, awful service (60 minutes from placing our order until the food arrived- cold, had to go to the bar for drink refills, and when we finally asked someone to find our server she blamed her absence and the hour wait on the kitchen being backed up.), after sitting for ten minutes with our plates stacked on the table we had to chase the server down a second time to get the bill. The worst thing was that the server was so argumentative. She did not apologize she just argued with us and blamed the kitchen. Before reviewing, I asked my husband what he thought and he said "if the service was not so horrible it might not have been that bad but the service ruined the place."

Not good. The pasta dishes are frozen and reheated with a red sauce splashed over to make it look like it was cooked fresh. It is not. Sadly this restaurant has gone downhill in a hurry. My cannelloni tasted like it had cinnamon in it! Yuck. My friend took two bites of her lasagne and said " this is not good." A few months ago I had lunch here and ordered pollo Alla picatta. The chicken was unseasoned and swimming in a lemony caper sauce, served with absolutely nothing. So there was a ton of sauce left over. No pasta or rice or potatoes. It came with a caesar salad first that was limp and disgusting loaded with bottled dressing. I complained about their food and was assured that everything is prepared fresh with the finest ingredients but obviously that just is not true. The fact that our pasta dishes came screaming out of the kitchen before we had even finished our salads tells me the food is microwaved. If your chef doesn't care about cooking anymore, fire him. The food is disgusting.

Portions are smaller than expected. The food did not seem to have much flavor compared to cheaper places. A few fruit flies were flying around as me and my mom ate. The music kept turning off and we spent a good amount of time just in silence. We were on the lower level, so I have never experienced up or downstairs.

Our go to restaurant when we travel through town. It has never been a bad experience in the multiple times we have been here. There were two of us for dinner, the restaurant was not busy, it was July 4th week. We skipped appetizers, went straight to dinner. I had Chicken Marsala, it was delicious, the chicken perfectly cooked, with a light Marsala cream sauce , the mushrooms had great flavor, very earthy, and a side of pasta. I chose to have "an upgrade" I chose a caprese salad, it was good , but needed to have a balsamic vinegar added to the plate. My husband had veal francaise, perfectly cooked and extremely tender, wonderful flavor, and a side of pasta . He chose a house salad , that was good. Service was attentive, but at times a little slow.

This is the second time I've been with a large party and eaten at Emilio's. Last year we didn't have a reservation and they accommodated us quickly. This year we planned ahead and had dinner reservations before seeing a show at the Blackfriars Theater. I can't praise their servers enough. They were prompt in seating us, getting our drink orders, and taking our food orders. They also had two servers for our fourteen people which made the service go very smoothly. Each course was delicious, very flavorful and savory. They split the check based on our complicated instructions and were overall attentive and accommodating. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the meal. A side note- yes, when you walk in it smells like cigarette smoke. It is off putting for sure. However, we learned it's because there's a club on the top floors where smoking is permitted. It's unfortunate that it filters down the stairwell but that aside, it's a delightful restaurant.

This restaurant has a tiny storefront but is surprisingly large inside with multiple levels and what seemed like another dining room right around the corner. As a result, they accommodated a large group of us very well. Service - was slow and inconsistent. Salads entrees even our bills seemed to take forever. Also this is minor but mid conversation our server interrupted conversation several times and also seemed distracted (couldn't hear our requests, no pepper on the table, etc). Food: bread was burned., I understand the ravioli was awesome but the portion was quite small. Three of us ordered the eggplant parm. Portions were different on the three plates at my table! Side of spaghetti portion as well was different among all three of us. We ordered chocolate cake it was not great. If you are interested in atmosphere this might be your place.

We came for a graduation from JMU. I wish we would have know they were having a special menu for this weekend. We figured if we were traveling a half hour away we would not be dealing with those "Special Menus ". My son selected Emilio's for their Lobster Ravioli. Of course this was only offered as side with the special of a Salmon fish. The food was good and all seemed to be happy. The only other issue was they never notified me the tip was included and a 40% tip was giving. I should have looked at the bill I guess. The bill was not given back only the credit card receipt. On the way home I was concerned about the cost being high. I called the restaurant and they mentioned did you realize the tip is already included? The receptionist was very nice and said she would deduct the 2nd tip.

Food was good for the most part, service excellent, hostess that greeted us was very nice and not a snob like most hostesses are. My wife had lasagna which she said was fantastic. I ordered the spaghetti puttanesca which was pretty good except for the mushy pasta. I asked for extra al-dente (the way I like it) and sha-zamm.... soft mushy spaghetti. Most places outside of the New York/Boston area don't get it.

Wellll this was so incredibly lovely!! Here for a conference, with several colleagues from many states as well as some Canadian friends, and we stumbled into Emilio's! We were so well taken care of, Tiffany was sweet and endearing and quick and responsive, and rolled with the punches while we bumbled along chatting and laughing and changing our minds a million times! Thank you to this lovely establishment and we will (hopefully) be back sometime soon!

I L-O-V-E the Caesar salad with anchovies (you have to ask for them)!!! I know it's only the starter salad, but I would go there just for that. The stuffed mushroom appetizer is also really yummy, and for entrees, I always order either the eggplant parm or the lobster ravioli. I'm giving them 3 stars out of 5 though because someone who I believe is the owner was rude to my family when we were gathered for my grandmother's funeral... it's not like the owner knew that's why we were all out to dinner, but I felt like he could have showed my late grandmother's husband a little more respect, instead of trying to rush us through dinner to make a table available... just saying. But, man, do I love that Caesar salad!!!

The food was pretty good and our server was pretty friendly. However, there was a strong smell of smoke when we first walked in and going up the stairs. I find that very unappetizing. Also we were seated upstairs in the cold corner of this small room, or maybe the whole place was cold, either way I was cold which I really don't like. All at all I wouldn't come back.

This is an Italian restaurant that doesn't make its own pasta from scratch. That's bad. And the service is bad too...we had to wait ten minutes to even be seated by a sullen waitress. We were at least going to get a drink (we no longer wanted to order one of their expensive entrees when we learned they don't make their own pasta) but the service was so slow and the wine selection was sub-par so we just left. And, btw, we weren't even asked about why we were leaving.

On our most recent trip, the food and service was much better than it was a couple years ago. They have the best Gnocchi I have ever had except for what my grandmother used to make who was born in Italy. My only suggestion would be some much needed updating in the downstairs dining room. If you go up to the second floor and sit outside it is lovely.

I love this restaurant. I've never been disappointed. The Stuffed mushrooms, and the pear salad was delicious. Veal picatta was delicious. The Bomba for dessert was AWESOME.

My husband and I came here for dinner our last night in Staunton, and we were incredibly disappointed with the food. The service was excellent and, to be honest, we wanted to just leave a big tip for service and send most of our food back. We came in for dinner on a Tuesday night. The restaurant was empty. My husband ordered the gnocchi and I ordered the spaghetti alla checca - which seemed pretty basic and hard to mess up. We also were brought bread. The bread consisted of stale rolls in a bread basket that were very obviously reheated from hours ago, perhaps from another customer's uneaten bread basket. The side salads that came with the meal were actually fresh and tasted very good. They, along with the drinks, and the good service by the waiter were the best parts of the meal, as the entrees were terrible. My dish - the spaghetti with tomatoes, garlic, basil, mozzarella, and shrimp - had no flavor to it, and the shrimp didn't look fresh. Strangely, the rest of the ingredients looked very fresh, but the dish was clearly executed incorrectly and lacked flavor. The garlic was obviously not sauteed in the olive oil before the other ingredients were added, and so the entire dish had no flavor. Also, all the basil was stuck to the cheese and was not mixed properly, which also added to the lack of flavor problem. Simply put, the dish tasted like it was cooked by someone who never actually cooked Italian food, which was very bizarre in an Italian restaurant. My husband's gnocchi, which seemed promising based on previous Yelp reviews, had a slimy texture to it and the sauce did not stick at all to the pasta. The sauce also did not taste fresh. Our experience made us question how this restaurant ever received any positive reviews and whether there was possibly a change in management from a few years back. This was not just an "off night" type situation. The food literally tasted like it was cooked by a 10-year-old, which is a shame since the ingredients in the salads and my dish (aside from the shrimp) actually looked fresh. Not sure what the deal was with the gnocchi, as the pasta tasted like it was made by someone who doesn't know how to make proper gnocchi, and the sauce tasted like reheated frozen sauce. We ended up paying around $70 for the entire meal, not including tip, which was basically a ripoff for what we got.

Lunch taken to a new level! We were recommended by the visitor center and a nice glass of Chianti and some wonderful bread precluded a great lunch. Ashley was fabulous and kept us happy throughout. Chicken Piccata was tender and featured just the right amount of lemon but big serving of capers made me smile! Very cool building with comfortable table spacing. Highly recommended.

My family and I came here this weekend for JMU graduation dinner (not my graduation, I was just dragged along). Harrisonburg has a dearth of nice restaurants for this sort of occasion, so we all packed into the family van and trekked to Staunton. Things started off poorly. We had reservations for 7pm, but the restaurant was slammed with other families celebrating the graduation. We were not seated until 7:40. I understand the business decision that Emilio's made, to overbook reservations knowing that it's better to have too many people vying for your tables than to not be at capacity, but it is nevertheless upsetting to have to wait 40 minutes past your reservation time to be seated. Once we were seated, our waiter promptly took our drink orders....and then forgot about our drinks for about 15 minutes. Our drinks arrived around 8 o'clock, at which point our waiter took our dinner order and promised us that bread would be out soon. The house salads that were included with the meal came out shortly thereafter, and maybe I should have opted for the $4 upgrade to caesar salad because the house salad was not very good. Lettuce, tomato, carrots, with a little bit of vinaigrette dressing. Uninspired. Our waiter brought bread to the table around 8:30, which was needed to tide over our hunger. Dinner did not emerge from the kitchen until almost 9 o'clock, a full hour after we ordered it. This is unacceptable in any situation, and Jon Taffer would have been apoplectic. When it finally arrived, the meal was good. I got the chicken rollatini which was smothered in marsala wine and a thick cream sauce, topped with mushrooms. Delectable. However, even with the good there was bad. The side of spaghetti that came with the rollatini was cold and basically inedible. Ultimately, this would have been a one star experience but for the deliciousness of the rollatini.