Josh’s parents had heard good things about a new Italian restaurant in Leonia called Fontana di Trevi so we decided to try it out for dinner one Saturday night. When Josh tried to call to see if there was a wait, he got an answering machine message that said no tables were available until after 8:45 PM. So we waited until after the specified time and tried to call again but it was the same message. We decided to head over to the restaurant and check out the situation in person.

Josh went inside first and he said that they told him it would only be a 10 minute wait, which didn’t seem so bad. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of room to stand in the restaurant so we hovered by the doorway, feeling very conspicuous and bad that we were pretty much right next to the first table in the front. But we figured it would only be a short wait so we just tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. The restaurant is split into two rooms, separated by a short hallway, and the hostess stand is in the smaller room.

So we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Meanwhile, they never did fix the phone message because while we were standing there waiting, Josh called the number again and he got the same message. The phone by the hostess stand didn’t even ring. How do you operate a restaurant like that? How do people make reservations if they never pick up the phone? But we continued to wait, getting increasingly more agitated. We had been waiting for over half an hour, and no one came by to check on us. The hostess basically ignored our imploring looks and carried on a conversation with a table that had already paid for over 10 minutes. We were seriously annoyed by the time she finally came by and said that they were getting our table ready, and she kind of jerked her head towards the other room.

Another 10 minutes later (by now we had been waiting for almost an hour), they finally did get our table ready – the same one where the hostess had been chatting with the previous patrons. It was not in the other room, as she had indicated, and we were pretty much disgusted with the level of service (or lack thereof) that we had received. An hour wait is certainly unacceptable when you’re told that a wait would only be 10 minutes. The only reason we stayed was because we were starving, and because the restaurant was packed. Surely the food had to be fantastic, right?

They started us off with pieces of focaccia bread that was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It had good texture with a nice olive oil flavor, and things started to look up for the meal.

Focaccia bread

Alice and I both opted to have the Caesar salad for our appetizers. The salad is prepared tableside – always a nice touch. Anchovies, egg yolk, garlic, breadcrumbs, mustard, worcestershire sauce, and a few other ingredients were combined in a bowl to form a thick paste, which was then loosened with olive oil. The dressing was tossed with bite-sized pieces of fresh romaine. The flavor was great but the dressing was a tad too thick and clumped on some of the leaves, leaving some bites overwhelming with dressing while others totally bare. Dressing dispersion issues aside, they do top it with lots of grated cheese, which I liked.

Caesar salad made tableside

Josh had the spinach salad with cremini mushrooms and pancetta. It was tossed with a warm white vinegar dressing, and Josh seemed to enjoy it a lot. He thought the pancetta wasn’t too salty or overwhelming, and it was a light and refreshing salad.

Spinach salad with cremini mushrooms and pancetta

For his main course, Josh had the linguine with clams. The pasta was nicely cooked to al dente and the sauce packed a nice garlicky punch. There were lots of whole clams on top and was definitely the best dish of the evening.

Linguine con vogole

I had to go with the chicken parmesan, of course, which is always my test of a new Italian restaurant. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t that good. The chicken itself was fine but the “famous” marinara sauce (as it says on their menu) was overly sour and too acidic. The cheese was melted but runny, not browned and bubbly like I prefer. Instead of a side of pasta, it came with some mushy, buttery vegetables and mashed potatoes. Those reminded me of bad hotel food. Harsh, maybe, but I expected better.

Chicken parmesan

Since we ended up eating later than we expected, especially with the super long wait, we just wanted to get home and decided to forgo dessert. Overall we weren’t all that wowed by the food we had at Fontana di Trevi, and we were less than thrilled with the service. Maybe because they were new was why they had so many issues, but I still don’t understand why they don’t even answer their phone. It doesn’t seem to hurt business though, as the restaurant was packed the entire time we were there. Nevertheless, the food was not so impressive to overcome the problems we had, and I don’t think we’ll be going back. Sad, because we’re still looking for a good Italian restaurant near our home in NJ, and this one was also a BYO.

Fontana di Trevi
248 Fort Lee Rd.
Leonia, NJ