Matteo's Of Hallandale

Antonio was amazing! You can't get much more family than this. I felt like I was in an episode of Cheers. The food was very good. Generous portions. Stuffed artichoke reminded me of my mother's culinary upbringing. My wife had ravioli and I had what I would call Zuppa di Pesce over black squid ink pasta. Both sauces tasted like a Sunday Gravy. Dessert we had Napoleon and a Canoli unlike one I have ever had. Great take on a Canoli and now I will be harping on my Canoli guy to come closer to this. Live music on a Saturday night totally added to the experience but they did have outside seating for those looking for a more intimate environment. At the time we went the place had a 3.8 star rating which I took seriously. Luckily we got a recommendation to go and had the chance to fit it in. I will make my way here everytime I find myself in South Florida.

I wouldn't recommend Matteo's because they messed up my salad order. I ordered a gorgonzola salad they brought something else out. They brought something with ham and cheese. The salmon dish I ordered was tasteless and fatty. The other dish that was ordered was over salted and too much bone (roasted chicken).

We found Matteo's after a map search for “Italian food” while on vacation in Hollywood, FL. I am SO glad we did! Fantastic food and drinks. Nice live music and singing added to the ambiance. But our favorite part was our server, (I believe his name was) Jonathan. From the start he was genuinely welcoming, offered suggestions, attentive without being too much, and just overall an integral part of our fabulous dinner experience. We highly recommend!!

We never ended up staying at Matteo. After being seated an employee in fact the chef was hovering over our booth on his phone texting. Our waiter acknowledged our discomfort asked the employee to move away and was met with a belligerent response and refusal to move. The waiter did not move us to another table when we asked him to. We went over to the manager advised him of our situation and again we were met with indifference. We left the restaurant and will never return.

I was disappointed as I've been to Matteo's many tones. I took my friend for her 65 birthday and out it in the reservation and reminded the hostess and waiter. It was very hot in the restaurant which the waiter said is because they refuse to close the doors on the back. Waiter was a huge up seller which was very annoying. Started with a clams app which was good, not great, but good. Had chicken parm which was ok as well. Ordered the branzino which was full of bones and poorly filleted. We should have sent it back. The waiter then encouraged us to get tiramisu for dessert and said it's perfect with the mango sorbet. When the bill came I was surprised by the charge of 2 desserts in that the waiter said he would take care of it.....he also brought a wine bucket insisting we order a bottle of wine, which we did not. I did speak to the manager who didn't seem to really care. I had already paid the bill as I wasn't looking for anything. I won't be returning anytime soon.