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Last Update: Feb 13th, 2021
It closer

IT! Italy

500 E Las Olas
Fort Lauderdale FL, 33301
(954) 871- 2113
Overall Rating
1.9
Food
Service
Ambiance
Value
Last Review
11/25/2019

Details

Parking: Street Metered, Garage, Valet
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Full Bar
Has WiFi: Yes
WiFi Password: Unknown
Outside Dining: Yes

Pros

Colorful Decor
Prime Las Olas Location

Cons

Overpriced Menu with Ill-conceived recipes

Critic's Review

IT! Italy quietly opened today, and while I try to avoid going to restaurants the day they open, this place has been so ineptly marketed that I felt getting a menu and figuring the place out was in the best interests of my reader public.

I'd driven by earlier and I saw people in the outside space. The only indication that they were open for business were the signs on the sidewalk.

IT Italy Outside Space

Note to restaurant owners: You're only allowed 1 sandwich board on the sidewalk and you need a permit. I'm sure the code police will be right on this.

Upon entering the place, I had a bit of a claustrophobic feeling. It seemed cramped. I didn't want to sit at the bar.

IT Italy Bar

There's an odd booth in the corner. I had to look around to find a place that was comfortable.

IT Italy Interior

There are way too many mirrors. The wide mirrored columns create tight spaces; it's going to be difficult walking through this restaurant with a crowd.

There's a row of TVs that run the length of the restaurant. Every 4th TV has an ad for the restaurant; almost all of them are pictures of smiling women enjoying a drink at the restaurant. Their instagram and facebook are filled with pictures of woman.

IT Italy TVs

It's the first day so I'm not going into the service; the servers are getting their legs under them. I ordered an iced tea, despite the $3.50 price, and an appetizer eggplant parmesan. Everything here is too expensive and there's no lunch menu; no panini or meatball sandwiches. The truth is this is not really an Italian restaurant. More on this later.

The iced tea tasted musty. Not sure if it's bad water or bad tea. I won't be ordering the iced tea ever again.

There's a button on the table that you can push if you need service. Must be fun for the servers in a crowded restaurant.

It service button

While waiting I made a trip to the men's room. There no wording indicating men's or ladies room; just big creepy pictures of Italian Celebrities. There's more inside; I don't generally take photos of bathrooms. There are mirrors all over so you can watch yourself go.

IT Italy Men's Room Door

The food wasn't on the table yet. Music is very loungey and quite loud; "Like Water", "Wake up Where you are" and an awful remake of "Wonderwall".

IT Italy View of Las Olas

It took 20 minutes for the food to come out.

IT Italy Eggplant Parmesan

This didn't look like an eggplant parm I've ever had before. The menu says "crispy eggplant" but this wasn't even breaded. This is the kind of mushy eggplant that makes people think they despise eggplant.

$12 for this with no bread or pasta is ridiculous. This is less than $1 worth of food.

Micro Cilantro does not pair well with this; the greens with this dish are completely ill-conceived. South Americans just put Cilantro on everything.

IT Italy Eggplant Parmesan

The menu says "layered with ham and mozzarella"; the only layer of mozzarella was on top, and instead of the expected prosciutto or capocollo; the ham was a slice of smoked ham. Highly unusual.

IT Italy Eggplant with Smoked Ham

Separating out the greens and the ham I was able the eat most of this. The service button comes in handy when you're ready for the check.

They have the tableside checkout here; he hands me the unit with the tip screen, so you can't even see an itemized check until after you pay. The people who design these things (and restauranteurs) have no idea how to do this properly. They should deliver an itemized bill as usual and take the payment on the machine. The machine is not in lieu of a check.

IT Italy Tableside Checkout

They haven't even bothered to program in the name of the restaurant yet.

I've expressed my feelings about having to sign the check with my finger. Invest in some styluses people.

Conclusion

Perhaps the worst marketed restaurant ever to open on Las Olas has opened, and I can't say that I'm impressed. Even with the limited information available pre-opening, this doesn't surprise me.

The eggplant parmesan I had was perhaps the worst I've had since my mother tried to make it before there was an internet where you could find proper recipes. There's a way to cook eggplant so it's not mushy junk, and they don't know that method here. The entire recipe is ill-conceived, and from the descriptions of the food I can tell that whoever put this menu together is not of Italian heritage. They don't even have an Italian wine by the glass on the menu. Am I going to come in here for a glass of generic Malbec to watch some sports? No I'm not.

This place is typical of South Americans coming to the US thinking they have a big idea; like pictures of hot chicks on instagram is how to market a restaurant in the United States. Slap some fake Italian food in front of us and we'll overpay for booze. Problem is, places with better Italian food are nearby, and I don't have to listen to the lounge music.

The place is very colorful, and the bar seems more interesting than the restaurant. But it's fairly clear that the owners have no idea how to cater to this neighborhood. If I was looking for some Italian food this is the last place I'd consider.

Pre-Opening Musings

An Argentinian Italian restaurant is opening on Las Olas.

I believe this is their first restaurant in the US, what could go wrong? South Americanized Italian food to add to Las Olas motley offerings. These places seem like "cafes" rather than fancy formal restaurants.

Comment Policy Add Comment
Eddy
Reply
How is this place still open?
Rita
Reply
If you want to see faces of people in Fort Lauderdale who know nothing about Italian food, check out the 4 and 5 star reviews of THIS RESTAURANT on Yelp and Trip Advisor.
Administrator
Reply
They've revamped their menu with new ridiculous prices for their ridiculous recipes. Meatballs with cream cheese.

Who is paying $19 for Spaghetti and meatballs with cream cheese for lunch in this debacle of a restaurant? Do they think that Ricotta is cream cheese? An "Italian" restaurant that offers mashed potatoes and jasmine rice as side. It's too absurd to be real.
Administrator
Reply
They've already raised most of their prices $1; so instead of coming up with a competitive lunch special, they raised the prices.

3 Reds by the glass; "Proverb" brand retails for $6.95/bottle. Quality stuff.
Administrator
Reply
24 reviews, 46 filtered. They're buying Google Adwords; click on the ad and it takes you to a largely broken website with all of their restaurants in Argentina and a broken link to this restaurant.
JenM
Reply
I looked at their menu in Open Table and it’s in SPANISH! I had to google translate the menu. Many items were Argentinean.
Administrator
Reply
Why not just look at the English menu we have here? No Google?
Administrator
Reply
Lots of fake reviews coming in for this place; a bunch of people from Argentina tried to post comments here. What are the chances of getting more reviews from San Francisco than South Florida?
Rich E
Reply
Astoundingly atrocious service! Been waiting for someone to at least give me a menu for 20 minutes now. I thought I’d give them chance. No more. Leaving now.
Administrator
Reply
A yelp reviewer says they were told that it's not Italian food; it's Argentinian. Seems like a deceptive name for the place if that's the case.
Craig
Reply
The breakfast menu cracks me up. Avocado toast or toast with a scoop of avocado on the side. They're totally catering to Millenials who read somewhere that Avocado was good for them.
Administrator
Reply
No posts of any kind since Oct 27. Nothing like keeping the buzz going. 🙄
Administrator
Reply
They have their licenses so the grand opening is imminent. Still no English pages anywhere to be found.
Administrator
Reply
I have a bad feeling about this place. Their facebook page is filled with pictures of women; it's kind of creepy.
Administrator
Reply
An early look inside. Hard to believe they keep building new restaurants with 1000 seats added to this block recently and none of them doing well.
Jin
Reply
I thought this was going to be Salt 7? Is Salt 7 dead?
Administrator
Reply
It's not dead AFAIK. I thought it was going here. Not sure where it's going to be.
Eric
Reply
I heard Salt 7 was going on the backside of The Icon overlooking the river.
Administrator
Reply
That's correct. 3 bad restaurants in one building. What are the chances?

Next: PF Changs China Bistro