Complaint Review: Di Prenzios Kitchen

As a food critic for websites such as Saveur, Eater, Buzz Feed Foods, Huffington Post Taste, Gothamist, Zaget and Food & Wine, I have been in the region visiting restaurants for an upcoming issue highlighting the best places to eat in the Thousand Islands. I always arrive unannounced and dine under an alias so the owner is unaware of my review. I never accept free meals, compensation, or special treatment of any kind from any restaurants because my goal is to bring you the most honest and trustworthy opinions on where to eat. Sadly, I was shocked by my experience at Di Prinzio's Kitchen, on Riverside Dr. in Clayton, NY. It was an exceptionally poor experience from the start. First, the owner herself sat my party and I at a table and never told the server!

After waiting 20 minutes to be greeted on a rather slow Thursday evening, no one appeared. I finally approached the owner/hostess to ask who our server was. She replied that she forgot to tell him she sat us! Rather than send him right over, or take our drink and appetizer order herself, we waited an additional 10 minutes for our sever, making our total wait time to order drinks and cocktails 30 minutes. At this point we chose to also order our meals. 20 minutes later for our appetizers were delivered and we were shocked. They were both overcooked and badly burnt! The salad arrived drenched in so much dressing it resembled soup. I asked for the appetizers to be recooked and once again, they arrived burnt. So we munched on the stale bread they brought us and dipped it in a tiny side of olive oil, that was never once replenished. Our entrees finally arrived 30 minutes later. By this time we were starving and dug in. Again, we were quickly disappointed! The brick over pizza we ordered was cold. The angel hair with red sauce I ordered was by far the worst pasta I’ve ever tasted in my life, and as someone that dines at Italian restaurants frequently this was highly discouraging. The noodles were so overcooked they were soupy and the sauce was sorely lacking the flavors you would expect from an Italian red sauce. Complete fail.

I immediately returned the pasta, munched on the cold pizza and sipped my cocktails while the server whispered to the owner, reporting the problems. The owner’s response was quite alarming. She did nothing! She simply sat at the bar for the next 15 minutes, chatting and giggling with a waitress as the restaurant emptied out. It was 9pm at this point. Just when my party and I didn’t think anything could be worse, we were abruptly scolded by a long-haired blonde server after stepping outside the patio onto a path overlooking the river with our wine. This was after our server had give us the go ahead! She yelled at us across the patio to "return immediately, wine glasses are not allowed to be taken from the restaurant”. Ironically the party next to us said they complained to the owner about her because she was very rude to them as well. Not to mention she hadn’t secured her ponytail properly so her dirty hair had fallen out and into one of their meals! Last I checked this is against food safety laws in New York State.

All in all, I simply cannot recommend Di Prinzio's Kitchen in Clayton, NY to anyone dining in the Islands. The owner clearly is having trouble choosing quality cooks and a proper chef, not to mention an adequate hosting and serving staff. It’s extremely clear that the management is desperately needed and sadly neglected at Di Prinzio's Kitchen. I spoke to my editor and and we will be writing a further review on the website which you can read in the upcoming issue next month highlighting the best places to eat while vacationing in the Thousand Island region. Until then, if your in the Clayton area, I suggest you go to Bella’s, the Clipper Inn, the Wood Boat Brewery or the 1000 Islands Harbour Hotel. Each has exceptional drinks and entree’s!