To enjoy Fazolis, go inside

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Well, the fettuccine is good, said my friend, when her husband and I returned from our quest for lunch.

Almost all of the food was good. Fazolis offers, as it always has, darned good Italian pasta for a low price. We spent less than $20 on lunch for three.

But that doesnt mean it was easy to get. Our counter service at Fazolis has always been quick and efficient, but using the drive-through became an exercise in frustration.

Three or four cars waited in line at lunchtime when we pulled up just before 12:30 p.m. If they experienced the same series of blunders that we endured, that could easily explain why it took us eight minutes and 17 seconds between pull-up and drive-off.

We didnt think it was that complicated. My friend and I placed two orders. The first was for one classic sampler, which included spaghetti, fettuccine Alfredo and lasagna; a two-choice Build Your Own Pasta with two helpings of fettuccine Alfredo; a very strawberry freezi, which is a slushy drink; and a slice of Oreo cheesecake. Our second order was for one ultimate sampler, which added a serving of baked ziti to the classic items. Thats it.

Yet the young woman working the drive-through was completely unable to grasp what we wanted. We made some effort to state our orders slowly and clearly, but when she recited them back to us she left out part of our first order and just got the second order wrong.

In particular, despite three increasingly loud and careful repetitions, the order taker couldnt tell the difference between ultimate sampler and classic sampler.

She finally gave up and said, Just pull around to the window.

When we got there, she blamed her confusion on a bad microphone yet with us sitting in front of her, she still couldnt get it right.

We repeated our second order one more time, and she entered it wrong in her register. That took a manager to clear up.

I need Vanessa, the order-taker called, adding another minute or so to our wait.

Part of the problem may have been Fazolis efficiency move of having her take more orders on a headset while talking to us and handing out food. This added no efficiency at all. We could hear her put another driver on hold while wrestling with the register, then muttering No, no, no, dont say anything into what we hope was a dead mic.

She handed out our three bags (Oreo cheesecake packed separately from the hot pasta), but we had to remind her about the freezi, even though it had been prepared and sat right next to her.

We were quite ready for lunch The one weak spot was the very strawberry freezi, which my friend described as bland and watery-tasting. It didnt appear substantially melted, and shes had excellently fruity freezes there before, so this must have been just an unfortunate incident of too little flavor.

We were happy to find our breadsticks separately packed and wrapped in foil, keeping them warm but not soggy. The pasta itself was just as good and well-presented (and warm) as we would get by eating in.

Some red pepper and grated cheese packets would have been appreciated. I know theyre not regular condiments not much use for mustard on lasagna but they are available in shakers on Fazolis inside tables. As drive-through customers, we would like the same.

Only one napkin each came with our full plates of messy marinara, to which my friends newly spotted T-shirt can bear witness. A few extras would have been welcome.

The napkins were sealed inside individual plastic packs with the rest of our cutlery; but all three sets were in one bag, so its a good thing that this time our separate orders werent going to different destinations.

New restaurants will be given a grace period of at least eight weeks. Send comments to Managing Editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700