Villa Toscana on Main

We had the calamari for an appetizer and it was one of the best we’ve ever had! The coating was crisp and the calamari was perfectly tender! All three of us decided to have the Porcini Bianca, which was absolutely delicious! The porcini and shiitake mushrooms in a creamy wine sauce with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and fresh parsley was perfect! The portions were large enough that we all took almost ¹⁄₃ of our dinners home for another meal today! We usually don’t order desserts but it was a birthday celebration and the Chocolate Mascarpone Pie and Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding were a perfect ending to our dining experience! We’ll definitely be returning!

This is my first Unilocal review and I don’t know what the numbers in the right hand column (0 4 etc.) represent. That said, I would give this restaurant 4 (out of 5) stars. We have eaten there five times, now — once for lunch, three times for dinner — and have never been disappointed. Quite the opposite, in fact. Their Portabella Lasagna, Ragout Carolina, hamburgers, and deserts have been exceptionally good and modestly priced. In addition we attended an outstanding Wine Special dinner: five courses, five separate wines and an interesting talk on each by their wine importer from New York (?). Greg said he planned to repeat these periodically. There have been several restaurants at this site over the years, and all have failed — possibly because of its somewhat remote location. But this one is a real find, and we hope it will remain.

To be fair The place has only been open a short time, and I hope they get better, but my experience was terrible.
My party of three: Me, my sister and my friend arrived about 8:10 on Friday the 7^th of August. The restaurant has its menu posted on the sidewalk before you descend down the steps to the courtyard part of the eatery, and everything looked nice and the food looked tasty on the menu, but that is as far as it ever got.
As we approached the courtyard bar no one was there to greet us– and to tell us where to sit at this new restaurant to which we had obviously never been. We didn’t know if we should check in with the hostess or wait to be seated by a bar server or not. After a while we had to initiate contact with the manager or owner who was there and didn’t seem interested in helping us– Or was not cognizant enough to see that these three new customers required assistance — we walked over to him (he did not appear to be busy) explained to him that we would like to eat outside– listen to the music and have a drink. He told us to sit where we liked, but Still no instructive information was forthcoming about where or with whom to order drinks or food. It should be noted that they were not busy. There were 4 people at the bar, and a table with 3 only. Finally I approached the bar area and spoke with the man in charge and informed him again that we were interested in eating. With very little words He then handed us small menus that apparently were bar menus and not the tasty Italian we had hoped for and that had been described on the menu out front. We saw an outside server bringing food to people so we patiently waited, but after a time, no one came. I finally went inside and asked the hostess to please explain with whom we needed to place our order and if we may order from the menu we saw posted outside. To my dismay she said that the kitchen was closed! At 8:30 on a Friday, in the summer, in a college town, on graduation weekend! I was blown away. I went back to our table to impart these singular circumstances to my two companions.
As we tried to decide whether we wanted to order from the bar menu I ordered a round of drinks at the very basic outside bar which had just a few bottles of standard liquor and a few mixers. I counted 5 bottles presumably well bourbon, gin, vodka, rum, scotch. Clearly not set up to do much business outside. I ordered some basic drinks from my limited choices and then the bartender very rudely said — I’ll need to hold on to your card. I understand there are business issues at hand, and im sure people have left without paying, but this was supposed to be a nice restaurant, not some college dive bar, and there are nicer more tactful ways to go about business/​especially in the service industry. As I returned to the table with the not so tasty drinks I had a chance to examine the bar menu which basically was a list of burgers. No Italian food no appetizers. We had come for cocktails, Italian food and music, but instead we got well liquor drinks, bar food hamburgers, and a noisy train coming by every few minutes. Can you imagine a bar menu with no appetizers or snacks to buy? If for no other reason to keep your customers from drinking on an empty stomach. This was not what we had hoped for, and we decided to leave. We decided we would seek a better dining experience, and I went to retrieve my card and pay the bar tab, but the barman was nowhere to be seen. I waited for about 15 minutes and finally saw him in a dark corner Of the bar flipping burgers. I made eye contact with him but he couldn’t come help me. Then I noticed that my credit card was just sitting out on top of the counter unattended for all to see or steal. I mean if it is so common at the bar for people to walk out on tabs and steal their product without paying so much so that they have to rudely demand to hold on to your card your card to run a tab– don’t you think think they should handle other people’s property with more care if thievery is so common? I waited for what seemed like forever and even considered going over and taking my cars and just leaving $ 20, but I didn’t want to over pay for this miserable experience. I finally went over the the barkeep who was still flipping burgers. I told him I really would like to pay and He said ok but we still had to wait about 10 more minutes to pay. Was after 9:30 when we left
summary
Was advertised as an Italian restaurant
But really was a cheap college bar with burgers
Bereft of customer service & hospitality
The manager was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt and flip flops just didn’t seem personable or on top of things. There was an overall feeling if laxness or aloofness or ambivalence. No one seemed to care about serving us or taking our money. Finally, it should be noted that there were 3 or 4 unleashed dogs running around. It just didn’t really feel like a restaurant. I won’t be back any time soon.
The music was good though-​in between the loud trains

Greg was incredibly friendly and the food was great.
I needed some serious comfort food — found it in the browned butter pasta with chicken. The browned butter (hard to mess up) was just like home and the chicken was seasoned so well that I handed a forkful of it to my companion and made her take a bite.
Grazie mille!

Before I go any further, I’d like to point out that the restaurant has only been open for three months. That being said, the food was really underwhelming and very overpriced. I had the butternut squash trattole and it was quite under-​seasoned, and the squash was slightly underdone. My boyfriend had the Florentine bustecca. It was perfectly cooked (medium-​rare), but also under-​seasoned. It’s a great location and I think that the menu has potential, but the lack of seasoning just didn’t work for me. The wait staff was really nice though!

Great Italian restaurant just outside Clemson. They had a busted pipe and restaurant was closed. But owner fixed it and girl called us back to confirm our reservation. So glad the owner fixed the plumbing and got them running. Food was great service was excellent. Can’t wait to return. A must visit!