Primo Italiano

Went there today and they are still closed. Lady outside going into Zoe’s says they went out business weeks ago.

I called on May 8^th to order a pizza and the phone number just rang and rang – no one ever answered. I looked online and it says you can not use the online ordering feature.
Since I live nearby, I drove over and there is a handwritten «Closed» sign on he door, and some UPS failed delivery tickets stuck to the door.
What’s up, Joe? Out of business? If you’re not out of business, I would think you’d want to put some announcement on the phone, web, and front door about your status.

Slow. Out of 2 of the things I ordered. Seems like a disorganized mess.

Poor customer service and false advertising on delivery was an est 30−45mins and took over 2 hours!!! Would not recommend this place to anyone.

Do not eat here. Ordered the Chicken piccata and the chicken was undercooked and pink. They have the worst customer service. Very misleading advertising when ordering from the website. Please save yourself the frustration and disappointment and steer clear.

Food is mediocre. First off the place needs to be renovated. It looks old and dirty. Anyways I ordered a steak&cheese sandwich for lunch and the Indian guy took my order. Not sure if he was the actual cook. I made a mistake of not checking it before I left but once I got back to work and opened it, come to find out ONLY ONE SIDE OF MY SANDWICH HAD MEAT. I called to let them know and this MOTHER TRUCKER had the balls to tell me maybe I was holding the container wrong and the meat moved over… So you’re telling me this thick slab of cheese and meat shifted all the way over to the other side. Look at the picture. Does it look like meat touched the other side of the sandwich??? He was very rude and didn’t seem like he cared about the problem. The sandwich was ok, could of been better if I was able to enjoy the other side. See my pic below

I tried this place twice. I tried to give it a chance.
The first time, I walked in and I asked about lunch specials. They aren’t written anywhere. Some guy just rattled like 5 of them off. Confusing. So I just got a steak and cheese sub and some chips and a drink. The cup they give you for a drink is child-​sized. Be prepared to run back and forth a few times, re-​filling this shot-​glass of a cup. I got my sub and it was ok. The meat was good. Cheese was plentiful. But the lettuce was odd. They dumped a bunch of mayo on it and put the meat in an odd place and it just didn’t «flow».
I decided to come back and get the pizza. It is advertised as pepperoni, tomato sauce, sausage, cheese and mushrooms. I don’t like mushrooms, so I asked for black olives in their place.
I get my pizza and start eating. It’s bland. I’m not sure why. Then I realize — THERE’S NO DAMN PEPPERONI! I go up and tell the guy behind the counter. He’s all, «You want more pepperoni?» No, sir, I need it. Period. Point blank. There is NONE. So he brings me some pepperoni to put on my pizza. No apology or anything. FAIL.
I’m done with this place. If you decide to go, good luck.

I’m upping rating but only to 2 stars for new ownership.
Better food supplier should make huge difference now. Plus the old owners are gone far away. Razy surprised tk fjnd the «homeless guy» driver still wirking there ans bothering the guests. Can’t believe all the complaints can’t get rid of this problem. Will never dine-​in until he’s gone.
Anyway, tried my old favorite create-​your-​own pasta with bolognaise & meatballs. After cleaning my car seat because the sauce had leaked all over it during a 2 mjnute drive, and ckeaning the kitchen from it all over the place… I started to eat hoping for old/​original recipes. Well, old days would have at least included mear balls when it was listed in order & paid expensively for. What was left of the sayce was overcooked and overseasoned. Tasted awful.
Oh, well… gave it a shot.
Great new owner with lots of enthusiastic promise so will try again when hungry enough.

I got the #1 cold sandwich. It contains Italian meats and provolone. Not good, not bad.
I’d never come here again, and not because I hated it, but b/​c I feel like there was no heart in their food. (What does that even mean??!) It means I don’t think they care about their food tasting excellent. I felt like they threw my sub together and tossed it over the counter for me to eat. Have they tasted their own Italian «dressing» in their subs? It’s super sour! The onions were were cut so thick that I felt like I was munching on an onion salad with bread. Don’t get me started on the ratio of bread to meat. These are simple things that people who care about their food would’ve nipped in the bud before serving to customers.

Well, I love Italian. So, I decided to venture into Primo Italiano for a Meatball Sub to go. First of all, even though there was only one person who ordered in front of me… it took them 10 min to get me a meatball sub. Really? 10 min for a meatball sub and, during lunch hour? OK, with sub in hand I headed back to my office. I must say… the bread was very good, the sauce was also very good but the meatballs-​were horrible. This is the first time in my life I have ever seen gray meatballs. I honestly have serious doubts that they were hamburger. And they are without a doubt the blandest meatballs I have ever eaten in my 50+ years of eating Italian food. This was my first visit to Primo, and I can say with great confidence that it will be my last. Don’t make the mistake I made, just go somewhere else in the plaza, there are plenty of good choices.
**Update** This may be TMI… but 3 hours after that nasty meatball sub I had to dash to the bathroom, and I do mean dash… I will leave it at that. Except for STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! Now I know why there was no standard lunchtime line at this place, that should have been a clue to me.

Reading the full history of Unilocal reviews can be both interesting and revealing of where an establishment came from and where they are today. My take is that Primo was a solid Italian deli /​take-​out joint that had a rude owner who used quality product, and was then sold to someone who treats his patrons better but has ran the food quality downhill. I was expecting more from Primo — I was hoping it was a true Italian deli. Sadly, it is not. Not even close. But from my lone pick-​up experience, it’s not a bad spot to get a quick sandwich.
I called in a pick-​up order Friday and swung by and snagged it and ate it on the way home. I was disappointed that the cold subs selection was rather pedestrian — the most «Italian» of them all is the #1 — capicola, genoa salami, mortadella, and provolone cheese — something you can get at just about any sub shop. I ordered mine on a soft roll with LTM, sweet and hot peppers, and Italian dressing. The sub was ready FAST and the guy working the counter was very polite despite wearing a Virginia Tech sweatshirt.
The sub itself was good, but not anything special that I would go out of the way to order again. Bread was pretty good and the meat/​cheese quality was decent. I thought it odd that my sub did have green peppers on it when I asked for «sweet and hot peppers» — I thought this was a mistake but I see from other reviews that this is the norm.
It’s good enough to order if you’re in a pinch for something to eat, but I’m hoping to find something better that isn’t too far out of the vicinity for future sub cravings.

If you’re expecting the good Primo from when Joe ran this place… it is not. The new owners have bungled this place so badly. This used to have some of my favorite food in Reston. I just got an «Italian Sub» from here that looks like they ran to a Food Lion and bought cold cut meat from Oscar Meyer, «sweet peppers» are actually just raw green peppers and the bread… clearly Joe took the good bread with him when he left. This tastes and feels like sliced sandwich bread put in sub form. Subway would have been better AND cheaper. At least they have fresh bread.
I used to order from here all the time. These days. I will take my business up to The Deli in Herndon. Sure it’s an extra 7 minutes from my office… but at least I get a good Italian sub made there with high quality ingredients.
Avoid at all costs. This place is garbage now.

I’ve only ever been to Primo Italian twice, both times by myself for a quick bite to eat in the evening. Once I got the pizza, and once I got their #1 sandwich order.
The pizza was decent. I don’t remember being incredibly impressed, but it was good. The sandwich was amazing. It smelled good, it looked good, it tasted great.
Primo Italian just seems like an awesome place to go for something quick like a sandwich or some pizza. I haven’t had any of the pasta or anything like that, so I couldn’t say how it is, but I like what I’ve seen so far.
The staff seemed pretty nice. I asked about a bottle of Chianti they had on display, and the manager said he could get me some directly from his supplier if I wanted. Whether or not he was being genuine, I appreciated the gesture.
If you’re looking for quick bite, grab a sandwich at Primo Italiano. You won’t be disappointed.

Oh no!!! What happened to this little place?
Although a humble place with plastic seats and older tables, I once loved to get delivery from this little Italian restaurant located in Plaza Americana on the Champp’s end. I enjoyed the pasta that seemed to make it to my house without losing its al dente texture and the arrabbiata sauce tasted of fresh tomatoes with a nice kick of spice. I liked the salad dressing and minestrone soup and the pizza was not bad at all.
The two times I’ve been to this restaurant recently, the food quality and cleanliness have deteriorated. We chose the least messy seating option and bussed our own table even though the place wasn’t very busy – there were several tables empty of customers with crumbs, straw wrappers and used napkins on the tables or seats. The lackluster and messy ambience was a portent of things to come. The linguine I ordered was miserable– more AL-​DANTE (as in cooked in the Inferno and turned to paste) than al dente and the Arribbiata tasted like something out of a can without the nice fresh acidity and spice I remembered from before. I ordered this inside the restaurant and it still was soggy and sad. My friend ordered another pasta option and his pasta was overcooked as well.
Leaving almost whole portions of food on the table barely touched, I looked for a familiar face to let them know about our pasta. I spoke with an unfamiliar person who told me that the restaurant had changed ownership. The employee apologized that we «didn’t like» the food, but did nothing to acknowledge that the pasta was mushy instead of aldente and did not offer to fix the situation. We left and went over to Champps for a drink and second dinner.
It’s really too bad that the new owners of the restaurant do not have the same standards of quality as the former owners. This is especially obvious in their customer service and kitchen production. In my opinion, an ordered-​in meal must be fresh and well executed more-​so than a delivery meal. With delivery you can give benefit of the doubt that the meal was satisfactory when it left the restaurant and that other factors could come into play delaying the time of consumption and thereby lessening the quality of the meal. I experienced better meals delivered to my home from the former staff and owners than I experienced inside this restaurant. I used to recommend this place to friends who worked the late shift
I hate to say this, but I probably won’t be back