Rigoletto Italian Bakery

While in Philly being a fat kid I was watching Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives and saw this on there and had to Unilocal!it. To my dismay I saw it had a low rating.
I am not sure what it is but it feels like every «famous» place has a lower rating for some reason-​is it because people set expectations too high???
Well I saw the photos and watched it on TV (because that means it’s true… Right?!) and decided I needed to see for myself.
Well, I can tell you right now-​this place is the real deal. We were utterly overwhelmed with the sheer variety and quality of the baked goods when we walked in, but we were here for lunch food-​as much as we seriously considered forgoing food and getting dessert only.
I ordered the Caprese Panini on Focacia and the Pasta Fagioli soup. My companion got the «Al Capone» Panini and Turkey Pot Pie Soup. We both cleaned our plates they were amazing.
Then for dessert, she got the Coconut Key Lime Cake and I got breaded ravioli. Yes. Toasted ravioli. I was still hungry, don’t judge me!
Both were amazing-​it tasted like mascarpone in the icing on the cake and the real ravioli a lightly breaded and fried and served with the Bolognese was perfect.
I can’t wait to visit again-​I think I have some chicken Parmesan and a Raspberry Lemoncello cake calling my name.
Bravo!

Awesome food and pastry! Service was great! Very friendly! I will take the 50min drive again!!!

We went here because we saw it in the food network. It was perfectly decorated, clean… There were 2 waitresses in the whole place, one was clearly not happy and she was intimidating and looked as if she didn’t want you to ask any questions. The foid was good though the food network sandwich I ordered said it had 5 slices of provolone on it on the show but no way there were 5. 3 of us got bakery items and while they get 5 stars for appearance all 3 of the ones we ordered lacked flavor. Cupcake was dry, my niches help was to have rad drug mousse but it was barely a hint of raspberry. I guess overall we we’re disappointed. It has potential but if you work in customer service you must not glare at your patrons.

This is a great restaurant and resource for everyone in Virginia Beach. I’m from Boston and both my grandparents are from Italy. And I know Italian food. This is really great quality food. The dessert selection is fabulous. The owner couldn’t be nicer. We will be back.

For some reason, I keep giving this place another shot. It’s never had a great experience here. The food is meh and the service is always off. Maybe it’s the fact that they were on Food Network that keeps bringing me back, maybe I’m missing something?
I have only been here for breakfast. Their breakfast menu is pretty limited with only a few sandwich offerings. They do, however, have a large selection of pastries and desserts to choose from.
Maybe I’ll come back and try dinner… who knows.

The owner is almost always here watching over the business, making sure everyone feels welcome and at home in this family establishment. Authentic italian atmosphere! Everytime I come here the food is top quality and I always have left overs to bring home.
They were featured on diners, drive-​ins and dives, and let me tell you those stuffed meatballs– THE BEST MEATBALLS. And that Florentina, you can taste every ingredient in it, juicy and flavorful. Not to mention all their italian desserts and cookies! I’ll keep going back for the rest of my life.
I went on a weekend and they even had LIVE music!

I had been wanting to stop in and eat here since we stopped in and grabbed some cookies back in September 2015.
We’d decided while we were in town we’d drop in and have lunch. Around 12:30−1PM they were pretty slow on a Sunday. I should have taken this as a sign. Now, I’ve ate at some restaurants where the service is slow, but it was S-​L-​O-​W. Slow to get drinks… oh and about those drinks.
I don’t drink soda normally, but I wanted a coke. I receive my drink, and it’s flat. I mean flat. Zero carbonation. I made a mention of that to the waitress and she had the audacity to argue with me about how she just changed it. Listen, it was flat. Just take it away and don’t argue with me.
On to the food, we shared the stuffed meatball appetizer. Very tasty. Great sauce too. Really enjoyed it in fact.
The lady had the Florentina sandwich. She enjoyed it, however she pointed out that it alone would not make her return. I tried it and it was pretty tasty.
I had the Ravioli Bolognese. Sauce was good. ravioli themselves were very good. Very flavorful. The filling was very good, in fact one of the best meat filled ravioli I have ever had. A bit heavy for lunch, but I would eat them again.
We wrapped up lunch and grabbed a few cookies to go, interestingly enough, the ones we wanted the most they didn’t put in the box even though we’d pointed them out specifically…
I left thinking it could have been much, much better from a service standpoint.
I wish I could give it two and a half stars.

So I first came here when it was just a teeny tiny café. I used to just buy their lattes and a couple cookies or their hazelnut cake. Fast forward 10 years later and I’m re-​introduced to this place but this time, like, 5 times bigger and better! It’s now a restaurant-​restaurant and I love it!!! I don’t know how many times I’ve been here already and each time I am giddy when come. I don’t know if it’s because I know I’m going to get dessert before I leave, or if it’s because I’m hungry, or if it’s because I just love to look at all the pastries, goodies, and stuff!
Each time I’ve come I’ve had the same server. I never catch her name but she’s always very nice and very efficient. This last visit I took my sister for her first experience. She enjoyed the ambiance and the vast selection of cakes and goodies; however, she was not too pleased with her entrée of choice. She chose the linguine con vongole and she just did not enjoy it. She didn’t like the taste and judging from what I saw, I felt it was just too watery for a pasta dish. I chose the shrimp Arribiatta pasta. I, too, did not care for it. It was just alright. Tasted like the sauce came out if a jar and needed more seasoning. Nothing to run home about but it def was better than my sister’s order. We also ordered calamari to start and if was pretty decent. I enjoyed the house salad as well. To make up for our sub par meal, we decided to try the Lemoncello Raspberry Cake. Oh. My. Gosh. So friggin delicious!!! We didn’t order any lattes or coffees but we did each take home a bag of cookies, biscottis, and other goodies!
Love this place and I always look fwd to coming here!

Anyone giving this place less than 4 stars is simply a food snob. Yes, I said it, you’re a food snob now get over yourself.
I got the a stuffed meatball and the Florintina sandwich both featured by Guy Fieri on Diners Drive Inns and Dives. I ate half of each to save room for dessert and boxed them up to go. For my side, I got the garlic fries, which were 5 star worthy. The sandwich and meatball get 4.5 stars.
I got a few of the cookies, the french crème horn and an éclair. I ate the crème horn, part of the éclair and two of the cookies. All of them were really good; nothing disappointing about any of them. I am really impressed with that éclair, I could eat those every day of my life!

Well, I am giving the dinner 2 stars and dessert 5 stars… depending on what you are after, this may be the place for you… or not.
Starting with the Calamari appetizer which was the $ 5.00 St Patricks day special. It wasnt bad although there is lots of room for improving presentation. The sauce was tastey but the paper towel the fried morsels were served on really detracted from the enjoyment.
I ordered eggplant parmesean for my entrée. The eggplant was quite yummy as it had fresh mozzarella sanwiched between eggplant slices and the breading was quite light… but why couldnt they peel the eggplant? So the skin had to be extracted from each bite… WHAT. A. PAIN! As well, the spaghetti was totally inedible. The marinara sauce was standard and tasted fine… but what did they do to the poor defenseless pasta strands? It tasted like it was boiled in dishwater… thats the only way I can describe it. It had a rank sour taste. I couldnt eat it. My companion had the supersized meat bowling ball… um. meatball…yes, it was a meatball… a huge, bigger than a softball, round, HUGE… did I say HUGE? Meat… ball. It was tastey… and meaty… and HUGE. His spaghetti had the same off-​putting flavor. He didnt eat his either. But to be clear… the 7 pounds of meat he ate every bite of!
Now dessert… this place should just concentrate on their baked goods! Dessert was 10 stars. I had a neopolitan which was delicious! My companion had the biggest éclair I have ever seen in my life. This 2 pound, 15,000 calorie, chocolate covered, cream-​filled, food orgasm is worth the $ 4.00 and could have been dinner. They have an enormous selection of biscotti and cookies too.
So to recap… skip the pasta, eat the meat, and have dessert FIRST!

This place is giving me the feels. Pasta was perfectly al dente, brought back memories of pasta dinner on Sundays with my family. May wanna bust out the stretchy pants, just like any family meal, the portions are BIG. I mean really would you expect anything less?
Display case after display case of desserts and cookies. Had to stop and admire the biscotti. Miss family time making these with my aunt.
Come to eat or just come for a cappuccino and dessert but definitely come.

After I placed my order I went to the restroom. While not at all fancy, they get restroom bonus points for the nice baby changing station, the Myers hand soap, the touch less paper towel dispenser and the nice chandelier lighting.
While waiting for my meal I perished the desserts in the restaurant. I saw a couple
ordering a box full of desserts on the restaurant side. They seemed knowledgable so I asked them for recommendations. It was very kind of the to share their opinions with me.
The cheese and spinach ravioli is delicious. Really good. I forgot to count how many ravioli came with my order, I believe it is seven. Service was good and the lady at the counter packaging bakery orders was very nice.

I’ve only had their food to go from order up but it’s always amazing. To date I’ve pretty much only ordered breakfast sandwiches but man — they’re so good I’ll try anything else they have!
I normally build my own sandwich and get egg whites, tomato, spinach, mozzarella, and bacon on a croissant with mini hash rounds. Yum! It’s always fresh and warm and delicious. I’ve ordered from here about 3x and it’s been delicious all three. Consistency is key!
I’ve browsed the coffee and sweets choices and can’t wait to try those. I’m also eyeballing some pasta.
I’ll update on those when I eat more! I know it’s my duty to Unilocal — so if someone has to do it. I will! Haha.
Nom Nom Nom!

Welcome to a taste of Italian fare in the backyard of VA Beach! Grab your gondola and paddle over to this bakery! I came to this bakery from the very beginning when they started and it was just half of the restaurant. It has since grown and taken the other half of the space. It was an overtake that is definitely worth a trip to see.
Everytime I come in here I just want to fall to my knees and thank the dessert gods for the divine delicacies that they put out to purchase. I would just go into diabetic shock if I tried them all! So I would recommend that if you tried any of the desert to try some of the cake, pies, and cookies!
One of the best things to definitely try when coming here is to get the bean soup, a fresh pressed panini, and some of the freshly brewed coffee or chai. This is a great place to take your friends or family for brunch or for dinner.
This is a wonderful place to try a great taste of Italian food with a reasonable cost. They also serve breakfast which I have yet to try but would most definitely return to sample some of the breakfast items. They do serve a variety of biscotti and dessert cookies. Plan to make this one of your stops for a great after dinner dessert party.

Service is everything. I believe the service (depending on the person) is hit or miss. Considering how good some of the desserts & food are, I guess I may have to get over it. :)
My 2^nd visit, I let the hostess know I was rushing & wanted to get a quick bite. She immediately advised me there was a 45minute wait on food & to just let my waitress know. I noticed several tables hadn’t even placed their order so, I was not expecting to order anything but a drink. When my waitress, Julia, came… she was patient & attentive. Again, I let her know my expectations & if it were doable. She said no problem & had my order (wine & food!) out in less than 5minutes & took care of my tab in a timely fashion as well! Thank you soooo much for outstanding customer service. I was starting to feel discouraged with the service but, Julia won me over during my 2^nd visit.
As for the food, I had to try ONE meatball. Whoa!!! I thought the ball was flavorful & HUGE! The sauce, IMO, was well balanced. I’m not Italian but, have had authentic sauces. I could be wrong but, this was one of them. I tend to make my sauce punchy and overly seasoned. The «authentic» sauces I’ve had seem to keep it simple, sweet & smooth. Not tart.
Calamari…another item where it was just kept simple yet, fried to PERFECTION! The mollusk was piping hot & melted in my mouth!!! No fancy parsley… not overly season if at all. Just the squid & just the sauce. Period. And that is sooo fine with me.
Had to end the meal with a dessert. I chose the Napoleon. My friends and I have been eating this dessert for several years now. Not sure how it’s suppose to taste but, the first thing we noticed is that it was more custardy than creamy. We recall another place where the filling was creamier… similar to the inside of the lobster claw which is what my friends also ordered. Wow! I’m torn… I like the inside of the claw but, love the pastry dough of the Napoleon.
For the quality & location, the prices are perfect!
I can’t wait to try additional items on the menu & desserts! I have my eye on the eggplant dishes!

Come here hungry!
I just went to this place for the first time after craving Italian food. I ordered the chicken parm which was good– but the real star of the restaurant are the desserts. They have a huuuuuuge dessert case with so many incredibly amazing desserts. I mean everything you could think of from black and white cookies, cannolis, to cheesecake and tiramisu. It took me forever to decide because they all look incredible. I settled on carrot cake which was SO good! Honestly if I could have gone to town on the desserts with just a fork and open dessert case– that’s my dream haha

We stopped by for a late dinner and we were very disappointed.
Our waitress was very robotic and was simply going through the motions of her job. There was nothing friendly about her.
I ordered an egg plant Panini and my wife ordered the spaghetti with meatballs. The Panini was quite large however all I could taste was fried grease. I literally left three quarters of the sandwich on my plate. My wife’s spaghetti barely had any sauce on it, but in retrospect that was probably a good thing since it tasted like it came straight from a jar. No bread was served with her spaghetti, so she asked for some. The waitress was kind enough to bring out some hard stale bread. She also left most of her spaghetti on her plate.
We did tell the waitress that we were not happy with our food, which should have been apparent by the amount we left on our plates and didn’t bother to take home with us. So to compensate for this terrible food, she took 10% off of our bill. What a joke!
With food and service this bad, this place will not be open much longer.

This place is wonderful, especially if you love desserts.
I picked a couple of sandwiches up from here before, to go, and they are huge! One sandwich is definitely enough for 2! It tasted so great too. I forgot which ones we ordered because it had to have been more than 2 years ago.
Anyway, fast forward to 2015 —
The last trip here was literally 5 mins long so I didn’t get to enjoy the whole place — the décor and especially the desserts. But the other day, I sure did! The interior is dark and elegant. Nothing super fancy, but nice. I had lunch with my bff at a nearby restaurant and she suggested this place for dessert. Walked in, and OMG! Little Italy!
The displays of cases full of different biscotti, Italian Cookies, and cakes — overwhelming in an awesome way! It took me a while to decide… I love, love, love, Napoleons, but chose their signature cake — which was Hazelnut cream — A M A Z I NG, especially paired with a hazelnut latte. Goodness. Can’t you just imagine and taste the goodness?
The only reason I’m not giving this place a complete and perfect 5 star review is that I didn’t feel that the staff was friendly enough. They felt cold and not too happy to be there. I complimented twice that «everything was so awesome» and not once did I really get a «Oh thank you» or «That’s what we like to hear.» It’s like, why’d I even waste my breath. Not saying they have to befriend me or be my next bff but you know how sometimes you just don’t get a good vibe? Anyway, I really did enjoy the cake and coffee, just didn’t feel too welcome. I’d still definitely return. Hope they were just having an off day.
Next time I’ll try the Napoleon & probably get cookies to-​go for my mom. Check this place out, even if not for the meals, come for the grand selection of desserts!
P. S. They even sell candles here, for cakes and such. :)

This was unexpected visit, thought of having seafood for supper tonight but the place that I like was packed and busy. I have to admit that I was quite a bit hungry so I decided to walked around. I’ve passed by to this place and while walking I saw the striking display of pastries and sweet. Out of curiosity, I decided to come in and see how it goes. The dessert bar initially caught my attention I thought their incredibly stunning. You know when you’re hungry everything that you see is yummy and feel like you want to eat them all.
Come to find out that the also served A’la carte menu. The bakery was just the up prompt of the entire premises, there were table set up on the side which quite decent to serve numerous guest. Thankfully it wasn’t busy compare to the first initial plan I have in mind so I decided to dine in. I was greeted with one of the server and advise to sit down wherever I want. I thought the entire place was very homey. The set up was very literal red table cloth, silverware and Italian sparkling water on top of the table. Nothing so spectacular but everything seems neat and clean. I can see that this is a neighborhood restaurant, its an evident that most of the customer is regular and the server knows them. I like the idea of customer and staff relationships because it feel like you’re dining in your Aunt’s kitchen.
For today’s visit, I started with Calamari followed with Shrimp Josephine for my entrée; basically it was fresh jumbo shrimp tossed in dice tomatoes, spinach, wine and lemon over linguine pasta. As per dessert, I end up having the carrot cake. Yes, I ended having three course meal and enjoyed every single bite of it. I thought the starter and main course was just average in terms of flavor profile and plating. I commend the chef for using fresh ingredients, the calamari and shrimp was extremely fresh. My only criticism for the following dish that it needed more seasoning, probably the restaurant should served grated parmesan specially for a pasta dish. However, the dessert was definitely the highlight of my entire meal it was well balanced and delicious. If I am going to sum it up «succulent» is the perfect word.
Without a doubt, the customer service was simply superb. The staff are friendly and polite. Although, our server missed out to served the complimentary bread and butter but she did a wonderful job. The question is am I willing to come back, definitely yes maybe for sweets.

I found this place on accident after having a bad experience by another bakery within the same vicinity as this one. They were happy to accommodate me and offer me suggestions on what to order.
They have a huge variety of Italian pastries and cookies. I learned that they were on Diners, Drive ins and Dives but that the bakery came before the restaurant so of course knowing that fun fact I had to indulge in a sweet treat. I had a cake, which I unfortunately did not get the name of. But it was delicious. The best dark chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and chocolate spirals. It encompassed the best of both worlds, sweet, a rich cake layer and a smooth finish.
I wish Chesapeake had a place like this because I would not be able to frequent this place often due to the 30 – 35 minute drive, but I know if Im ever in this part of town again I will have to stop in.