What is going on with Fiorello’s in West Chester? They used to have impeccable service, even just from the person answering the phone at the front of the house. Literally for years we have been going in and enjoying meals and occasionally getting a takeout order via Uber Eats.
Now, we didn’t do takeout/delivery for a while because they use the Slice app and Slice jacks prices and if there’s a problem with your order, it’s very hard to rectify.
However, in late March this year– March 29 to be precise we did an Uber Eats order. I think Uber eats is a probably one of the better food delivery services that exists and the problem wasn’t with them. The problem again was with Fiorillo as it had been a couple of years ago when we ordered through Slice with them.
I contacted them via the email address that they claim they have after being rebuffed by a young woman quite rudely on the phone.
This is what I said:
I placed an order from Uber Eats. It came incomplete.
I ordered the Calamari Mediterranean, which on the Uber Eats menu like your physical restaurant says it comes with linguine.
I am including the description from your page on Uber Eats so you see. It was delivered without linguine there wasn’t even the side salad that used to come with it or even a slice of bread or that skinny pizza slice that would come with it.
I called twice and whoever the young woman is answering the phone is rude. And no, I was not nice in tone to her. I will admit that because I do not respond to rude her response was “what do you want me to do about it” and that’s paraphrasing, but that was the message.
“We don’t deliver.” She says.
I know you don’t deliver. The problem wasn’t the delivery. The problem was the order.
And no, I’m not driving more than half an hour to come pick up a replacement order when I wanted to treat myself to delivery from Fiorello’s.
And her whole attitude of what do I expect her to do about? It is simply not acceptable. That’s what I can’t get past. She could’ve actually just apologized.
Does she want me to explain a restaurant and what front of house does when there’s a problem?
We’ve been customers for years. And every once in a while we order via Uber Eats.
And I don’t understand how your own kitchen doesn’t know that this comes with linguine or any kind of pasta that’s plain that you put the calamari over?
But above all else, I don’t do rude on the phone. And again she would not have gotten an edge in my voice if she had just been polite to me instead of me getting the whole attitude if she doesn’t really want to be there on a Sunday night and talk to anybody on the phone or help people.
I am attaching photos, so you see.
When employees have attitudes like that it makes it less likely that people actually want to come into your restaurant.
Here is the photo of what was delivered:
Here is what I ordered from the menu:
You will note I did NOT ask for a refund. I’m still not asking for a refund. But if someone who’s been a pretty long-term customer, I’d like an apology.
Just a simple “We’re sorry that happened. ”
I have emailed them twice and have not gotten a response. So I’m posting this.
Such nice people such delicious food – they serve real Crema with their dishes.
Everything is super fresh and the place is spotlessly clean inside.
Please note I’m not an influencer. I’m just a local and we paid for our lunch. We are happy customers and that’s it
We had chips and salsa, a steak, quesadilla, and the birra tacos.
We use them for take out and delivery all of the time but today we went inside and it’s nice to have a pleasant experience with just really simple fresh good food.
And we had enough leftover, that we took some home. Their guacamole is literally the best I have ever had, same with their quesadillas. And although I didn’t have them today if you are a fish taco fan, theirs will blow your mind.
I haven’t had Mexican food this good in this area since the place that used to exist on Gay Street in West Chester Borough. I don’t remember the name of it. I just remember when you were coming into the Borough off of Route 3, it was on your left and it was a storefront restaurant. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant. I do know that it was kind of across Gay street from where Gilmore’s was (which I also miss!)
Anyway, Taco Mar is not just has really good fresh food. Very fresh and bright flavors, and if you are vegetarian, there’s plenty for you to eat on the menu as well.
They have several locations in the area we were in the one that was the old Frazer Diner. The address is 189 Lancaster Avenue, Malvern, PA. Please note they are closed on Mondays.
Fiorello’s Cafe at 730 E. Gay Street in West Chester is normally a special place for us.
I will preface what I’m about to say with the fact that I am writing this because of the way I was treated by the young (?) woman who answered the phone who was some kind of a hostess or something and when I asked her if there was anyone else I could speak to she said no and if you’ve ever been in Fiorillo’s, you know that’s not true.
Talking about things like this actually helps a restaurant because they might not be aware how this person treats customers. And again, if you have ever been there, you know that they normally are wonderful to their guests.
We thought we would order takeout tonight and my husband wanted pizza and I didn’t, so we settled on Fiorello’s because it’s literally one of our favorite places to go to. And once in a while, we order them from Uber Eats for delivery. (You can also order on Slice, but I have found that delivery service problematic and prefer not to use them and actually if you order Fiorillo’s through them it’s more expensive than Uber Eats.)
Here is what I ordered. It was $32 from Uber Eats. $34 on Slice:
I ordered the “Calamari Mediterranean”, which says it comes with linguine. That is what it’s like when you order it in the restaurant. I asked for it to have capers added to it. I have ordered this for delivery before and again, like when you eat it in the restaurant, it comes with a small side house salad, and a little bit of bread and sometimes even that wonderful thin small slice of a garlicky pizza they serve with their meals.
It was delivered without linguine there wasn’t the side salad that used to come with it or even a crust of bread.
I called Fiorello’s twice and whoever the young woman is answering the phone was just freaking rude. I will admit that because I do not respond well to rude I was sharp due to her response along the lines of “What do you want me to do about it?” Now that’s paraphrasing, but that was the clear message.
“We don’t deliver” she says. I responded that I know they don’t deliver. The problem wasn’t the delivery. The problem was the order.
And no, I’m not driving to come pick up a replacement order when I wanted to treat myself to delivery from Fiorello’s. I never actually asked for a replacement incidentally.
And the phone/hostess woman with the whole attitude of what do I expect her to do about? It is simply not acceptable. That’s what I can’t get past. She could’ve actually just apologized. A simple “We’re so sorry” goes a long way.
Does she want me to explain a restaurant and what front of house does when there’s a problem? I wasn’t even looking for a partial refund at that point although after I got off the phone with her, I was so ticked off I did contact Uber Eats and they did give me a partial refund….which I deserved as a customer.
Again, we have been customers for years.
And I don’t understand how their own kitchen doesn’t know that this comes with linguine that’s plain that you put the calamari over? (When you are in the restaurant, of course, the calamari comes out on top of the linguine.)
Again, I ask because you see the photo of what I received and that was all that I received in the photo that opened this post. Does this look like a $32 dinner or even complete?
And I will also note that this woman who answered the phone argued with me that all I was getting was calamari when I ordered that for Uber Eats and I said no she had better go back and read the menu.
But above all else, I don’t do rude as a customer. And again she would not have gotten an edge in my voice if she had just been polite to me instead of me getting the whole attitude of she doesn’t really want to be there on a Sunday night and talk to anybody on the phone or help people.
When employees have attitudes like that it makes it less likely that people actually want to come into a restaurant.
Mostly this makes me sad because we’ve had many wonderful occasions in this normally local gem of a restaurant. We even celebrated our engagement there as a newly engaged couple.
I’m not writing this post to say no I will never patronize Fiorello’s again, I am writing this because they obviously have a couple things to work on with staff. Normally things there are impeccable and the staff is really friendly and helpful.
This was not such an experience.
I’m not looking for a free meal and I won’t accept one, but it would be nice if somebody just said they were sorry that this happened. And also to teach whomever that was on the phone who also never identified herself, basic customer service skills.
I love Fiorello’s normally, I didn’t love this. And that’s all I’m saying.
Chase and David the owners who are now friends literally started with a small hoop house that I am pretty sure they made themselves. They delivered all the plants themselves at first. That’s actually how I met their dogs.
I want to say up front I have been a devoted and regular customer. I am not ever compensated in any way, shape, or form. Quality plants- annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, herbs, fruit plants, vegetables and more.
I love to garden, they have great plants at fair prices. And they deliver. I do know some of the wholesale nurseries in multiple states that they use, so I know what I am buying and it’s quality plant material not all juiced up with Miracle Gro. Have I lost a few plants over the years? Yes, due to deer, not them!
I have bought so many wonderful things from them. I have introduced friends and family in multiple states now to them. I have watched them grow from a one hoop house and a couple of vans operation to a multi-state business where they have a hub up in Lancaster County and another in Maryland. They are even growing some of their own plants now.
Last year they added a new arm of their business called Second Chance Plants. It’s an overstock and discount concept put into pop-up locations. They tried it out last year and it was such an enormous hit that this year. They have the regular Bloombox business and like a dozen of these seasonal pop-ups stretching through PA and MD.
I went to the one in Exton on Saturday because I was jonesing to look for plants. Gardening is a definite passion of mine, and I put a lot into my garden every year. So the Exton location is that the Exton Square, Mall in one of the parking lot. And since it’s essentially a dead ghost mall, there’s plenty of space. Of course if those developers would actually pay attention it shows you what people want and it’s not more condos townhouses and apartments is it? It’s things like this and a hospital isn’t it? (But I digress.)
This additional arm of their business is freaking amazing and the prices are amazing and the plant quality is literally like Terrain, but not the Molly Markup. I bought three trees and they had so much stuff and it was just the soft opening. They even had a tremendous selection of beautiful ceramic planters. They have the grand opening next weekend. I think it starts on March 20. You have to look on the website or their social media.
I never had the time to visit any of the pop-ups last year. And I’m really glad they moved them into so many areas this year.
One of the things that we are lacking around here now with the constant march no stampede of big box stores and the cost of renting space and what not is there aren’t as many plant nurseries. There used to be so many gorgeous plant nurseries around so to me this is welcome. I’m not saying there aren’t any nurseries, but they aren’t nearly as many as there used to be.
The guys from Bloombox have worked hard and they have done this on their own. They drive all their own social media. They have wonderful people who work for them I and all of their other happy customers celebrate their success. Their success means our gardens look better and better every year.
However, their success means people want to make a buck off of it, doesn’t it?
Enter my favorite fauxblicist and some shall we say rather pushy or interesting unsolicited now not so private messages to the BloomBox guys:
Good lord. Does this woman not understand not being freaking rapid fire pushy? Yes fauxblicist, no thank you after trying to ignore the ping ping ping of unsolicited messages is a no means no situation is it not? Or does she think that is a maybe?
Welp….it’s a no. I spoke with them.
You see they don’t need her mailing list.
They don’t need whoever she thinks are her followers.
They do their own work. And trust me when I tell you, they work hard.
Social media also isn’t something a small business needs to necessarily hire someone for. A lot of this can be done by yourself for your business or for yourself personally with just a little effort. And that doesn’t mean buying followers. It means connecting with your audience. It means posting about your business. It starts with baby steps.
And if your business needs more, then you hire a real professional, which in my humble opinion which I am allowed to have it isn’t someone who only shares on their own channels.
I would also like everyone to look at the timestamp. It’s really not polite to message strangers later in an evening is it, or do people simply not have boundaries anymore as far as social norms? Just like it’s rude to message too late (especially someone you don’t know), it’s also equally rude to message them so early isn’t it?
And all of this goes into the context of if she wanted a shot at their business and this is what she’s doing? Would you also message someone early in the morning as they’re getting ready to launch a soft opening of multiple pop-up locations over a couple of different states?
A more prudent person might’ve sent an initial message to say hi but then you let it sit and maybe follow up with another brief message a few days later, right? Kind of the wrong situation to lack impulse control wouldn’t you say?
But then again this is the woman who even made a write up and Bitchy Waiter once upon a time:
And then there was the time when she went a little Rambo on a restaurant:
And another restaurant:
And then, of course she does this Easter bunny thing with this creepy costume. And she’s a made herself a public figure so I can have an opinion about the creepy, flat faced rabbit outfit. And no she’s not a furry, just seasonally a bunny. But then she post this recently about that jam:
Yeah….ummm… if somebody’s possibly bringing you somewhere to possibly be around their small children to entertain, they want to know you’re OK, right?
And when we’re talking about the email, I never signed up for her emails and I’ve been trying for I don’t know how many years to not get her emails yet there she is along with the other junk mail that covers nice topics like erectile dysfunction etc.
She’s a peach. A frenetic one….and that is being kind.
I saw this earlier today and literally started to cry. This is my friend Lisa’s business. I started out as a customer years ago when I met Lisa at one of the first Clover Markets in Ardmore all of those years ago. Literally we met in 2010 and became friends, I am not jut a customer. And I am a happy customer.
Lisa the owner is a wonderful warm hearted person who would give someone a hand up if they needed help. She has a rare generosity of spirit that someone or several someones has decimated. I think there should be a special place in hell for people like that.
Even Martha Stewart has been to her store. She has a great eye and a wonderful mix of new, vintage, and antiques. And this is a very historic property and fabulous adaptive reuse.
In case people can’t read her message via my screenshot, here it is in her words:
Dear Friends.
I am sorry. I need to close the store for a bit. I have tried so HARD the last couple of months to try to keep it together. In almost 30 yrs of doing what I ABSOLUTELY LOVE to save, we had a very bad robbery. They pulled in the back driveway with a van, and uhaul. I don’t understand how, but they managed to override the system. They had at it. The basement, attics, backyard, shop, and my office. Let alone a constant supply out of my vehicle, and trailer. I believe this was over time, LOADS of vtg xmas, art work, costume, jewerly, primatives, salvage, garden, paper, glass, minitures, mirrors etc.. many collections and memories in boxes.
I IMMEDIATELY shut our social media down, and was trying to work through the trauma. It HURTS so bad. I watched it go through auctions, area consignments shops, in the antique shops as well as marketplace. I feel so LOST, betrayed, and mentally EXHAUSTED. We work so HARD at being a small business, let alone save 2 old houses over 200 yrs old. It is so SAD we live in this kind of world.
Take pictures, do inventory it will save u in the long run. Don’t keep keys out, let alone how you store your valuables. Keep your guard up. DON’T think it WON’T happen to you.
I CAN’T THANK my family and friends, state police ENOUGH for helping me work through this. Esp. my husband Spencer. Quite tough loosing the bits and pieces of your life’s work. I know the man upstairs has a plan. I TRUST him. I look forward to being, and feeling our happy place again. “Three floors, have fun. ”
I thought it was bad enough when the losers stole her hydrangeas outside a few years ago. But this? This is like someone raped her. This is her business, livelihood, dreams, hopes, hard work.
This is the kind of crap stuff that is a joy sucker. What she sells can’t be magically replaced like it is an Amazon warehouse.
What I am asking of readers, especially fellow antique and vintage dealers is keep an eye out. Be wary of too good to be true and unknowns wanting to peddle things like she describes. If you are a dealer be aware, this could happen to you.
Lisa will rebuild and we will all support her. I firmly believe there is a special place in hell for people who do things like this to wonderful people and small businesses.
On a snowy afternoon, what’s a fun thing to do? Hmmm…maybe go to a Christmas party in an antique market of course!
You also need music …
And some nibbles….
And add some friends and #shoplocal !
We did this at Frazer Antique Market and it was magical. Most importantly besides friends coming together at Christmastime? Supporting a local business and vintage/antiques and crafts people.
It’s not about the influencers who want a ridiculous photo for their Instagram and Snapchat, this is about supporting our local businesses.
And no, I was not compensated for this post OR this event. We paid to host it.
This was our Christmas present to friends and loving what’s local.
Also many, many thanks to the acoustic duo The Dunns for the festive music to add to the atmosphere. You can hear them locally at places like VK Brewing and Myrtos as well as other local spots and places like Cape May in warmer weather months. And they are occasionally available for private events!
Yeah….so Villanova held a meeting with neighbors over at Cabrini. I actually am glad they did it, except listen to a snippet of the presentation and I have to ask if this Villanova official has ever visited Villa Blue Tarp in Mount Pleasant?
This neighborhood is mostly Chester County/Tredyffrin, but a part of it is also Upper Merion/Montgomery County. The Tredyfrin part of it has some seriously ridiculous off campus party pits. Forget about are the houses safe for the students to live in, will the neighbors ever have peace? The lady speaking at Cabrini I’m sure has the best of intentions, but she has zero clue or doesn’t want to have a clue of what actually goes on in off campus party pits in Mount Pleasant, which is close Cabrini.
Neighbors also reported the following who were at the meeting:
FYI Traffic is going to be awful when Villanova opens the Cabrini campus next year!!!
Villanova says they have purchased six large buses. Shuttle service will leave Cabrini campus every 5-10 minutes 6:30 AM to 10:30 PM.
400 on campus student vehicles. 600 staff and commuter vehicles. Who knows how many Ubers and Doordash type vehicles, right?
That’s a lot, isn’t it?
They are permitted on campus at any time. The King of Prussia and Eagle Road entrances will close at 10:30 PM and reopen at 6:30 AM.
All traffic during this time will enter and exit on Upper Gulph.
I am very glad I don’t live near there. And with Villanova going to Cabrini and Valley Forge Military failing, and who knows what’s happening to that land, how will Radnor and Tredyffrin be protecting their residents through this?
I am glad that Cabrini is not going to be a giant parcel for residential McMansion development, but all the same, Villanova doesn’t have a good track record with their off-campus students, so what’s it going to be like over there?
Also to be considered is the practicality of the traffic implications on a lot of these roads, which are overtaxed and overburdened already.
Buckle up residents, you can hope this will all go smoothly, but I predict a lot of bumps in the road.
And speaking of Villanova, what are they doing with their main campus area property (or properties?) that back up to Aldwyn Lane? And doesn’t the university own properties on Aldwyn Lane? Is Radnor protecting their residents over there or ignoring them?
This is going to be interesting for sure, right? It’s their own version of Happy Valley without the great ice cream right?
Wow. They dressed up the area and now they’re going. I’m always sad when a small business doesn’t make it.
I will not say I was a customer of this business because I wasn’t, but they put a lot of work and their whole heart into it and it’s a bummer.
Vanner House is sadly, toast.
I literally just had never had the time to make it down there. And one reason why I was glad they were there is I love that location. I love those old buildings. Years ago when there was a rent sign up there for residential living I went and looked at the property and it was just so cool even if it’s sat smack on Conestoga Road.
I don’t know if everyone remembers but Savvy Main Line did a big article on them. Here is the link:
Again, I’m sad to see a small business close. Retail for the independent individual person is tough. If you’re a big box store, it can be tough, but it’s not this kind of tough.
So another one bites the dust. Maybe if Pennsylvania and these various municipalities made it more attractive for small businesses to stay they would be able to. 
I am guessing that this event tonight is the Swan song for the store as far as things like that⬇️
The gallery is quite literally art in an unexpected place and it’s fun! It’s a big well-lit space on the second floor of the auto spa.
As a matter of fact an amazing artist I know named Leah Macdonald who is an encaustic artist has a show there on Saturday, November 8, 2025 from 4 PM – 6 PM.
Anyway, discovering Leah was doing a show was the cherry on top of the delightful surprise of discovering this new gallery. There were a few different galleries that were in Malvern Borough over the past few years which are now sadly gone.
Art is one of those things that makes the world a happier place, so I hope you check it out. Again the gallery space is on the second floor of the Franklin Auto Spa in their lounge area.
I make no secret of the fact that FarmBoy BBQ is one of my favorite local businesses or that I know the owner. I think they have the best barbecue around and their brisket is like a religious experience.
However, I wrote a post here in August about how difficult it is getting in there because of PennDot and their endless sink hole remediation project. The project has been forever and seems to be way behind schedule.
Farm Boy is located at 625 N. Morehall Road (AKA Route 29) in Malvern.
But guess what I discovered completely by accident today? Farm Boy is on Instacart under the restaurant tab for our area!
So if you would like to help out this restaurant so that they survive PennDot hell part two (they already had to live through this sink hole remediation once with PennDot ), place an order on Instacart and Uber Eats if you don’t want to deal with the aggravation and delays created by PennDot!
Trust me, you’ll be glad you did. And if you’ve never tried Farm Boy, this is as good an excuse as any.
And if you have an extra few minutes, please contact our state Senator Katie Muth, and tell her that PennDot is strangling small businesses with their delays on Route 29.
