Hit or miss. Period.

I meet my father for lunch there about once a month. It is always very good but just had a carbonara sauce, which I have always wanted to try and it was everything I imagined. Service was not too hurried but not lagging either. Perfect for a meal to enjoy while conversing.

The Colatina has great food at great prices and a warm, romantic, cozy atmosphere. However, the service leaves something to be desired and they really skimp on the drinks. We've had the same waitress almost every time, since her first or second night on the job, and she is so nice, and so friendly, but she sucks as a server. We had a different waitress last time, and she was terrible, too. We have never once gotten our appetizer long enough before the dinner (who wants to throw half of it away so you can start in on your dinner, which arrives 2 minutes later?), and they're just very inattentive. It takes forever for them to come over and get a drink order, and another 10 minutes before you get the drinks. It's very annoying. And while the servers are inattentive and frazzled, at least they're nice; the same cannot be said for the management. The first time we went to the Colatina, the waitress forgot to bring us our drinks. We spotted a guy passing who looked like a manager, so we ordered our drinks from him. He was pleasant enough and brought them promptly to us. However, a little while later, the check arrived (from the waitress) and we began paying it, only to be accosted by the manager, who swooped in, asking if the drinks had been added to the bill. He grabbed the bill from us and when he saw that they hadn't, he took it away, added them to it (!) and returned with the higher bill. I was APPALLED. First of all, we had already dropped $120 on dinner and other drinks between my fiance and I... what was two more glasses of wine? And secondly, it's not our fault the drinks weren't on the bill, that was at the hands of his inept waitress, who disappeared after the first course. I worked in a restaurant for several years, and if I had forgotten something, there isn't a chance in you-know-where that my managers would have charged for it, especially not right at the table. I found out later this manager's name is Greg. I know this because he was rude to us again, and I've tried to get ahold of the managers to report his behavior. We go back once in a while because the food is always good, and we like the restaurant itself, but they really need to turn their service up a notch and lose the manager.

The Colatina is an Upper Valley institution, with great pizza, good place to take the family for dinner. A recent lunch there was also surprisingly good, and an excellent value with a view of Black Mountain included. The panini with salad and their signature clam soup was a generous portion and a deal at $5.99. The chicken piccata was lemony and well seasoned, marred only by the canned black olives on top. The bread was good but a maple butter to go with it was odd. Food came out quickly and service was friendly - if only they had wireless!

You have to know where to go for this find. The stairs are outside the Italian place downstairs to the right of the front door. If you want good Italian stay downstairs. It you want bar fare, hop on upstairs. Quite dark and bar-like dim but decent food and good local microbrews are available. Not too noisy.