text: The company was stellar.  And after 2 hours and 15 minutes of 'meh' everything else, I was still smiling. So, kudos to my fellow diners!  In hindsight, I'm surprised we were only there for 2 hours and 15 minutes, because it felt much longer.  What's tough about the layout of Matteo's is that there is NOwhere to go if your table isn't ready. There's no real host stand to speak of; and the rest of the restaurant is full of tables and a lovely bar with little room for anything or anyone else. When the weather outside is frightful, as it was this evening, you're screwed and have to spend however many minutes dodging servers and other patrons as you wait.  But moving on.  \n\nWe were seated by a friendly hostess who opened with a list of accolades that Matteo's had recently received.  An odd opening, in my opinion, but after her illustrious description I figured we were in for a real treat.  A few minutes later our server arrived to take our drink orders.  A few more minutes later she arrived with waters.  A few more minutes later she returned with wine.  Lots of minutes involved here.  Then we ordered.  Our visit was during Restaurant Week, and I have taken that under careful consideration - I promise.  The 3-course menu looked delightful, and from it I selected Mussels Marinara, House Salad and Cod.  As we waited the restaurant filled quickly and the singular aisle became congested since there was simply nowhere to stand.  Some people left, some stayed.  That's neither here nor there.  \n\nWe remained focused on anxiously awaiting our bread which, arrived several minutes later.  It was clearly right out of the oven, so the wait for that was understandable.  Many, many minutes later we received our first course.  The mussels - straight outta the Morgantown river - if there is such a river.  I adore mussels and I'm used to their texture, taste, etc.  These were BAD.  So fishy due to the lack of quality sauce, which was a can of tomato paste/sauce/whatever, if I were to guess.  Another \"many minutes later\" we received our second course; a passable house salad. Nothing fancy; nothing bad - no complaints here.  Our third course arrived sometime after the place mostly cleared out and both myself and one of my companions who ordered the same dish (cod) found it inedible.  Such a shame to such a brave fish.  Those cod; they just have Long John Silver's written all over'em. But, when done right, they can be the king of fish.  Not this cod.  This cod obviously had a rough life sitting under a pound of the aforementioned \"sauce\" for much too long and arrived tableside as pure mush.  I'll be honest - I thought I might just suck it up and say nothing.  It was getting late and I just wasn't in the mood to explain or ask for something else.  But one of our other dinner companions encouraged us to express our displeasure and she was right to do so.  Granted, this meal was a cool 20 bucks - a STEAL for a night out - but I'm pretty sure we overpaid by about $19, and so something had to be said.  The server offered something in its place, but the entree portion of the Restaurant Week menu was limited (understandable) and the other two options didn't appeal to me.  So, I took one of them home for my lucky man, who I'm sure will be THRILLED to throw it down once he reads this review. Actually, I took a bite and it was the best thing I'd had all night.  \n\nAll things considered, I didn't feel much concern from the server about our collectively poor experience, but I was just happy to leave.  We were in such a rush to leave that I left my scarf and my friend left her phone. The server did walk the phone outside, which was a very nice thing to do.  Thank you.  In other news - there are far too many awesome place in L'Ville and beyond to waste my time returning to Matteo's.