text: I recently wanted to treat a friend to a Lombardinos dining  experience. It was about 7:15 this past Friday night so I thought I'd call to see if there were any reservations available. I started from downtown and attempted three different times- no one ever answered the phone and I was sent to voicemail to leave info for a reservation callback. I decided to take a chance that there'd be a table or at least a spot at the bar for two. We arrive to find a busy dining room, not full by any means and an almost empty bar. We were told there were\"like 50 more people coming in\" for the empty tables but we could sit in the bar. We took seats at the bar and I tried to order two peroni's. We were told the keg blew earlier and apparently they hadn't changed it yet as I can't imagine you wouldn't have an extra keg of Italian beer going in to the weekend. We settled on specialty cocktails and got our first sips in when the hostesses told us there was a table in the dining room we could have. We happily moved and took a look at the menu. While tempted by a number of items I decided on the classic eggplant Napoleon and inquired if I could substitute the long spaghetti for penne or another short pasta. I was told by the waiter that I could have fettuccine, linguine, or bucatini as you didn't offer any short pastas except Orchietti-I thought I was in an Italian restaurant...strike one-no Peroni, strike two-no short pasta...really? I settled on the eggplant with a side of bucatini and my dining partner ordered the bucatini pasta as we waited for dinner to arrive. The plates arrived, steaming hot and piled high swimming in a dark, over cooked tomato sauce-I cut into the \"Napoleon\" of eggplant only to find that the former thin slices of eggplant, layered with sauce and cheeses had been replaced with an unpeeled slab of aubergine-approximately 2\" thick and raw in the middle, I cut around the edges and ate as much as possible and moved onto the second piece which was completely undercooked and bitter.  I ate the bucatini, studded with raisins and wondered if the waiter would ever return. When he did he snatched our plates up, never inquiring as to why all the eggplant was still in my bowl and asked if we'd saved room for dessert- strike three-raw eggplant and an adulterated Lombardinos classic-sadly I'll never spend $17 again for two slices of raw eggplant and a handful of pasta smothered in red sauce-net cost probably less than $4.\nToo bad as you were one of the few almost traditional Italian restaurants in town-Francesca's has you beat and that's a sad state of affairs!