Review Ralphie's Cafe Italiano - Salem

Great location, loved the decor 👌 waitress wasn't very personable. Maybe to busy but didn't introduce herself and we kinda felt like she was only serving us because she had too. Who knows but regardless, the food was good. We'd go back.

It's actually taken me awhile to ponder on whether or not I should write this review, Ralphies has a cult following it's difficult to write something less than spectacular. I went here with my parents over a month ago now, the atmosphere is lovely, love the fun and casual decor. The people were also all very welcoming and friendly. APPS: We started off with the wings, they were fabulous, very saucy but still crispy, reminded me of a "scampi" style wing, like similar to the sauce you would get with a scampi dish. We also got the chicken soup which was very good, it had small meatballs and was like a version of Italian wedding soup. For the mains: chicken and eggplant parmesan, seafood marinara, and shrimp fra diavolo. My shrimp were cooked perfectly, the chicken was plentiful and moist, my mom enjoyed her seafood dish. While the flavor on all dishes were good, the pasta was not. It tasted as if it were pre-made, like they made it in advance and then dunked it in boiling water and put in on the plate. There was also excess pasta water on the bottom which is somewhat off putting. This was the case for all three dishes. I was surprised to see that they didn't finish the pasta directly into the sauce, instead it was just spooned on top. That definitely took away from the dishes. I feel like being an Italian restaurant they should at least cook the pasta well and have it not be watery. They also don't offer fresh pasta, that would be a great addition to their menu. I will note that portions are HUGE, so it is an excellent value, but they could step up their game.

We have bought takeout from this place twice. The first time it wasn't a bad experience so we went last night because we were in the area. This time it went not so well. I got the Chicken Marsala and the chicken in it was inedible. It was like chicken jerky. I couldn't even chew it because it was so overcooked or was previously frozen. My boyfriend got that Chicken Brocolli Alfredo and his chicken was overcooked as well. The Alfredo sauce was so oily and separated it was gross. It was NOT edible also. We both couldn't finish our meals and tossed them. I understand if it took us a long time to get home with the food, but it was still warm when we got home. There is no excuse. Nevermind the Italian dressings they gave us was just all oil so we couldn't use that either. The best part of the meal was the bread, which is so sad. We won't be getting food from here again. Waste of money.

Went with a group from work to honor a retiree with a lunch at Ralphie's. The portions were huge. The food was tasty. The service was friendly. Idk what else to say about them. Honestly it's one of the best food experiences I've had since moving to this area from the Deep South a few months ago. I had their tortellini in a tomato herb cream sauce and it was fantastic and the portion MORE than filling. I had to have a cannoli anyway which was SUPER good. I would highly recommend eating here to anyone in the area. Keywords: Authentic, Italian, Large portions.

Had an excellent dining experience here. The service was above & beyond; our waitress Thalia was AWESOME!!! She truly enhanced the evening & was so sweet, caring, accommodating, & just genuinely pleasant to be around :) The food from start to finish was super delicious—huge portions & reasonably priced! Loved this place and cannot wait to return. Thanks Thalia :)

Great family place to eat, it was our first time there and the food was amazing. Enough food for 2 meals.

It's okay. But I won't be coming back. Cramped seating arrangements and overfilled plates at small tables, where the entree dishes are too big for three people to comfortably sit. Here they take a "more" means "better" approach to entrees, which usually I don't take issue with, but the kid who brought out my meal spilled my chicken piccata's mushroom sauce from my overfilled plate on my shirt and had no idea what to do until I told him to get me napkins. I'm not the type to make a scene, mistakes happen, wasn't going to accost as the plate was far too filled. However, I was definitely annoyed that the kid didn't do anything but stand there and say sorry til I asked for napkins. He didn't even alert the waitstaff at all to even acknowledge it. Quality of the food was fine, I'll eat my leftovers. There's plenty of them after all. Just not the dining experience I want to have. Please train your staff to handle issues better, I shouldn't have to tell the kid who spilled on me to get napkins, and I would hope someone would at least acknowledge the mistake and try to make up for it somehow. Also, tell your cooks to stop overfilling plates with thin sauce, because it makes mistakes like this even more likely.

I absolutely ADORED my food experience with Ralphie's!! I had never tried it before, and was absolutely blown away by the portion sizes, and how absolutely delicious everything was. From the meatballs to the Italian sausage to the actual pasta itself. Perfection. 100 stars if I could. Would absolutely recommend to anyone.