Cafe Calore...Freehold,NJ

I've been to Cafe Calore in the past and have never had a bad experience.  Tonight was a little different...first of all my husband and I had a groupon, which I have become addicted to.  We brought our own chiante...thank goodness because it was the best part of the meal.  We ordered the "special" appetizer for two.  It included baked clams oreganato, fresh mozerella with bermuda onions and roasted peppers, stuffed mushrooms, calamari, and Italian sausage.  I must say the portion was huge and I was excited to try it all.  I went for the mushrooms first and they were good.  My husband went for the clams and before I could try it, he spit it out.  It was mushy and seemed to be raw.  Needless to say, I didn't attempt a try.  The sausage was okay, yet the calamari really had no taste.  The sauce was a bit strong, very tomato paste heavy.  The best part of the platter was the mozerella.  We left a lot on the plate.  That is unusual for us!  I have to say, I was a bit concerned when the waitress didn't even bother to ask us how the meal was.  Our entrees came next and I was looking forward to it.  I love risotto and I ordered the special Shrimp, artichoke, limoncello risotto.  Unfortunately, it tasted like a lemon cake, very sweet.  The shrimp was overcooked, too.  My husband had the gnocchi special with a light wine tomato sauce with artichokes and asparagus.  The tomato paste taste was very overpowering.  We are not the type of people who complain and we were going to let it go.  We gave the waitress our groupon and were ready to pay when the owner came over to talk to us.  She was a lovely woman and we spoke about many things until she noticed that we gave the restaurant a 5 out of 10 on the groupon receipt.  She asked why and we told her everything.  I thought she should know, only to help improve her business.  She did appreciate our honesty and disgression.  The management did compensate for our experience and she was very professional.  We will be going back to give it another try.  Maybe we hit Cafe Calore on a bad night...I hope so because I want my area restaurants to succeed.  I'll let you know what happens the next time.