A first visit intended to be followed by many more - but you blew it, Autentico.
If I could give this restaurant zero stars, I would. No thought was put into the acoustics, as the restaurant is designed with tiled floors, hard walls, hard metal tables without tablecloths, and a tiled ceiling. There is no wood, fabric, or carpeting to absorb sound. A greasy spoon's decor has more forethought. I can't remember going to a place, ever, that was as loud as Autentico. There was no possibility of holding a conversation, so we just cringed at the noise, ate silently, and left promptly.
During our first (and last) visit we were seated in the main area shared by a table of eight obnoxious, foul mouthed patrons who spent the night dropping F-bombs, seeing who could scream the loudest and clapping after every profane comment. These people belonged in a drunken backyard barbecue party. The restaurant did little to quell the noise and hush the profanity, and it was apparent that every other patron could not wait to get dinner over with so they could leave.
Management had every opportunity to take control, shut the noise down, and put this unkempt group in the rear of the restaurant and away from other patrons, but instead, it let the night proceed like a frat party gone wild. I guess that placating the party of eight loudmouths was more important than ensuring a pleasant experience for the other five tables who fast-tracked their meals in the one hour period that we were there and left hurriedly. Not an apology or even a visit from the owner or manager during our meal.
To boot, food was lackluster. The green salad with avocado was an oily mess of chopped iceberg lettuce with two bite size pieces of avocado. The papardella with bolognese was edible, plain, and a bit sweet, yet the eggplant parmigiana was a tiny, round small serving of mushy eggplant swimming in sauce, each ingredient not discernible from the next, and difficult to eat given the shape of the small pot in which it was cooked. While I had no desire to prolong my visit, to combat the atmosphere, I ordered two glasses of overpriced (and very underpoured) Pinot Noir. It could not improve the ambiance. You'd think that given the circumstances and the displeasure that all patrons were visibly showing, management would have 'comped' some portion of the meal or offered a free dessert or take the wine off the bill, but - no - were were delivered a full bill with zero apology or compensation for an expensive and stressful dining experience.
Autentico - you lost a frequent diner. We dine out five nights a week and were really looking forward to finding a nice, reasonable Italian restaurant with a warm atmosphere that we could go to once a week. Your prices are 50% higher than than what they should be for comparable food elsewhere, and the ambiance is downright awful and unbearable. We'll give our patronage to PortoFino, Joanina, Sal D's, Primo Piatto, and Angelo's where we'll be paying a fraction of the price to eat in a safe, comfortable environment and will be treated like valued clients. read more