(Initially reviewed & written 7/1/2020, but it was posted for the wrong restaurant location)…read more
When the restaurant's re-opened post lockdown, Le Mista was one of the first sit-down restaurants I went to - it was my first time there, though it was a restaurant my boyfriend has been telling me about for a long time. It was weird to sit down at a restaurant after months of takeout, and to see how things have changed: socially distanced tables, mandatory hand sanitizing at the door and a designated person to sanitize all the menus between uses. All waiters and cooks had a face shield on.
Our drink orders were taken immediately, though it was clear that the face shield caused some communication issues as we and the waiter had trouble hearing each other - nothing insurmountable, but certainly an adjustment. I should mention here (because it becomes relevant later) that I don't drink alcohol, so I ordered a virgin strawberry mojito.
We then got a complimentary amuse bouche of foie gras macarons, that were so beautiful, not to mention delicious. We also ordered the house bread, which was a beautiful mini loaf of foccacia, drizzled in olive oil with pieces of sun dried tomatoes and basil thrown in - so simple, yet incredibly tasty.
My boyfriend and I ordered the burrata to start, a carbonara for me and a pancetta truffle pizza for him. To save myself the time, I'll say this: ALL of it, every single bite, was phenomenal. And not being a huge pizza eater, I will also say this: THIS pizza in particular was one of the BEST pizzas I've ever eaten EVER. So there's that.
When the bills came, however, was when I was truly impressed. Being that there were 7 of us in total, our waiter came to ask if the bottles of wine shared at dinner should be split equally between 6 people. Just the 6 drinkers. Without me having mentioned anything (which for the record, I wouldn't have anyway). And then, to cap off the meal, he brought over complimentary shots for everyone... with a special non-alcoholic, not just water, shot for me. It is things like this that will always impress me and, I should mention here that, as a non-alcoholic drinker, it is rare that waiters do anything out of the ordinary for me. Which I'm used to, and that's fine. So this was truly something that made an already great restaurant experience even better.
My only regret? Not having room for dessert...