APPALLING. We visited in November 2020. Cucci is located in Bronte Village, and as we are from Old Oakville we normally attend local restaurants but as it was our anniversary and our first visit to Cucci was a good one - good food, formal presentation - we thought we would try it again. As of our first arrival the indicators were worrying. (1) In contrast to our first visit, our server (who it turned out was the manager), was under-dressed: wrinkled white shirt, no belt. He also kept pulling his mask down to take our order, which somewhat defeated the purpose of having the mask. (2) The music was very loud and 'clubby' - Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift - and two of the young waitresses were behind the bar loudly singing along, giving each other High Fives and "woo-ing" loudly: fine for Jack Astor's when closing, but not so impressive for a restaurant purporting to be fine dining. After several requests, they finally turned down the music. (3) The owner broke the cardinal rule of fine dining restaurants and sat down with a group of guests whom he knew. He then began loudly boasting how he had made $800K profit through CERB benefits. This was more than gauche given how many local businesses have failed during COVID.
All of this was poor and disappointing, but we have not got to the climax yet. We had been commenting on how the server was weirdly overpouring each glass of wine. We soon found out why. At about 10:15 pm a waiter runs up to us, takes our two full glasses of red wine FROM OUR HANDS (!), and runs off to the kitchen, leaving us with our mouths open wondering what had just happened. After 5 minutes our server approaches and explains that the city inspector had arrived and apparently they were not supposed to be serving alcohol after 10 pm... soooo, that meant that they had to "hide" the wine?! Multiple problems with this. First, if that is the rule, don't serve us a bottle of red wine with 10 pm approaching. Second, at 10 pm, tell us the issue, and cork the bottle for us to take home. Instead, we never saw those full - and expensive - glasses again. However, we did see the FULL CHARGE for our bottle on the bill! Outrageous. The manager simply said they "would get us next time". Really? You actually think we will ever come back?
The kicker? After our wine was kidnapped, we decided to wrap up our dinner and box our steak and pasta to take home. imagine our surprise when we get home and - voila - no pasta.
So in short, Cucci STOLE both half our bottle of premium red wine, and one of our main courses, and then charged us full price at $430 - needless to say, with no tip.
We have spoken with numerous of our foodie friends and warned them off this restaurant - and now we are warning off your readers. If you want good fine dining, go to Hexagon or Olivers in Old Oakville - never, ever go to Cuccis. read more