The following is an email that was sent to the owners of Due Amici. We have not received a response from them after waiting 5 days. We will never go to Due Amici again.
We had dinner at Due Amici last night. We were a party of four and had reservations at 7:00 p.m. I would like to voice our displeasure with the overall experience. This was our first time at your restaurant, and from what we were told by friends, it was something to really look forward to and we were excited about having Valentine's Day dinner at your establishment. Unfortunately, it was a major disappointment.
When we arrived, we were greeted by the most unpleasant hostess we've ever encountered. She was rude, unfriendly, and had a nasty attitude. I don't know why you would allow such a negative person like her to be the first point of contact with your customers.
One member of our party asked her if there was a coat check- she replied, no, but go hang it over there, pointing in a general direction. It was a fur coat and a coat check would have been appreciated.
He asked her to clarify the location and she stopped, turned around abruptly and shouted "What?" as if he were bothering her. She then pointed again.
A good hostess would have offered to hang up the coat. I have never seen a hostess act so rudely. We were all shocked by her behavior and it was certainly uncalled for. At that point, I was ready to walk out due to her nasty response. In retrospect, we should have left right then.
When we were seated, we happened to mention her rude behavior to our server, Alex. According to him, she wanted to be with her boyfriend for Valentine's Day and had to work instead. Whether this was just a way to make light of the situation or if it was true, her behavior was completely unacceptable.
When we were seated, there were menus from New Year's Eve on our table, which we at first thought was a mistake. However, Alex advised us that it wasn't and these were the correct menus.
We were seated at a table for four, with a railing next to it, which was adjacent to the aisle. All throughout the night, the servers and bus boys reached over the railing to either serve or clear dishes. This was unprofessional as we had to move out of the way each time they reached over. At one point a dish was almost dropped on one of our party. How hard would it have been for them to come around to the table and serve properly? We feel that this was just sheer laziness by your staff.
We advised Alex a few times that we were ready to order, and then he walked away. This also occurred when we asked for the check. Each time he wandered off and came back several minutes later. I realize it was a little noisy, but we also motioned for him, he acknowledged us, and still disappeared.
We had to repeatedly ask for water. A good establishment does this automatically. At one point, we literally waited 10 minutes for a refill.
The final straw came as we were about to leave. One of the bus boys came over with an unlit candle, salt and pepper shakers, and a bottle of olive oil. He stated, "I'm sorry for this being a little late."
We were all shocked and couldn't even respond. I still can't believe the level of unprofessional behavior displayed by all of your staff.
As I mentioned, we have heard some good things about your restaurant and decided to have what we thought would be a nice Valentine's dinner at Due Amici.
It was probably one of the worst experiences we've had at a restaurant in a long time. We mostly enjoyed the quality of the food, but the veal chop was not good at all. It was filled with fat and a good portion of it could not be eaten.
With all of the other issues we encountered, we decided not to say anything. We were there too long to begin with and just wanted to leave. This will most likely be our first and last visit to Due Amici.
To say Due Amici was a major disappointment on several levels is an understatement. If you would like to further discuss these issues, you can "reply all" to this email, as I have copied the other guests in our party.
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