Went to dinner Thursday for a friend's birthday. I am vegan and know how to order my food at an Italian restaurant but apparently this is impossible if the chef and/or waiter have no communication or idea what it means when someone says they do not eat dairy, eggs or meat/animal products. I asked about a dish with truffle oil. Does it have any dairy or chicken broth in the sauce. The waiter immediately said absolutely no chicken broth. I knew the fresh pasta would have egg so I ordered linguine. I asked him to confirm with the kitchen that this would be a vegan dish and he claimed he did.
Based on years of experience, I called him over once again to confirm there would be no animal products in the dish. I apologized, as I do not like to be a difficult patron, but I do want to be certain of what I am eating. Well the dish arrived and I pushed aside the spaghetti (they don't have linguine, which they never bothered to tell me) and all I saw was cream sauce. My friends tried to tell me it was pasta water...nope - I know what I am looking at. I am a cooking teacher and long-time vegan, so I am 100% positive about how food is prepared and what it should look like. I called the waiter over and asked about the cream sauce. He came back from the kitchen with some cockamamie story about how the tomatoes were cooked in salt?!? BS. Not even a chance that was what it was and I never heard of tomatoes cooked with salt turning into cream sauce - if that were the case every vegan would use this technique and I told him that was impossible. Next the manager/owner (not sure who) came over, looked at the dish and asked what I ordered. When I told him he immediately took my plate and said it was cream sauce. Of course it was! I asked if they could just bring me linguine with garlic, oil and broccoli - no pasta water or liquid of any kind in the dish. He said they don't have linguine (what Italian restaurant serves spaghetti rather than linguine) and recommended I get the primavera vegetables. Okay - why not.
The next dish came out with what I can only describe as dishwater with no oil whatsoever. Was I not clear? My friends said taste it. I will not taste anything I think is suspect, so one of them tasted the "broth". Even she couldn't place the flavor and said it was simply bad. They felt terrible, but I am used to this and told them not to worry but I wasn't eating it. It sat in front of me in an empty restaurant and I had some bread and oil. The waiter walked by several times and clearly saw I wasn't eating it but never stopped to ask why to get the manager. In the end they took the dish off the bill, but that was absolutely awful service from start to finish. My friends did not care for their food either and none of us will be returning to Eatalia. They could have at least offered me another drink on the house to make up for the disastrous experience.
It's no wonder the place was empty in Huntington on a Thursday night at 6:30pm. read more