This was my first experience with Vitello's Restaurant and their Velvet Martini Lounge. On Saturday…read morenight, a group of 7 of us took our friend here for her birthday, and booked our table in the Velvet Martini Lounge because she wanted to listen to the jazz. Mary was our server, and it started out promising, she greeted us promptly and took our drink orders. It went downhill from there. By the end of the night, the person refilling our water was the best service we got all night, because he came around regularly to check and refill our glasses. It seemed like because there were 7 of us, so she got an automatic 20% gratuity, she didn't think she had to work for her tips, but the service was appalling. Honestly, the room was only half full, so it wasn't even that busy.
Service: We had a friend show up late, and it took a long time to get someone's attention to bring a wine and water glass for her. I kept trying to waive someone down, or hoped that Mary would come check in, but no such luck. When the food arrived, they just dropped off the food and left, they didn't ask if I or anyone at the table wanted pepper or parmesan for our dishes, or needed anything else. My friend sitting across from me finally got someone's attention that was walking by to bring some pepper, and after doing her plate, he didn't ask if anyone else at the table wanted any. So I stopped him from leaving and asked the table if anyone else wanted pepper or parm. Myself and another friend wanted parm, but we were half way through our meals before it came. We were at the end of the meal before Mary even came back to check back on us. We ordered another bottle of wine because all of our glasses were empty. Mary just brought it to the table, opened it and then walked off without refilling any of the empty glasses. For dessert, we ordered one dessert to share, but everyone decided we would do after dinner martinis. Mary took the order for 5 people at the table and left without taking my order or my friend's order for our martinis, so we end up having to wait until she came back with the other 5 martinis to order ours.
Food: It was bland, underwhelming and overpriced. I ordered the chicken piccata. The capers were the only thing that gave it flavor, its a dish that I didn't think you could make tasteless. The noodles did not taste fresh, almost rubbery. There are so many Italian places around Los Angeles that are the same price or cheaper that have higher quality and better tasting food. I ordered a chocolate martini, and the alcohol wasn't too overpowering, and it tasted just like drinking a dessert. We ordered two bottles of the Montepulciano that they had on their wine list, it was just okay, so if you are a wine person, then I recommend bringing your own bottle and just pay the corkage fee.
Bill: They don't hand you the bill, which is a surprise for such a big group. They didn't give us the printed bill until we asked for it after paying. So when I checked it over, I was surprised that on top of the 20% automatic gratuity, there was also a 3.5% kitchen appreciation fee. Which I was told by the hostess as we were leaving you can ask to have removed before paying your bill. Doesn't seem like there is any transparency for that fee. It definitely felt painful to pay 23.5% in tips/fees for such appallingly bad service.
Jazz: Saving grace for this place, that's the one star. Saturday night they had just a singer and a piano player. The singer's voice was beautiful and she took requests, so we requested La Vie en Rose before we left. She sang it in English vs. French, but she sang it beautifully. Vitello's has a great history, so if you are going to come here, then come here for the drinks and the jazz.