I really wanted this to be a '5 star' review, but I can't do it. We went to Butterfly as part of a…read more2-week vacation in Europe, as it is listed in the 'best restaurants in Tuscany' and has a Michelin star.
Our experience started out wonderfully; we were first to arrive at opening time, and seated in the beautiful outdoor dining area (there is also an area next the building). Everything was arranged perfectly, as you'd expect from a fine dining establishment.
The amuse-bouche set the stage for the meal well; it was a cube of 'pizza' and a cube of 'cecina' (farinata). Both were delicious. We then ordered our three courses and a half-bottle of wine (we're light drinkers). We did not try either of the tasting menus.
As each course was delivered, including a soup course that was a surprise, we were impressed by the plating, the creativity, and of course the flavors. With one exception (see below), all seven dishes were well prepared and quite enjoyable. If the night had ended there, this would be a 5-star review... but it didn't.
Three things marred our experience:
* I ordered a half-bottle of a local white wine; the menu had six selections, with one marked as 'not available', with prices ranging from 10€ to 20€ per half-bottle. I ordered the one we wanted, which also happened to be the least expensive. When the waiter arrived with the wine, he said that the one we ordered was not available, but they had another made from the same grapes, so we accepted it. It was delicious, we enjoyed it a great deal, but it was also 25€ per half-bottle, which we did not learn until we got the bill two hours later. It's likely we would have accepted it anyway if the waiter had told us, but to not mention that a substitution costs more than twice as much as the one ordered is poor customer service.
* My 'secondo piatto' (main course) was a small rack of lamb with various accompaniments. The rack was three ribs, cooked perfectly, and had great flavor. While I understand this may be the normal practice in Europe (unlike in the USA), the chine bone had not been removed, nor had it been split between the ribs. This made removing the meat much more difficult than it should have been, without grabbing the ribs with my hands to break them apart (which seemed inappropriate at a 1-Michelin-star restaurant). Fifteen seconds with a knife in the kitchen before cooking the roast would have solved this problem.
* Finally, the worst part of the night: when we had completed our entrees, we waited nearly ten minutes for our plates to be cleared. We had noticed that the service slowed down as the night progressed (as tables filled up), and this got worse when a table of four adults and two small girls (toddlers) were seated near us and began monopolizing the waiter's time with request after request. Around ten minutes after our plates were cleared, the waiter brought over a dessert menu, which we declined and indicated that we had completed our meal. He mentioned that the kitchen had a 'surprise' for us that they would be bringing out. Some time later (at least another ten minutes), he dropped off their 'gourmet coffees' menu, so quickly that we didn't even have a chance to decline and ask for the bill. Another 10-15 minutes passed and he came by to ask if we had made our selections; again we indicated that we didn't want anything more and that we'd like the bill. Once again the 'surprise' was mentioned. A few minutes later it appeared; it was a shot glass filled with a 'virgin piña colada' in form of a small dessert, and it was tasty, but by this time we really wanted to get on our way. After those were cleared we noticed that the patrons at two tables had just gotten up and left, and I thought maybe it was necessary to go inside to receive the bill and pay. I finally got the attention of the staff and asked, and he assured me that the bill was on the way. It did finally arrive, we paid (after learning about the cost of the wine substitution), and we left. All told it was over an hour between the time we finished our entrees and the time we left, and during that entire time we only had the attention of the staff for a total of about two minutes.
I'd very much like to say we'll try this restaurant again and hope that these service issues were just a one-time occurrence, but since we live about 4,000 miles away that won't happen.
