The girlfriend and I went to La Cucina last night for supper. It was.... well, it was a mixed experience to say the least.
Let's get the good out of the way right now - the food was excellent. I've read reviews on here saying that the pasta is sub-par, but neither of us had pasta. The girlfriend had a Monte Cristo panini with veggies and roasted potatoes, and I had the holiday special, a pomegranate mimosa, butternut squash soup, prosciutto-stuffed chicken breast with veggies and roasted potatoes, apple crisp, and tea. Every bite of every dish was delicious, hats off (both of them!) to the kitchen staff.
And now on to the rest of the experience...
We'd heard about the long wait time that is apparently common here at La Cucina, so we figured we'd be clever and make a reservation. Staff told my girlfriend that it'd be fine, maybe a 5 minute wait. We get there just before the reservation, and we're told it'll be a 10 minute wait. Ok, we figure, still not too bad. We then waited by the front counter for 40 (bloody 40!) minutes before being seated, and 15 of those minutes were spent staring at three empty, clean, and fully set tables.
We got our seats, and then proceeded to get the slowest service we've ever received at a restaurant. It was almost 20 minutes before we got our drinks, and that was just the start. Two other tables just in our corner of the restaurant were seated after us, had their orders taken before ours, and were out long before we were. One was leaving just as we were getting our main courses.
And a fun bonus - my girlfriend didn't finish all of her potatoes (which again, were fantastic) and asked if they could be boxed to go. The server said certainly and took them back to the kitchen with her. She came back with the deserts, said she would be back with the bill momentarily. Given the service up to this point, I asked if she would bring the doggie bag back out with the bill. She replied quite haughtily that of course she would. The bill comes out, and yes, I had to ask for the doggie bag yet again.
All told, it took us just shy of TWO AND A HALF HOURS for a meal. Luckily, we did not have plans afterwards...
I left the restaurant feeling kind of sad, to be honest. As I've said (and it bears repeating), the food was really quite good, and the prices were reasonable too. The entire experience was ruined by the service though, and with so many other good Italian restaurants in the HRM, I can't imagine we'll go back. 2 stars, and that's being generous because of the quality of the food. read more