This is our second time going to Ruffino's. The first time we went, the food was excellent, but…read moreservice was lackluster. The waiter completely forgot to put in our salad order, but made up for it by bringing us a salad at the end of our meal and comping it. An honest mistake and the dishes we ordered were delicious so they made up for it. They also gave us cotton candy, which I love. The crawfish cheesecake was really good and the veal parm was very tasty.
Tonight was an even worse experience. We had reservations for my daughter's Sweet 16 birthday, which you know is an important occasion. My son is allergic to dairy so he was limited in what he could order, which is understandable. He ordered the Wagyu burger, and the waiter unfortunately told us that they were out of Wagyu, so we had to piece together something else for him to eat. After ordering one of their specials - the fried brisket, with a side containing dairy, we swapped it out for truffle fries with no cheese. Minutes later, the waiter came to our table, telling us they were out of truffle fries. Moving along, he suggested the fried brussels sprouts. Once again, several minutes later, he returned saying they were out of brussels sprouts, so we just ordered whatever we could at that point.
I ordered veal marsala, which was ok but not great. My daughter ordered spaghetti and meatballs, and the dish was just overall very bland. There were random lasagna noodles in her spaghetti, which made it seem like they just scraped the bottom of the pot for noodles. Everything looked like it was left over from the day.
My husband ordered the same thing we had at our first dinner - veal parm, and the portion was significantly reduced from the first time he had it. It was also lackluster in appearance and the cheese looked like it had basically been microwaved. Probably not but it had no baked golden color whatsoever.
Perhaps the most disappointing occurrence was that we called ahead to see if we should bring our own candle for my daughter's birthday dessert. We were told we could, but that they had sparklers. I thought sparklers would be an amazing alternative to a candle, so we left our candle at home.
There were two other tables seated in our section, celebrating birthdays. One table's birthday dish came out with a sparkler, but when they brought out my daughter's dessert, no sparkler. Really?! The other table next to us had their dessert presented after us and they GAVE THEM A SPARKLER. Excuse me?? The idea of giving two tables full of grown-ups sparklers, but not a 16-year-old a sparkler, made us feel like we were an afterthought. Good thing my daughter and I were in the bathroom, washing our hands, when the second table received their sparkler, because I would've been very upset for her watching other people receive delightful birthday desserts, but not her.
I think most of the issues with communicating that dishes were out of stock fell on the kitchen staff and not our waiter. Our waiter Dominic was very nice and apologetic, otherwise, I would probably give an even lower rating. You could tell he was very uncomfortable to deliver us the bad news over and over again. He did comp our desserts, so that was appreciated. We tipped him handsomely and went on our way. We are likely to not return, since they seem to have a serious breakdown of communication as well as consistency.
When you pay $300 for a meal, especially for an important occasion, you expect the establishment to be on their game. Nobody wants to be at a fine dining venue and meet that much disappointment.
Unfortunately, it was a not so Sweet 16.
