On Tuesday, August 13th, my husband and I and another couple attended your restaurant for a…read morecelebration of three birthdays and anniversaries for both couples. We had tried to bring them to your restaurant before, but couldn't get dinner reservations. We guaranteed them they would love it!
After we were seated there was a bit of good natured banter with our server. We placed our orders which included an order of bruschetta which our friend asked to be put on his bill. He said this twice.
We were told each meal came with a pasta - some had the entree on top of the pasta (if the sauce suited the meal), some had the pasta on the side (if the tomato sauce on the pasta did not particularly suit the dish.) Three of us had the same meal, which had the pasta on the side. We were brought one small bowl of pasta for the three of us to share. But with no side plate we had to put the pasta with tomato sauce onto the sauce on our plates, which would seem to defeat the purpose of the separate serving.
The food was beautifully presented, and was very delicious. We had an enjoyable evening until we were asked about dessert. We asked to see a menu, were told there was nothing printed, and then the young lady (not our original waitress) listed a few, but didn't seem sure, and seemed decidedly distracted. A few minutes later, another different server asked us the same thing; she listed the desserts, never been made eye contact, she was that distracted. We gave her our dessert choices, when all of a sudden there was a flurry of activity. The milk crates that had been marking off the parking spots directly in front of the restaurant were removed, and almost immediately four very expensive cars pulled up. The eight occupants were ushered into the restaurant as if they were royalty, and that is when our table might as well have disappeared!
We waiting a very long time for our dessert to be served - slice of cake and a gelato. And we waited and waited. Meanwhile we had not seen our original server again. Finally our dining companion went into the restaurant; when he could not find our original server, and the server who had taken our dessert order was busy with the new, much fawned over customers, as were many other servers, he asked the chef if there were two desserts on order. The chef said something about them being brought out. After a bit more of a wait, the gelato in its Eva's plastic container - not even dished up - and the cake were brought out. It appeared the gelato had been out for some time as it was quite soft.
Then came the wait for our bills. When we had waited long enough, my husband went into the restaurant, found our original server and asked her to bring our bills, at which point she asked if she could just split the bill down the middle. At this point I would point out that our friends ordered three glasses of wine (total). My husband and I did not drink. One of them also had a more expensive dinner, and their dessert was more expensive. Plus the bruschetta they had asked to be put on their bill.
My husband could see how flustered the staff seemed to be over the new arrivals......or something! He said yes. Apparently my husband is a nicer person than I am. I would not have agreed.
Now, the couple we were with have been our friends for over 50 years. We have no problem paying more for them. That is not the issue.
We had started the evening assured it would be good, and it was, to a point. And then it went downhill. I don't know who the new customers were, nor do I care, but I'm going to guess there was money involved. (I do know they're inconsiderate, as I heard they were more than an hour late for their reservation, yet still, they were afforded much ado!) Our table spent ~$300 for our evening. Perhaps not a lot for the car drivers, but it is for us. We were celebrating our special occasions, so we splurged. But we did not anticipate being treated so poorly. It really coloured our experience and we will think twice about returning. You can be sure our experience will be shared with friends who come to, or are considering coming to, your restaurant!
