Sylvia C.
Yelp
Agrodolce was recommended by a co-worker who has been going there for the last 17 years. So I finally had to check it out for myself. I'm actually giving 3.5 stars and would've given 5 stars, had it not been for the subpar service.
We were running a little late so I called letting them know and was told no problem. However, when we got there, the gentleman at the front, who I believe was the owner, seemed bothered and was a bit curt with us. We were seated after a short wait and given the menus, but it was about 15 minutes or longer before a waiter came to take our order. I had to ask for a glass of wine as they had moved quickly to getting our food order and didn't ask about beverages. It took 15 minutes or longer for them to finally bring our wine. I noticed that they brought wine to the table next to us, and to a few tables across from us, but ours was delayed in coming. I ordered the Petra Lava Etna Rosato Sicilian wine which was pretty darn good.
Surprisingly, the food did not take long to come. We started off with bread with a wonderful dipping oil/herb mixture (which they sell). I ordered the Carpaccio di Tonno which was amazing. It was a rather large plate, probably to be shared, but I ate the whole thing myself. It had the thinnest sliced tuna with a little salad in the center, capers and a lemon aioli. My husband ordered the octopus salad, which was also super amazing. I liked that the grilled octopus was cut in small pieces along with the potatoes and mixed with the greens. It also was a hefty serving. My husband ordered the fried calamari, shrimp, artichoke hearts, which is an antipasto, but he ordered as dinner. It was a large serving as well, but it was a little too greasy. I ordered the porcini ravioli in a white wine sauce, which was really good. We were both pretty stuffed with just those few plates. The menu was pretty extensive and I would love to go back and try some of their other dishes.
But now, back to the service. A waiter came over and asked if we wanted dessert. He started reciting some of their availabilities and then finally decided he should bring us a menu. Then another waiter showed up with our tab. I told her we were planning on ordering dessert. She asked what I wanted, which was the affogato, and went away. I saw her making espresso but then my dessert didn't come for another 15 minutes or so which I thought was odd because I saw her making espresso and thought how much work was it to pour that over a scoop of ice cream. After we ate our dessert, the tab came. I asked the waiter if I could get a box to take my leftover raviolis. I had seen people leaving with plastic containers and assumed that's what I would get. But instead he put my raviolis in a paper box which was soaking through and he didn't give me a bag. He had also asked my husband if he wanted to take what I suppose appear to him to be leftovers but were in actuality the leftover pieces of shrimp tails and the tough, chewed artichoke pieces. My husband said no but the waiter brought them back in a takeaway box anyway. My daughter had made the reservation for us and informed them it was my birthday and asked them to please do something special for me for dessert, so when I got home and she asked me if anything was done and I told her no, it was one more strike against them.
Overall we had at least 3 different waiters attending to us and I think the inconsistency attributed to the poor service. As I said, I'd be open to going back to try some of their other offerings and to see if the service is any better. But somehow I doubt it will be.