Anne S.
Yelp
If you're over 40 and have poor taste in wine, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful experience here. Everyone else should stay away.
We walked in on a Saturday night and stood at the hostess's desk for a good five minutes until someone finally came over to help us. Sure, lots of waiters saw us before then. We got plenty of stares from the diners, too, who gave us looks like we 20-somethings must surely be lost. Mmm...k.
Finally, the owner/manager (?) came over. He was actually very nice, said a table would be opening up in about 15 minutes, and suggested that we take a seat at the counter in the back. We were not, however, asked if we would like a drink while we waited. At any rate, we were actually seated in about 10 minutes. Not bad.
Once we got to our table -- which was being blasted with A/C to the point that we had to put our jackets back on -- we sat there for a good 10 minutes with no water, no bread, and no wine list. No wine list?? Okay, we may look young, but there are wine bottles all OVER this place...I know you serve wine, so at least do us the courtesy of giving us a wine list, even if you're not 100% positive that we're over 21.
Then, HA, get this, our waiter comes over and asks what we'd like to drink. Ummm...are you expecting us to order Dr. Pepper or something?? Can we get that in a plastic kiddie kup?? Where are my crayons, dammit??
I ask him for the wine list with a little glare. Just a little. I restrained myself. Naturally, once we order wine, he cards every single one of us. Because, you know, rebellious teenagers go to nice Italian restaurants and request wine lists so that they can GET DRUNK MAN.
Oh, and the real kicker? The wine was TERRIBLE. Mine tasted like it had been watered down. I almost sent it back but didn't want to bother dealing with our waiter. We passed around our glasses to see if we were all just crazy, but everyone's wine tasted AWFUL. Don't bother ordering wine by the glass here. Maybe their bottles are better...they might not taste like they've been opened for a decade. Or maybe they just served us watered-down wine. Saves money, and those kids don't know good wine. They've probably never even been to Napa or Sonoma. Definitely not multiple times. No chance. Right?
Wrong.
Now, get this. We ALL ordered wine. We ordered appetizers (calamari was yummy). Already, this guy's tip is climbing. Yet he still treats us like inferior beings. Well, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy, buddy. You betcha I didn't tip anything but the bare minimum.
Aside from the horrible service, the food is decent, but nothing special. I ordered the half-order of veal piccata (my standard way of measuring a new Italian restaurant) and was surprised by how skimpy the portion was. That said, I eat a lot. So, I ate a lot of bread. I kept demanding bread from anyone who walked even close to our table, which was generally everyone BUT our waiter.
Another friend of mine ordered the combo (lasagna, ravioli, and eggplant parm) and was surprised to find it all baked in one dish, with the same sauce dumped over all of it, making it hard to distinguish what anything was. Her dish was probably the worst. The basic pasta dishes got "okay" reviews from my other friends.
Definitely won't be going back.