Heidi S.
Yelp
I am a long time fan of Bertucci's, but had never visited this location before. Our visit was unusual since in other locations, I've had great things to say about both the food and service, but not so much at this location.
When we arrived, the restaurant was very quiet with only a few customers at the bar and only a couple of tables full. After standing at the empty hosting area for a few minutes, someone came over to seat us. We requested a booth for our party of three, and she pointed to the bar area stating that we could have a booth if we would sit in the bar area. Not a problem, but strange since the restaurant was nearly empty and there were several booths available in the main dining area. We headed over to the bar area booth and she told us she would be over shortly with menus.
I guess everyone has a different definition of shortly. In this case, it took nearly 10 minutes for her to bring our menus to us. At first I thought the restaurant was short staffed since the same person who acted as hostess also brought us our menus and also appeared to be the bartender. However, I counted at least 4 other employees working in the the dining area, so I don't think staffing was the problem.
We ordered drinks: 2 soft drinks and 1 canned hard lemonade seltzer. The soft drinks arrived quickly in glasses with ice and straws. The canned seltzer was served just with the can. No glass, no ice, no straw. I asked for ice, and the response was "Oh, I guess you want it in the glass". Strange again, and never was offered a straw. My husband's soda was empty pretty early in our meal, but he wasn't offered a refill and had to eventually ask for one.
The Bertucci's rolls are delicious and we were happy to have rolls and dipping oil delivered to our table. In other Bertucci's, we've been asked if we wanted refills on rolls, but that didn't happen here, and the empty roll basket sat on our table for quite awhile, as did the empty salad bowls and empty dinner plates later on.
Our food order was finally taken, and after that it took nearly 20 minutes for our salads to arrive. Our entrees took a long time to arrive as well, and when I received mine (Shrimp Rossini with crispy chicken instead of shrimp), it did not look at all like the same meal that I have ordered several times in other Bertucci's locations. The sauce was not creamy, and instead of crispy chicken, there were small pieces of chicken that looked like they were shredded and tasted really weird - like they were frozen or old or something was just off. The Parmesan was all melted together in one giant glob, which made me think that the dish had been sitting under a warmer for an extended period of time. The server who brought our meal to the table was different than the person who took our order, and he said that the breading had maybe fallen off the chicken, but that was absolutely not the case. He told me that the kitchen would bring me a breaded chicken cutlet, but it took until our original server came back and me explaining it again for that to happen. My husband's make your own calzone was good, and my daughter's chicken piccata was also good. The portions were sizeable and we had enough to take home.
After quite awhile, or server came back and asked if we wanted boxes. We said yes and she said she would be right back with them. I watched as she did no less than 5 other tasks (such as delivering rolls to a table, taking an order, delivering a pizza to a table, delivering drinks to a table, and then drinks to another table) before returning with boxes. It was a similar experience with the check.
All in all, it took over an hour and 30 minutes for our meal - just entrees with salads - no appetizers, no desserts, and there were long delays every step of the way. I love Bertucci's, but this experience was pretty dreadful, with both food and service, and I would not recommend this location to anyone.
