Christopher D.
Yelp
Gourmet Italia could easily be on "Kitchen Nightmares." Pretty good food hampered by the worst service I can remember in years. To that point, this will be my first true one star review in a long time.
To set the stage, my dad made reservations for 7:30 for 8 for my mom's birthday. We came to Temecula as a destination and none of us lived particularly close. We arrived at the restaurant at 7;25 and were met with hostility. My mom (the birthday girl) was scolded for going in the wrong door to the restaurant (though there was no signage indicate you couldn't use it) and my dad and I were rather curtly told our table wasn't ready and we couldn't stand near the host stand. Time passed, 40 minutes in fact. At 8:05, 35 minutes after our reservation we began thinking they had been lying to us about having a table "almost ready". We scoured the restaurant and found only one table big enough to suit the party and then applied a bit of pressure asking the host stand why it is taking so long. Finally at 8:10, 40 minutes late. We were seated.
The night progressed from bad to worse. We were informed many items were not available on the menu (including a Caesar salad, multiple beers, and some appetizer type items) and then had a confusing interaction over the specials. Our waitress told us the specials included a filet. When I ordered the chop (another special) the "manager" came around and informed me they were out of that too, so I asked for the filet. I was told they didn't have a filet by her. So I ordered lasagna. Then our waitress came back and said they did in fact have a filet. In the end I did get the filet...
Which brings me to my next problem. Dinner took 70 minutes to arrive! So at 9:20 pm, almost 2 hours after we arrived, we had got dinner. During this time, the restaurant cleared out, and people coming near our table were few and far between. It felt like we were just forgotten about. We contemplated ordering DoorDash because we truly didn't know what was going on. Multiple times we had to go back to the kitchen and try to find somebody to check on the status of our meal. Even the band who was playing packed and left.
When the food came out, it was good. Generally no big complaints other than the quality of a few of the items felt a bit cheap (e.g. gristle in the filet). But the notion of being nearly the last table in the restaurant, with a crying 2 year old an hour past his bed time, alone in a corner, really hampered the taste of any food and cast a shadow on my mom's birthday.
The insult to injury came at the end. No discount or concession was offered. The only thing they offered was a free dessert, which we politely declined as my dad had a custom cake for my mom waiting at home. They forced the dessert on us however... and didn't even give us enough places or utensils to eat it with! My dad graciously tipped the waitress the full 20% as she was quite apologetic and seemingly embarrassed by the hellacious service. She took down my dad's number to have to owner/manager call and "make thighs right." They never did.
If you are a party of 2 or 4 and want some good, Olive Garden grade food, Gourmet Italia may be for you. But otherwise, steer clear. This is an embarrassment to the restaurant industry.
Ambiance: 3/5
Service: 0/5
Drinks: 3/5
Food: 3.5/5
Value: 2/5
Consistency: N/A