Brad M.
Yelp
It took its over 2 years of living next to Marietta Square to give Piastra another chance after a substandard first experience on Easter 2021. With restaurants like Hamp & Harry's, Mac's, Silla del Toro, Two Birds, etc. right around the corner, we didn't feel the need to spend $150 on what we found to be lackluster food & service. This experience was, unfortunately, even worse than the first.
We sat outdoors for our 6:45 reservation and were promptly asked if we wanted regular or sparkling water. We asked for sparkling and received both. Ok, worse things have happened. Next, we had an employee come to our table and ask us if we knew who our waitress was (narrator: we didn't.) Our waitress finally arrived and took our drink and appetizer orders. We ordered calamari and arancini and a couple cocktails. Drinks and apps arrived pretty quickly to the table. Sadly our silverware was left behind. We asked a passing busboy to bring us some utensils, which proved to be too big of an ask for the poor kid. A second attempt with a passing waitress 10 minutes later was more successful. We got our silverware and dug in.
The calamari was undercooked - the breading was soggy and pallid, the squid slimy and firm underneath. We did not finish the plate and waited for the waitress to ask if everything was ok (narrator: she didn't). The arancini was fine, but had grown cold during our silverware ordeal (we just tucked in to the calamari with our hands, as you expect to have to do in a nice restaurant). We finished our drinks as they were removing the app plates and waited 15 minutes for anybody to ask if we needed another (narrator: we did.)
Entrees were carbonara for my wife and cavatelli with lobster and fennel seed miso for me. I asked our waitress if it was Japanese miso as it's an odd ingredient in an Italian pasta dish - she replied that it was hard to explain and that it was different from the Chinese miso. Based on her description, I decided to roll the dice. Carbonara was decent, with the only note being that some of the pancetta was a little tough given the large, inconsistent dice. The cavatelli had a big portion of lobster, which would have been great if it was fresh and cooked properly (narrator: it wasn't.) Lobster had a fishy taste and was rubbery as a result of being overcooked. The lobster shells I found mixed in with the pasta dish gave a nice contrast to the rubbery lobster and gave my teeth a good break-test. It was also an interesting choice for the waitress to arrive with the bread basket for the table as we were finishing our entrees instead of before we even order. Really avant-garde stuff you wouldn't expect normally.
The cherry on top was getting the bill and seeing that they included a new feature where they charged us for the ice in our cocktails. Let me say that again: THEY ADDED A $2 CHARGE PER DRINK FOR THE ICE IN OUR COCKTAILS (narrator: see the attached photo.) I waited to ask the waitress about the extra charge, but in keeping with the theme of the visit, she never came outside again. We paid the $8 for our ice, tipped her in full, and vowed never to return. Sadly, we spend a ton of money at restaurants in the square - Piastra will have to sell its ice to tourists instead.
Update: The manager found my bill and comped our meal unprompted based on this review, which was very nice of him and appreciated. He explained to me that the $4 charges were for larger shots, which I am still confused about. If I order a double whiskey, and my drink costs twice what my wife's single vodka costs, I don't understand where the extra charge comes from. He said my double drinks were 4 oz pours instead of a normal 3 oz double pour (narrator: they weren't). I still don't understand the extra cost, but at least it wasn't for ice. We'll take that as a win.