| rev:text
| - Wow, should have listened to the recent Yelp reviews, but always wanted to try this restaurant because I've been a fan of Lidia's, growing up on her PBS TV show.
Had reservations for a Sunday night at 7 pm and when I called to make them, the hostess asked if there were any celebrations. I told her my nephew and SIL were both celebrating birthdays on that day. She then informed me that they could either order desserts from the menu or if they didn't pick one, then they would chose one, both instances complimentary. I thought that was a very nice touch.
Got there around 6:50 and a few people were waiting. Informed the hostess we had reservations and she said we would be seated momentarily. There were 7 of us. Her definition and mine of " "momentarily" must be different, as we didn't get seated until 7:25; even though half the restaurant was empty. That's already leaving a bad taste in my mouth. There were plenty of tables available.
In our group, three people ordered the pasta trio, deluxe, I had the Sunday special, son ordered eggplant parmigiana, hubby had the chicken lemone, and SIL, the Osso Busso. Also had 2 bottles of wine. Oh, and salads aren't included in the meals and are quite pricy. $10 for a plain green salad with no olives, just a few chopped up tomatoes and onions.
Server brought salads, and had to ask if he could please bring out the bread basket. Said it was in the oven. Finally he brought it out and unlike the pictures posted, contents looked nothing like them. One small breadbasket consisting of a few breadsticks and small pieces of what I think is their focciacia bread, along with some small crumbly things, no Italian bread slices and it was served cold. So much "for it being in the oven." Was expecting it to be at least warm, especially from a restaurant with these prices. Looked like they rounded up the scraps from the other diners's basket.
A few meals were okay, son received only two pieces of eggplant, unlike the three shown on yelp photos, and he was still hungry. SIL hated her Osso Bucco, hardly ate any of it, yet the waiter never asked if it was ok. Seeing most of the meal left on her plate, you'd think he would have asked if there was a problem. My Sunday supper special and husband's chicken lemone were ok, nothing special. We've definitely had better at other restaurants.
In addition to these overpriced meals being mediocre, what really lacked was attention from the server. He brought the entrees over and left the salad plates on the table. Had to ask him to remove them. Had to ask him repeatedly for more bread, hoping we would get a better selection. I don't know if he was new or what the problem was, but we have had better service at a Denny's.
And, the most disappointing part of the evening? No mention of the two birthdays being celebrated and acknowledged. No complimentary birthday desserts for them as we were promised. No "happy birthday" written on desserts plates, nothing. So much for wanting to surprise my family. My husband brought it to the waiter's attention and his reply? "Oh, no one told me."
No one came around the entire night and asked how our meals were either.
Two separate checks were presented and they were wrong. Having items on it that we didn't order and/or were on the wrong check.
What really made me upset is that we expected a nice evening out, celebrating my family's birthdays and this "fine dining" experience was anything but.
Ironically husband and I ate at a small Italian restaurant in Wexford the night before, and on several occasions, the owner and manager and waitress came over, asking how our meals were. Their bread was plentiful and served warm. Their waitress didn't leave dirty dishes on the table. She frequently checked back with us. And it was more than half of what we paid at Lidias.
That's the difference between a great Italian restaurant and one surviving on their brand name. Lidia needs to be taking more of an active interest in her restaurant because not only the food, but the service is sub par. And, no, we won't be returning here. Ever.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)