| rev:text
| - Not bad, but not great for the money spent.
I read a few reviews here on Yelp before and after I went to Rao's. I had to confirm what I had read to be accurate. Among the situations other Yelper's have listed, such as being told they are fully booked or that they they don't have a particular bottle wine (due to the lower price of the bottle..) I can tell you both of these things happened to myself and my party.
We originally tried to make a reservation for 8 pm on a Friday and were told there was absolutely no way that would be possible for 3 people. The reservationist directed us to come in and sit at the bar if we liked and we could wait for a table to open up for dining. This is what we decided to do.
We strolled in just before 8 pm to a crowded bar at Rao's. My female companion inquired at the door about a table for 3. We wanted to be thorough in case a cancellation or something of the sort had occurred. The young hostess assured us there was no way we would be seated in the dining room before 930 p.m. We decided to go to the bar for a drink. Sitting at the bar, the room was fairly full. As I turned to look at the dining room, I saw 7 empty tables. All clean, prepped and ready to go. At 830, then 845, still no one sitting in them. Close to 9 pm we are seated to a half empty dining room. ... ...
So we sit down and my one buddy has been here before including the one in New York. He did the ordering of food. I ordered wine. Figuring the 3 of us would drink at least 2 bottles of wine throughout dinner.. (we like wine:) I decided on a $80-ish bottle of Montepulciano. The server came by to tell us that the wine was unavailable and suggested a $95 dollar bottle instead. I told him I would check the menu a bit and get back to him. Im not afraid of a $95 bottle of wine, but the review I had read was ringing in my ears.. so I decided on a $70-ish bottle instead... ALSO unavailable. So when I decided to go to the $95 dollar bottle .. they had it practically ready to pour! Haha.. It was almost comical.
The sommelier came by and was pouring wine as the first course of beet salad was arriving. I was serving the salad to my friends and was told by the sommelier that I "do that very well"..I said thanks, I am in the service industry also.
"Oh we didn't know you were service industry too"... she said.. Hmm. Why does that matter I thought?
Overall.. I have to tell you i was so unimpressed with the whole situation, that I just smiled, ate and ordered more wine. I gotta say.. the food was really unimpressive. My main gripe about 'American Style' Italian food is the over abundance of sauce, and lack of flavor.. in a high-end place like Rao's.. I would have expected that to be a non-issue. Not so. Really bland Sausage and Broccoli Rabe, unflavored red sauce on a couple of meatballs, and really just non existent on anything over the top delicious. Aside from the bottle of Ripasso I had in place of dinner, as I stopped dining after a few bites. Just not good.
The bartenders at the bar were very nice, smiling and made a great martini. It was a saving bit to the evening as they even smiled and wished us good night as we left. It was around $300 for the 3 of us, and is probably near average per person price, but far less than average dining experience. Sorry. Better luck to you if you try this out. I won't be back for dinner.
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