| rev:text
| - Roberto's
Call me crazy, but when you don't get what you order, at all, get something cold, get a cold shoulder from the staff and get a confrontation with the wanna-be wise guy owner (grandson of the founder, who is more interested in having his picture on the labels of product that they sell in the restaurant and lower level gillateria and charcuterie), I would warn anyone off from this wildly overpriced, poor excuse for an Italian restaurant.
The evening started our simply enough, with my friend and frequent patron if this restaurant recommending it for a gathering of our party of eight. It was my fiancée's birthday and we figured that a more upscale establishment with finer food selections and a more creative menu was in order.
The service at first was slow, but the place was busy and we had a great group of people around the table (near the bathroom I might add, which I hadn't noticed until the attitude of the owner, with his slicked back hair and "in your face style" made it abundantly clear that he didn't care a bit about his clients, only about his appearance and cash in his pocket). My first sign that this attitude carried down to his staff was when I asked if the lasagna (the server noted that she ate the traditional version with meat in a ragout and loved it) for $9 was the same as the one for $18. Later in the evening, as I ate the $18 joke, that was cold, I realized that this pushing was strictly to bump up the bill. This poor excuse for an upscale restaurant can't justify $18 for a piece of lasagna with some strips of veal in it.
We made it clear, upon ordering that one dish, the shrimp fra diavolo, if it was too spicy, would be desired at a lower heat level, but when the server noted it wasn't too spicy, we said fine, leave it as is. That's when the headaches started (heaven forbid I complain about the lasagna being cold, or not up to snuff for $18). The dishes were delivered, a veal parmigiana, a family sized pasta in rose (vodka sauce), a salmon and a couple of other non-descript dishes.
The penne al vodka was priced at $30 and was no larger than a regular portion (unless dining in a nouvelle cuisine style restaurant of the 80's) and barely satisfied. At $15 it might have been more reasonable and it was also cold.
The veal was nothing special, the spaghetti was topped with a simple tomato sauce and the veal slathered in cheese. Any New York diner would do a better job for about $14 not upwards of $20. I've already talked about my lasagna, the salmon was overcooked and expensive and the damage started when my fiancée received her dish that was a seafood pasta, not the shrimp dish. When the dish arrived, I tried a shrimp, my eldest tried two and my fiancée asked to have the dish returned because it wasn't spicy at all and we were almost all done. The server protested slightly, but agreed to take it back and offered to take it off the bill when we said we didn't want anything else. We were looking forward to leaving the restaurant and going downstairs for ice cream and desert, when the server came back to inform us that the owner, the wanna-be, was not removing the imposter of a shrimp fra diavolo from the bill.
This after the marginal penne, the cold lasagna, the middling veal and slow service. My fiancee, not wanting to cause a scene, but expecting some level of professionalism and food quality for the astronomical prices, got up to speak to the owner. He immediately postured and shot back at my fiancee that she didn't know what she was talking about, too bad and "what do you want me to do?" as if he was looking for a fight. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears and she was almost in tears. This for over $200 with tips!
He finally relented and we couldn't get out of there fast enough, my friend embarrased as he frequented Roberto's quite a bit and told me he was shocked and wouldn't come back. I just wanted my girls to have desert, so on the way out, the obnoxious, arrogant, idiot of an owner said with a smile, as if taunting us, "thanks for visiting", like a poor cartoon of a restaurant owner. I replied "I'm not so sure" and he said in response, "I'm not so sure!" as if looking to get into an altercation. I just sucked it up and left, but couldn't believe the attitude of this poor excuse for an owner, maitre-D or otherwise. He should be fired by his grandfather just for that response, not to mention the over-priced, poor quality, cold food. Don't waste your time or money, when there are so many other exceptional restaurants in the same area, at lower cost and with staff and owners who care about their businesses. This guy is remedial at best and should go back to restaurant school...
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