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| - A truly disappointing experience at Buca Yorkville.
First, be warned, this is not a "dress up" restaurant. I was seated beside a young man in a bright orange, gaudily logo'ed sweatshirt to my left, and a disheveled woman wearing badly torn jeans to my right. Even for Yorkville (and especially for the Four Seasons) this was a disappointment. Servers here wear blue jeans, and my server had some truly blinged-out fingernails.
Service was the most disappointing aspect of my dinner there. The menu rundown was rushed, and when she finished talking our server left, a half-dozen questions and clarifications dying on my lips. When ordering, I outlined the various dishes I wanted to try and asked several questions around portion sizes- I didn't want to order too much food. Our server waxed poetic about the fabulous, $140 seafood platter; we ordered it. It came and it was HUGE but not varied, being mostly two types of thinly sliced raw fished, simply dressed in olive oil, more than we could possibly eat. The accompanying oysters were not cleanly shucked and did not taste like the sea; they tasted old, and fishy. We notified our server, both that the oysters were off and that the platter was not what we expected. She did nothing. We sent back a half-full platter to the kitchen. No one came over to inquire as to why, to ask if everything was okay.
Visibly unhappy, I pared back my original order to just one side and one pasta dish to share. When our server came by, we stated again that we were unhappy. This time, she practically fled the scene, she could not wait to leave our table. The rest of the service was carried out in perfect silence and with more than a little negligence. We skipped dessert and left. We left a note on the bill, expressing our disappointment and leaving our phone number; no call yet.
The quality of the pasta and side order was good, bringing the overall quality of the food to "inconsistent". At this price point, It needs to be better than "inconsistent".
For such a small dining room, management was surprisingly inattentive. By the end of the night I felt that my business was neither needed nor wanted by staff. And so, they shall get their wish.
Never again.
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