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| - We went there the Friday after their opening for dinner. Made an 8:30pm reservation, but it was not needed (only about 25% full). I really wanted to like this restaurant. Some good, some not so good.
First the good. Great renovation of the former Bricco space. Loved the attention to detail and the Tuscan atmosphere. We ordered the bruschetta sampler for an appetizer, an arugula salad, the bolognese pasta, and the featured whitefish in a tapenade. The food quality was excellent.
Unfortunately, the extremely poor service ruined the meal for us. Should have known from the beginning - it took almost 10 minutes from the time we were seated to be greeted by our server. And then it was a I'll be back to help which was 5 more minutes. No water service or anything (saw a couple of workers just standing around too - again, only 25% full).
Finally had the waiter at the table. Didn't know the wine list, didn't know the drink list, didn't know all of the food. At the price point of this restaurant ($25 - $30 entrees), this is unacceptable. That's why you train before you open - he must have said 5 or 6 times that they were new and he just didn't know. We noticed the table next to us was having service issues too.
Because of his confusion, the food was paced poorly. To show the disconnect, the manager came to check on us BEFORE we had even started to get our food - 45 minutes into our dinner! He never came back (too busy chatting with the hostess). In fact, when he asked us on the way out (2 plus hours after we arrived) how our experience was and we told him about the very poor service (after we paid the $150 bill in full), he also reiterated they were new and still "working on it"!
If someone doesn't wake up fast this place will die quickly. When theater season hits there can't be such ineptitude. Too many other good options.
Let's hope the owner reads this and gets the right management in place. Great food, great atmosphere, great location - please fix the service!
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