rev:text
| - We used to visit this location when it was Al's Pizza. We loved the retro modern decor, menu options, and taste of food. We tried Libretto's for the first time recently, and it was just kind of average.
Our party of five was seated in the very last large booth. While these big booths are fantastic for larger parties, they're unfortunately aligned with the open kitchen where we could see the hustle and bustle of the servers, chefs, and delivery people standing around, and then coming and going. (p.s. That kind of ruins the "open kitchen" concept.) The last booth also gives a fantastic view into the back room with its unflattering fluorescent lighting, the comings and goings of the servers, and the brisk wind from outside due to the propped open back door.
I was going to order one of their specialty pizzas but, unfortunately, I did not. I opted for the Chicken Francese (Chicken French), because it's a Western NY specialty that you can't typically find outside of Western NY, and I was excited to see it on the menu. The chicken was just ok. It didn't have a lot of flavor. And then I got a pile of plain pasta on the side. Really? That's it? No veggies or anything? So while it was edible, it was nothing exceptional and I was kicking myself for not trying their pizza which, I'm sure, is much better than their pasta dishes. The meatball hoagie and calzone that others at the table got looked much better than my somewhat boring entree.
As for the service, it was quite slow. It was a lonnnnnnnng time before we got our garlic knots appetizer (20 minutes?) and then even longer after that before we got our food. And then another 5-10 minutes before I could even flag down our disappearing server to bring me Parmesan cheese (that should have been already on our table) to make my bland dish a little more exciting. We also had to specifically speak up and request our choice of pastas because our server never asked what kind we wanted.
Would we go back? Possibly. I would like to give their pizza a taste test. I certainly wouldn't get a pasta dish again. And I don't want to sit at the "back of the bus" where there's no atmosphere and where the delivery people just hang out, leaning against the walls.
|