| rev:text
| - I visited on Wed. for a lunch with my lab group, per the suggestion of my lab manager. Although this was a lab lunch, the occasion that prompted it was my birthday last week. It's a good thing that my boss wasn't available on my actual birthday, because based on my experience here, I would have felt seriously shortchanged.
Despite having a not-so-great experience at Joe Mama's (the previous instantiation of this restaurant; see my previous review) in the month before it changed hands, I was eager to give this place a second chance, in light of the updated menu and new ownership. Upon entering, the space seemed cleaner than before, which was encouraging. Unfortunately, however, my optimism was short-lived, since this turned out to be the most positive thing I could say about my visit.
In terms of the food, I suspected from the point that our table received the slightly-stale bread with its overly sweet oil and vinegar accompaniment that I was in for a disappointment, even though I (foolishly) continued to hold out hope. My boss ordered the bruschetta for our table to share, which was served on the same slightly-stale bread, and was dressed with pale, tasteless tomatoes and bland pesto. For my entree, I ordered the rigatoni al pesto, which comes dressed with a basil cream sauce with tomatoes, grilled chicken, and parmesan. Although I love all of these ingredients, most of which are very flavorful, this dish turned out to be extremely flavorless. Adding grated parmesan, salt, and pepper helped a bit, but unfortunately was unable to redeem it. Moreover, the rigatoni were overcooked and overly soft, to the point that they fell apart upon the slightest touch of my fork. The dish came with an unmemorable side salad instead of the huge shared salad bowl of Joe Mama's. It was very clear that the ingredients used in all of the food were low quality.
To add insult onto injury, service was extremely slow. From the time that we sat down to the time that we left, an hour and a half elapsed, despite that we only ordered appetizers and entrees. Even my boss became frustrated with the slowness of the service, since he had to go to a meeting after lunch--he offered to reimburse the lab manager and got up to leave. At last, our waitress must have sensed my boss's urgency, since she came by as he was getting up, and ran his credit card promptly, so that the lab manager didn't have to pay.
Needless to say, despite my initial optimism, I was disappointed with the quality of the food and service here. While I certainly wasn't a fan of Joe Mama's, at least it didn't pretend to be upscale, so you didn't go in with high expectations. If you're looking for a sit-down lunch in Oakland, I'd suggest The Porch, Spice Island Tea House, or even Winghart's. If you're looking for Italian food at a similar price point, I'd suggest trying Girasole in Shadyside. I'd even suggest the Olive Garden over this place, since I've had better meals there, and at least they give you unlimited salad and breadsticks!
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