Last night my girlfriend and I went to La Bruschetta for the annual Winterlicious event. Here are my thoughts regarding our dining experience:
- I ordered the following items:
1. Appetizer - soup of the day - it was a bowl of vegetable consomme.
2. Entree - I chose the fettuccine with veal meatballs.
3. Dessert - Tiramisu
Appetizer:
The pluses: it was served hot, was a good sized portion, and had a good variety of vegetables.
The minuses: it tasted like there was a bit too much salt.
Entree:
The pluses: it was a good sized portion, the fettuccine seemed fresh.
The minuses: they skimped on the amount of meatballs. There were only three provided. The sauce was a bit on the bland side.
Dessert:
The pluses: the tiramisu was tasty.
The minuses: it was a bit soggy, and the portion size was quite small.
My girlfriend ordered the following items: greens for an appetizer, pasta (I can't quite remember what they called it, but it was cut short and had a twist to it, and was doused in a cheesy type of sauce with some mushrooms), and Tartufo for dessert.
I had a brief taste of her entree and her dessert and can say that she made a better choice than myself.
As far as the dining experience was concerned, I have mixed things to say. On the bright side, they were able to accommodate us as we made a reservation only a few hours before dinner.
On the negative side, we were delayed arriving because of heavy rush hour traffic. When we arrived, the hostess told us to wait in the narrow hallway (note: there was no where to sit and we had to awkwardly get out of the way when people wanted to get by us). We ended up waiting around a half hour to be seated. We were directed to their upstairs dining room. While the room was not significantly large (maybe a dozen tables), it was quite noisy, and often at times I found I had to ask my girlfriend to repeat what she was saying in order to hear her.
As far as service was concerned, while the waiters were quite friendly, there were only two staffed upstairs, and we found that we had to ask multiple times to have our water glasses refilled.
Probably the best part of the meal was the glass of sangria that we had beforehand. On the whole, I'd say that for the price that was paid ($40/each tax & tip incl.) the meal was on the average side.
Of note what I thought was cool (some would consider kitschy), was the fact that in the opening hallway, they have dozens of plates that have been signed by noteworthy people, hanging on the wall. Thus if you do have to wait for a table for a while, you at least have something to entertain you while you wait.