Trattoria Giuseppe/ Bella di Notte Banquet Hall

Reviews 3

JA

Jaska Börner

Our little adventure began with our table of five being served two dinner rolls (with way too many butter packs - shouldnt bread traditionally be served with olive oil?!) and four pieces of what I assume was meant to be bruschetta. If you cant be bothered to bring out enough for everybody in the party, just dont bring anything at all. Our server was polite enough, but difficult to understand and didnt know the specials off-hand. Our food was brought out in several trips by several different people, each of whom had no idea who had ordered what, and my dish (and that of another in my party) arrived several minutes after everybody elses. Again - if its not all ready at the same time, wait until it is! I thought that was Table-Waiting 101. To further prove their lack of manners, various servers then took away our empty dishes one by one, leaving the rest of us feeling somewhat rushed, as we were then asked multiple times "still working on that?" Dining should not feel like a chore or a "job," nor does it - until questions like that are asked. The dish I ordered was actually very good, too - Linguine con Frutti del Mare, which (see below) is safe for me to eat, and was prepared and presented quite nicely. I couldnt enjoy the experience, though, because I got the distinct impression they wanted us out of there so they could seat another party, bamboozle them with five different wait staffers, and rush THEM through a meal in a fashion that, in Italy, would be considered appallingly impolite. Additionally, the overhead lights kept getting brighter and dimmer over and over again. Not sure whats up with that... Also - I am severely allergic to shrimp, but was dismayed to find that allergen information is not listed for every menu item, namely the specials. I had to ASK about most of them, and several contained shrimp without even mentioning it - including the "Salmon Bisque," for some reason. To sum up: Good food, albeit nothing fantastic given the prices, wait times, and overall service, all of which greatly subtract from what really ought to be an enjoyable experience at a nice restaurant. I should mention, too, that it was very, VERY crowded, and they clearly do not have enough wait staff. So: hire more wait staff (with their prices, Im sure its possible), train them to be good wait staff, and then make sure they really ARE good wait staff!! Goodness. Usually a place with good food and bad service isnt even worth reviewing in such depth, but this place is very popular and at least the staff werent rude - well, not verbally - so its worth giving another shot in future if they can just ensure their wait staff is capable of living up to the price point and quality-based claims of the establishment overall.

DA

Dan Damsel

Food was good but service was incredibly terrible. It was New Year’s Eve and reservations were for 8PM for a table of 7. We actually got seated a little after 9:45 PM. We had to stand the entire wait for lack of any seating. You read that correctly, almost 2 hours late! Hors-d’oeuvres were served reasonably quickly and were good. Dishes were cleared collectively by the hostess, a busboy and the waitress (Bernadette). The busboy insisted on taking silverware from 3 of the 7 guests. When he was asked about it, he said that new silverware would come with the next course. The next course was served 2 dishes at a time by 3 different people all of which were asked for silverware, none of which actually brought any. The meal was getting cold and the guests were starving as it was now about 10:30. After a while, I went in search of silverware so the other guests could eat. I found a bus boy who was accommodating by handing me 3 sets of silverware. The food was starting to get cold, but was still very good. When our waitress Bernadette finally returned to our table I told her about the fact that I went in search of silverware and she took offense to that. She stated, “This was the last holiday she would be working”, “She was too old for this crap”, “The silverware didn’t walk itself back to the kitchen” and finally she informed me that my telling her about the lack of silverware “pissed her off”. I told her in no uncertain terms how I felt about her attitude and left. This ruined my night as well as other guest’s night. She continued her rant, at my daughter. My daughter went up front to the hostess who acknowledged that she was personally asked for silverware, delegated it and apologized that we never got any. She offered a gift certificate which was declined. At least she apologized. My family and I had been a regular here for about 8 years. The food is consistently very good, but their ideas about reservations are consistently bad. They think nothing of seating you an hour or more after your reservation. Bernadette left a foul taste in my mouth that no amount of good food can wash away. I will never go back here again. Bernadette was right about her not working a holiday and being too old. Put that aside and you still have a management that values packing them in, leaving guests out in the cold and waiting because the lobby is too small and wait too long. If you like good food, bad service and verbal abuse, this might just be your kind of place.

A

A Private User

Like most other reviews on this page, our experience at Trattoria Giuseppe was an absolute joke. At the age of 50 - I experienced a first, that is - the first time I ever walked out of a restaurant before being served the main course. Readers Digest version, 8:30 dinner reservations - and we were seated promptly after a short wait. So far, so good. Were taken to a large room in the rear that was as noisy as a bowling alley. Our acerbic server was among the rudest Ive ever experienced. When I asked him what he recommended between two entrees he suggested the more expensive since it would "mean a higher tip for him". My 8th grade son doesnt care much for Italian, and wanted buttered noodles - he made some slur that this is what he serves three year olds. Our appetizer of cold chewy fried calamari came reasonably fast but was disappointing. The bread was burnt and cold. We finished our appetizer around 9:10, then waited an hour. My wife twice requested the missing knife from her place setting. Never arrived. Our server disappeared after saying he was checking on our entrees. After sitting at our table for an hour after finishing our appetizer - now 10:10 pm, still no entrees, we decided we had enough. Since our server was nowhere to be found, we left a tip for the soft drinks and appetizer, and went to the hostess area to settle our bill and leave. The hostess was genuinely concerned and didnt charge for our appetizer and offered a gift card. Right about then our server reappeared, seeming in the mood for confrontation and insisting he "just" brought out our food. He seemed like he wanted to fight but we diffused the situation and simply left. No - sorry, it should not take an hour between finishing an appetizer and serving the main course. Unacceptable. And if thats the case? Then the restaurant owners should stop being so greedy and just stop seating instead of cramming more patrons in a noisy reception hall and making them wait to be served. Nice 17th birthday for our daughter. These guys need to watch a few episodes of Hells Kitchen. Were not "doing you a favor" by deciding to spend our money at your establishment. Thanks for ruining our night out. We ended up having a good time eating burgers at a burger joint.