Review of Bertucci's

I'm torn between 1 and 2 stars. Since they were completely slammed due to much of the city being w/o power, I will exercise a little grace and round up.

When I walked in, I noticed right away that they were extremely busy. The hostess was very polite and explained that it could be a 25-min wait and that she'd do her best to seat me near a power outlet but couldn't guarantee one. I was fine with that, sat myself in the waiting area, and logged onto Panera's wifi to get some much-needed work done.

I don't know if the wait took as long as she said or not, as I was working hard and not paying attention to much else during that time. When my buzzer went off, she seated me in the bar area at a high-top next to a power outlet. yay! :)

I got myself all situated and awaited the appearance of my server. When she arrived, she had a smile and took my order. I ordered a salmon dish and then asked her to remind me that I wanted to try a dessert after my entree. She said, "You're asking ME to remind YOU?!?! You are better off trying to remember yourself!" I was quite surprised by her reaction. When I was a server, I would always write notes of things that customers needed to remind myself and ensure they got good service. (Also, I would not have needed a reminder to offer a customer dessert, as I always offered every customer dessert anyway.)

I should interject here that I ordered from the gluten-free menu. The salmon dish I selected had no indication of dairy whatsoever on the description of the dish, so I believed I was safe to order it, as it listed several items such as lemon, capers, mashed potatoes, etc. I figured the potatoes had dairy in them so I substituted veggies

When the server came to my table with my salad, she asked me if I could eat cheese. I noticed Parmesan on the salad and said, "no. I'm sorry. Can you make me one without?" She then informed me in a very rude and condescending voice that my salmon dish also had cheese on it. I showed her the menu and that it said nowhere on the menu that the dish had cheese on it.

She snapped at me in the rudest most condescending tone you could imagine, "You are in an Italian restaurant! EVERYTHING has cheese on it!!!"

I have a few thoughts on this:

1. Who puts cheese on salmon??? Does this girl who obviously thinks I am the stupid one not know that it is a culinary sin to combine fish and cheese?

2. I've been to more Italian restaurants than I could even try to count, and I can't think of one that did not have at least a few cheese-less entrees. Even crumby chains like The Olive Garden have cheese-less entrees on the menu.

3. Does this girl know that part of her job as a server is to make the customer's experience enjoyable? Does she think that being a witch to people they are going to want to come back?

I was dumbfounded.

After a moment to think, I decided that I was going to leave. I told her to just cancel my order and that I would be dining elsewhere. I started to pack up my laptop and leave.

As I was packing up, the manager came by and asked me if there was a problem. I told him. He apologized and told me that if I stayed he would put me in another server's section and comp my lunch. I really was still quite irritated and just wanted to leave, but free lunch when the power at home was out sounded worth giving them another chance for.

The manager put me in Shawn's section. Shawn was very polite, helpful, and friendly. He was what a server should be. He worked with me to come up with a salmon dish I could have. I appreciated his friendly attitude and thought maybe the experience would be salvaged. Also, more than once, the manager apologized for my initial experience. I appreciated that he cared not to let a customer leave frustrated.

When my food came, it was as ordered. That was a relief. However, the salmon tasted like it had been previously frozen. The price, though, was right. For $16.99, I think the quality was there for that. The green beans tasted like they had been marinated in vanilla. My palate can usually pick out the tiniest undertones in anything, but I cannot tell you what happened to these beans. It was the strangest thing ever.

Other than the uniquely inedible green beans, the food was about diner quality. But since the price was diner price, I guess that makes it okay. I will say, though, as much as I do not like The Olive Garden, I would much rather go there than Bertucci's. I am not a fan, even if it wasn't for the horrible waitress.

In a nutshell: average diner food, decent prices, a manager who cares enough to try to make things right after a mishap but not enough to have cheese listed on the menu for all of the items that have cheese, and hit or miss service. The decor was not exciting in a good or bad way. The toilet paper, though, was the thinnest I have seen anywhere, ever.

I won't be going back.