Cafe Rustica

Since I keep vampire hours, it takes a very special occasion to get me to go to lunch. Today was one of those special occasions, joining some friends from my first teaching job 10 lifetimes ago. It was tough to force myself to get up before noon, but it was so worth it. The reunion was wonderful, and the lovely restaurant contributed to it greatly.
Our server, Millie, was tireless in her devotion to taking photos of us on all four of our cameras, snapping three or four on each phone.
My friends had a grilled veggie sandwich on a ciabatta roll, an individual Margarita pizza, Rigatoni Forestiere (or was it penne?) with sausage and veggies, and I had Farfalle Theresa — shrimp and grilled veggies, with roasted peppers and fresh mozzarella in a white wine sauce. I would have appreciated knowing in advance that there was some cream in the sauce, but it least there wasn’t much of it. Everyone had only good things to say about the dishes they ordered, including me. The shrimp were tender, and I took most of the delicious pasta home; it made a nice side dish for two of us tonight, so the portion was more than ample. The pastas was served with a fresh small salad. The friend who ordered the sandwich was supposed to have her salad on the plate, but when she requested it, it was served to her in a bowl, too.
I ordered coffee, and for this Starbucks aficionado, it was just ordinary. I also can’t stand tiny little coffee cups, even if they get refilled repeatedly, which they cheerfully were.
The restaurant was a 40 minute drive for me, so I’m not sure if I’ll be returning anytime soon, but if it were closer I definitely would.

I had a horrendous experience there this past Thursday; definitely top 3 worst restaurant experiences I’ve ever had. The sole redeeming thing is that it seemed to primarily be a function of problems with my server, as my friend went there 3 hours later and had a great experience.
Long story short, our server seemed somewhat uninterested and definitely was not knowledgeable. While he indicated that you could substitute a Caesar salad for $ 1 more, he did not indicate that it is the same as the house solid, but with Caesar dressing. In other words, they charge $ 1 more if you order Caesar dressing. This blows my mind.
My friend’s risotto entrée came out a bit slow but mine didn’t come out at all. After 5 minutes of waiting after she got her food, my server said my food would be right out. Five more minutes later, he came back and told me there was a mistake in the kitchen and someone else got my order. For reasons I won’t go in to, this was pretty transparently false. I don’t like being lied to.
They offered me a free glass of wine because of the delay. I explained that o don’t drink much and didn’t want it, but they didn’t offer an alternative. My friend eventually took it on my behalf, so I guess that’s moot.
When my entrée finally came out, the scallops in it were raw. They were translucent and slimy. They clearly rushed my order to cover up their mistake, then screwed that up too. Moreover, the tomato cream sauce had so Much cream, you couldn’t even taste any acid from the tomato.
By this point, I was seething. Given how many screw ups there were, I saw no point in sending the dish back. Moreover, I am very reticent to give waitstaff a hard time, and saw no reason to vent and maybe make a scene.
The last thing is when we got the bill, the buffalo calamari special (which wasn’t good either) ended up costing $ 14 or $ 15. For calamari?!?
I tipped the waiter exactly 18% (down to the cent) because he probably relies on tips, but neither he nor the restaurant deserved it. I didn’t think I’d give them a second chance, but since my friend had a better experience with a different server, I may.

I work near this location. I decided to stop in yesterday. They have a decent size parking lot so parking is not a problem. The establishment looks exactly how it appears on the outside, like a house. The inside décor is nice and rustic lol. I ordered the 10.99 cheesesteak sandwich and it was amazing. I really enjoyed my food at i hoped i would. The question is, why would i sit inside and hope the food was good? The waitress appeared to be very busy in a more than half empty lunch hour. There is no cell phone reception or wifi. Thus i was unable to check in on Unilocal.I enjoyed my food but if i ever returned it would not be to dine in. I hope the restaurant updates at least wifi for customers to be able to receive call in a emergency or to Unilocal