Pane Rustica

Had one of my worst dining experiences ever here! Ordered the spinach artichoke pizza and found a half of green beetle with wings. Yes I had already eaten half of it. The half I didn’t eat was probably the size of my thumbnail. Once I finished vomiting the manager spoke with me. She offered me some pasta and gave me my $ 10 refund. She said «it happens sometimes» and gave a half sincere apology. Not enough pasta in the world would ever be enough for me to come back here or suggest to any of my friends to continue dining there. The young man who served me my pizza had more sincerity than the manager. Puking at my table and then running to the bathroom to vomit even more is not how I prefer my dining experience. Absolutely disgusted and beyond disappointed. Someone clearly isn’t washing the vegetables thoroughly or paying attention to detail. This is the second time I’ve found something in my food. The first time it was a bundle of hair on the underside of my rosemary chicken salad. DONE with this restaurant.

This place is awesome! My new local hangout for good food! Unique food choices and it’s close to home!

I wanted to love it but was a bit underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, the flavors and food were spot on. Our server was friendly, helpful and took her time with our order — perhaps they all do. The order process is quiet close. With only two people ahead of us in line, we still waited 8 – 10 minutes to place an order.
The food:
The roast beef sandwich was hugely amazing. The coconut macaroons were mind blowing. The house wine was definitely from the bottom of the barrel.
The bottom line:
This is really a 3.5 star rating.
It is what it is in the neighborhood. I feel it’s overpriced and slow — that enough to keep it under 4 stars. But, the sandwiches and bakery are second to none.

Had the wonderful opportunity to have lunch here a couple days ago. The customer service was excellent & very informative. I call it customer service because you order at a counter & not by wait staff, which is fine but for the price of a meal here it’d be nice to have table service. The sandwich I got (roasted veggie on sourdough) was tasty & wonderful. I might’ve preferred to have it on toasted bread, but after one bite I realized the bread is that good, there’s no need to disguise it. I got the margarita flat bread as an appetizer, very delicious! And the house red wine was nothing special, but a glass of wine at lunch on a Saturday feels good & it was only $ 5. I ended up getting 2 baguettes to go for the upcoming week. So not five stars because of the price of a sandwhich (around $ 9 – 12) & the casual counter service. Otherwise love this place & I’ll be back… but maybe sitting at the bar & getting flatbread & a cocktail.

The service was friendly and informative. A very nice server led us to the order line and recommended the smoked turkey with sweet onion jam. It wasn’t what I was thinking, but I decided to try it and was so glad I did. Excellent choice, the turkey has great flavor and is plentiful in the sandwich; but the star is the sweet onion jam; it makes the sandwich. They don’t sell the onion condiment, but they sell something very similar just down a few storefronts at «Cheese Please». Also, I recommend the cookies… all the cookies. Come back until you’ve tried them all.
If you like chicken salad, they offer a new type to try every week, with lots of creative options.

We stopped in here to have lunch one day & it was pretty good. I’d say that their prices were a little high, and the other customers seemed to have… interesting attitudes… but needless to say that the food was good. However, the atmosphere and the not-​so-​friendly staff has kind of deterred us from returning. The parking lot is also a bit of a hassle too.

This is for sure a restaurant to come back to. Everything was out of this world. Had the Short Ribs with truffle mashed potatoes and perfectly grilled asparagus for dinner and the Summer Cake for dessert.
However, it was really difficult to leave any room for my meal because the hummus dip and sourdough bread you get before the meal were so good that I’m certain I’ll be coming back for a lunch sandwich of it soon.

Went here for a dinner service and while the food was good. It didn’t meet my expectations overall for the price.
Our waiter was nice, and the ambiance seemed like a really nice place to have a date night. The food on the other hand was average to many other restaurants in the area. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t special. If you pay $ 20 or more per dinner there is a certain amount of expectation. The crab cakes I ordered were okay, but the pizza my friend order was better.
The dinner really fell short when the waiter made an error on the dessert. We came for a friend’s birthday, and the waiter thought they comped a dessert for free. But he was wrong. The manger had to come over to explain the situation, but it was handle quite awkwardly. The dessert ended did getting paid for the end by us. The dessert was very good though. It was a double chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream, but for $ 9 it sure better be a high quality one.
I think the highlight night was they fact we were all able to leave with fresh baked bread. So if you do try this place for dinner come towards the end of the night, apparently you will end-​up with free bread to bring home.

Nice place with fast and friendly service. Lunch hour is quite busy, but they are well staffed to handle it. You order and pay in line from the menu or daily specials (3 – 5 to choose from). Your food is brought to you or you can sit in the full service bar area. I ordered their Tuesday burger special and chose 7-​grain bread (one of 7 choices or regular hamburger bun). Lots of dessert choices too (gelatos and cookies). The burger was huge and very tasty. A bit pricy for lunch ($ 20 for burger and drink), but worthwhile.

I come in at least once a week and see Autumn on the full service bar side of the restaurant. Autumn
Is absolutely amazing and remembers my favorites, bringing them out immediately on greeting.
The food always knocks it out of the park. I’ve brought everything from dates, to family, to business meetings and never been disappointed.
The bakery with treats and amazing breads from scratch is just icing on top of the cake, truly an amazing tampa treasure.

YOU CANT TALK TO THE WAITER OR YOUR DATE. SHAME ON THEM. Fix it you’re being jerks
too expensive for what it was… it certainly has the bar tender body language of the jerk near the docks and I would guess another was aspie and kind of counting numbers outloud, creepy and self soothing to herself as she rang in an order. my biggest problem is the acoustics or people pack of a of a low end bar beer and a shot kind of place. Lightning makes sense if your trying to hide some things.
AND YOU CANT TALK TO THE WAITER OR YOUR DATE. SHAME ON THEM. Fix it you’re being jerks.
Hummus was good
Bread was decent
For a classy look and prices on the high high end (for what it is) they certainly turn the lights low like they need to hide the shabby and don’t mind packing it in until it’s so loud osha actually has safety recommendations for how much time you should spend inside.

Pane Rustica is one of the well known restaurants in Tampa Bay Area, so for that reason it is usually very crowded. They have tables with serves in the back but the majority of seating are self-​served, which can be very confusing as the place gets packed.
I have tried pasta, salad and pizza from this place. They are all small portion and kind of expensive but tasty. Their bakery is excellent as well. Plenty of parking space is a plus.

Stopped in for a quick breakfast and was pleasantly surprised! The egg sandwich on a croissant was amazing! It was a big serving and even came with a side of fresh fruit. My husband got the egg and ham frittata which he liked as well. But I think the egg sandwich was better!!!
Really cute and casual place. They had a few tables outside but mostly indoor seating.
Fruit infused water was a nice touch!
I’ll definitely be back:)

My friend and I wanted to hit a place in South Tampa for lunch and we had never been here so we met at Pane Rustica. I must admit, it is a little confusing when you walk in because there is stand that looks like a hostess station, but there is also a counter where you place your order.
The right side of the restaurant is serve yourself and being a weekend day we thought it would be hard to get a table and try to keep it while we went up to check out the food line. The left side of the restaurant and the bar has servers. We sat there.
Since I love soup, I tried the soup of the day, mushroom marsala with spinach. Good but not as I thought it would be. I expected it to be creamier or thicker and to taste more like marsala. My friend got the acorn squash with chicken salad. That was great (she let me try it.) Both items came with crusty bread, which was good and I got an espresso cookie to finish the meal. Get the cookie! It was the best thing I tried! It is the melting chocolate lava cake of cookies.
I also had the white sangria and it was tasty as well.
I would go back, but to be honest, I would compare it to a Panera Bread with possibly better baked goods.

Loved shut up and eat! The ice teas are great too! Will return soon. It’s like a home made version of Panera Bread and more upscale as well. Great for big groups too.

This place is a hidden gem. Didn’t expect much from a restaurant locate in a strip store but we were defiantly impressed. Both the red and white sangrias were very good. Salads we amazing with giant pieces of mozzarella and polenta croutons. Main dishes were good. Very authentic and home made pasta. The gelato desert was crazy good!
Only low points were the wood chairs. Ouch. And it’s really really dark in there.

Pane Rustica has many faces. It began as a small artisan bakery in a tiny shop about a mile from the current location and has grown into a Bakery, Bar and Restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner each with a life of its own.
The bakery provides 8 fresh breads daily along with the baker’s pick of the day. Breakfast begins at 8 am and includes frittatas, breakfast sandwich, scones, sticky buns, strudel and such.
Lunch specials change each day. Standing favorites are the hamburger, roasted acorn squash filled with chicken salad and flatbread pizza. Other items change daily. The hamburger comes only one way as the the specialty of day — today’s was natural beef, double Gloucester, arugula, pickled onions and Tabasco Worcester aioli. Large enough to share. It is so good I rarely order anything else.
I have never been brave enough to order «Shut up & Eat don’t ask… you’ll love it» but it is always in the menu.
Bakery treats not be be missed are Double Chocolate Expresso Cookies and Macaroons.
Although Pane has been here 6 — 7 years, the décor is neo-​rustic which is the standard theme of most new restaurants opened in Tampa the past several years. The concrete floors, painted walls, wood or metal table tops and high or open ceilings make it very noisy when the restaurant and bar is packed (The Rooster & Till is another example). This occurs mainly in the evening.
All considered, it is one of my favorites in Tampa.

Always a solid choice for lunch, I’m a semi regular. I give it 4.5. I love their pizzas and salads.
The pizza is solid, one order is more than enough and usually equates to about two slices. It’s super thin, light and crispy. I wouldn’t call it NY style but lighter and thinner. I think I usually get the Sicilian, it has Italian sausage, pepperoni and peppers. Not 100% sure on the name because you point to it in the case and they heat it up in the pizza oven.
The Rustica salad is a favorite, fresh mozzarella, spinach leaves, roasted garlic cloves with a basalmic dressing. It sounds crazy but the homemade croutons are killer and make this salad.
I’ve had almost every sandwich and regularly get the smoked turkey with onion jam. The onion jam is incredible, trust me it will make a flavor impression on you taste buds.
It took me a while to try the burger as my customers and colleagues usually get one and there are so many other items to try. The burger is really good and you can choose the bread. I like it on the sourdough.
If you are feeling adventurous try the «shut up and eat.» The chef gives you whatever he feels like cooking for you and you shut up and eat. One of my customers ordered it and he got lobster mushroom ravioli and said it was fantastic.
I believe this restaurant started as a family bakery and evolved over the years. The bread is fantastic and is the star in every dish. I’ve been here probably 50 times for lunch and had only one bad experience, not really worth mentioning in this review. The food is consistent.
I took my family of six for dinner and was expecting the same lunch spot I’m accustomed to and boy was I in for a surprise. Dinner is a completely different experience. At night it morphs into a legit Italian restaurant. Super fresh and I swear it is homemade pasta. Legit. They actually gave us an olive loaf bread to take home. It was great.
I highly recommend for lunch or dinner. Get there early for lunch (before 11:30) or you will be waiting in line. Sit in the back as the line builds out the front door and you can avoid the commotion of the line while you enjoy your lunch.

Went here for lunch today and it was a great experience! For lunch you can either get your lunch at the counter and sit on the north side of the restaurant, where you can sit on the south side of the restaurant around the bar and have full table service. I had this feature sandwich of a portobello mushroom with an amazing sauce on focaccia bread. It was absolutely delicious. The server was great.
Bottom line: a highly recommended place for a tasty lunch.

We love this restaurant. It’s always so good. You can’t go wrong with your order. It is family friendly, and the servers are very nice. Great atmosphere and amazing food. It is a must to end the night with the summer cake dessert. It is absolutely the best dessert I have ever had. Must try!

Visiting Tampa from out of town and went in to Pane Rustica to try one of their cookies I’ve heard such good things about — A+++. After a couple minutes chatting at the cash the very nice lady behind the counter gave me a cookie on the house. WOW. We’ll be back!

My first time here at Pane Rustica.
My first impression of the restaurant was that it was a little bit more fancy than it seemed from the outside… Dark lighting, nice seatings.
The hostess was very friendly, i went to an early dinner.
Took a few minutes for a server to come up to us and being us our water.
He didn’t ask what i wanted to drink and just went to straight to taking our orders.
So i just told him i wanted to order a drink.
Anyways, he was very nice and polite.
I ordered the Lamb Chop, the doneness of the lamb was great, the veggies underneath it was amazing as well. The sauce, was not very appealing, it was a little bit too sweet. for $ 35, i would expect better (i had better)
The presentation was very nice.
The drink was made well.
I was told that the dessert was going to be something AMAZING, the best cookie sunday ever.
But it wasn’t, it was an average chocolate cookie with average vanilla ice cream on top.
i must say that the Caramel sauce made up for it.
All together, i would come back again to try maybe a different dish. The restaurant has some potential in delivering great food. Service was good so i will be back.

My girlfriends and I went around 815pm the room was dim but cozy. I ordered the seafood pasta the portion size was ok, I ate it all. A lot of chunks of seafood. Our waitress was not as pleasant. She rushed us and her waitress etiquette was not up to par. We will not be rushing back to visit.

Quick Read: Wonderful lunch place for a date or catching up with friends.
*note: have only been for lunch, will update upon dining during dinner*
Pane Rustica has a really delicious assortment of pizzas, sandwiches, and other items that make for a really special experience. The pizza is thin and crispy, and the ingredients are always fresh. The sandwiches come on truly hearty bread, and have a large variety for those wanting to try something different. The most special of their menu for me is the «Shut up and eat it, you’ll like it» — for adventurous non-​picky eaters like myself, it’s a playful gesture that has never disappointed.

Food is so fresh and delicious! Pizza is good and baked goodies are amazing! Also love their red sangria ! Today I had the acorn squash stuffed with their chicken salad and the other half had clam chowder and the shut up and eat which ended up being a bbq chicken breast over gnocchi with greens and the son had pizza. Everything was delicious and service was good! We like sitting by the bar in the round booths. Still haven’t made it back for dinner but def planning on it! If you like chocolate the chocolate cookies with the powdered sugar sprinkled on top are to die for!

Weeze, weeze, ugh, can barely breathe right now, ate too much.
Darn it, this wasn’t supposed to happen until next week (Thanksgiving)
Service was very attentive and good.
The Rustica salad was excellent. Loved the crispy polenta cakes, and roasted garlic.
Spagetti and red sauce was on point, for me it is the measuring stick of an italian place.
Wifey’s rigatoni and sausage was good. There was cheese in there too! Much cheese, mmmmmm.
The homemade sourdough and hummus was really delicious, we housed it.
The Summer Cake, oh the summer cake, SO. Good. to. taste.
Next stop, is trying their lunch offerings.

Went for lunch. The line was long but it went by fast. The place was crowded for a Friday afternoon. They have a regular menu and a specialty menu. My friend and I opted on something from the regular menu. I went with a pan seared salmon sandwich and she went with a pasta. The sandwich was so fresh and delicious! Came with a small side of potatoes and olives which was plenty. For desert I chose a pecan sticky bun which was divine! Overall this place is excellent for lunch! Friendly staff and great ambiance. I love this place! Can’t wait to try it again!

Looks can be deceiving… I nearly drove away… just because its in a strip mall.
Walking in, seemd to have a fine dinning yet casual trendy environment. Dimly lit lighting, mood music, candles — really transforms this place at night.
Came here for dinner — and had a great time. The food was on point, and the speciials for the night changes. I got the NY Strip with… wait for it… roasted duck and brie mashed fingerling potatoes. I seriously just drooled after writing this. What as shame though that it was a special. Oh well — i guess i’ll just have to come back and order from their main menu.

Came here with a few friends for lunch. We walked in at a busy time but easily found seats at the bar on the left. Quick and attentive bartenders took our food and drink orders. We each tried the red sangria which was pretty good (not the best I’ve had but still good). I ordered the chicken salad and loved it! It was a huge serving for the price ($ 8.50 I think), I could only finish half of it. My friend ordered a warm chocolate cookie and it was delicious! I will definitely be back when I am in the area!

Pane Rustica is essentially two separate restaurants, and both of them are amazing.
For lunch, you have a nice easy place to grab a gourmet lunch. Everything they have there is delicious. I’ve always been a big fan of their smoked turkey sandwich, but seriously, try just about anything. And don’t be put off by the fact that the pizzas are sitting on the counter. It doesn’t mean they’re old or cold. They’re a delicious add-​on and I often take 1 or 2 (large) ‘slices’ home for appetizers at a dinner party.
And of course, you can’t forget this place is also a bakery! It’s one of the best places in Tampa to grab a beautiful, freshly baked loaf of bread, and their desserts are all to die for (I strongly recommend getting the double chocolate espresso cookie for and incredibly intense chocolate experience).
The only bad things about this place are that a) because it’s so popular, it gets crowded for lunch fast, so expect to have trouble finding parking, and expect to wait in a line. And b) even such a large space, when it gets crowded it gets incredibly loud. There’s no good acoustic dampening so the sound reverberates everywhere and between all the customers and the kitchen and the people waiting in line, the entire restaurant is pretty much always a a dull roar.
The second restaurant comes out for dinner, when the entire place transforms into a dimly lit gourmet Italian restaurant. The bar is great and has some of the best bartenders in town, and the menu has yet to disappoint. Let yourself explore the menu, I promise it’s all going to be delicious.
And if you enjoyed the chocolate cookie for lunch you can now order a dessert with TWO warm double chocolate espresso cookies AND ice cream, and just fall over with happiness.
The cons are the same as for lunch. It’s crowded and loud, which can put a damper on any sort of intimacy you might have been hoping for upon seeing how dimly lit the whole place is. But the bar area is first-​come-​first-​serve seating so that helps with how busy it is.

I hosted an event there last night…
The good:
Great service and flexibility in building a custom menu and room set up.
Overall the food was delicious — especially the risotto special and halibut.
The mocha cookie dessert special was out of this world!
The bad:
Would have loved to see a more extensive wine list.
The noisy:
While our private room was perfect for conversation the noise coming from the main room was quite loud.

Pane Rustica consistently exceeds my expectations and remains one of my top 5 favorite restaurants in Tampa. The Rustica salad is my favorite salad in town, and will hold that title as long as the warm polenta croutons are topping the delicious mound of vegetables. I can’t go to Pane Rustica and NOT order that salad, so that is the dish I always start with. I give it 5 stars.
I’ve had the red wine braised short rib (Served with truffle chive potatoes and asparagus) on one occasion, and loved every bite. The pasta dishes are all great as well — house made fresh pasta makes a world of a difference. The specials change often, and I try to always order one when I dine at PR. Honestly, I
Can’t give any dish I’ve had there less than 4.5 stars — the chefs really know what they are doing. Another nice touch is the bread served alongside dinner. Instead of traditional olive oil, Pane Rustica serves the bread with a homemade hummus.
The atmosphere is really romantic at dinner time with heavy wood tables and dim lighting. Only thing I would change is that it can get pretty loud in there.
At lunch time, the slices of pizza are a great option (And generous portions for the price!!) Also, I’ve gone towards the end of lunch a couple times and if there are leftover loaves of bread at the end of the lunch service, servers come around offering loaves to customers. Special surprise!

Love it! From the outside I wasn’t sure about the place ‘it’s in a strip mall’ the second you go in, you’re overwhelmed not only with the beauty of the place but the aromas of breads and cookies and coffee!
The baking oven is beautiful right behind the counter and the staff are amazing great energy people. They have event rooms for private parties that’s a huge plus; nice to have one of those in town. The bar is this huge horseshoe shaped bar that’s beautiful. All their juices for drinks are made fresh daily and that’s amazing.
I suggest trying a bit of everything here.
You will not be disappointed.
The vibe here is super casual. See you there!

This is a tale of two different restaurants. Unfortunately both restaurants occupy the same space, and they share the same name, but they are as different as night and day.
Pane Rustica is a Zagat-​rated restaurant and artisan bakery featuring handcrafted baked goods, and savory, seasonal lunch and dinner specialties. Normally the Zagat rating signifies one of the best fine dining establishments in the city, but my recent dining experience certainly has me scratching my head.
Pane Rustica is located in South Tampa on MacDill Avenue, just south of the Crosstown Expressway. Pane is in the same shopping center as Cheese Please and Redneck Wine.
I have always eaten at Pane for lunch, or a quick appetizer in their lounge area, and in those cases my experiences have all been good. For lunch you can choose from hearth-​baked pizza, sandwiches and salads in a casual atmosphere. The Lounge menu has some small plate options which are also very good.
Dinner is a whole different matter with unique wood-​fired entrees, appetizers and small plates which change each week according to seasonal availabilities. The emphasis is on a high-​end dining experience, but the ambiance is just awful. The noise level in the restaurant is so loud that you have to shout in order to be heard by your dining companions, and after a while that stops being funny. The floor looks like poured concrete so the sounds just bounce all around the dining room, with nothing to deaden the very loud background music and general chatter noise. There is minimal lighting in the dining area, to the point where we all had to fire up our smartphones in order to illuminate the menus and see what our choices were for dinner. Those are both easy things to fix, and should seriously be considered by the management.
Our waiter was nice, but very slow, and lacking in the experience to do two things at once. He refilled each water glass one by one, by bringing a fresh glass of water from the kitchen for each diner — no tray of water glasses or pitcher of water — just one glass after another. It wasn’t until later in the meal that he finally brought out a pitcher and walked around our table.
Under normal circumstances I would have asked a question or two about how the food was prepared, but in this case it was so loud that I couldn’t carry on a dialogue with the server. That is simply inexcusable for a fine dining restaurant.
I ordered one of the seasonal entrée specialties for my dinner, and opted for the pan-​seared Rainbow Trout which was served with a crab and arugula salad with pecans and chopped fennel over a bed of cous cous and topped with a maple bourbon reduction. While the meal was good, there were some issues. First, for $ 27 I would have expected the kitchen staff to pick out all of the pin bones. They didn’t, and trying to pick out fish bones in the dark wasn’t fun. Second, for that amount of money I expected that we might have a small salad appetizer or maybe some vegetables with the entrée. Nope, that didn’t happen.
Finally at the end of the meal I was tired of fighting with the pin bones, and I asked for the remainder of my dinner to be wrapped up so I could take it home. Normally the server transfers the remaining food into a to-​go container at tableside, but in this case our server took the food back into the kitchen and emerged minutes later with a stapled brown paper bag. That was baffling to say the least.
At the end of the day I don’t think that Pane lived up to the hype, and I certainly don’t think that the quality of my meal was worth what I was charged. I have not experienced this problem when I’m there for lunch, and so I can only conclude that this is a tale of two different restaurants.

Located on macdill ave in south tampa in same strip mall as Cheese Please. Made this an easy walk for our group of 10.
The ambiance is dark and very loud. On one side is a bar, and the other side looks like a deli. They are a combination deli, bakery and seems as if they are trying for upscale dining for dinner. We could only converse with the person next to you as the noise was beyond my idea for fine dining.
Didn’t have any drinks as I had just come from the wine tasting event. The menu is fairly small with salads, small plates, flatbread pizzas and overpriced entrees. I ordered the crab cake which is pan roasted with avocado, tomato, mango and cilantro lime butter. Was very tasty but quite small.
I would try for lunch when the prices are better and not so noisy.

While this Tampa stalwart has been on my must-​visit list for years, I finally had a chance to partake when a bunch of Unilocalers headed over after Anna’s Cheese Please wine and cheese event Friday night. Flush with a few tastes of wine and a bit of cheese and hilarious entertainment, we walked over and got a table for 12.
OK, it was a table for 8 or perhaps 10 but I borrowed a few chairs from other tables when nobody was looking and we made it work.
The menu defied description, with a great variety of modern, flavorful dishes with a smattering of Italian influence. My wife had a coffee and cocoa coated skirt steak that she reported was incredible. I had the Penne Rustica which packed wonderful flavor in to a vegetarian meal! Wow, I’d order that again in a heartbeat.
Since it was time to continue a bit of drinking and a lot of fun, I got a single vodka on the rocks and they brought me a large tumbler filled to the brim with a tiny amount of ice. One taste confirmed my hopes… 100% booze. Thanks!
The service was timely and unobtrusive as we laughed loudly, chatted and planned our world-​takeover starting with wine and cheese events. They split the checks multiple ways without blinking or even rolling a single eye. Thanks for letting us do our thing and thanks Anna for making it happen!
We look forward to returning!

I am torn on this review. I have dined here several times and they have been good experiences. But, all those times I was sitting in the bar area and it was quite early in the evening.
This past Friday, I held an Unofficial Unilocal Event (UYE) at my home away from home, Cheese Please. After the cheese and wine tasting was over, we all needed a bite to eat. Pane Rustica was just a couple of doors down in the shopping plaza they share.
A gang of ten of us decided to grab food. They sat us at a round table that normally seats six. There was space for all of us, but, it was not the best fit. The hostess or server could have made arrangements to seat us at another table. In fact, we had to grab all the chairs in order for all of us to sit down.
When we were sat, we were given four menus. Yes, I said four. It turned out that someone in our party had told the hostess we would share. Even so, she still should have made every effort for each of us to have a menu.
Dianna and I had VIP seating (insert sarcasm here)…practically on top of a ficus tree. Dianna, being the 6′ Glamazon that she is, had the tree branches in her hair the whole entire time we were at the restaurant.
Todd was our server for the evening and was friendly. He tried his best to manage our table but lacked a little in efficiency.
The ambiance was HORRIBLE. First of all, the lighting was very minimal. Yes, call it mood lightning or whatever you want, but I despise when I have to use the flashlight app on my phone just to read the menu.
In addition to minimal lighting, the music was VERY VERY LOUD. Obnoxiously painfully loud. Picture ten people sitting at a table for six. Pretty tight quarters, right? Even though we were too close for comfort I still could not hear a word Robbie or Dianna was saying and they were seated next to me.
I ordered the Niman Ranch Pork Cheeks which were slow braised and served with a corn and rock shrimp croquette with Queso Blanco and Tomatillo Sauce and Micro Cilantro. The food was OUTSTANDING. But, I couldn’t eat due to the fact I was MISERABLE from still nursing a sinus infection now coupled with a massive headache due to lack of lighting and obnoxiously loud music.
I asked Todd to please bring me my check and a to-​go box. He did not bring me a box. He took my food to the kitchen to be boxed there.
Ummmmm…I don’t know about you, but that creeps me out. I would rather box my own food or watch the server box it in front of me.
Thankfully, the check process went smoothly with Todd and our table. I could not last another minute in the restaurant.
The FOOD IS GOOD here. But, it isn’t good enough for me to sadistically put myself through torture just to enjoy it. My recommendation is to enjoy lunch here or come earlier and sit in the bar. Otherwise, if you choose dinner service here, you may want to bring a lantern and some ear plugs.