Who creates these names? Bravo(oh yeah?)! Italian Restaurant in Mentor, Ohio
Bravo my ass! That is the best beginning I can come up with for this Italian restaurant on State Route 306 in Mentor, Ohio. We, myself and two companions, went to the Bravo Cucina Italia on November 4, 2006 because it is something we had planned for some time. I had heard many good things about the food but also that the prices were a bit high. Obviously we went expecting something better then the average. Well…..
I don’t remember exactly where I left off with regard to the Bravo my ass writing, but I would NEVER, at this point, recommend the Mentor store. Walking in should have been our first clue, but we choose to overlook the fact that it took more than five minutes to seat us while there were ample empty tables throughout the restaurant. When it was finally our turn, the host, who also appeared to be the manager (in fact at the end of the afternoon, we found that to be the case.) asked us for our preference and, with absolutely no emotion or feeling of friendliness, led us to our table. He said nothing else. No personality at all. In fact we all felt as though he thought he was too good to serve us. Those are the types of people who give an establishment a very bad name, and, since you are reading this, you know that word of mouth and computer can make or break a place Guess what, this is a pretty big strike against you because this will not only go to you but be put on an internet blog as are all of my dining experiences in the area. BUT, let us move on shall we?
We sat down at a table in the smoking section which was not very comfortable. The chairs were very difficult to move in to the table due to the flooring and the pads on the legs of the chairs themselves. We were given bread and ordered our drinks. After more than fifteen minutes, the host, whom we had still not found out was the manager, stated that our server would, “be right with you.” We were obviously appalled. We had figured that he was to be our server. One of our party made the comment that it looked as though we were to wait all afternoon for service since we had already wasted half. Again, let me remind you that the place was not overly busy. We were there at about 1:30 on a Saturday. When she finally arrived, we found out that she was actually there the entire time. She was the bartender, Erin, that was within five feet of us for the last 15 minutes and she never once acknowledged our presence. She did thank us for our patience once she finally came to the table, but that was only after she heard us loudly complaining about the outrageous amount of time it was taking.
So it had begun. We ordered a spinach and artichoke appetizer that arrived, as everything else, after much too long a time. the dip itslef was divine, but the bread, a baked pita-like chip did nothing for it. I would have prefered tortilla chips, truthfully. As the server put the appetizer down she moved our EMPTY bread basket out of the way, then promptly left. My companions and I look at one another around the table, obviously astonished, and began actually chuckling the the server could have really been that bad. When she finally made it back around, another ten minutes or so, we had to ask for more bread, another five minutes or more. She brouhgt out something that was bread but not the crusty loaf from previously. Instead of telling us that she let us figure it out and have to ask. (Are you all getting the fact that this female needed some training or a kick in the ass?) By the way we did order our entrees at the time of our appetizer. The appetizer was completed, the second basket of bread was complete, three slices per basket, and we had begun on our third basket before the food arrived. It had taken more than 40 minutes from order to arrival of our lunch time food. OUTRAGEOUS!
My cohorts ordered chicken dishes while I opted for a veal dish that was not on the menu until later in the day. All of our food tasted quite good. The chicken alfredo and chicken and shrimp dishes were also a decent value at approximately $10.00 each. My veal, on the other hand, though, as stated above, tasty, was served with an herbed pasta that was very bland. It was also incredibly overpriced. The three veal medallions were about the size of silver dollars, I mean in width as well as diameter, and stringy enough to use a dental floss, all the for the very unreasonable price of $15.99. Good idea, guys.
After completing our meal we again had to wait much too long for a check. At the presentation of that check. I asked for the name of the man who had seated us so I could use it here, I decided against it, oops changed my mind again, its Tom. It turned out, as alluded to in the beginning, that he was, in fact, the manager. Poor choice of job, my dude. Suddenly, this sulking, unfriendly person becomes somewhat animated. He looks at me, and only me which was very wrong as the time problem was all of ours, and says he would like to do something to our bills or give us gift certificates after asking if we had possibly waited a bit to long for things (I just looked at him and laughed because he knew damned well we had been there more than "a little" too long.). We had already paid our bills with cards and did not want to take even more time to have them do more, so, after a discussion with my seat mates, we opted for the gift cards. Shock of shockers, that also took for-fucking-ever. It, and I shit you not, took over 10 minutes to get us gift certificates, they were actually letters, but that is not what he said.
We realize he tried to save the meal, but his attempt was much too little and much, much too late. Word of mouth, my dear people, will kill you as quickly as make you.
I don’t remember exactly where I left off with regard to the Bravo my ass writing, but I would NEVER, at this point, recommend the Mentor store. Walking in should have been our first clue, but we choose to overlook the fact that it took more than five minutes to seat us while there were ample empty tables throughout the restaurant. When it was finally our turn, the host, who also appeared to be the manager (in fact at the end of the afternoon, we found that to be the case.) asked us for our preference and, with absolutely no emotion or feeling of friendliness, led us to our table. He said nothing else. No personality at all. In fact we all felt as though he thought he was too good to serve us. Those are the types of people who give an establishment a very bad name, and, since you are reading this, you know that word of mouth and computer can make or break a place Guess what, this is a pretty big strike against you because this will not only go to you but be put on an internet blog as are all of my dining experiences in the area. BUT, let us move on shall we?
We sat down at a table in the smoking section which was not very comfortable. The chairs were very difficult to move in to the table due to the flooring and the pads on the legs of the chairs themselves. We were given bread and ordered our drinks. After more than fifteen minutes, the host, whom we had still not found out was the manager, stated that our server would, “be right with you.” We were obviously appalled. We had figured that he was to be our server. One of our party made the comment that it looked as though we were to wait all afternoon for service since we had already wasted half. Again, let me remind you that the place was not overly busy. We were there at about 1:30 on a Saturday. When she finally arrived, we found out that she was actually there the entire time. She was the bartender, Erin, that was within five feet of us for the last 15 minutes and she never once acknowledged our presence. She did thank us for our patience once she finally came to the table, but that was only after she heard us loudly complaining about the outrageous amount of time it was taking.
So it had begun. We ordered a spinach and artichoke appetizer that arrived, as everything else, after much too long a time. the dip itslef was divine, but the bread, a baked pita-like chip did nothing for it. I would have prefered tortilla chips, truthfully. As the server put the appetizer down she moved our EMPTY bread basket out of the way, then promptly left. My companions and I look at one another around the table, obviously astonished, and began actually chuckling the the server could have really been that bad. When she finally made it back around, another ten minutes or so, we had to ask for more bread, another five minutes or more. She brouhgt out something that was bread but not the crusty loaf from previously. Instead of telling us that she let us figure it out and have to ask. (Are you all getting the fact that this female needed some training or a kick in the ass?) By the way we did order our entrees at the time of our appetizer. The appetizer was completed, the second basket of bread was complete, three slices per basket, and we had begun on our third basket before the food arrived. It had taken more than 40 minutes from order to arrival of our lunch time food. OUTRAGEOUS!
My cohorts ordered chicken dishes while I opted for a veal dish that was not on the menu until later in the day. All of our food tasted quite good. The chicken alfredo and chicken and shrimp dishes were also a decent value at approximately $10.00 each. My veal, on the other hand, though, as stated above, tasty, was served with an herbed pasta that was very bland. It was also incredibly overpriced. The three veal medallions were about the size of silver dollars, I mean in width as well as diameter, and stringy enough to use a dental floss, all the for the very unreasonable price of $15.99. Good idea, guys.
After completing our meal we again had to wait much too long for a check. At the presentation of that check. I asked for the name of the man who had seated us so I could use it here, I decided against it, oops changed my mind again, its Tom. It turned out, as alluded to in the beginning, that he was, in fact, the manager. Poor choice of job, my dude. Suddenly, this sulking, unfriendly person becomes somewhat animated. He looks at me, and only me which was very wrong as the time problem was all of ours, and says he would like to do something to our bills or give us gift certificates after asking if we had possibly waited a bit to long for things (I just looked at him and laughed because he knew damned well we had been there more than "a little" too long.). We had already paid our bills with cards and did not want to take even more time to have them do more, so, after a discussion with my seat mates, we opted for the gift cards. Shock of shockers, that also took for-fucking-ever. It, and I shit you not, took over 10 minutes to get us gift certificates, they were actually letters, but that is not what he said.
We realize he tried to save the meal, but his attempt was much too little and much, much too late. Word of mouth, my dear people, will kill you as quickly as make you.
posted by johnathan e at 3:52 PM
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