Alice's Italian Side Restaurant on Euclid Ave. in Willoughby
Alice??? Oh, Alice??? Are you in there somewhere? If you can hear me, kindly tell your female wait staff to light a fire under her ass and actually act like she might give at least half a shit about her customers. I don't know whom our server was, but she was server as well as hostess and, it appeared, trainer all in one. Most importantly, though, was that there were only three other tables full, AND they were also only couples, when we arrived and they were on dessert. Another couple arrived after us, about five minutes, and had salads and soup before we did which was ridiculous, BUT as you have seen here before, they looked to be "regulars." I fucking HATE when we are treated as second class to the regulars. You fucking idiots must remember that the regulars keep coming back regardless. It is the new folk to whom you must cater. They bring you new business which is the life-blood of any establishment (except the corner bar of course). 6:10 pm on Wednesday, September 3rd was the first and probably last time we were at the above named shit hole.
As you have already surmised, we were not impressed with our service, and how many freaking times have harped on this blog about service? When will these service business owners get the clue that the “service industry” is actually about the SERVICE?
Anyway, The place was not busy BUT those there appeared to be “regulars.” The menu is much like what one would expect with various pasta, fish, meat and chicken dishes. There were no written specials, except for lunch, but we were told three of the four chicken dishes that were regularly at least $11.50 were on special for $7.99. I again decided to get a chicken dish. Hey, I know how I constantly bitch about the dryness, but I guess even I have to admit that sometimes, a place CAN get it right (and that breast is better for your health than most others, or so they say).
The menu showed that each dinner came with “A fresh garden salad and hot Italian bread,” so we were expecting to be quite full by the time our entree actually arrived. Upon the arrival of the server to take our order, we had decided to get Chicken Tosca and Shrimp Alfredo. When asked what we would like on our salads, we were also asked if we would like some mozzarella cheese topping to which we both agreed (Mind you we were told nothing about a charge for this cheese AND there was nothing on the menu stating such a thing). My companion ordered her salad with nothing while I requested French and Bleu Cheese dressings (I was told they had no French). The server said nothing more and returned with the bread as well as our salads. The bread was NOT warm AND was not crusty AND was served with freaking MARGARINE instead of butter. Come on an Italian restaurant worrying about calories or something. What the Hell is wrong with you people? Margarine is worse for the body than real butter anyway. I had to actually request butter but was gladly given some pats by the trainee server. (I must admit that those butter pats tasted as if they had been in the fridge or freezer for some time as they had a flavor unlike “sweet cream butter” as stated on the wrapper.) Thank you very much to the “trainee” because you tried like crazy to be nice and helpful unlike your colleague.
When the entrees finally arrived, about twenty-five minutes after ordering, which was entirely too long for what we requested, I was astonished. My companion got a decent sized serving while my Chicken Tosca was minuscule. There were three very small, maybe silver dollar sized, pieces of egg battered chicken breast. I was perturbed with the size for $7.99 and would have sent it back for $11.95. This is chicken breast not veal or any other of the “better” cuts of meat, AND at least 25% of the size was from the egg batter.
The flavor of my Chicken Tosca was so good that I almost forgot how small it was. It had, to me, the perfect mix of lemon and white wine for a divine flavor. The spaghetti tasted to be made in-house and the sauce was quite good as well. (If only there were more of the Tosca.) My companion’s Alfredo, on the other hand, was nothing more than “OK.” I tasted it as well and was not at all impressed. There was very little flavor for an Alfredo AND it appeared as though it had been under the heat lamps for quite a while before making it to our table. The top was dry and much of the sauce had dripped to the bottom. The shrimp was also flavorless. I would say a bit more Parmesan would help the flavor but it didn’t even have the richness and Alfredo is made to have. Zappatelli’s is 10 times better.
Now on to the bill, which took forever to arrive as our server chatted with various customers, including taking someone she called her “cousin” up to the front and giving him a cookie rather than taking care of customers, US, who had been there for nearly an hour and were obviously ready to leave. I looked at this thing and found, in the middle of the regular order and the drinks, a charge for $2.25 that said “3ch.” First off, there were only two of us so 3 of anything made absolutely no sense. Secondly, we ordered nothing extra. I was finally able to get the attention of our server and when asked she provided this reason: “Oh, that is for three cheeses. One each for the salads and one for the bleu cheese.” We both were flabbergasted. She never mentioned a charge for the cheese on the salad, nor is it mentioned anywhere in the menu, AND she never said bleu cheese DRESSING would cost more. Had we been told we would have probably kept the order as is but to be blindsided by such bullshit is absolutely another matter.
I have already spoken to several people and told them to at least be leery of this establishment if not avoid it altogether. Let us remember that the customer is first. This means EVERY customer, not just those in your comfort zone. You may have been in your current place for eight years but I would not plan on many more if you keep up the way things were on the day of our visit.
As you have already surmised, we were not impressed with our service, and how many freaking times have harped on this blog about service? When will these service business owners get the clue that the “service industry” is actually about the SERVICE?
Anyway, The place was not busy BUT those there appeared to be “regulars.” The menu is much like what one would expect with various pasta, fish, meat and chicken dishes. There were no written specials, except for lunch, but we were told three of the four chicken dishes that were regularly at least $11.50 were on special for $7.99. I again decided to get a chicken dish. Hey, I know how I constantly bitch about the dryness, but I guess even I have to admit that sometimes, a place CAN get it right (and that breast is better for your health than most others, or so they say).
The menu showed that each dinner came with “A fresh garden salad and hot Italian bread,” so we were expecting to be quite full by the time our entree actually arrived. Upon the arrival of the server to take our order, we had decided to get Chicken Tosca and Shrimp Alfredo. When asked what we would like on our salads, we were also asked if we would like some mozzarella cheese topping to which we both agreed (Mind you we were told nothing about a charge for this cheese AND there was nothing on the menu stating such a thing). My companion ordered her salad with nothing while I requested French and Bleu Cheese dressings (I was told they had no French). The server said nothing more and returned with the bread as well as our salads. The bread was NOT warm AND was not crusty AND was served with freaking MARGARINE instead of butter. Come on an Italian restaurant worrying about calories or something. What the Hell is wrong with you people? Margarine is worse for the body than real butter anyway. I had to actually request butter but was gladly given some pats by the trainee server. (I must admit that those butter pats tasted as if they had been in the fridge or freezer for some time as they had a flavor unlike “sweet cream butter” as stated on the wrapper.) Thank you very much to the “trainee” because you tried like crazy to be nice and helpful unlike your colleague.
When the entrees finally arrived, about twenty-five minutes after ordering, which was entirely too long for what we requested, I was astonished. My companion got a decent sized serving while my Chicken Tosca was minuscule. There were three very small, maybe silver dollar sized, pieces of egg battered chicken breast. I was perturbed with the size for $7.99 and would have sent it back for $11.95. This is chicken breast not veal or any other of the “better” cuts of meat, AND at least 25% of the size was from the egg batter.
The flavor of my Chicken Tosca was so good that I almost forgot how small it was. It had, to me, the perfect mix of lemon and white wine for a divine flavor. The spaghetti tasted to be made in-house and the sauce was quite good as well. (If only there were more of the Tosca.) My companion’s Alfredo, on the other hand, was nothing more than “OK.” I tasted it as well and was not at all impressed. There was very little flavor for an Alfredo AND it appeared as though it had been under the heat lamps for quite a while before making it to our table. The top was dry and much of the sauce had dripped to the bottom. The shrimp was also flavorless. I would say a bit more Parmesan would help the flavor but it didn’t even have the richness and Alfredo is made to have. Zappatelli’s is 10 times better.
Now on to the bill, which took forever to arrive as our server chatted with various customers, including taking someone she called her “cousin” up to the front and giving him a cookie rather than taking care of customers, US, who had been there for nearly an hour and were obviously ready to leave. I looked at this thing and found, in the middle of the regular order and the drinks, a charge for $2.25 that said “3ch.” First off, there were only two of us so 3 of anything made absolutely no sense. Secondly, we ordered nothing extra. I was finally able to get the attention of our server and when asked she provided this reason: “Oh, that is for three cheeses. One each for the salads and one for the bleu cheese.” We both were flabbergasted. She never mentioned a charge for the cheese on the salad, nor is it mentioned anywhere in the menu, AND she never said bleu cheese DRESSING would cost more. Had we been told we would have probably kept the order as is but to be blindsided by such bullshit is absolutely another matter.
I have already spoken to several people and told them to at least be leery of this establishment if not avoid it altogether. Let us remember that the customer is first. This means EVERY customer, not just those in your comfort zone. You may have been in your current place for eight years but I would not plan on many more if you keep up the way things were on the day of our visit.
posted by johnathan e at 5:39 PM
1 Comments:
You are a low leval nobody who knows nothing about what you write about.Asshole get a life, bet you have no kids no wife and play lots of video games.....loser Put your time and effort into something you know about, not something you nothing about...have you ever owed anything...didnt think so, maybe a dollhouse fag...If you live in willoughby why do you talk shit about the places tring to make willoughby better...would you rather have more strip malls with nothing in them help these places dont dog them..What the hells going on with this willoughby native tring the hurt our economy....
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