06/10/09

We really enjoyed ourselves

by hungerfords

We went to Bartolino's Osteria on June, 6th and had a wonderful time.

We ordered the fried calamari with fried spinach leaves and it was very good. We both had house salads with the house dressing and that was good.

My wife had the Scallops and Risotto and I had the Canneloni which was very good.

I asked the waiter to suggest a good Pinot Noir and left the selection up to him and it was complimentary and reasonably priced.

The waiter and his assistants provided excellent service without being obtrusive.

The restaurant was not too crowded, which surprised us because Bartolino's at the old location was generally pretty packed.

We had fun watching the live music in the bar and watching some of the patrons belt out some Sinatra songs.

It was nice, affordable, fun evening with my wife that was not tainted by bad service or bad food or anything like that.

• Pros: Great fun evening with my wife
• Cons: Didn't notice any

06/04/09

Delicious- With a capital D!

by sammyd185

We went up to Bartolino's the other night, it was a Tuesday and the place wasn't to crowded, which we took as a bad sign but we stayed anyway....and we were really happy we did. I had a chicken dish which was delicious. It was seasoned well and cooked well. The tomato sauce on my side dish tasted fresh and flavorful. My wife had a fish dish and it too was seasoned and cooked perfectly and her vegetable side dish was fresh and crisp, not mushy and salty like some places. It was definitely not a place where the plate looks incredible and taste the exact opposite. It was good, quality, and well seasoned food, which seems so hard to find now. We'll be back!

05/16/09

So bad I had to review (part 1)

by dtothe

I have never written a review on citysearch before but was so offended by my meal and general dining experience at Bartolino's last night that I felt I had a civic duty to inform others.

I went to Bartolino's last night with a group of 12 others to celebrate my sister's college graduation. I'm not sure how the restaurant was picked, but the reviews I read before the meal were pretty decent and I always like trying new restaurants, so I was excited for the meal. It didn't take long to get over the excitement. We were "greeted" by our waiter - a loud, obnoxious and generally incompetent man who boasted of having worked in Italian restaurants on the Hill for 30 years - and asked for our drink orders. The service was so slow that people opted to go to the bar directly for round 2 rather than wait for him. We were in a private room for a special event, so you’d figure you'd at least get a somewhat decent waiter, however that was not the case. When asked a question, he would roll his head back and give these deep, painfully loud belly laughs while responding to an unfunny question (i.e., "which dish do you like better?") with an unfunny answer (i.e., "hahahaha those aren't my favorite two on the menu hahahaha but I still like them. hahahaha i've been working in Italian restaurants for so long I’ve eaten everything. now I like French food. hahahaha"). Real helpful.

Beyond his horrible personality, the waiter also struggled with the basics of his job, one in which he supposedly has 30 years of work experience. What he didn't mention was how many restaurants he has worked at over his career. Something tells me he's probably never worked at any one restaurant for long. When it came time for salads to be delivered, he was three short on the count (out of a total of 10 salads). Upon realizing that something didn't seem right, he stared at his notepad in disbelief and counted for what seemed like minutes. I finally had to tell him that he was three short. He then brought two salads out. Helpful. Finally, my salad was delivered, long after those served first had finished their salads. The same was the case with the entrees. When my meal arrived, last again, the dish, a chicken dish with a wine, lemon butter & mushroom sauce, was completely congealed and cold. I am not one to send back a dish, but I had to. After finally succeeding in gaining the waiter’s attention, I showed him just how disgusting the dish was by turning my plate on its side and showing that the food did not slide. Let me repeat that – my dish, which basically consisted of chicken in lemon butter sauce, was so congealed that it would not slide down a plate on its side. I should have just cancelled the order then, because when my “fresh” replacement entrée arrived, it was still rather unappetizing. I ended up scraping the sauce off and just eating the chicken.

• Pros: I was able to regain my appetite the following morning
• Cons: Bad waiter, worse food