Recently, I made a reservation at Volterra for 6:00 p.m. on a Friday night. My date was a bit late to pick me up due to traffic, so I called the restaurant to advise that we were at 4th & Blanchard which was still at least 10 minutes away, and asked whether we should bother driving out. The hostess said that that was no problem, encouraged us to come out, and said that she would hold our table. She advised that the only caveat is that we would have to vacate the table by 8:00 p.m. for the next reservation. I promised we would and we headed over there. Literally, the minute we pulled in front of the restaurant, my cell phone rang and it was the hostess calling to tell me that she gave our table away because they “couldn’t hold it any longer”. To say I was livid would be an understatement. I asked to speak to the manager on duty, which happened to be David. I reiterated my entire conversation with the hostess to David. David was completely unapologetic and parroted that they held our table as long as they could and had to give it away. He tried to justify himself by saying that “any restaurant in town would have done the same thing”. David claims it’s the company policy. Yikes! I was aghast at David’s nonchalant attitude. No other restaurant that I know of would promise customers to hold a reservation then give the table away before you arrive and call you after the fact. Not only was this fiasco completely embarrassing to me in front of my date, my blood was boiling after my dead-end conversation with David. With so many fabulous restaurants in Seattle who actually know something about customer service, I would never spend a dime at Volterra. Ever. Better choices to Volterra - hands down - are Bizzarro Italian Café (1307 N 46th St) and Asteroid Café (3601 Fremont Ave, Seattle), both of which are about 7 minutes from Volterra by car. Bizzarro and Asteroid are long-standing restaurants that are totally reliable for fresh and delicious meals, and their customer service skills are outstanding.
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