I have been hearing about La Strada since I moved here nine years ago. Friends continually "oohed and aahed" about how great the brunch was.
I ate here about a month ago for dinner and had a mostly pleasant experience with the exception of spotty service. I chalked it up to a bad night.
I then decided to take my mother for brunch since she was visiting from out of town.
We arrived at 10:50 am for our 11 am reservation on May 17, 2009. We were among about twenty people waiting outside the restaurant. At 11:10am the manager arrived and banged on the front door until one of his staff opened the door and let us all in. Why he was arriving to his own restaurant late I can't say. My mother and I had reservations and were the first to be seated in one of the booths in the middle of the first floor. After being seated, all the other tables around us started filling up and waiters started taking orders and getting drinks.
We watched as the table next to us (a table of four) got mimosas, coffee, etc. The waiter ignored us so I assumed he wasn't ours. Then after twenty minutes a blonde waitress came by and asked us if we'd been waited on and we said no. She took our drink order and then after fifteen minutes brought them out. I jokingly asked her if our waiter hadn't shown up for his shift and she pointed to the waiter at the very next table, the one who had ignored us, and said he was supposed to be our waiter but was overwhelmed and asked her to take our table. I only saw him wait on that one table the entire time we were there. She claimed that it was confusing for the staff because they were constantly changed the stations they were assigned to. If that's the case then the manager should show up before the restaurant opens to go over the table layout. Or, even better, keep the stations the same all the time so not to confuse the staff.
She finally came back to take our food order. The waiter we were supposed to have brought our food to us. We didn't see the blonde waitress again during our meal---well we saw her waiting on her other tables, bringing them more mimosas, etc. but she never glanced at our table, checked on the food, or asked us how we were doing at all. My mother ordered a mimosa---she never once came by our table to offer my mom more.
After finishing our food, we flagged her down and asked for the check--still she didn't ask how our food was if we needed anything, etc. After about fifteen minutes of watching her pass our table by to wait on other tables we got the manager over to our table. He chased down our server and had her bring us the bill. No apology from our server or the manager for the horrible service.
Then we proceeded outside to pay the ridiculously expensive valet cost which has apparently gone up since last month and is now $8.00. I normally don't mind paying this if there isn't any parking but to take up the entire parking lot and force your patrons to pay $8.00 to park their car 30 feet away is ridiculous.
Having said all this, and I know it's alot I still don't like giving a bad review to a restaurant that serves good food. I did call and speak to the manager after returning home. He said his name was Adam and told me to let him know the next time I come in and he will make sure I have a better experience.
The reason I called him and am writing this review is to say that good customer service isn't rocket science as so many others have said here already in one way or another. It doesn't take much to make dining a good experience and an apology goes a long way.
If you go to La Strada please be prepared to wait and if this happens speak up. I would have done so if I hadn't been on crutches today.
I still say the food is good if not a bit overpriced but the poor service ruins the experience.
I hope this review helps someone.
Pros: Great food
Cons: Service, Accountability, Valet Parking Cost
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