Red Rock Trattoria — Restaurant in Alberta

On Sunday, February 19th, 2023, my family and I had a disappointing experience at the Red Rock Trattoria. We walked into the restaurant at 4:50 pm, hoping to grab a quick bite to eat since our 4-year-old daughter was hungry. However, we were informed by the hostess that the restaurant would not be open until 5:00 pm. Due to the winter storm outside, we asked if we could wait inside until the restaurant opened, to which the hostess agreed.

As we stepped to the right to make way for other people walking inside, we encountered a senior citizen who appeared to be a manager or staff member of the restaurant. His immediate reaction was to say, "I'd appreciate if you DON'T step into the restaurant." We were taken aback by his words and attitude, especially since we were guests walking into the establishment. Despite feeling disrespected, we chose not to say anything out of respect for the senior citizen.

However, his tone of voice and behavior were outright insulting and unprofessional. We were disappointed with the hospitality and service that we received from the staff at the Red Rock Trattoria. As people of color, we couldn't help but wonder if his actions were racially motivated, especially since he was white. We expected better treatment from a place that claims to offer hospitality and service to its guests.

Unfortunately, this experience left us with a sour taste in our mouths, and we left the restaurant without even ordering anything. We have decided never to return to the Red Rock Trattoria, and we hope that the management takes this feedback seriously. The restaurant industry is built on hospitality and excellent customer service, and this experience fell short on both fronts.

In conclusion, the Red Rock Trattoria needs to reevaluate its customer service and hospitality policies to ensure that guests are treated with respect and kindness. As customers, we expect to be welcomed and treated well, and our experience at this establishment was anything but that. We hope that this feedback helps them improve their services and avoid losing more customers in the future.

My counter Response to owner !!!

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my review. While I appreciate your apology, I must say that I am still disappointed with the experience that my family and I had at your restaurant. As a customer, I did not feel welcome and was made to feel insulted by the actions and behavior of the staff. I understand that the restaurant was busy preparing for the family day long weekend, but the lack of communication and clarity regarding the opening time led to confusion and ultimately, a negative experience. Regarding my mention of the manager's age, I did not intend to be ageist or insulting to anyone. I simply used the term "senior citizen" to describe the person who spoke to us. I apologize if my choice of words offended you or anyone else. Regarding your statement about racism, I appreciate that you have a diverse workforce and that there is no racism in your organization. However, it is understandable for customers to perceive certain behaviors as discriminatory, and it is important for businesses to acknowledge and address these concerns in a respectful manner. While I did not have the opportunity to try your restaurant's food or service, my experience at the entrance was not a positive one, and I felt compelled to share my feedback on various review platforms. As a customer, I have the right to express my opinion and share my experience with others. Thank you for offering a complimentary experience, but at this time, I am not interested. My intention was to provide constructive feedback and for the restaurant to take it seriously to improve their services in the future. I hope that this feedback will be helpful in improving the overall customer experience at your...

We were at our table for 3 hours in the restaurant with over 2 hours wait and 45 minutes eating.

Nice ambience, a bit tight with 48 seats in a tiny area, restaurant smells good with truffle, long wait for food (2hrs)-1 chef in kitchen by themselves, large portion, food quality hit and miss, friendly but inexperienced servers that don't attend tables until addressed.

Server recommended Bison lasagna way too salty and we couldn't eat it after two bites, nothing done with it. Baked cheese tortellini and wild mushroom arancini are good.

We got seated at 7:20pm, appetizer at 8pm, main at 9:30pm with half full restaurant after 8pm, left restaurant at 10:15pm. They also seemed to think we still wanted to sit longer for no reason after packed our food and waited 2 hours for our food.

We were at the restaurant at the moment waiting for our mains after our appetizer as I started this review. Candle at table still not lit even after we asked; turned off fireplace next to us (we sat there because it was much warmer) in order to seat another table 30 minutes after we sat without checking with us, my friend was sick and was freezing; cutleries removed after appy, still not replaced; my wine glass has been empty for a good 30 minutes, servers still haven't attended the table since removing appy plates; no side plate for shells. Another table just got their main with same situation, had to wait for cutleries as they were removed after appy as well. Servers wouldn't attend the tables and rather stand around at the front. With the well known long wait for food, service needs to be there to make up. All other tables have to ask for service as well. After letting the host know some of the issues, he quickly responded. Server then had to come up to apologize and said because someone spilled a drink on her and she had to go change. But even before that, she was not attending our table. Plus while she was changing, the other server could have look after her tables as well with the restaurant less than half full.

As a restaurant manager myself, I feel like I just gave them a night of training for free and hopefully they can learn from it. Also another suggestion is, with only one chef on or shown up, number of covers should be cut back instead of having guests wait two hours for food. Ending up having guests wait unreasonably long and compensating might not be able to keep your...

I would on the whole recommend this restaurant. I think they’re trying hard although there are some easy to fix things that might improve the experience. The decor and particularly the padded seats were very nice. For a restaurant that is charging top dollar for its pastas I would expect a more prompt and professional service. While our waitress was trying hard she lacked some elementary skills of waitressing. She cleared the plates (finally) by reaching across the table rather than going around. We bought a very nice bottle of wine and would have appreciated her returning at some point to refill our glasses rather than allowing us to do all of that. By the time we left, the restaurant was quite full and we waited a significant time for each step in the process. My wife ordered a gluten-free pasta and, given the different ingredients, it came back over-cooked and falling apart. This is some thing the chef should have been aware of. However, I will say the flavour of her choice was excellent. I know all small businesses are trying hard and this one included. I wish them all success. The issues are not hard to fix, a little more training for the junior waitress. We pointed out the overcooked pasta for which she apologized but we were not offered any discount or refund until we mentioned it at the time of paying. I would recommend hiring someone from Lakeside Chophouse or at least checking out their service. I do emphasize four stars...