Attenti Restaurante Italiano en la Cuauhtemoc, CDMX — Restaurant in Mexico City

I hate to have to give such a poor review and I'm sure our treatment is not typical for this restaurant, but it was not fair to us to have such terrible service and poorly cooked food. The manager clearly wanted to get out of the restaurant early. We arrived at 10:30 and we were warmed by the manager to finish our meals before 11:30. They had us in and out in a little over 30 minutes.

The waiter refused to give us filtered water and tried to make us order drinks from the menu. I was told they don't have filtered water so I had to point to the other tables that had filtered water. The waiter's excuse was he did not understand English but I was requesting it in Spanish. I just did not want to drink anything but water. The chicken parmesan did not come with spaghetti, but the salad it did come with was good. I was forced to order an extra meal of spaghetti, which was actually more like an appetizer size in the US. The spaghetti was gummy. During the meal the manager was running around clearing tables and rushing people out. He was pushing the waiters to get out of there early. I mean the restaurant closes at 11:30 and I wish we would have just left but we arrived at 10:30 and figured we would be out by 11:30 so we stayed. We would have liked to relax and enjoy the meal but the manager and the waiters were not going to have that. They were clearing our dishes before we were even finished. They really didn't check on us at all. We eventually got filtered water but they never refilled the glasses. I used to wait tables and know that the trick is to clear off everything from the table so the customers will quickly leave. But you don't clear the plates while the customers are still eating, lol. .When you are on vacation you really want to have a nice experience and it's terrible when a potentially good meal is ruined like this. You can't get your evening back.

Then to add insult to injury the manager tried to force us to leave a propina or tip of 20% and was very upset when we did not. You treat nice people badly and you want your customers to reward you for really...

Reading all the positive reviews of this restaurant, I ask myself, "How did we go wrong?" Mistake no. 1 was when my partner ordered the lasagna. I suppose lasagna has to be mostly prepared in advance, or else it would take too long to get it to the table in a restaurant. But this lasagna was clearly prepared long, long in advance, and it was clearly overcooked in the first place. By that, I mean that the noodles had virtually dissolved, and the "lasagna" had the consistency of a thick porridge. We should have sent it back, but once you've done that, it tends to spoil the whole meal, even if they bring you something else. He's had indigestion all night. Mistake no. 2 was when I ordered a starter salad, but my partner did not. So my partner's "lasagna" porridge arrived at the same time as my salad. My main course was a steak dish with mushroom sauce, and they only served it to me when I raised my hands and gave the manager a look of exasperation. It had clearly been ready for some time, because it was barely above room temperature when it arrived. The quality of the steak was good, and the mushroom sauce was decent, but it was served over a bed of "potato puree". I expected finely mashed potatoes, but this was unmistakable to me as instant mashed potatoes out of a box. My mother wasn't really into cooking, and she sometimes used shortcuts like instant mashed potatoes, so I know it when I taste it. If cooking fresh potatoes is too much trouble, why not substitute polenta or rice? Just a suggestion. Seriously, if you are holding yourself out as a quality restaurant, you should do better. I would have said that the moral of this story is, "If you want good Italian food, go to Rome, not Mexico City." But others posting here have obviously had a better experience with...

Burrata cheese with arugula, very fresh and delicious. The batter for the fried calamari is very thin, and the flavor is exceptionally fragrant. The accompanying tomato sauce and ranch dressing both pair very well. The calamari is very tender and tasty! Beef steak with mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes, the sauce is very rich and flavorful, the mashed potatoes have a slight sweetness which is delicious, and the steak is extremely tender! The only downside is that the steak is a bit too salty, otherwise it would have been perfect. For dessert, we ordered crème brûlée, but felt that the caramel layer was too thick, and the bitterness overshadowed the dessert. For drinks, we ordered two non-alcoholic beverages, the "Conga" full of fruity flavors, and the "Pinada" full of pineapple flavor and very sweet. I personally prefer the Conga. Thanks to our waiter Ruben for taking such...