Tomatina — Restaurant in Alameda

This is the first time I've used the Door Dash app, which referred me to a local Italian restaurant, Tomatina, about a 10 min drive from my place near Shoreline. Although the driver arrived within the 45 min delivery period, I was very disappointed with the average quality and taste of their Baked Penne Bolognese, which was listed on the menu as a "favorite".

To make matters worse, the food was cold upon delivery and needed to be microwaved, which further detracted from whatever flavor was remaining after being cooked twice, or rather three times if you include the initial penne noodles boiling before baking with crumbled ground meat, sausage, and cheese. This is a very average meal delivered in a cardboard box that was not even lined with foil paper to at least try to keep it warm during the short delivery drive.

All this culinary disappointment for a cold box of baked noodles, cheese and meat for $16.50 , PLUS a $4.00 "Door Dash" charge paid to the courier and (charged to the customer), but advertised as no delivery charges for orders over $10.00. Total bill $23.93, including tax and Door Dash charges.

Oh, sure the Door Dash app kept me posted on delivery status with multiple texts, and oh sure they provided an electronic receipt breakdown of all food and ancillary "NON-DELIVERY" charges.

But REALLY NOW, I'm not eating Door Dash's seamless technology and business model, I'm eating the restaurant's food they had referred me to under the Italian icon, and listed first was Tomatina!

BTW, I directly contacted the restaurant following the cold food delivery, voiced my concerns about only the cold delivered food, (not the quality or taste) asked them to "make it right" for a new and potentially repeat customer, and I was summarily dismissed with a "sorry, we'll try to do better next time". I left my name and phone number for a call back, which I've not received.

Obviously, cold delivered food is not a new complaint to Door Dash as it's one of the comments listed in their drop down help menu.

Final comments: subpar taste, overpriced, delivered cold and unresponsive restaurant customer...

Tomatina is a restaurant that is in the city where I live, I confess that I had never been there one day I said...it's today!! Since my favorite Italian restaurant had closed in the Oakland area. I go to restaurants in almost the entire Bay area, but this one was a pleasant surprise for me and I have been repeating it religiously every Thursday and every day is a surprise in addition to the excellent service I always get from the waitress Cris.

It will be easy for you to find out who Cris is, she has a streak of green hair and a kind of Irish and alternative way. But she is an incredibly friendly person, I can say that she is, if not better, one of the best waitresses I have ever seen in my life, simply unforgettable... someone who makes you want to be served all the time by her, because she is wonderful. Not only in efficiency in service but also in immense friendliness.

Don't miss out. This is an experience worth differentiating between before and after she met you.

The food is wonderful and comes quickly, the attentive Cris always remembers my name and remembers my characteristics from previous orders, like asking for a spoon to eat my spaghetti, something I've done since I was a child when my mother and father learned at school. Italy this. Furthermore, the care with the food, care and attention to customers is something fantastic.

Cris has a memory that always remembers her name and her characteristics, food, as well as moving quickly, with a diplomatic education. Everything comes quickly, it's a clean and pleasant place. The staff is polite, the food is to die for and I always pray that I have found a new, better Italian restaurant for you to eat at, finally. I'm a fan of the place, I can't have better...

My partner and I stopped by early afternoon for lunch today( 8/17, around 1:30ish), and to be honest, we were pretty excited as we haven't ate Italian for quite some time. No sooner than we arrived though, we were met with poor second-hand customer experience prior to talking to the waiter. Ahead of us were two elderly women who were waiting to be seated. Rather than greet the two women as they came in, the waiter hurried them to sit and quickly explained how to order as she explained was too busy assisting other customers. Funny enough though, the place was pretty quiet and the customers who were there looked as if they'd already been assisted.

Now, when she turned to us, I halfway expected for her to greet us, and though maybe it was a snafu on my part for saying it's just the two of us, she responded by saying, "Same thing for you! Did you not hear?! I can repeat the instructions for you if you like!"

We sat down for a second, but after that experience we both decided to leave.

It's been a long while since I've walked out of restaurant due to poor customer experience, but the little respect the waiter (who was a middle-aged, brown-haired white woman with tattoos on her arm) had both for the elderly and us was a strong turn off and we don't intend on ever going back. Totally understand business can be a little stressful, but regardless you should treat all customers with respect, especially the elderly.

I wish I could give this restaurant a 0/5 as a 1 star is even too generous.

On a flip-side, we went to Burma Superstar which has excellent, excellent customer service and totally recommend to anyone visiting the area for...