Cucina Rustica — Restaurant in Four Corners States

In late August, I attempted to make a reservation for a large group at Mariposa for mid-October. Their online system couldn’t accommodate such a large group, so I followed the instructions to call and left a message. After not receiving a response for a week, I reached out via email.

Then, weeks of back and forth via email and phone tag, Ilene, the reservation specialist, hooked me up with a max reservation for 8 at Mariposa, and suggested booking a private dining room at Cucina Rustica for the large group, which I agreed to, pending confirmation from Chef Lisa. Despite multiple follow-ups on my part after no response for weeks at a time and detailed phone discussions with Chef Lisa, there was a surprising delay in receiving a clear confirmation for our requested date.

I told Ilene many times that phone communication was challenging for me to coordinate, and email was better, especially accounting for a 3 hour time zone difference. However, she consistently called me on the phone and rarely would reply to my email.

Throughout the process, I exercised patience, expressing understanding their internal considerations, uncertainties regarding staffing, and menu options. However, the reservation process consumed considerable time and effort over six weeks, only to receive a definitive answer less than one week before the event.

After several detailed discussions that seemed to repeat themselves, increasing my frustration, Chef Lisa unexpectedly burst out, "Forget about it! We're not doing it." This added to the anger, stress, and upset of the experience. I tried to remain calm as I reminded her that we're her customer trying to give her our business, and I've done everything she asked. She said she'd have a menu to me by Monday, 6 days before our event and hung up.

The Dahl restaurant group then gave me 3 days to corral 44 people, who are now engaged in a mastermind event that lasts all day for a week, to get menu selections. They sent an email highlighting in red what selections were needed, which consisted of appetizer, salad/soup, and dessert. No red highlight on the entree. Ilene clearly said that was not needed, just the red sections. I asked if it would help if we got the entree dialed in, and she said yes, that it would help a lot.

I sent the red items by the due date. And then I received a nasty email from Chef Lisa that we didn't get our selections in on time. I was busy in the summit when I received this email, and Ilene called me again and I expressed to her that I was very upset and she said she would talk to Chef Lisa and call me back.

It was horrifically frustrating trying to manage all of these details with 44 people and not be able to communicate in writing. Being called throughout the day while I'm trying to work or attend an event is also disturbing. The last straw was when one of my friends at the event saw the turmoil I was experiencing, and when the Dahl Restaurant Group called for the last time, she answered the phone for me and told them to cancel the reservation that it was not working out and we would be taking our business elsewhere. Aaahhh, relief!

I kept the two reservations that I set for Mariposa. Most of the food is great. The service staff at Mariposa were wonderful. But knowing what I know on the back end of this entire restaurant group, I will not eat at their restaurants again because of Chef Lisa and their lack of organization with reservations and respect for people's time and humanity.

We are what we eat and the energy that goes into our food. This is a chef who manipulates people to get what she wants and is used to bullying her way around. And I don't allow people to disrespect me and treat me that way. So, it felt relieving to have the reservation canceled. When I come back to Sedona, I will eat elsewhere. There are lots of other delicious options, ones that understand the spiritual side of food, and take care of their patrons and employees with love, such that I don't have to give this woman...

It took about 2 years but in the end the new management finally did the right thing and invited us back for a second try. We were the same 2 couples again with the addition of my 97 year old aunt. I have to say that the chef really went out of his way to provide us an exceptional dining experience. We were seated in the small room in the back which was much more intimate. Every course and every dish was excellent and the chef came and checked on us many times during the evening to make sure everything was to our liking. I would certainly return at this point for a fine dining Italian experience I want to thank the current management (Oct 2024) for doing the right thing and reaching out and providing the wonderful new memories of Cucina Rustica to replace the first ones.

My original review appears below:

Everything was going swimmingly until we received our bill. When we were ordering drinks my friend Ruben asked for a house red. Our server then asked if he wanted a Cab Sav or a Merlot and he asked for the Merlot. When we got our bill I noticed that he had been charged $50 for 2 glasses of wine. When we asked the server what had happened she said that they did not have a house wine and she did not seem to even understand the concept. We also noticed that we had been charged and extra $10 for splitting two main dishes. Neither my wife or I have ever seen a charge for splitting two full priced mains but we would have happily declined had we been told there would be an upcharge. We asked to speak to the manager and the manager did not have the common courtesy or good sense to speak with us. In the end we got the wine reduced to $10 per glass and the sharing upcharge deleted. However our evening was ruined and at no point did the server or missing manager apologize in any fashion. There was only a couple of explanations for the $25 glasses of wine. 1 - The server was poorly trained, had no idea what a house wine might be and simply chose the most expensive glass of wine on the menu to serve. 2 - the server knew exactly what she was doing and was engaging in bill padding in hopes we would not examine our bill and just pay up. 3 - the manager encourages this type of bill padding and this is just standard operating procedure at this restaurant. Note our bill was $318 before tip for 4 people even after the reductions were made and we still tipped $50 cash. So I will never go back to Cucina Rustica. I wonder if head Chef Lisa Dahl has simply opened too many restaurants and the entire huge operation has gotten out of control. In the past I have had many excellent meals at Dahl & Deluca which is her fine dining Italian place in West Sedona. Maybe it was the server or maybe it was the management at Cucina Rustica but something now stinks in the Lisa Dahl restaurant empire and I wonder if I can ever get the foul odor out of my memory.... Final Note - the management responded and asked me to reach out to them. I wrote to the email provided and was completely ignored. So don’t think their conciliatory reply meant anything as it was complete and...

Disappointed. We had been here a few times before with nice experiences. This visit was a special anniversary celebration. We got engaged, married in Sedona, and had our intimate dinner here. We wanted to celebrate it again. We mentioned it was our anniversary and were seated in the middle of the dining room next to a fountain. It's not a romantic table, but okay. Seemed to be a little bit before being greeted and getting our beverage order. The server brought our drinks and went over the specials. He went through them so quickly that we didn't bother having him repeat them. We ordered calamari. We were hungry from having hiked Bell Rock. The calamari was light and cooked perfectly. The lemon aoli was nice. The marinara was too much bell pepper for our liking. It wasn't till completely finishing our appetizer that the server came back to get our order. After placing our order, I told my wife, "I bet you that we wouldn't get our dinner for another half hour." 40 minutes later, the GM came by and mentioned that he was made aware that our dinners were taking a while. He said they were trying to get them out quickly. Finally, one hour after placing our order. My wife ordered the filet. They butterflied it to cook it faster. I had some because it was undercooked for her. I had the lamb. It was overcooked. Flavorful but dry. Mistakes can be made. We tried so hard to be patient and understanding. No celebratory dessert because we were so over it. They should have sent out a complimentary dessert as soon as we were done eating. Our server wasn't attentive enough to see how long we were finished eating. My wife noticed him standing off the side the whole evening. He finally came by, and we asked for the check. He said the manager was going to take care of a few things. Only our appetizer was comped. They also charge a business operation fee of 3%. Truly not being used to motivate the FOH. Being in the industry, we were so disappointed. I used to tell people the visit Sedona and dine at Dahl & DeLuca, Mariposa and Cusina Rustica. Now, I'm not so sure about recommendations. Would have been so much better had the server been honest and just say he for got to order and not blame the kitchen. Maybe offer a salad or something in the mean time. Maybe the GM could have. Hopefully, you can have a better experience...