It's Italian Cucina — Restaurant in Austin

EDIT- In response to the manager's comments below- We called earlier to change our reservation to 7:30, and were told it wouldn't be a problem- but we were met with a snarky comment when we came in at 7:38 that our reservation was at 7:15. The manager/chef's rudeness was apparent from the start- as you could tell by his response to my review. I have actually been to northern Italy 3 times and have traveled all around Italy and have never experienced a bad meal there- to call yourself an authentic "fine-dining" restaurant is embarrassing, to be honest. I've had craft mac n cheese better than the pasta I had here. If you were truly a fine dining restaurant, your food would have seasoning added to it and would actually reflect what is written on your menu. You charge $37 for "wild-caught salmon" with pasta, but what I was served was definitely farm-raised salmon, not wild-caught. Something like that would never happen at a fine dining establishment. And yes, you're right, I would enjoy a fast-food restaurant here in Austin more than the pasta I was served at your restaurant- that's how bad it was. Perhaps your attitude is why the food tastes so bad- they say food made with love is always better. The way you insult everyone who has written a negative review about your restaurant is truly embarrassing and a testament to your terrible attitude. BTW everyone- my boyfriend wrote a negative review here as well and the manager somehow got it removed. That is probably why they have so many good reviews because the negative ones get removed.

I’ve been in Austin for 4 years and am a HUGE foodie, and this was the worst meal I’ve ever had. Both service and food were terrible and I genuinely don’t understand how they have so many good reviews. It took us more than an hour to get our food from the time we were seated, and instead of apologies from the owner (or manager, not sure of his role) , we were told that this is what happens at “fine dining” restaurants (which LMAO this is far from what I would call fine dining) and that on the weekend it takes 30-40 minutes to get your food from the time it’s ordered. And apparently they don’t “put in” your order at the kitchen until you’ve finished your appetizer (which why would you do that if it takes 40 minutes for your food to be made from the time it’s put in to the kitchen?) The attitude from both the waitress and manager were abhorrent but didn’t even come close to how bad the food was. I had to add salt to my pasta and it still had no flavor…same with the salmon. Absolutely no seasoning or flavor. If that’s your vibe, you’ll enjoy it- but if you understand high quality food, stay away...

Cucina had been on our date night list, so we were excited to try it. I'm writing this review a little later (we visited August 7th). For what we paid (Our bill was around $200+), the food was less than worth it. Our wine choice - Lopez de Haro Crianza Tempranillo 2017 Rioja, which was a $44 bottle on their wine list. We use the Vivino app for reviewing wine, and making purchase decisions. This bottle sits at a 3.6 rating and sells for an average of $11.99 (eye roll). We love tempranillos but this was not good. For appetizers we tried the Foccacia Bread, and the Arancini: Risotto balls. The risotto balls - SUPER dry and the breading was overcooked and practically charred. The saving grace for those was the marinara sauce to dip them in so we could add some flavor and soften them up. I can not believe these were $16. Moving on to the main dishes. We chose Gnocchi Diavolo - Fried potato pasta w/spicy Diavolo sauce ($27) and the Rigatoni Fornaio W/ pancetta, basil, tomatoes, mozzarella ($29). The Rigatoni - was one of the WORST pasta dishes i've ever had. I've made better in my kitchen at home. I don't know how one manages to make a pasta dish taste dry - but Cucina succeeded. It was like chalky paste in my mouth. And the mozzarella looked like packaged great value shredded cheese you get from the cheap section of HEB cheeses. It was also cold, and not melted in the slightest. I couldn't even finish it. The Gnocchi - which you can't normally go wrong with - it pains me to say we had to ADD SALT to the dish to make it taste like anything. I'll say it again... we had to ADD SALT TO OUR PASTA. The spicy Diavolo sauce, there was no flavor or spice. For an expensive Italian restaurant I expected way better. Zero excuse for customers having to add salt to their pasta dish. Desert and drinks - we chose the Affgato'bout it: Frangelico, Chocolate gelato & Espresso for $14. This was fine, you can't mess up ice cream - Probably came from a tub of $5 ice cream from HEB though. Finally we tried the Luxardo Limoncello, Campania - $10 and the Dow's 10 year Old Tawny n/v Port for $12. Fine just fine. Honestly yes, if we weren't happy about our food we should have said something to the waitress. However the wait staff was super kind and super great so we felt bad complaining. But this experience overall has weighed on us more and more as we've shared this terrible Italian food experience with our friends. Upset that we wasted our date night on this place, $200+ was insane. I'd choose Patrizy's food truck over this spot...

Incredibly disappointed in the food and our server. Overpriced for what quality we were provided that night.

After a wonderful greeting - the hostess is incredibly nice - we were given a server with complete disinterest in hosting our table that evening straight from the start.

Our server YANKED a drink menu out of my hand (he seemed frustrated) as I was looking directly at it to order a drink. Myself and a few others looked at him like what are you doing and he walked away. I never got a chance to order a birthday drink! He did this A FEW TIMES to the table. Keep a firm grip with this guy.

I ordered Bolognese. We couldn't tell if the meat had turned, been sitting out, etc. It was STOMACH TURNING. No one at the table would eat it after smelling and tasting it. It was so bad I am completely shocked that would make it out to our table. I will say this was the weekend we were on water restriction. On that note, the water they served us was barely drinkable. However, none of us were specific in the type (sparkling or flat) that we wanted.

One of my guests ordered some wine which was delivered incorrectly and he refused to correct it and insisted over and over she was in the wrong. He made an unflinching effort to point out how wrong she was. Whoever is in the wrong, correct it! It wasn't expensive wine. He left it on the table and did not offer get her a replacement.

Two others at our table had a complete disinterest in their food. They added the salt, pepper and garlic that is provided on the tabletop and moved on. They were recommendations from our waiter.

Veal and Squid Ink Pasta were definitely good.

My husband had arranged a dessert ahead of time for my birthday to which our server never acknowledged at dessert time and did not bring out. After his behavior during our meal it was clear he wanted no part.

At that point we asked for the check to get out ASAP.

Overall, the food wouldn't have been as big of deal as it was had our server been cordial. I would have mentioned it to him and I believe it would have been corrected. But he didn't want to hear anything our table had to say. I would like to point out we weren't loud, obnoxious or drunk. We were 5 boring 30-something's looking for quaint dinner.

I watched other servers and they seemed so pleasant, friendly and smiled. I think we just got a bad egg. I think had anyone seen his behavior (we didn't see a manager at any point) he would have...