Siena Restaurant — Restaurant in Austin

I love trying new places. and I would love to give this place five stars, because they do have a really nice establishment, great atmosphere, and for the most part they seem to have a really friendly and cheerful staff. And the food was really fantastic! Unfortunately, there are certain downsides to Siena that really take away from the overall experience.

On our first visit there recently, we were escorted into the dining room and given a table there, as there were no tables left available in the patio or bar area which was where ideally we wanted to sit. We were then informed that the happy hour specials only lasted until 6:30pm, and were only available to patrons in the bar or patio areas, which were too full for us to get a table in for our party. Most happy hours at other establishments in the area last until at least 7pm, so this was our first disappointment, as our party was there simply to enjoy some drinks and light bites.

Secondly, they did not have a children's menu for our younger family members aged 5-11 to select from, which was also another disappointing aspect to the restaurant. They did however have a decent selection of appetizers and small portioned plates, so we decided to order some of those for our younger family members. However, the meatball appetizer which costs $7 that we ordered for one of our younger family members only had two very small meatballs, which seemed to be a ridiculously small portion for the price, as other establishments in the same area generally give four or five meatballs in their appetizers, for around the same price or even less, and they are larger in size. And even though we ordered the small portion fettuccine for our other young family member, they instead serve him the large portion, which was really way too much for him to eat, and we all ended up sharing it. When we pointed the mistake out to our server at the end of the meal when the check came, and they had charged him for the larger portion which was more than twice as much, all we got was "oh I'm sorry". No "let me fix that for you" or "let me get a manager for you to speak with regarding that error". So we felt the expectation that a small child's dinner should cost over $20, priced higher than even what the adults had eaten, was a bit too much to swallow.

So to summarize, for a family outing, we were left very disappointed, seeing as we had only gone there with the intention of eating a light small meal, and only having one round of drinks for the adults. So while the food was good, and we all did feel satisfied after, we felt the price was way too much for what we actually received. Most families of four with two young children just going out for a light meal mid-week don't really expect to have to pay almost $100 or more.

So hopefully they will make some adjustments to try a little harder to cater to younger families on a budget in the future. Until then however, we will probably be dining out for Italian food...

I was very upset with tonights experience and I will never be returning to this restaurant again. First of all I want to say at that there was no management that I saw that did any sort of walking around the tables talking to the guests making sure that they were enjoying their meals. The manager is not ProActive at all and just sat behind the bar doing a couple things and did not seem to take care in running a tight ship. The only thing I saw him doing was helping out the bartender a little bit but I never saw him leave the bar to walk around a dining room when I was drinking my wine before being sat. I was sat at the table with my family it took about 10 minutes or so before anybody came to art able to speak to us. That is a huge no no when it comes to steps of service in the fine dining restaurant industry. I should have taken that as my first queue but we had somebody we're waiting on so I could not just leave the restaurant. After we had to ask the bus boy in Spanish to request a server to come over one came over immediately during our conversation with the busser. I ordered appetizers which were tasty but the temperature felt like it was sitting in the window for a good 10 minutes or so but we were so hungry so we just ate it and it still tasted pretty delicious. We ordered muscles. My son's spaghetti carbonara was tasty but pretty peppery. When my first course came after the muscles I was served the sausage and bean soup. Flavors were great and spot-on but again temperature was locking as if it had been been sitting for good 10 minutes. My wife's salad was pretty good but my wife ask for dressing on the side. Apparently the kitchen did not read the ticket properly because both salads that came out for my wife and my guest were very soaked in dressing. We had to send those back as well as my soup to get everything correct on our order. Next our entrees came and everything tasted wonderful but mine. I ordered a plate that was described on the menu as the following:

“Trota con Scampi

Walnut crusted Rainbow Trout with sautéed shrimp in lemon garlic butter on roasted potatoes and sauteed fresh spinach”

To be honest this dish tasted like it was battered very lightly with whatever seasonings (Mainly walnuts & flour?) thsn pan fried were in a saute pan. It tasted just like pure butter. I was not able to locate any potatoes on my dish. The dish was very Bland and I think the chefs just rushed it on-the-fly and did not pay attention to what had been done or something because it was just soaking and a good half stick of butter. I sent the dish back and let them know that I was not going to order anything else because I hate to waste food. The service itself was five star but unfortunately Google cannot give us the option to rate the service based on just the...

We live near this restaurant and have eaten here several times in the past. Last night, I had the Rainbow trout on the dinner menu and became sick within an hour of consumption and threw up my entire meal at home.

So I called the restaurant manager "Reyna" and told her about my experience. I explained that I got sick, but that I didn't think the cause was due to the food being spoiled per se, but that it might have been because it was extremely oily and heavy. I told her that the food came out hot. She said that that is the way the dish is prepared--with butter. This whole time she never apologized for my getting sick from the food or offered to compensate me for my bad experience.

She then said, "Well, I wonder if you're allergic to some of the ingredients in the dish like gluten or the butter. I told her that I'm not allergic to either and regardless of the exact cause of vomiting she should have shown some sort of empathy that I vomited my guts out last night. I found it odd that she was doing all of this "investigating" as if she was a medical professional or something. I understand that she needed to write down what had happened, but some of her questions were ridiculous.

Then she asked me about how long it took me to throw up my meal (1 hour), and then she commented," Well, it doesn't sound like bacteria or anything food borne because you threw up within an hour of eating the fish". And I told her that I had already said that I didn't think it was likely due to a bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria, etc. (I'm a medical professional), but the point is is that I threw up my meal and it was not a good experience!! She then said, "Well, there were 7 people who ordered the trout last night and no one else has gotten sick." What absolutely appalling customer service.

At this point I asked to speak with her higher up or the owner and told her I was upset that she hadn't once apologized up to this point (not even remotely) nor had she asked how I was feeling now. Instead, she became defensive and said, "I did apologize"! Which is not the truth, because I had been anxiously waiting for some sort of "I'm sorry that happened, I'm sorry you got sick, etc. the entire time she had been interrogating me for my symptoms. She also said, "Sometimes you can get nausea from eating oily food (I know that already and I'm not looking for medical advice from a restaurant manager) and I threw up once after eating buttery popcorn". And I'm thinking, I can't believe this lady is droning on and on like this and doing nothing to help rectify what happened. I finally hung up the phone and I will be writing the owner tomorrow. It was surprising to encounter such an incompetent and idiotic manager at a high end restaurant. Needless to say, I will not...