Chianti Cafe — Restaurant in Beverly

Hmmm where should I start. Let's start with a positive shall we! The atmosphere is amazing I'll give them that; very charming, comfortable and relaxing, great Jazz bar...But when the staff sat us in the dark, cold back room that amazing atmosphere when right down the .... We were a party of 12 ; it was my birthday dinner with my family actually. The menu selection was ok , the portions were very small. The staff was very polite when we saw them or got their attention ; at one point my husband had to go get the waite staff to take our dinner orders(let me remind you this was a Sunday night and there were a lot of empty tables). The entree's came out minus 1 ; the waiter told us they forgot to make it! They did not ask us is we wanted ground pepper or grated cheese we had to ask several times and we continuously had to keep asking for drinks (waite staff kept disappearing for long periods of time). Then we had a scrumptious birthday cake from Spinellis because they didn't have cakes to offer us; they didn't even ask us if we wanted coffee! Then when the bill came they charged us $2.00 of every piece of cake that they cut for us and then charged us 20% gratuity! I understand charging gratuity with a large party but I thought it was 18%? Then the 2.00 for slicing my cake!!! Let me remind u there was 12 of us ; lots of appetizers, drinks, and 12 entrees $$$$ . What is wrong with this picture ! Never again, no class and very little...

I really wanted to like this place and tried it at least 5 times, but I refuse to ever return here. It's not a bad place, but based upon my personal experiences, there are many other places I'd prefer to go.

The food is average to below-average. I got the eggplant parm and it was one of the worst I've ever had. The sauce is also nothing to write home about. When I went with others, they were also not overly impressed with their meals.

What bothered me most though was the waitstaff. They never impressed me although obviously some are better than others. Service always seemed slow and a bit disinterested. Additionally, I am admittedly more of a tomboyish female, but almost every time I came here I felt EXTREMELY uncomfortable. On top of that, my waiter went from calling me "sir" to calling me "ma'am...sir" before finally settling on "ma'amsir." He had to have known that one wasn't right, but based on his approach from the start of the meal, I don't think he particularly cared. That's not a person I want to give my money to.

I feel as though it is marketed as and believes itself to be an upscale, authentic jazz club. Fine, but remember that at the end of the day, you have to keep your customers happy and those customers can come in all...

Tried this place this past Sunday night while in town with my daughter visiting colleges. Jazz singer made for a nice atmosphere but we chose to sit in the atrium which was nicely decorated with white lights. The bread and dip (similar to hummus but made with different beans) were delicious. My daughter ordered the cheese tortellini and I got the angel hair pasta, both with the Pomodoro E Crema sauce.....to DIE for! We split a dessert, the lava cake with salted caramel ice cream which were equally decadent. Easily the best Italian meal I've ever had. The hostess was very friendly and our waiter was wonderful. We didn't have to wait very long for our food either which was a huge bonus! Will definitely go back again if...