Vinoteca di Monica — Restaurant in Boston

This restaurant was recommended to us as we were taking out a friend visiting from Europe. The chefs in this restaurant are at the pinnacle of what you mean when you say fine cuisine. I mean, we absolutely swooned it was so good.

Sadly, the waitstaff and management were the worst I've ever come across in all my years of traveling and eating. There were 4 or 5 people waiting on maybe 10 tables when we arrived. We ordered 3 courses with wines. As the evening progressed, service was slow (but I prefer eating at a leisurely pace),and the waiter kind of uppity. We were enjoying each others company and didn't mind until he practically disappeared, second course was delivered without accompanying wines, and we were forgotten as they fawned over a table of 7 next to us. This, though there were at least 3 waitstaff for our side of the restaurant with only 3 tables full! I never had more than one glass of wine with any course, because I couldn't flag down a waiter. I am so sorry for their chefs, and for us, because their work is truly outstanding.

At the end of the evening, and more waiting, coffee was great, but airline quality Tiramisu. They gave us the wrong bill and made us wait another 15 minutes for a corrected one - which by then we were completely exhausted by the long waits and chaotic inattentive service, and just wanted to leave.

On the way out after paying the bill, I decided to comment to the manager or owner that I was not so happy with what had happened. He promptly started yelling in a aggressive and angry way about the reasons restaurants can have a bad night, telling me that I had no right to complain. When I said it wasn't just the bill, but that we were ignored the whole evening, he said he'd talk to the staff. What? You embarrassed me and put out my guests, and say too bad, I'll talk to my staff? This is how you tell me that you don't care about your business, and even less about your customers.

Judging from the other comments, this is not an isolated problem and I wish I'd had the opportunity to read them as I usually do before going. What very...

So much wrong in one single meal. They start by serving you bread and white been dip. I was excited to try a new way of enjoying bread. I shouldn't have been. The bread was spongy. The dip was ice cold and needed a big dash of herbs to flavor it.

Next, we had fried calamari. The calamari was wonderfully fried, greaseless and crispy. But it had no flavor. Do they season their calamari and breading before putting the two together? They really should.

For my main, I ordered prosciutto and ricotta ravioli. The menu describes this as "prosciutto and ricotta ravioli in a spinach pasta." What I was served was a white pasta with spinach and ricotta filling. I pointed this out to the waiter, and he said the the prosciutto ravioli has spinach in it. Why doesn't the menu say that? And why couldn't I find a single speck of prosciutto? The waiter did graciously take my dish back and asked if I wanted he anything else. He also did not charge us for my main, which is why they got two stars instead of one.

On the positive side, the sauce on my pasta was delicious. I would have really enjoyed it if it were served with the dish I ordered. And the wine I ordered was quite nice. I did finish the wine.

Beyond the food, there is the rotten atmosphere. We had reservations. The host sat is in the bar without asking if that was okay for us. There were plenty of open tables in the dining room. In the dining room, the tables have white tablecloths. In the bar, you get a brown paper placemat. The bar was super noisy, and we had trouble holding a conversation. The sat us by a window in the bar, which was super drafty. Even though it was 60 degrees outside, I had to wear my cap throughout dinner to stay comfortable. And the best part of this? The prices are the same in the bar as in the dining room!

If you decide to go: don't go at a peak time, or it will be super noisy don't let them seat you in the bar don't order anything other than pasta don't order filled pasta; it's dealers choice don't go if there is space anywhere else in...

Absolutely awful experience. We ordered the meatballs and “truffle fries” to start. The meatballs were ok, but the fries were clearly frozen and tasteless. Then we ordered the beef ravioli, pork chops, and station ale salad with chicken. All were awful. The meat filling in the ravioli was pasty and weird. The broccoli rabe was so bitter it was inedible. The “sweet potato mash” was just a plain microwaved or boiled sweet potato scooped out with no seasoning or flavor (and I even love plain sweet potatoes!) The pork chop was ok. The salad had dry, crunchy chicken, only 2 small slices of pear, and no dressing (no Gorgonzola in sight). We are 3 low maintenance moms who are non-confrontational, but the food was awful. I don’t think I’ve ever sent something back at a restaurant in my life, but we had to say something. When the manager came over, she was SO RUDE. She didn’t apologize, just told us it was our fault we didn’t like the food (it was a “taste preference issue”). We were so polite and apologizing for having to complain (we’re not THOSE people!) and she was so incredibly awful to us. She argued with us that we ate half our meals, when we literally each took one bite because it was that bad. Even after we left, it ruined our night. We felt like we had done something wrong and been scolded like children. Still makes me cringe thinking about the...