Roberto's Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in Bristol

Used to be our favorite restaurant. We found out there are new owners by the server. We were so excited when we found out Roberto’s opened back up after their temporary close. Looks the same on the inside however the service is a lot different. The food is also pretty different. They had only a small menu and we were unaware that they planned on doing a grand opening. If we were aware of this ahead of time we probably wouldn’t have made reservations. With that said, they didn’t have a bruschetta special, they didn’t have polenta. No charcuterie board. No scallops, They didn’t even have a regular veal dish. The only veal they had was a special and it was veal medallions in pasta. They were just missing key items to the restaurant that made Roberto’s, Roberto’s. I understand it’s a small menu for a ‘soft opening’, however they could’ve easily had a soft opening with a small menu with their staple items. I really can’t stand when new owners buy the name of a restaurant simply because they think they will retain the clientele but change the menu. There were some items on the menu like the Pepe Nero but it was done slightly differently. If you want a different restaurant then have a different restaurant. Don’t have Robertos and change everything about it. Also there were no drink specials. Again I understand it’s a soft opening, but you have a full bar with bartenders. You mean to tell me you can’t have a small cocktail menu on Valentines Day weekend. The old Roberto’s used to have phenomenal drinks. The service in my opinion is also not as “fine dining “ as it used to be. They’ve cranked it down 10 notches and are more of a regular Italian restaurant now. The food that we ate wasn’t bad. It was pretty decent however, if you were a fan of the old Roberto‘s, just be aware that it’s not going to be the same food or service if you make reservations. I hate to leave bad reviews especially about a restaurant that I used to love, but this isn’t that...

Had a humiliating experience here. It was Valentine's Day, and my husband and I had 5 p.m. reservations, which is when Roberto's opens. The place was empty when we walked through the doors. After the hostess seated us, after we had our waters poured, menus delivered, and bread brought to our table, the hostess returned to inform us that she had seated us at the wrong table. Some other couple had requested our table, because it was their anniversary, and for some reason none of the other 12 (?) available, empty tables would do. We were asked to follow the hostess, which we did, and discovered she wanted to place us in a side room which is basically used for event rentals, saying, "Because we're so busy tonight." There were so many empty tables available in the main room, and we DID have reservations. This was insulting. I won't go into the mistakes that ensued after that, but we were eventually seated at a table that was 5 feet away from our original table. This was ridiculous.

We were a well-dressed, well-mannered couple out for a romantic dinner. The waitress laughed and said that our first drinks would be free, which I thought was a token of apology, but in the end, we were each charged for our one glass of wine. I ordered the lasagne, which appeared to have been precooked and placed under a broiler to reheat. The cheese on top was burned, the inside of the lasagne was not even lukewarm. I did not complain, I just wanted to get out of there.

We are long-time residents of Bristol, and we have been there several times in years past, but suffice to say, it was a miserable experience. We will never go back...

My dad and I had a really disappointing experience here. Roberto’s had been a family “special occasion” spot for many years, and the food is always delicious. We arrived and were seated in the cafe area (despite my dad having called and requested to sit in the main dining area, which is much nicer). Our waitress sat us at a fourtop set for 3, but we thought it was because our reservation had been for 3 and my sister couldn’t make it (which we informed them about earlier that day). We ordered drinks from our lovely waitress, then the hostess came over and informs us we can’t sit there because it’s meant for 3 and we would have to sit at a high top. My dad has back pain and high tops are not his friend, but the hostess was quite rude and basically said we had to move even after my dad said he was unable to sit there. We were pretty flabbergasted (what nice restaurant forces diners to sit at bar high tops??) and ended up just leaving because the hostess was acting like my dad and I did something wrong. There were also empty tables around us. Perusing other reviews, it looks like this has happened to at least one...