Alimentari Cucina e Bar — Restaurant in Chattanooga

We love this Westin and always stay here when we visit Chattanooga. Usually the Alimentary Cucina e Bar is better. This visit we had problems. Our original waitress performed as one would expect from this calibre of hotel, however 50% of our experience was served by another waitress who was awful. Three in our party ordered the french toast which the menu says "Local Brioche, Seasonal Berries, Lemon Labnah, Pure Vermont Maple Syrup." When our orders did not come with the lemon Labnah waitress two decided to argue with us that it is not served with French toast but eventually she made an exception and brought it. I don't know exactly what labnah is...soft cheese, yogurt or something in between BUT I do know it typically comes with this presentation from past experiences at this restaurant AND I can read the menu. Our guest, visiting from overseas, mis-read the menu item he ordered, smoked salmon omelette with everything bagel seasoning - he thought it actually came with a bagel. We were willing to pay for it as a separate order but the conversation devolved into a protracted discussion where she seemed loathe to bring a lousy bagel. Ultimately, she agreed to bring him an order of toast which would have been fine if they don't serve bagels (according to the menu they do) and even would have probably gone unnoticed if she didn't argue and just brought the damn toast and added the $2 to the bill. Being titanium elite customers, the hotel provided $16 breakfast voucher x 4 = $64 worth of breakfast. Three French toast, at $14, one salmon omelette at $16 leaves $6 left over to pay more than enough to cover the cost of a bagel or toast. Gratuity is not included so if anything, racking up the bill would have resulted in a marginally higher tip which, since we were not paying out of pocket would likely have been quite generous. (When we get discounts at restaurants and the service is good, we typically tip 20% of the bill then add between 50% and 100% of the discount to the tip to the server to pay it forward. This woman would have earned a penny as the tip except my wife felt bad that her coworker would suffer too. Never-the-less, the tip was reflective the combined work product. The customer is not always right but rude and argumentative are really not good qualities in a waitress. It's one thing to not be able to serve a requested item because the restaurant doesn't serve that item or even if they simply ran out, but it is wholly unacceptable to not know what your menu specifically advertises and then argue with the customer, then put up road blocks when the customer asks for other items which are also both listed on the menu.

The service rating reflects our combined experience at this restaurant. Had we based it solely on this last occasion we would have subtracted more service stars. Also, on this occasion, the French toast was under cooked, unlike...

I've been to Alimentari several times and it is usually a hit but it's sometimes a miss. I would normally rate this as a 4 but the trend is closer to a 3 in terms of price vs food quality and service. This hip Chatt westside place can be super fun, especially in the summer. The charcuterie and cheese plates are artfully presented and quite good; but they're a little short if you have more than 4 people. We almost always have a good time. Tonight, the dishes for the table came out together and quickly, as it should for a slow weeknight. The entrees were good, but not as exceptional as they sometimes are. I guess the chefs rotate? For a quality place, I expect food prep to be right the 1st time. I ordered the flank steak medium-rare and it came out rare, if not raw. Picture included. It was remedied after pointing it out, but it messed with the experience. Server was friendly but not attentive. There has to be some proactivity with the table and it didn't happen. I know that the owner pours himself into his restaurants...he is always around. So, it's disappointing when things aren't consistently solid at this level of an establishment. I just hate to flag down a waiter who is chatting it up with colleagues at the bar to order dessert and coffee, so we left without it and still had a $55 per person check with tip. I will be back in anticipation of a delightful dining experience. I hope...

First of all our server Caleb was great and attentive. We ordered bruschetta and the cheese board for appetizers. Bruschetta was ok, but lacked flavor from the tomatoes and olive oil we were expecting The cheese on our cheese board was amazing; however, the fresh fruit was anything but fresh, the grapes eye withered and borderline raisins. Apple slices were good except for the core and seeds that had to be dealt with. Presentation was horrible.

Main courses we had chicken parmesan and the scallops and shrimp. Parmesan had a crust that was must and inedible at best with little to no seasoning. The pasta and accompanying sauce appeared to have been mixed together on advance and sat for hours causing the pasta to become similar to chef boyardee canned spaghetti, pasta was mushy and soft leaving a net unappetizing texture as we ate it. The Scallops and shrimp were cooked ok and we're the best part of my meal. The sauces though were just horrific and ruined the entire meal for me. The chorizo stewed potatoes were okay but the sauce was lacking any flavor. Finally the so called saffron butter sauce was more like heated up cheeze whiz with saffron added as an after thought. This sauce almost completely ruined this...