Rustica Ristorante — Restaurant in Chester

I wanted to update my review (read below) because when a restaurant like Rustica Ristorante serves great food - not just amazing Italian, with fresh ingredients including homemade pasta you have to update!

For the last 10 months I've NEVER A BAD MEAL at Rustica! Since they added some seasonal food - along with their fantastic menu - I wanted to share more photos. Rustica is not just a great shoreline restaurant, its one of Connecticut's best! Salute!

By the way, if you haven't noticed COVID-19 killed the restaurant business so how about some understanding - staff's are stretched thin so chill, sip your drink, relax and leave the rush outside, please.

Forgetaboutit... As I continue my move to the Essex area if someone told me I would find an Italian resturant like the ones I grew up in, I'd say you were crazy... and not just the food but how you are welcomed, treated and served; simply enough La mia famiglia. While I have had a variety of Rustica's menu items here is all anyone needs to know about this Ristorante: FOOD - Homemade, Fresh, Authentic, Delicious/STAFF - Accommodating, Welcoming, Warm, Honest/DRINKS - Tasty, Balanced, Classic THE BEST ESPRESSO Martini.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND - freshly made food takes a little (just a little) longer so relax and enjoy the entire experience. Again I have not had a bad meal so here are just a few reactions - MEATBALLS made me cry as all I could do is think of my mom, addicting and outstanding. Grilled Calamari flavorful and tender. Antipasto simple & perfect. Ricotta Gnocchi... well FORGETABOUTIT! Fettuccini Putanesca (made dairy free) was so good the next day's leftovers tasted as good as when it was served. Grilled Veal Chop melted in my mouth. Deserts - yes again - Homemade - Cannoli perfection and the Affogato ideal simple ending. COVID - Staff is masked, less tables, socially distanced AND plastic dividers bewteen every table in dinning room.

IMPORTANT: On my second visit I took my handicapped brother out for his 60th. Our timing was off (our fault) and the resturant was obviously getting ready to close - without hesitation the owners called us in with smiles. Within minutes we were seated and our family enjoyed one our best 60th birtihdays in years - my brother felt like a King!

How in God's name this place isn't packed every night, I have no idea... Really. While I would say better for me, but in the Age of COVID supporting small, local, family businesses is essential...

Not Family-Friendly, Not Hospitable

We came here to celebrate Mother's Day, with our multi-generational, multicultural family. What we got instead was the worst customer service experiences we've ever had.

To start, the waiter, Vincente — who also happens to be the manager and the owner — was condescending and rude from the moment we walked in. We had children with us and several family members for whom English is a second language.

He spoke down to my elderly father like he was a child. When one of our guests unknowingly ordered a dish that included pork- a diet restriction for him — we asked if it could be remade. Instead of showing any understanding, the owner blamed us and flatly refused to take it off the bill. No offer to help, no compassion, just a lecture and an offer to make us read the menu description again.

When we asked about kids' meals, we were told to order from the appetizer section or a half portion of any of the pastas. So we were charged half of a price of a full entree for about a cup worth of buttered noodles. That’s not hospitality — that’s laziness and greed.

Adding insult to injury, we weren’t allowed to have bread until our full order was placed — a policy that seems more about control than courtesy.

When I finally told him he was being rude, he snapped back that I didn’t greet him at the door — I'm sorry did I forget applying to be a hostess at your restaurant? As though that somehow excused the awful service.

The worst part? We were there to celebrate our mother, and she left the restaurant nearly in tears because of how poorly we were all treated. There was no effort made to improve our experience, no acknowledgment of our concerns, and absolutely zero accountability for anything.

This place is not family-friendly. It’s not allergy- or diet-conscious. And it’s certainly not a place where the customer is treated with respect. Here, the owner’s ego comes first — and the diners come last.

Thinking of coming here to celebrate an event? Reconsider. There are too many good restaurants in this city that understand what hospitality...

Well-executed. Understated -- a juxtaposition of humility and class. This is a rare (but good) combination.

This ethos extends beyond the service; it permeates the food. The calamari was as light, crispy, and far-from-rubber-bandy as a french-fry. Personally, I like my calamari a little more in-your-face (Rhode Island), but, while this one was not MY style, the technical expertise required to pull it off was obvious and worthy of, at minimum, my respect. While I consider myself to be a calamari-connosuier, my appetite for noodles is not generally so inexaustible. However, I found myself shoveling THIS linguine into my mouth. Home-made, fresh, never dried, the seemingly-small detail of the quality of the noodles (being superfluous rather than merely sufficient) made this linguini di mare memorable in an unexpected (but good) way.

Humility and attention-to-detail rarely go so hand-in-hand. The town and the plaza are small and out of the way. While this place would be easy to overlook, doing so would mean quite a bit more driving: either to the shoreline or to Hartford. In between, there isn't much that can top Rustica.

The food was pictureworthy, but the place has a ^slow down and enjoy the present moment^ ambiance, and so I decided not to whip out my phone and play papparazi to every plate. My gain as a diner; your loss as a reader; you'll just have to check Rustica out for yourself.

Service was good too. Never once was a waiter nowhere-to-be-found. And, more importantly, never once did a waiter barge-in, interrupting your conversarion to squeeze his question in. The service was good, but the lack-of-disservice is what stands out in my mind. Humility combined with competence. Unobtrusive, I might describe the service as seamless.

Bigger portions? Gnarlier calamari please? Louder signage? Wow, those criticisms make me sound like a boorish lout. Considering how I'm grasping at straws here trying to come up with actual negatives, it seems that, while Rustica isn't perfect, it might be...