Rustica Lounge Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Cliffside Park

I bought a Groupon for for two that very specifically said it was valid for ANY DAY, ANY TIME for indoor dining or take out. I made a reservation for a Saturday and explicitly stated with my reservation that I would be using my Groupon and I asked for standard seating since indoor dining opened back up. When we arrived, they seated us outside due to them hosting two large parties indoors. When the waitress came, I asked her if she needed to see our voucher before or after our meal. She said that Groupons are only valid for brunch or during the week, not weekend. I showed her the Groupon said it was valid ANY DAY in big bold letters and the fine print states it can't be used in federal holidays, nothing about weekends. She left to go speak to one of hosts about it who came over and asked to see the Groupon. I showed him the voucher and he said he would speak with his manager. He came back and said we can't use it because they no longer sold those type of Groupons. I said that doesn't matter because this Groupon is still valid and has not expired. Then he said I can't use it because it's only for indoor seating. I said "Seat us inside then." I then proceeded to ask to speak to the manager because not only was it false advertisement but he also made me show the voucher so I could no longer trade in my voucher even if I wanted to. The host went back to speak to the manager again. He came back and said that we still can't use it. Never once did the manager come over him or herself. I asked to speak to the manager again because this is completely ridiculous. After HALF AN HOUR, our waitress comes back and says she spoke to the manager and explained the situation more and said that we should be able to use it. Asli absolutely saved the day and had such empathy and consideration. I am not at all okay with the way the situation was handled by the manager who never came over to speak to us him/herself. I'm giving this place two stars instead of one...

I went this Mothers Day (2023). One of the worst restaurant experiences in my life. Firstly I was prepared for busy and full. However they were about 75-80% capacity. We were seated in the back outdoor area, and as soon as I entered asked to be moved inside, and was told that every table was accounted for with reservations. It was extremely hot, and the outdoor seating has poor circulation of air. It’s covered in plastic above you, so we were baking in a greenhouse. Someone came to our table 40 minutes after seated asking if anyone took our order and mentioned he wasn’t our server. (N then became our server)

We ordered drinks which took over 30 minutes to get, as they only had 1 bartender. We had to request the basic, water and bread, which was a whole other waiting game.

I had stepped inside because I was wilting, and saw empty tables (party of 2)…. easy to accommodate….and was told the same thing, no one cancelled.

Meals took over 2.30hours to come.

The heat and the speed made everything unenjoyable.

When we paid the bill we were going to sit at the bar for a few more drinks and to cool down. The entire time we were there over 30 minutes, the empty seats I had seen before remained empty and most likely were when I requested to move. I spoke to someone who I think was a supervisor, who seemed even more lost, saying ‘he didn’t know’, ‘people cancel last minute’, ‘things happen’, ‘people switch inside’

Once at the bar, WE asked the bartender if we could order a drink. She said she’s busy because she isn’t suppose to be bartending and to give her a minute. Over 30 minutes later, she never asked, approached, or even looked our way.

I know everyone back there with us that day would agree. Just a look around and you could see the tension in people faces.

The lack of management, accountability, customer service in this location was insane. I will never return and quite frankly I wish I had walked out mid way instead of wasting my time...

Super excited to try this place, the pictures made it seem like it was more of a lounge revibe but if you do want that I would recommend sitting in the back open area, as the main restaurant area is more of an intimate setting. Parking is a bit hard to find however I did hear that they offer valet but that was not the case when we arrived. On the specific day we went it was really cold outside which should not have anything to do with the temperature inside of a restaurant, however this was not the case for this restaurant. We literally had to have our jackets on because of how cold it was in there, it was as if the heat was not working. The decor is definitely nice, but that's it. It seems like the hype of this place being upscale does not show in the food.

We tried some of their drinks which were tasty. We had two appetizers one was the tuna tartare. This tuna was not bad but not the freshest I've had, the flavor was that of too much soy sauce and the presentation itself was falling apart. We also tried the baked brie, which could have been warmer in my opinion, but nothing extraordinary. We also tried their duck confit risotto, and was extremely disappointed. The risotto was watery and not the creamy risotto you would normally expect to find, it also had a salty soy sauce type flavor to it. It tasted like a salty duck broth was poured on top of the risotto and quickly mixed in. To top it off there was fresh apples on top which sounds line the perfect pairing, but sadly for this dish it's a 10 for innovation and 0 for the actual execution. There were not many people seated but there are also maybe only three waiters so having to wait is something you should take into consideration. It seems everyone that goes there just orders the steak so maybe that's what this restaurant is well known for but I asked two couples behind me what they would rate the steak and they stated...