San Morello — Restaurant in Detroit

I came to San morello to enjoy a nice evening with my partner. It was far from that.

My experience with San morello is appalling. The way my partner and I were treated was not necessary, it was rude, and very unprofessional.

We started our evening heading out to downtown Detroit for a meal at one of our favorite restaurants. We couldn’t find parking downtown was packed. We eventually get to the restaurant and waited a little bit at the hostess station which was unattended. We find the hostess and she takes us to our table. My partner heads to the bathroom and I uncomfortably wait at my table, staring at the waitresses, waiting for someone to come and bring me water. I finally get water and my partner returns and we order a beverage. Our waitress Nina returns with our beverages and menus. My partner and I decided to share our meal and we choose our first course would be the lamb Ragu and Wagyu steak as our second course. We specified to the waitress we wanted the ragu first and after we FINISHED our pasta we be served the steak. After an inconsiderable amount of time we received our pasta. My partner split the meal and we began to enjoy it. After only a couple minutes a different server that wasn’t Nina brought us our steak. I said to the waiter “we would like to enjoy our pasta before our streak please” he said okay and walked away. Another female server came over and removed the steak from our table. This immediately gave me bad vibes and it was the beginning of a terrible night. Only after maybe 3 minutes our server Nina retuned again with the steak. I was still eating my pasta that I had to stop eating so I could eat my steak. My partner cut me a piece and gave to me. Mind you I never had wagyu steak. I ate a piece and was immediately put off. I chew the steak and continued to get worse and worse in taste. My partner tries it and spits it out. As he was spitting out the steak Nina retuned to ask how was the food. We told Nina the steak was not good and she took the steak and got the manager. My partner began to get agitated and upset. I was uncomfortable. Another wait staff came over along with the host and asked us how everything was. We told them also the steak tasted like burnt wood chips. The manager comes out and my partner voices our issue. The manager listens but doesn’t show any sympathy or compassion. She doesn’t appear to have any knowledge of food or culinary or customer service. I didn’t get the managers name but she was a shorter black women with a short bob cut. When we told her the three times we were there prior the other front of house manager took care of us. This manager was far from that. My partner requested the steak be removed from the bill because it was inedible. The manager removed the item from the bill and explained there was nothing else she could do, the kitchen was already closed..

In my opinion that was unacceptable. The kitchen should not close up until all of the items are served and approved by the guest. When we sent the steak BACK because we were not ready for it I mentioned to my partner the kitchen looked closed. This is not typical behavior at this type of restaurant. Normally you are served each course at the discretion of the guest. Tonight was quite the opposite and we were being rushed out.

The managers attitude was unbelievable. She argued with us about coming in close to close. I do understand this can be frustrating and people want to go home. However we are not the local dudes who come every Saturday night before close. We are known at this restaurant and my partner is a prior chef here. The behavior from the manager was deplorable and just quite disgusting.

Finally our server had the nerve to come and ask us if we wanted a desert menu. I personally was appalled because I did not get to enjoy my main course. So why would I possibly want a dessert while I’m still starving, being lacked of my main course.

Overall terrible experience which led to a terrible night and us to never return. Find another restaurant to go beside San morello. Also ZERO...

I have never been treated so poorly at a restaurant ever in my life as I was last night at San Morello. I am not one to complain about service either but this experience felt very intentional. I am so incredibly disappointed because I had a phenomenal experience with my family here just a month ago. I will never come back here and will be certain to ensure those around me do not either. I work in customer service and always make it a point to treat those in the service industry with the utmost respect as I know their jobs can be very thankless and tough, and I’m appalled at our treatment.

I made a reservation here for dinner with friends before a concert. I had been here a month earlier for the same reason with family members and was so excited to share this experience with them because the atmosphere and food were great.

When we walked in, I approached the hostess and informed her of my reservation. She asked what our occasion was for being here, and I replied “to have a nice dinner before our concert tonight”. She did not reply, and ordered another staff member to seat us in a very disapproving tone, as if this wasn’t an occasion worthy of eating here. I don’t need a reason to eat anywhere, other than because I would like to. This judgmental and cold treatment from the hostess made my group feel very unwelcome and we had only just sat down. While I can certainly understand dismissive behavior from staff when they are busy, have had a long night, or have had to deal with difficult customers previously, our reservation was at 5pm. When they opened.

After being seated, our waiter Duncan came shortly after to greet us and asked the same question as our hostess. We replied the same and he inquired who we were seeing. We told him the act, and he responded very arrogantly “I don’t know them and that’s certainly not my kind of music.” I understand that not everyone has the same music taste nor do I expect people to, but I don’t need to be shamed for it. This is supposed to be a fun night out for my group and this put such a sour start to it. His arrogance continued throughout our dinner. He gave us no more than 2 minutes to decide on a drink. One of the members of my group had asked for a few more minutes with the menu politely to decide. Duncan returned three more times to ask them what they wanted to drink in a matter of 5 minutes, each time with more frustration that they hadn’t decided yet. This created a very uncomfortable environment for us going forward ordering or asking anything from him which should never be the case in a restaurant. Shortly after ordering our entrees, we decided to add an order of bread. I very kindly asked Duncan after he took the order of the table behind us if we could add the bread. He responded “sure” with such frustration and irritation behind his voice further making us feel uncomfortable.

We received our entrees and bread shortly after. We had absolutely no complaints on the food or drinks. They were lovely as was the atmosphere of the restaurant. Additionally, the staff who brought us our food, refilled our water, and boxed up our leftovers were very kind and warm. Just the hostess and Duncan our waiter were who we had poor experiences with. After receiving our food, Duncan made no effort to check up on how we were doing, liked the food, etc for nearly 15 minutes. All while the other tables in our section were being tended to intently and very warmly by him. We finally got our bill, but were not asked to split it at all which would seem obvious given the makeup of our group. By this time, we were itching to get out of there and were honestly too afraid to ask Duncan if he could split the bill given his previous attitude towards us.

I want to add that we were nothing but polite and kind our entire time there. I understand that things can be hectic in restaurants and how thankless and difficult service jobs can be. However, I do not feel like anything warranted the treatment we received. I would like someone to reach out to apologize, and compensation...

Went to San Morello specifically in response to their email to me (i have dined here previously and am on their mailing list) extolling their limited time, very special, white truffle menu. Made rez for a Sunday at opening for the truffle dining. Specified and confirmed 3 times my guest was vegan. They were very considerate to ask explicitly for any dietary restrictions at the time of reservation, and reiterated this in each confirmation.

On prompt arrival, they said our table wasnt ready. Again we were first seating so taken aback, but okay. Wait in their hotel lobby for 15 min until they call us back via text. Dining room and bar are already filled with people! WTH?! Seat us. Candle on table not lit. Hostess doesn't notice. Server arrives after 10 minutes also doesn't notice so i have to ask to please light our candle. Ordered bottle of white wine. Had to flag down staff to have glasses refulilled because they dont have a table side ice bucket. Incovenient. Server didn't know anything about my guest being vegan or that we had booked for the truffle dinner. There were no vegan truffle dishes. what?! whats more, there were only 3 appetizer like dishes. a pizza (really?) a polenta and something else Nothing to par and expected during this season. Truffle pasta should be a MUST. Risotto also. Steak with truffle also. Go anywhere in Italy or Austria or Croatia during truffle season and these are common.

Nothing trufffle of interest for me injust took fosh off the standard menu. Disappointed. For my guest i asked why they could not prepare a simple olive oil dressed pasta with shaved truffles. Good idea! So this they did, and it was inedible. FULL OF OVERPOWERING RAW GARLIC. It stunk from across the table. No truffle shavings in sight and couldnt taste any anyway beyond the garlic. why garlic on a truffle dish?! It's about the truffles! Fail.

My swordfish was excellent. My octopus appetizer was also very good. Both were served with the same beans though. So i ended up with a lot of beans. Tsk Tsk.

Bill came and they tried to charge a surprising $61 for the garlic and olive oil pasta. i firmly refused and had to argue until they dropped it to $40. Still outrageous but i just wanted resolution and to get out of this experience.

Another important point here. When you are serving a special truffle dish it is expected that the server shave the truffles in front of you at tableside onto your dish. This is part of the drama and to demonstrate that you are getting the real thing. This was not done. Inexcusable.

Meanwhile, the next to us went through not one, but two seatings who walked out before receiving any food. Not sure if this was due to slow service or the price tags on the food. One of the guests was dressed completely inappropriately for anything other than a homeless shelter, so who knows. Still, it was not a good sign. I would like to see a sensible dress code enforced if I'm paying these prices. If i see baseball caps and knit skull caps I'm not coming here for a romantic or business dinner. Obvious.

I left only a 10pct tip to compensate for the poor experience, disappointing truffle menu, wait staff unpreparedness for our dietary restrictions and truffle occasion, seating delay, having to ask for wine refills, having to argue about the overcharge, meh presentation of the bill, and the most inedible pasta dish outside of an airport in Indiana.

I will be cautious about returning despite having GREATLY enjoyed previous occasions at San Morello. I hope they get their act together so I get a chance to upgrade my review...