Rossa Negra — Restaurant in East Lyme

WORST experience I've ever had at a restaurant. Buckle up kids, this is going to be a long one.

30% occupancy so not a packed restaurant.

Reservations were made almost 2 weeks in advance @7pm for a very special occasion and a party of 8 mind you. We arrive a little before as it was a surprise event. Upon arrival i was impressed, beautiful venue and they even decorated our tables for us.

We all sit and our party orders drinks....15-25 minutes for drinks. We then ordered apps, and this is where I noticed things were off. Taking approximately 30 minutes the 4 apps ordered came out 1 at a time a few minutes apart. Apps were 4 star

30ish minutes after apps were dropped our server came for food orders. We asked for another round of drinks...20-25 minutes and us asking about or drinks we got them.

NOW another 35-40 minutes go by and we get our meals "salads". Embarrassingly small, mediocre salads. A couple pieces of lettuce and small amount of other veggies. At this time we all noticed there was only 1, yes 1 server caring for the entire restaurant!!!

ANOTHER 45 minutes go bad and after numerous times asked where's our food, our meals finally came out and I wish they didn't. 1 by 1 over a 20 minutes window. 3 not cooked as ordered and 1 missing completely. Miraculously that missing meal came out in less than 10 minutes. Now me personally, my meal wasn't cooked or prepared as I asked but with waiting well over an hour for my meal I began to eat. Already angered with the night and horrible service, I then find a long black hair somehow embedded into the side of my steak.

Now I had had enough, I personally brought my plate up to the bar, called over the only person I saw and said this is ENOUGH!!! 15 minutes go by before anyone comes to the table to address the problem. By this time the entire table is annoyed, upset and we just wanted to leave. It now being 9:30pm. ANOTHER 15 minutes go by before the manager/ owner... whoever she was. I was so disgusted and disappointed i didn't pay any mind came over apologizing and asking what she could do. Way too late for that!!! She apologized and offered a gift card and extended a invite back for the opportunity to give us a better experience. we were then told, THEN!!! Not before or anytime during the service that a chef had called out. Wait, what, huh??? I was and still am baffled at how that had the effect that it did on our table when otheres seated after us had food before us and were in and out in under and hour!! After a lengthy bill battle back and forth, we left a little after 10pm.

Out of 5 Stars: Drinks: 20-30 minutes - 0 stars Appetizers: 20ish minutes - 4 stars Meals: over an hour and wrong - 0 stars Service: 1 server doing her best - 10 stars

I really hope they get it together there because the venue, in my opinion was gorgeous and has a ton of potential. Unfortunately I will not be...

So excited I finally got to try this Last night. I arrived at about 4:08. Got a front row parking spot. Get up to the door and it was locked. I ended up calling and a lady answered the phone. She stated that they open at 5 but someone will open the door for me. I waited a couple more minutes and started to walk away and a guy was setting up seen me and came to the door. He explained that google won’t let them change the hours but they really open at 5. They still let me which again was very nice. Upon walking in I was kind of blow away by the way it looks! Very nicely done! I went to and sat down on the booth facing the bar. The seat had a few crumb. But very little. I had water and menus brought over right away and was greeted by Fabio. The glass for my water wasn’t clean. It was also extremely cold in there as well. I ordered the empanadas(chicken) it was very flavorful, hot and fresh love it! I also ordered the oysters with crab (it was a special) nothing too write home about. Didn’t have a lot of flavor and on top of that it I get biting into something very hard. Fabio came to check as he does when food was dropped and I said to him there was something very hard and he proceeded to let me know that it’s probably the shell pieces. For a $20 appetizer I would expect not to have that . This also was not hot. I get it it is just one but it was in both the ones I ate. Decided to leave the other two alone. For my entree I ordered the rack of lamb. I will start with the good stuff on this one. I asked for the lamb to be well done! It was cooked just right. 6 good size pops. I got veggies instead of the regular sides. I liked how they were cut. Good portion size. However this dish had no flavor or salt it was very bland. I was hoping the flavor I tasted in the empanada was going to carry out to this dish but it did not. The gravy was a bit gritty as well and had absolutely no flavor. It also wasn’t hot. I then ordered the tees leche with guava. Tasted like I got strawberry. But it was okay. Normally I notice tres leche has a sweet creamy taste … for me with this one the flavor was in the top layer of the cake. Not back but not crazy. I also asked for my dessert first and some reason it wasn’t brought out. Fabio ended up comping the dessert because of that. Also the chino churro sauce was fabulous. I will be back to give it another try. I want to try some of the other dishes. Just hope the flavor and temps are better. Also portion sizes are good for the price point. Just a little advice … being that we are in a pandemic it’s hard to eat someone and have dirty cups and utensils . At one point Fabio was Carrying on a conversation while holding my dinner. Great...

How do you take a previously run down KFC restaurant and turn it into a welcoming and delightful space for experiencing a pleasant and memorable dining experience; Ask the owners of the recently opened Rossa Negra restaurant in East Lyme. Wow! We stopped in for lunch and were curious about where the menu would take us. I started with a bowl of the Chesterfield Calamari white bean with spicy cherry peppers soup. The bite of the cherry peppers on my palate was a perfect match to the beans, calamari, and creamy seafood broth. The portion was very generous and left me desiring more as I shared with my wife. This is a keeper! My wife was in the mood for seafood. She ordered the Encocado de Pescado - "exotic mix of fresh seafood in a citrus cilantro coconut broth." It was delightful! The sauce was a nice complement to the mixed seafood. The fish filet was very good. Unable to define the fish I asked. It was Tilapia...Never in my life had I eaten a piece tilapia that tasted so good and I don't like tilapia. I ordered the Chemari Lemon Chicken. Severed on garlic mashed potatoes the chicken was bathed in a pleasingly inviting and delectable sauce. The chicken was juicy. To top off the experience we shared an order of hot, beautifully presented pair of Churros for desert.

The prices where on the high end. The service was great. We'll be...