Sinatra's Ristorante — Restaurant in Florida

RSVP was 4:00 pm. I arrived a few minutes early & left at 5:40 pm. After a wonderful day in Cassadaga, this ruined my entire day!

My server couldn’t have been less friendly if she tried: no name, no smile, no basic courtesy. A table for one apparently doesn’t earn the same respect & attention as a four-top.

When she took my drink order which was ice water with lemon on the side, she mumbled something about a pepper “on special” & quickly walked away; she brought a glass with a dried-out lemon wedge stuck on the rim like it had been dropped & stepped on.

I had to ask for EVERYTHING—what’s the soup? may I have more lemon? do you have dessert? is there a cash discount? — & the extra lemon never arrived.

My water never got refilled despite me parking the empty glass at the edge of the table as a hint. Then again, she never stuck around long enough to notice. Everything was “drop & run” like she was running from a fire. The restaurant wasn’t even busy. There was no excuse for this level of neglect.

The only nice thing I can say was the Caesar salad looked & tasted fresh, thankfully because it was all I would eat that night.

EVERY dish looked dirty. They all looked like my grandmother’s old porcelain with the rims all stained after 50 years of use.

Everything happened in 10 minute increments and in drop & run fashion! I don’t know what the rush was all about.

My appetizer, tomato-mozzarella caprese was on another dingy plate. The tomatoes were HOT, giving new meaning to “hothouse tomatoes,” & the mozzarella tasted like cardboard.

My Chicken Piccata dinner was on yet another dirty dish. There was barely any pasta & what should have been a bright lemon-butter-wine sauce was just a pool of oil under the noodles.

I had to flag down my waitress to ask for grated cheese, hoping it might help. She dropped a little plastic cup on the table of ice-cold, Kraft-style cheese & took off running again.

The chicken was SO salty it was inedible. The pasta was greasy. I pushed the whole plate to the far edge of the table so she couldn’t miss it—along with my empty water glass.

Within ten minutes of dropping the entrée, she slapped down the bill—without noticing the untouched food or the empty glass and ran off again.

She came for the payment, smiling for the first time. This was also the first time she bothered to ask if everything was ok. I told her, “NO! This is swimming in oil, the chicken is so salty I can’t eat it; actually the whole dish is inedible,”. The smile vanished. She grabbed the check, said, “I’ll remove it,” & ran. Normally an over-tipper, her tip went to zero right then.

She returned with the bill & immediately tried to speed off again. I called her to ask whether it reflected a cash payment. “No, I’ll have them fix that,” she said, grabbed it, & ran—again.

She returned with the new bill & as she was running away I asked if they served dessert. “Yes,” she answered annoyed, & ran off to get a menu, which was FILTHY. Every page had stains on both sides. My total bill was $12.91. I put $15 cash in the check presenter.

She came back 10 minutes later and I told her I didn’t want any dessert. She scooped up my payment, pointed at my still-empty glass that had been sitting there for 35 minutes, asked, “Do you want a water to go?”

Ten minutes later, she brought back $2 change—shorting me $.19—dropped it without a word, & was gone. The $.19 ended up being her tip only because I just wanted out of there!! I left mad & STILL HUNGRY!!

Summary: • hot tomatoes with cardboard mozzarella • inedible Chicken Piccata, no sauce • pasta in a pool of oil • dirty plates • a filthy menu • no refill • wrong change • a “drop & run” waitress who had to be flagged down for every single thing

Why isn’t there a manager on the floor making sure customers are being serviced properly?

Please be sure your blonde long haired, pony tail wearing waitress learns that ALL CUSTOMERS MATTER!!

Zero stars...

Recently I travelled to Cassadaga. The mecca for all things spiritual in central Florida. I went to enjoy the eclectic atmosphere buy a book and have a pleasant lunch with my Girlfriend and one of her close friends. As lunch was the focal point I was excited to see that it was a fine dining restaurant specializing in Italian a subset of food that is nearly impossible to mess up. We were greeted promptly and were nestled into a corner obvious to prevent our needed escape. We began to peruse the menu and noticed a variety of oddities present in the menu. There were all to norms like Fettuccine and alfredo, Chicken parm, and a classic Italian Bolognese, but hidden within the menu were suh treasures like a peanut butter banana burger, and a fig and mushroom Marsala and who can resist that kind of tasty combination. So we all ordered a variety of dishes and an appetizer eager to see what the best of Cassadaga could offer us. our appetizer was fried calamari and was quickly delivered to the table. I was the first to venture to touch it as it had an odd grey hue reminiscent to the colour of my dear aunt Judy’s bunions. Carefully I took the mass and dipped it into the marinara and took this offering from the sea and immediately came to a realization about Cassadaga, this town and restaurant was truly haunted. The calamari itself was obviously of a frozen sort that had died such a long time ago that it’s ghost qualified for social security benefits. The Calamari and canned tomato sauce did not end our journey as soon we were treated to another spectre of expired food. Soon our main entree was available and delivered the the table and I could swear that there was an orb of flavours passed that accompanied our waiter as he delivered the dishes. The first thing all of us noted was that our garlic bread seemed to be a sharpened spear of garlicky goodness. Our pasta was impaled by this specialized shape that clued us into the true fineness of our dining situation. I was excited to dig into my mushroom and fig marsala and dug around the chunks of sauce to to cut into my chicken which had some slight freezer burn in the sense that it looked like it had more wrinkles in it that the before picture of a botox commercial. I then had the pleasure to try the risotto which was a chemical oddity somehow by breaking the laws of physics the risotto was both dry and overcooked and gave me a slight existential crisis as I began to question my position in the universe. From the look of my fellow diners it seemed as if I was not the only person to have my taste buds personally assaulted by this Italian farce. The pasta was overcooked and the sauces all seemed to be reheated from either the night or week before. The salads were so drenched that they could have been sponsored by Kraft, and their definition of mushrooms could use some work. (White mushrooms and Crimini are different.) If however you came to Cassadaga to talk with your dead grandma however this restaurant is definitely for you as if you finished your meal you would soon be having a face...

09/08/24 - 2nd Visit: My wife and I went this time on a Sunday afternoon and the place only had guests at three tables.

They did have live entertainment by a fantastic guitarist playing some very smooth jazz.

The waiter took our order and brought my wife’s omelet and home fries and my burger and fries. My burger came dry - No mayo, no mustard, no ketchup for the fries, no setups for either of us. We waited a few minutes till the waiter returned to ask him for those condiments and silverware and he said he would be right back with them - but he wasn’t. And we waited. Finally I caught the attention of the other waiter and he said he would bring it all and while he was there my wife asked for jelly for her toast. He brought the setups but not the jelly. Finally, a few minutes later, after the food had cooled considerably, the condiments came. Still no jelly. After another considerable wait my wife finally got up and went and got her own jelly. By this time the crowd was down to two tables - ours and another.

I had complained to one of the waiters about the poor service and coincidentally the musician asked how we were doing. I told him of the poor service. A little while later the manager came by for a table visit and asked what had happened. She apologized and offered us a free desert, but frankly I am never interested in free goodies. I just want done well what I pay for. Not a placating bribe.

Strike 2, Sinatra! My wife did say her omelette was good. That’s something.

I lowered the star rating from 3 to 2. What a shame.

11/29/19 - My wife bragged on this place for a couple of months before we finally got through for a lunch.

What an awesome spot for a lunch or dinner! With an an atmosphere reminiscent of a century ago this ambiance is fashioned for spiritual nostalgia. Have a seat. You either need a shot of spirits or an espresso.

Lunch - not so much on this date. Not for me. My wife loved her flatbread delight.

My Italian BLT came as cold as the spirits of the venue. There was so much tomato juice that by the time my sandwich had reached the table the bread was mush. Bummer it was clammy. I informed my waiter who said he informed the cook, but the cook never showed. Too bad...

The restaurant was also understaffed on this day. My waiter said they were not expecting to be so busy the day after Thanksgiving, but honestly, I wondered why not! After all: with all the psychics around they should have known!

I tipped my waiter around 19% anyway. The two guys working the floor did look like they were in the weeds the whole time. Their control looked good, but anyone that has ever done that job would know they could barely see where they were going this day.

We'll try again...