Trattoria La Vigna — Restaurant in Galveston

On what should have been a nice night out for my birthday dinner, we had a terrible experience. Our server was very inattentive (this was a Tuesday & they were not very busy). She took quite a while to greet us, then took a little while to get our wine. When taking our order, she didn't ask if we wanted appetizers or anything else- just got our order & left again. Someone else brought the main courses out, after our server brought us bread & salads (I wasn't expecting that to be included in the meal, so that was good), then we didn't get a visit from our server for quite a while - no checking on how the meal was & no offers of another glass of wine. I had to flag her down to let her know my meal tasted fishy (it was eggplant parmesan - with spinach in it, fsr). So she took the plate back & ordered something else- again, no offer of another glass of wine or anything else. When the 2nd dish came out, I was only able to eat a few bites before I was almost full, thinking we would get dessert (it was my birthday dinner, after all, of which they were well aware). So I asked for the food to be wrapped up (had to flag her down again for that, though she was extremely attentive to the other table she had right beside us!). Once again - no offer of more wine, no offer of coffee or any dessert. Then she brought us the check & a small bag with 2 little cups in it to-go! I said "what is this?" It was my bday dessert in a bag! I was pretty upset by this point so my husband asked to talk to the manager/owner. Noone came out! He went to go track someone down & the owner told him that if he didn't like the service, don't tip!! No offer of an apology, she never came to speak to me- just made an excuse about the server being busy! I have worked all manner of service jobs in both food & retail, and the lack of ownership for their place of business was astounding. The entire dinner could have been salvaged with some heartfelt apologies, some dessert at our table, not in a bag, and maybe some coffee! Not to mention a discount or a voucher for a return visit - anything. But, no- we were made to feel like it was us who had the problem & we should just not leave a tip due to a ruined birthday dinner. This was our first time (and last) at this restaurant and we are locals. If you own a customer-facing business, you need to learn proper customer service & ensure your employees learn it, as well. Spend your money at Mario's on the Seawall - great food & great service that won't leave you miserable on your birthday! Only reason for 2 stars is that my husband liked his food & my 2nd try at an entree was pretty good. Not good enough to...

I would have given a review of 4-5 stars if we simply had the appetizer, wine, and house salad. The terrible review comes from the main entree.

I will preface this by saying that they informed us that they were short staffed etc. We got the aforementioned items in a pretty timely manner all things considered (within 20-30 mins).

Unfortunately, we waited an entire hour for our entrees (Seafood Risotto and Chicken Parmesan). This is after the waiter mentioned that there was a “hiccup” in the kitchen. My partner and I understand things like this happen, but it still cut into other date activities that we had planned. We politely asked the waiter if anything could be comped or discounted as a courtesy. The manager, who I presume is also the owner, came by to check on us and we voiced our concerns about the time and the fact that the seafood in the risotto was rubbery and tasted microwaved. I had a suspicion that my chicken parm was also microwaved as the cheese felt how you would expect. Both items were also exuding heat like they were microwaved.

The owner/manager brushed us off because we expressed that it was fine enough to eat (we just wanted to leave honestly). He also ensured us that risotto takes a long time to cook and that they had no microwave in the kitchen. He walked away without providing any resolution to us. Our waiter also dismissed us when we expressed to him our issues when speaking to the manager.

We got the check and left. I normally don’t like to stiff the staff on tips, but I refused to tip after that experience. The main entree’s were not worth their price and the service was ridiculous. Could not recommend this restaurant to...

If I could leave 0 stars I would. We walked into the restaurant with high recommendations from the hotel concierge. The instant we walked in we were not greeted by a host and just stood there for several minutes waiting to be acknowledged. Finally the manager walks by and asked if we have been helped and said he needs to bus a table... Takes us back to the table and there is only one chair so we are standing awkwardly in the middle of the room waiting for him to bring another one. Sit down and wait for our server who didn't come by for about 10 minutes... The manager brought us water. After she finally comes by she asks if we want drinks, we say no and she walks off. Another 10 minutes she comes back and asks if we are ready to order and she walks away before we can respond. Several minutes pass she comes back I hand her the menus and order. The food took almost an hour. Meanwhile, she is talking to another table that she is not waiting on. She barley checks on us I even had to ask her to refill my empty glass. Very unprofessional the waitress was talking to a table of friends, had her cell phone out and was playing with a girls hair. Clearly knowing what a terrible server she is she had the manager put gratuity on our check. I check with another couple next to us who had just paid out and they did not have gratuity on their check. On our way out I confronted the manager to ask about the gratuity and he said they grat all of their tables. I called him out on it. He was very dismissive. The food was okay at best. Worst service I have ever had. Will never go back and I do...