Fattoria e Mare — Restaurant in Half Moon Bay

Unfair valet parking charge of $5/car to park in their own lot! Seems like it's a fairly new thing. Street parking is available, just need to drive just a block/block & a half away to get a space. But it's doable instead of subjecting oneself to this sort of thievery.

One glaring thing about this restaurant is noise. It is completely noisy from the boorish, inconsiderate loud bar patrons. Why? Because the bar is in an open area that combines with the dining room. No one who is dining there will be able to carry on a normal conversation if there is a bar and also if there are any private parties around. It is loud, loud, loud! It's as though they are trying to maximize their profits by offering bar and resto., but it's at the expense of the people who just wish to dine there in relative peace. If you were like us and first time there unsuspectingly thinking that this is a moderately upscale sort of restaurant with other patrons dining without making tons of noise then you will be surprised. Don't expect a quiet dinner. They also advertise that they offer a Karaoke Night. I was just thankful we didn't choose that night to dine there. There's a type of loud clientele who seem to favor this venue so we'll be avoiding for sure.

Food was just okay. It's not at all very authentic. They offer a bistecca ala Fiorentina which if anyone's familiar with is Florentine steak. And an authentic Florentine steak is extremely huge. They told us theirs is 2 lbs. which indeed sounded like it could feed at least the three of us easily. It costs $85 which is exorbitant, but considering that it's for 2-3 or more it seemed worthwhile. But what we saw on the grill (there's an open kitchen) did not at all resemble anything like a true bistecca ala Fiorentina. So we passed. Also they have a seafood platter for $85 too. What we saw was a big tray with assorted limited seafood and a few veg. Not at all like an authentic seafood platter as they offer in France. The short rib dinner I ordered was boneless (??). And it barely came with the accompanying mashed potatoes. Plus other than a miniscule cooked radish there were no other vegetable offered. For the price I really believe there should've been.

The server and busboy/food runners were all excellent though. However, one visit was more than...

Our experience at Fatorria E Mare was unfortunately underwhelming, especially considering we this was going to be a special meal, followed by our engagement. Upon checking in for our reservation, we were promptly taken to our table. We immediately noticed the temperature on the left side of the establishment (presumably due to the kitchen) in which we were seated was uncomfortably warm. We were greeting by our server, Marco about 10 minutes after seated and offered water. After browsing the menu, we placed an order for the calamari and the soup of the day, which was corn chowder when Marco came back with still and sparkling water. After receiving our calamari, Marco asked for our dinner order, which we asked for recommendations on. It would have been nice for our first time at the establishment for him to go over specials, recommendations and any other tips for ordering. We selected the Lobster Bisque Risotto and the Linguine as was suggested by him. It seemed that because we did not order alcoholic beverages,that we were not given the same service as those around us, although it did seem that it was possible that our server was on a lot of tables. Our courses were not coursed out well and took 20-30 minutes in between each. We even had to ask for our check after we were finished eating for 15 minutes. He was very polite, but we did find the attentiveness and attention lacking. As for the food items we ordered: Fried calamari and onion rings - 4/5 - portion was small but tasty. Sauces were nice and calamari was tender. Breading was good but not the best I’d had. Corn chowder - 3/5 - tasty but seemed more like a puree and less like a typical chowder. Creamy and truffle flavoring, but lacking hardiness of a thick chowder with no bits of corn. Lobster bisque risotto- 3/5 - seafood including the scallops, prawns, and lobster was lovely in texture and flavor. Risotto itself was watery and lacking flavor. Linguine al limone - 2/5 - despite being the most popular dish in Yelp and Google reviews, we did not love this dish. It seemed to have been sitting under the heat lamp for a while before being delivered to us, as it had a dry film on time. Flavor in the entire dish was lacking, even in seafood. Dish itself was lukewarm warm. This was a miss for us in more...

It was all fine and good until the end...

A friend and I had dinner at Fattoria E Mare last week, and enjoyed a birthday bottle of our own 2006 Abreu along with their table-side flambe-style steak. We did ask for bone-in, but the server forgot, but no big deal.

The meal was fine, but the reason for this one-star rating is that the server refused to accept a legitimate gift certificate from us at the conclusion of the meal. His exact words were "I can't take that. Our gift certificates expire after one year."

I wasn't about to argue with him, so we just paid our meal and I figured I could reach out and handle it with management later. Unfortunately, contacting them the next day did not produce a return response from anyone, so here is this review.

For the record, if anyone at Fattoria is paying attention, in the State of California gift certificates and gift cards can never expire or go bad:

"Most gift certificates and gift cards sold by retail sellers for use with the seller and its affiliates cannot contain an expiration date or a service fee, including a fee for dormancy."

"Any gift certificate sold after January 1, 1997, is redeemable in cash for its cash value, or subject to replacement with a new gift certificate at no cost to the purchaser or holder. Effective January 1, 2008, any gift certificate with a cash value of less than $10 is redeemable in cash, which includes currency or check, for its cash value."

"California laws governing gift cards and gift certificates cannot be waived."

What a disappointment. Not sure if this is a training issue or if the waiter was concerned his tip might drop because of the gift certificate. Despite this error on his part, we still tipped him generously.

In any event, why would anyone EVER buy a gift certificate from this restaurant ever again, and if they have business practices like this, what other shortcuts and lack of attention do they give their customers (food safety,...