Ruscello at Nordstrom — Restaurant in Honolulu

Ruscello is fairly consistent in their service and food. I haven't been there in a while, but I was a little bit disappointed with our experience today. While our service people (the bar tender team) were awesome, we can't say the same about the front reception team. Maybe it was because their manager was standing in front of them. We were greeted with a slight delay by the manager who came off as very unwelcoming and standoffish (very unfriendly to say the least). She asked if we had reservations which we didn't. but I told her we would be okay with the bar. We seated ourselves as the manager did not see to it that it was her place to seat us. We ordered our food and proceeded to eat. While doing so, the manager came over to talk with a patron at the bar who sat next to us. She spoke so loudly and wanted everyone to hear her conversation. It was very disturbing to hear her loud voice and conversation. I noticed that my lunch partner's chicken was so dry and difficult to cut through so I motioned for the manager to service us. She was in no rush to accommodate us and when she finally came over, I asked her is she was the manager. She responded that she was and I told her about my lunch partner's dry chicken. She apologized and took it back to kitchen and returned with pretty much the same dish only we think she had the kitchen just cut the dry chicken into pieces. Well, I'VE NEVER! Poor service! If I could, I think I will report her. Update: 11/14/23 I visited Ruscello today (I only went because my cousins and sister all wanted to eat the salad that I had at my last visit - I posted a pic on my Instagram). In any case, today's experience was remarkably awesome compared to my last visit. Service was excellent and the manager on duty even greeted us at our table - btw, it wasn't the same manager I remarked about at my last visit. Today's food and service was what I am used to so I decided to change the service stars...

This is my second time trying this restaurant and I know a lot of people like this place, but I'm not a fan. Before I start with why I don't care for this restaurant, I wanted to point out the staff there are all very professional and give excellent service. I found them to all be very friendly and attentive throughout our meal. Kudos to their management for choosing great staff and training them well.

The main reason why I don't care for this place is how congested it feels with the seating the the noise acoustics. I feel like everyone is crammed into a sardine can and you can hear everyone's conversations around you as it seems like everyone is talking extra loud to hear each other over others. It is very uncomfortable for me personally.

The food is somewhat unoriginal and I wasn't impressed at all. It wasn't bad, but more of a disappointment. I started with the Basil Tomato Soup which really didn't look or taste as it should. It looked more orange than red and wasn't smooth in texture. My meal was followed with one of the specials for the day, Shrimp Tacos. The shrimp looked more like popcorn shrimp and there wasn't much at all. It was good thing that it had a nice salad to go with it or it would have been very sad overall. For dessert, I had the Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae and it was nothing as impressive as I have heard and far to sweet for my taste even though I love desserts.

I'm not going to say don't go because by how packed it was and knowing a lot of people like this place, but it just...

The better half of the world food tour duo returned from Seoul earlier in the day and we celebrated my birthday at Ruscello on the 3rd floor of Nordstrom.

We started with a Moscow Mule and a Hendricks gin & tonic while we perused the menu. We ended up ordering the Kung Pao Brussels Sprouts, Heirloom Tomatoes & Burrata and the Chicken Lemon Pesto Gnocchi.

The brussels sprouts dish was excellent; the leaves of the sprouts were charred and the pieces of chicken sausage and toasted peanuts were perfect foils to the piquant sauce. The heirloom tomatoes were cherry tomatoes, halved and served with pieces of sourdough toast and the cow’s milk cheese. The tomato halves were dressed with basil pesto, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This dish was okay but I expected slices of heirloom tomatoes. The ricotta gnocchi was dressed with a delicate lemon pesto sauce and sprinkled parmesan cheese.

We ended up with three containers of leftovers but we had to order dessert as it was my birthday. We split a White Chocolate Bread Pudding, which was a “brick” of bread pudding with white chocolate and raspberry sauces, some whipped cream and fresh raspberries. My better half thought the bread pudding was moist; I was hoping for some crème anglaise as I wanted more of a pudding than the “cake” we were served. I had a cup of coffee to finish my meal.

We dined at 3pm and I was surprised to see the restaurant full of diners. The food was fine, but not exceptional … The standout dish was the Kung Pao...