Italica — Restaurant in Indio

4.9 Stars…Really?

I only occasionally submit reviews on Yelp or any other social media site for that matter but after our meal at Italica last evening I felt compelled to do so.

This, being our anniversary, was supposed to be a special and memorable dining experience. Unfortunately for the proprietors and us, it was memorable but not in a good way. From our arrival to departure, Italica delivered one disappointment after another. Here are some of the lowlights:

When I booked the reservation on OpenTable, I included a note indicating it was our anniversary and requested that we would prefer a more spacious 4-top (booth if possible) as this is our anniversary and don't want to feel squeezed in-between other parties. The hostess greeted us and unlike in many other restaurants that have welcomed us with “Happy Anniversary”, she escorted us to our table without mention of our anniversary. And the table was a 2-top sandwiched in-between the bar and a row of banquette tables…exactly the kind of table we specifically requested we NOT be given. And again, the hostess didn’t acknowledge our request or apologize for not being able to meet our request.

Once seated, it became immediately clear dinner conversation would be very challenging, as the noise level was horrendous.

Despite the hostess saying our server would there shortly, after 20 minutes with no server, I had to go up to the hostess station and tell her our server had not yet come to our table. After another 5 minutes, the server, who had been servicing every other table but ours, arrived. He asked how we were this evening, to which I replied, “not great…we’ve been waiting over 20 minutes for service” to which he replied “sorry, we’re busy”.

At this point we’re annoyed so we opted not to order cocktails or wine…just food.

When the appetizer course arrived, my Beet Salad was fine, but in my wife’s Caprese Salad, the tomatoes, which should be the star of the dish, were terribly under-ripe and flavorless. When the server came by to ask about our food, my wife told him about the tomatoes. He just shook his head and said, “I’ll get you some water”, instead of offering to bring her something else, or tell the kitchen, or anything even remotely apologetic.

My wife was not yet completely done eating her Caprese Salad when a young man brought the main courses tableside. In any decent restaurant, you don’t bring out a new course until all diners have finished their prior course. Despite not being quite finished, my somewhat stunned wife, pushed her salad bowl to the server who removed it from the table without asking if she was truly finished.

As for the mains, we’d already lowered our expectations. I ordered Rigatoni Bolognese, and it was fine. My wife ordered Penne Vodka, presented with a tableside vodka flambé. While a nice show, it left her pasta in a pool of vodka to the degree ALL you could taste in every bite was vodka. Given the non-reaction of our server when we commented previously, we decided to just finish our food and end this evening as quickly as possible.

The hostess came by and offered to remove our main plates and asked if we wanted any dessert. We declined and she said she’d bring our check momentarily. Then we watched as she began clearing tables and the bar, but no check. Ten minutes later, our server brings the check…we pay and leave.

We won’t be...

I really wanted to give Italica a 5 star but it fell short of our expectations, but I have to say the atmosphere and feel of "a speak easy" was definitely there. But here is why we gave it 3 and 4 stars of food and service.

While we were greeted warmly by our bartender Evan (hope I am spelling it correctly) he kept forgetting things like: Steak Temperature, refilling cocktails, water and side plates, but he did make a beautiful and taste Blood Orange Margatini, but when I ordered the second one Margatini tasted completely different.

On the food, the Calamari was tasty but for the price of $ 22. we expected a little more that what we got, there were 12 pieces of baby squid that meant we had 4 each of the small Calamari. On a good note ide sauces were tasty and the Aioli had a nice bite

On our entrees: 1st person ordered the filet ( bartender forgot to ask for Temperature) I had to get his attention to let him know what temp she wanted. Steak was ala Carte and served on a small plate which made the steak look like platting it was an after though.

2nd person ordered the Branzino which bartender didn't offer to debone, second bartender came back and ask if she wanted it deboned (nice touch) it came with blanched spinach

3rd. I ordered Italica Salad. what a disappointment (1star) First there were large long rustic pieces of Gorgonzola cheese which I love but since they were drenched on a terrible white balsamic vinegar " I could not enjoy the cheese at all, the Salad was overdressed and White Balsamic vinegar was really awful it tasted watered down. could not find the micro arugula, should've sent it back, I only was able to eat half of it.

Presentation on the dessert were beautiful, we didn't ordered but the guests sitting next to us had them, I just took a pic

Not sure if we will be back, but maybe we will try the taproom next time to see the difference in food since we all thought was a little pricey for what we got and they have to do something about their restroom situation, sharing it with the taproom the "speak easy atmosphere" goes...

Had dinner there on Saturday at 6 pm. The restaurant was beautiful inside. Loved all the artwork and decor. Very intimate and softly lit. Just to be fare i will start off by saying we had a party of 15. Which probably was not a good idea. However, if they can not accommodate large parties, they should not accept the reservation. With that being said, the service was very slow. We ordered drinks appetizers within the first hour. We didn't get our entrees till we had been there for over 2 hours. The small portions and long period of time that our meal stretched out to. Had us all joking. We would still have to eat in n out after. Which we did. I had to 2 Palomas. Both drinks taste great. 19.00 each. We started off with the calamari. It's probably the best thing I had there crispy and came with really good sauces. Just a ver small portion.For my main course, I had the filet, medium with a side of house potatoes and broccolini. My steak with what im assume most of our tables food was in a warmer. Literally could have had a better steak at apple bees. It's was sitting in a tasteless sauce. The meat was very dry, tasteless, and lacking salt. I say it was im a warmer because it was not overcooked, yet it was hard on the outside. My husband had the porkchop. Super tender but no flavor it was in a small bowl sitting on top of risotto, which was hard and gelatin like. Lastly, we had spumoni for desert. Pretty good. Our meal was 191.00 before tip for 2 people. 231.00 with tip. This experience was extremely disappointing, This restaurant is highly rated, and I can not figure out why. Maybe it is the esthetic. Im not one to eat somewhere and not let them know when something isn't right. I just didn't want to make a big fuss at my friend's birthday dinner. I do not recommend this place. Go somewhere else. There is so much better food in the valley. Lastly, if you are not prepared to share a gender neutral, 10 stall restroom with drunken men from the bar next door, wait to use the...