Rustic Restaurant & Bar 9 — Restaurant in Melbourne

Went to the Hilton Rialto Rustic restaurant for the 3rd time this year. We called for reservations for a large party. The special we looked forward to (Friday fish fry) was cancelled. in addition, no shrimp. Being Catholics during lent this left few choices for some. The grouter was nasty. Spaghetti overcooked and those who had steak, also on special, hardly raved about it. It was a birthday celebration so we brought a birthday cake. The server stated the manager wouldn't allow them to serve the cake, but they provided plates, no forks. Gifts were given during the extremely long wait time; strange as the place was about empty. No staft participated in the birthday song as in about 99% of all other restaurants. The bill came with an included gratuity of 20%. While service was adequate, i asked where the 20% came from as it wasn't mentioned on the menu or other place. The waitress said she decided 20% since we had cake (which she didn't serve). I asked if this was mandatory or a gratuity. No answer was given. The manager vanished. The front desk deferred us back to the restaurant. No one could give an answer if this was mandatory. Finally another server at the bar stated i was right and remove the 20%. I tried to locate the waitress to resolve and give her a 15% tip, but she vanished. This place was good before, but in no way worth the price for poor quality of food. All this aside from mandatory gratuities. We will NOT...

Rustic- Melbourne- 2 Stars

"You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time".--Barnum

Coming off the fabulous meals at the Ritz Carlton, I was feeling confident and was determined to have another great hotel food experience. However, the apotheosis I achieved at Norman's was clearly not going to be duplicated at Rustic inside the Rialto Hilton in Melbourne, Florida. Our server, Karen is the type of grizzled, battle hardened server I greatly enjoy. She stood up to the task and then some. The dining room itself is a high ceiling glass walled open seating with a nice view of the fountains surrounding the restaurant in decorative fashion. The food was a mixed bag of average to bad. Ultimately, leaving me $70.00 poorer and hungry because multiple items were inedible. You can look at the picture and see burnt toast, dry over cooked hash browns, way overdone eggs and a steak. Amazingly, the steak was seasoned and cooked to the proper temperature. This was not the Sysco breakfast steak most places slough off on you. The steak is what earned them the extra star. Without the steak Rustic would have made the Top 5 worst list. Rustic is far from its name and an easy place to skip over. Big Boy...

This was my first time at the Rustic restaurant and it won't be the last. I had the pleasure of trying out two meals. I had the prime rib, and the rustic burger. The prime rib was seasoned to perfection, and I couldn't believe how much flavor the burger had (maybe it was the bacon jelly😋), can't tell you what I enjoyed the most because they were both delicious. Complements to the Chef Edgar Lopez, I was told that he remade the whole menu, if he continues to make food like this, this restaurant will stay packed. Can't wait to be back to try something new. Hey, and don't leave without trying the family recipe FLAN! Amazing! My only regret was not talking pictures of my plates for you guys to see. If this review helped, please...