Rustica | Eatery and Tavern — Restaurant in Moorhead

While visiting the area for work, this place came highly recommended, so I had to stop in for dinner. It's a very nice downtown spot, and the atmosphere showed promise. Unfortunately, that's where it ended. I was very hungry, so I ordered a Burrata Cheese plate appetizer and a Rustica burger. The app arrived first, and it looked great. It had marinated grape tomatoes, spinach pesto on top of the burrata cheese, balsamic reduction, and grilled bread. The bread, cheese, and pesto were delicious, but the balsamic reduction tasted a lot more like red wine vinegar, and when combined with the tomatoes, it was incredibly acidic. Not balanced at all. It really needed a true balsamic reduction, which is usually thicker and a little sweet. That would have balanced it out correctly. Next, the burger arrived. It also looked great. It was a beef patty on a fresh and nicely toasted bin with mahon & cheddar cheeses, a caesar aioli, and rustic fries. I ordered it medium-rare, and it was close, but a solid medium. The burger was juicy, and the meat tasted great. However, once again, another simple mistake ruined it. It was so heavily salted for some reason, it was hard to finish. I added some ketchup to offset some of it, and it helped, but not enough. It had more salt than the fries, and the aioli had almost no flavor at all. So, why didn't I say anything to my server? (Bartender) Easy, once the food was delivered (each course), not once did anyone come by where I was sitting at the bar and ask how anything was. It wasn't at all busy. There were only a couple of other people sitting at the whole bar, and maybe 3 tables sat. All of the plates were still sitting on the bar when I left. I had stacked each set as I finished, but no one made any effort to clear anything the whole time I was there. Only after everything was pushed away and I had my credit card out did the bartender come over to give me the check. Overall, I feel this place has potential and should have been a great experience as the menu looked great and appeared to have a nice combination of flavors, if executed correctly. The mistakes made were simple, but unfortunately, they were very noticeable and ruined the experience. Hopefully, they can...

This is a unique place, the food was absolutely outstanding ! The menu is a bit limited compared to many other places, however the attention to detail from the kitchen was perfect! HOWEVER, the 2 or 3 bartenders in the tavern were not attentive at all. At all! After sitting down, and figuring out how to view the menu,we waited for a bartender to come over. After about 5 minutes we had decided on at least one drink and our appetizers. Upon arrival, acting as if she was overwhelmed, our first bartender arrived. She asked for drink orders and was gone. We then had 1 of our drinks served immediately, but had to wait 10 minutes for the chance to order the other. At that point we ordered 2 appetizers and drink number 2 as well as refills on the waters. Food took about 20-25 minutes to come from the kitchen, well worth the wait, however we needed to get more water and drinks. Waters were refilled but no drinks. It seemed as if the regulars were getting much more attention than we were as first timers. To the point of one bar tender hanging out having a conversation with the gentleman right next to us. After another 20 minutes and having finished our appetizers, with no drinks, we decided to go elsewhere for dinner. It was a shame. The entree menu had several items that I am sure the kitchen would have executed fabulously. The food is fantastic and worth the wait, but be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait for attention in the tavern side. I can assure you we will not return to the tavern. The food is tempting enough to maybe try the restaurant...

The owner and several bartenders of this restaurant are very unprofessional. I used to be a regular customer. A few months ago a group of 4 of us came into the bar at 9pm and they clearly wanted to go home early — so as far as we can tell the bartenders fabricated an incident and made baseless accusations against us and then threatened to call the police. Then a few days later when I went back in the owner said she listened to the whole incident and that I was no longer welcome. But she later admitted that there was not even sound on the video and she is just sticking up for her employees — apparently even when they are wrong. They clearly do not care about keeping good customers and treating customers fairly.

EDITED TO ADD: this is not about tanking your business—you and your staff will do that on your own. We have been in twice and the first time your staff was completely “comfortable” serving us. You can accuse me of being “blurry” on the night your staff wanted us to leave, but your staff served us & if you have seen and/or heard what happened that night — to say we abused anyone or that we were in anyone’s face (when they were behind the bar and we were by the door) is ridiculous. Your response to my review is just more evidence of your poor management style. I’m glad that you feel like not appearing spineless to your staff is more important than appreciating your customers —good...