AVOID!!!

The most shockingly unprofessional staff, including the manager, and most despicable behavior pertaining to food allergy related safety of a child I have ever encountered. I am a Manhattan resident and have dined out plenty. Never in my entire adult life have I written a negative review on any service until now. My 10 year old daughter has a walnut allergy. She has eaten pesto for years at various restaurants in the city without issues so the allergy concern didn’t cross my mind when she ordered gnocchi pesto with mussels. But tonight, she told me immediately there was walnut in the dish since she felt nauseous after a couple of bites. We asked the waiter whether the dish contained any nuts, and he confirmed with the kitchen staff that indeed the pesto contained walnuts. He reluctantly offered to replace the dish with a new one but made with tomato sauce which I agreed to. He brought back a gnocchi dish with plain tomato sauce but without mussels, so I asked him for the mussels. He then claimed that I told him my daughter had an allergy to shellfish and that was why they would not replace the mussels. We were dining with family and friends (11 of us in total) so there were plenty witnesses to his walnut confirmation and there was never any mentioning of a shellfish allergy from my part. And why would we order mussels if there was a known shellfish allergy to begin with??? He then started to berate me for not informing him about the allergy and quietly walked away. About 10 minutes later, he came back to throw a plate of mussels in front of my daughter so violently the fork flew off the table. He said not a word and did not a thing other than simply walking away. Then came the manager who proceeded to ask me what happened. I recounted the event and to my utmost dismay, he immediately defended his staff by shouting at me that they are a reputable restaurant and their staff would never lie. Meanwhile, did he even bother asking if my daughter was ok? NOPE. Interestingly, my friend left a few moments after the rest of us because he went to the rest room. On his way out, he overheard the manager chastising the waiter.

It is a shame that the very people in the food service do not appear to have any shred of concern for food allergy and safety, most disappointedly when it comes to a young child. It is also a shame that a well established restaurant would choose to complacently rest on its laurels as opposed to uphold the quality of service, and extend the basic courtesy. There are plenty of superior choices here in the city and that’s why I never came here previously and would never have come had it not been for a friend who is visiting from out of town and who was curious about it.