Tartufo Restaurant — Restaurant in Newton

I made a reservation for 8 people at Tartufo over 2 months ago for my brother’s law school graduation dinner. I received a call from the restaurant the morning of, telling me there were going to seat me on the second floor because it was quieter up there and better for larger parties. I thought this was very thoughtful, and was excited the restaurant was helping to make this special occasion even better. When we arrived, they did not sit us on the second floor, but on the first floor, by the door, where it was very noisy, so I was a bit confused by the phone call.

There was a big language barrier with out waiter, and our party had a lot of trouble communicating our orders to him, even when we tried pointing to the items we wanted on the menu. He got half of the drink orders seriously wrong, and we had a really difficult time getting anyone’s attention to order, get more drinks, and have someone fill up our water glasses.

When my mother received the bill, an 18% gratuity was already included, as it usually is for bigger parties. We were frustrated, but really just wanted this dining experience to be over, so we quickly tried to pay the bill and get out of there. As we sat there for 20 minutes, we could not get anyone to come over and take our credit card for payment. My mother then went to hunt down the maître de so we could pay. She told him that we were having a very frustrating experience with the service, and he said he would have a talk with our server.

Two minutes later, our server comes over to my table, and confronts my mother about her saying we did not have a good experience with the service. He continued to argue with her, tell her she was wrong, and tell her that it was the restaurants fault because they were so busy. She tried explaining how she felt about the service to him, and he continued to get angry and verbally attack her.

As we tried to leave, he continued arguing with her. When our whole party got up to leave, the maître de came back over and confronted my father, telling him that we were wrong about the service being poor. The waiter then walked up to my brother (the person whose law school graduation we were celebrating) and confronted him about us complaining about the bad service. He was literally stopped at the door on his way out, so the waiter could argue with him about what my mother and father had said about being unhappy with the service.

I have never seen such inappropriate behavior by people in a service industry. Having had many people in my family, my brother and myself included, who have worked in either customer service or food service, I have never seen anyone act like the waiter and maître de did. Their behavior was so rude and appalling, that the experience honestly made me feel sick.

It was probably the worst overall dining experience that me and my family have ever had, and the terrible attitudes of these 2 people really ruined what was supposed to be a special night. I have never seen adults in a service industry act so unprofessional. They literally stopped us at the door on our way out, after we had paid, to continue to verbally attack us about our complaint.

I will obviously never come back to this restaurant, and will never recommend it to anyone. It was a horrifying experience, and it still upsets me to think about. I am so disappointed and angry by this...

Key takeaway: this place will serve people that walk in 30 minutes after you’ve sat down before you if they so choose and be very friendly to people around you while ignoring you based on some arbitrary preferences I couldn’t identify. Unless you look exactly like the people that frequent this place (older, academic, classic New England vibes, business men) maybe steer clear.

Also the food was very very mediocre, the artichoke chicken was just plain bad, and i’m not just saying that because i’m upset at how i was treated. The wine was good.

The order:

Cesar salad w chicken - the dressing tasted like it was from a bottle Beef carpaccio - not yummy beef Chicken artichoke - tasted disappointing Truffle paperdelle: very mushroomy best dish we tried though

The Rundown:

I am sitting here now in the restaurant, so frustrated I picked up my phone to write my review now before I decide I am over it. This restaurant with its cute ambiance actually offers the worst service I have experienced in the Boston area so far. I say this because they are blatantly biased in their service and unabashedly play favorites although I’m not sure on what basis. Maybe it’s because I am younger than most people in this restaurant or maybe clearly not from the area or not dressed like a senior academic but this place was so weird in their service, asking people how their food was and awkwardly pausing silently at your table or never bringing your food and being rude about it when you ask where it is… i’m honestly just so disappointed.

When I asked where my salad and food was after 45 minutes when two parties behind me arrived later and were eating pasta and i was still waiting on a salad I was met with an awkward o-kay… no explanation, no apology, and yet the food suddenly showed up after I asked. After that the manager walked around and asked everyone how the food was while skipping my table and the waiter pretended the problem never occurred. I should have known things would get weird when the waiter chose to explain what a truffle was to me when I asked if he suggested one dish over another.

Suffice to say I will not...

They have waiters - real waiters, Italian ones really! All have thick accents. Not quite the Fellini film, but creates the anticipation for a good Italian meal. Except one funny glich...the bartender was Asian...funny, but made great drinks.Feels like the places parents dragged us to in the fifties with names like Le Chateau, Vesuvious or Venetian. But no, I digress. Tartufo is polished, praised and poised to please.

After our waiter introduced the specials by way of an iPhone and broken Italian the meal began. Bread and the Meatball appetizer...somewhat meh, but three other apps ovah da top...especially the crabcakes! Any lobster dish will have one singing Oh solo meo, even knowing the price is also ovah da top. The bride had the Chilean Sea Bass also singing their praises. Our entire party confirmed ... one of the best Italian food experiences in New England.

Now, the whine experience...this cost a star...and I'm being generous and not making it two stars less...it's the food that topped our chart. However, one of our guests happened to be the food and beverage manager for a major island resort hotel. He was aghast at the prices they charge for some of the higher end wines. A few of the ones over $200 had 'margins' lower than 18%. He mentioned most wine margins range between 22-27%. Since I don't generally partake of $900.00 - $1,200 bottles of wine, I could let this slip ... knowing... it's the food. If I knew as much about wines I would have barked. Since, our guest had chosen a very reasonable - excellent one, I chose hold my tongue for the food and register my point here.

Why taint such an otherwise exceptional dining experience? We'll be back ... just not looking at that side of...