Girasole — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I am APPALLED by what happen tonight at this restaurant. My table was honestly treated worse than a dog!!! We were yelled at by two staff members and completely humiliated. It was my 76-year-old mother's birthday celebration, we left with tears our eyes and knots in our stomachs. Let me first start off by saying that I have been to Girasole in the past (twice). I've been wanting to take my mother to hear the guitar player for over a year now. I am 35 years old and just finished cancer treatments. We were beyond excited to venture to Shadyside to eat at the special place. I could give you so many details as to why this place was terrible! I was not greeted and literally knocked over by waitstaff before I even got through the door. I called twice today and they had confusion about my reservation. The place was overly crowded and noisy. I was willing to overlook all of that. However, I cannot believe the audacity of the older man (who is always there wearing a suit) drinking wine, and a young waiter who is supposedly the manager. I think it is the owner's son or close family member. I even met Debbie at one of the O'Hara elem school functions. She said come and they would definitely take great care of us - ha! Joke! My blood is still boiling! The young waiter/manager threw a hissy fit in front of the guests about us. It's a long story, somewhat of a misunderstanding, but he handled it so inappropriately. My mom sat there in shock/disbelief because he was literally yelling at us - the customers! Spending money! Birthday celebration! What?? As I read through the negative reviews below, this does not seem to be the first time that they have acted unprofessional and RUDE! No excuse for any of it! The older man came over and we tried to explain it to him three different times and he still had no clue what was going on. Maybe had too much wine? He gave us an attitude because I told him that I was upset with how the young waiter attacked us. To my surprise, he ended up bellering at us as well -instead of taking the right actions. My sister was literally shaking her head and saying, "Wow!" Not only did the older man attack us once he came back to our table and was still arguing over the situation asking again what happened. We were saying nicely that my sister's food came out cold but we were unable to tell the waitress because 1. She was cleaning a huge table out front for a while, 2. The man playing guitar was standing right next to our table for two songs, and 3. nobody asked us how the food was or if we needed anything!? When the non-personable waitress came back, we told her that the food came out cold but my sister had eaten some of it because she was starving (8:30). The server asked what she wanted her to do, and my sister said I don't want to eat cold clam linguine again so I guess I'll try a little piece of the fish instead. She told the young manager/waiter and he literally threw a fit saying that she ate some of it. If she would have waited for them to come to the table and ask how it was, it would have been 20 minutes (we would have been done eating without her). Of course she was going to take a few bites of her pasta. Then, we tried again to explain to the old man and he said that the young manager should not have acted like that. Yeah, no kidding!? He asked if she ordered something else, we said YES!!! That is what he threw the fit over and didn't do. It was a nightmare. This was an actual birthday celebration for an older woman. Even if my sister did eat some of the pasta, and wanted a little piece of fish since her food was cold, what is it really to them? My bill without any dessert was $100. I am not talking about Olive Garden here. This place is pricey and considered fancy. They made money off of our drinks and food anyway. My poor mom didn't even get a dessert with the candles that I brought for her. What a disaster!! We were so devastated about the experience. Not to mention he said the dish could NOT have been cold!! I said, "You're calling me a liar?" Umm, no! Bad attitudes, snobby,...

Traveling from out of state. Meeting girlfriends father for first time. Owner literally shuffled us out of the restaurant because we sat and talked for too long and they needed the table. "I'm sorry guys we really need this table" makes rude hand gestures. Pretty sure it was the owner as it was someone who was in photos behind us.

The prices for what the food was, was entirely lackluster.

My girlfriends father had PERHAPS 5 pieces of shrimp for a shrimp penne which is an upcharge of like $6.

The Carmel Apple cake was dry. Had to wait spans of over 10 minutes for my water to be refilled.

The restaurant is such a small cramped space and the average price on a meal being $15. We split a ravioli plate that was literally 7 peices total between two people.

The starter bread came out cold and a second chunk loaf was never even offered.

The chairs are uneven and even had to be switched out upon our initial seating because they wobble.

And the owner then watched my 90 lb girlfriend chew him out like the cuckold he is. Came off as a cheap bitter old man. The restaurant was packed. If your restaurant is make or break on one 4 person table, maybe move into a bigger space.

I wear a ponytail and one server kept basketball throwing trash into a trashcan behind our table. And hit my hair twice. The server did apologize. Additionally I did ensure the tip was over 15%.

You do not scold quiet customers that stay out of your way in front of your restaurant. If Pittsburgh was a strong consideration for a local scene for us to move.....enjoy your restaurant. From a server. Who left a 25% tip before you scolded us. Let your server keep it too because your actions don't reflect his service.

Ive worked as a caterer. And in many restaurants at least as nice as this one over the years. I've never met any owner that was willing to do that to their clients.

Like there's a picture of Brando in his Godfather role on the wall. Lets not pretend your joint is more than faux classy.

If you need to ever do that sort of thing again. Maybe start off with "Hey I am so sorry, we're busy and packed and is there any way we could have you all clear out so we could sit more guests?"

Not literally "You guys have been here too long". We were there under 3 hours......You know who tries to have that kind of customer turnover for rush? McDonalds. Don't be...

The food was very good. However, I was there this past Saturday with 8 of my girl friends. Our reservations were at 6:30. At 9:00 the OWNER of the restaurant comes up to our table and starts SCREAMING at our party saying, "girls, can't you help me out here and leave already? You've been here for three and a half hours. You can't stay at a restaurant for 3 and a half hours". To which we calmly replied, "sir, our reservations were at 6:30". To which he yells in reply, "oh I'm sorry, 2 and a half hours. You can't sit at any restaurant in the world for 2 and a half hours". We were so taken aback and one of the girls said "you are being so unprofessional right now", and he stormed away. He turned right back around and said "maybe I am being unprofessional and shouldn't have said anything but it's been 2 and a half hours and you need to leave already". This kept going on for a good 5 minutes. The restaurant is small and so not only did he ruin the entire evening for our group, but I'm sure for others as well. And it is not as if we were not spending money. We had all ordered entrees, several bottles of wine for the table, several appetizers for the table, etc. The waitress asked us if we wanted dessert and we declined. What would he have done if we were sitting there eating dessert? Yelled at us mid bite? We looked at the time on our check, and it had been 15 minutes since the waitress printed our checks. The food was good but I will never in a million years go back and support this man's business. I understand it is a small restaurant but then do not book reservations back to back or have a backup plan if the spot they were to sit at is still taken. While the food was quick, it took our waitress a long time to take our order; that is not our fault. If he would have quietly and politely come up and explained that the next party was waiting, we would have been glad to hurry along. But to scream at us, in front of the whole restaurant, was the rudest thing I could ever imagine. In not industry is that acceptable. We were only going to be another few minutes anyhow as we were trying to finish up the last of the wine. And to upset not only our 9 people, but all the onlookers, and for us to keep spreading this story - I hope this man loses a lot of business. If you can't be polite to your customers, stay in the...