Bigalora Wood Fired Cucina — Restaurant in Plymouth

By all means, I fully support the rules Big Gretch has put in place to protect us from the Rona. But when in a position of leadership, you better be aware of your own rules if you’re going to enforce them....

We made a reservation for 6 adults and a tiny adorable 5-month-old infant for an outdoor igloo to dine at Bigalora, 2 weeks in advance. We haven’t been to a restaurant as a family in over a year. Unfortunately amidst the pandemic, our father-in-law was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. This was going to be our first venture out into the world since he had finished with his chemo and radiation. We were very excited about this night out at what we were led to believe was a nice restaurant. We even called ahead to see if we could get there early, but were told no. Fine. We have a reservation. So when it came time to be seated, we were met at the door by the hostess and the manager. We were informed, at the last possible minute, that they could not accommodate our reservation due to our having too many in our party, counting our 5-month-old as a 7th member of our party. The unprofessionalism was astounding and embarrassing. Why not call ahead to let us know we couldn’t be seated? Why wait until we were already there to dash our hopes for a nice night out? “I’m sorry, I don’t agree with the rules either, but I have to enforce them” said the so-called “manager.” That’s an interesting statement to make during a pandemic... The manager went on to suggest we could have 1 person sit at the bar while the other “6” people could eat in the igloo, and then we could “rotate,” which would require more circulation throughout the restaurant, which is the whole point of setting up isolated outdoor dining. To avoid circulation of people/germs within the restaurant... genius.

If you want to be a stickler, at least know what you’re talking about. Airlines don’t charge for an extra ticket until a child is 2 years old. Calling around afterwards, multiple other restaurants in the area would have served us considering our situation. Why pose as a rule enforcer if you A. Dont believe in them and B. Are the only one making a fuss over a 5 month old? Really? She’s not even old enough to eat solid food. She’s in a covered carseat. Get real. This place is a joke. You ruined a cancer patient’s night with your idiotic interpretation of the rules and have permanently lost business from our family and all of our local friends who will be hearing about...

I recently visited the Bigalora in Plymouth, Michigan, and while the food and atmosphere were delightful, the service left much to be desired. My experience can be summed up as a mix of highs and lows.

Let's start with the positives—the food! I ordered the rigatoni Bolognese, and it was great. My only real complaint would be too many bay leaves on the meal. The ambiance of the restaurant was warm and inviting, creating a pleasant setting for a meal.

However, our experience with our server, Waiter 7 (whose actual name we weren't aware of), was less than satisfactory. From the moment we were seated, it was evident that she wasn’t in a great mood. Waiter 7 rarely checked on our table, leaving us waiting for extended periods without any assistance.

When we finally finished our meal and requested the check, the ordeal with Waiter 7 continued. She took an excessively long time to bring us the check, leaving us feeling neglected. To add to the frustration, we requested to split the bill between our party, but this seemingly straightforward task turned into a major hassle.

Initially, she divided the check directly in half, regardless of what each of us had ordered. When we pointed out the mistake and asked for it to be corrected, Waiter 7 displayed an uncooperative attitude, insisting that splitting it evenly was the correct method. It took roughly 40 minutes of back-and-forth before she correctly split the check correctly based on our individual orders.

Unfortunately, the unpleasant surprises did not end there. After settling the bill, Waiter 7 returned with the change since one of us paid with cash, however, the amount returned was incorrect. She had failed to provide us with the correct change difference that we were owed, further adding to our dissatisfaction with the overall experience.

While the food and atmosphere at Bigalora were great, the lackluster service led to a less than ideal dining experience. It's disappointing that the meal was overshadowed by the issues...

Reserved an igloo at 7pm for six people. Got there at 6:45, seated at 7:10, didn’t get greeted by a waitress til 7:30. The customers in the other igloo were seated after us & got service before us. Ordered Pinot wine, received cab (both times.) Our server told our group that she’ll be delivering everything through a side window in order to keep the heat in, however the other igloos server brought them all their drinks & food through the door which we would have preferred as well. We ordered apps, got them without plates & silverware first. Dropped silverware because it was handed through the small window, never got more even though we asked. Had no extra napkins minus the ones that came wrapped around the silverware. I ordered minestrone soup before my meal, it was brought out after my main dish. The waitress said, “I wanted to get it to you before the dinner but it didn’t happen that way, my bad.” I gave a 2 star rating because most of the food was good but it was luke warm like it’d been sitting in the window a while. None of us had ever done an igloo dinner before and we were super excited for the experience but it was awful. We literally served ourselves the entire time. It was like going through a drive through window 100 times. To make it even worse, when she brought the check, within 2 mins the young hostess walked out, unzipped the door and said “5 min warning.” I said, “5 min warning for what?” She rudely responded, “you gotta get out of the igloo in 5 min. We have time frames.” We had literally just got the bill & hadn’t even paid the tab yet nor did we even get service until 7:30pm and it was only 8:40. Some of us in the group are in the restaurant industry so to say this was a bad experience is an understatement because usually we’re very understanding. All six of us agreed we’d...