Sabatino's Italian Ristorante — Restaurant in Rapid City

This is a long one but trust me you will want to read through to the end. The first time we dined at Sabatinos was just a few days after they opened. I have worked in the restaurant industry both in front and back of house. Server didn't write down our order so kept forgetting things, what app we ordered, glasses were very dirty, as in lips marks and finger prints, had to get new ones twice. Potatoes that were so over done that I struggled to cut through them. Server knocked over the wine bottle at the table, owner ended up comping wine. During our dinner the owner came over several times and made conversation, jokes ect. Ordered desserts and cappuccinos. Desserts showed up but no drinks. We sat there waiting, saw our server grab 2 off the bar after about 10 min, walk about the restaurant a couple times. I wasn't sure if they were ours or not, she places them back on the bar and walks away. She then goes back, picks up the same 2 (we had ordered 3) and finally comes over to our table and says "sorry these take awhile to make". I wouldn't have cared if she had been honest. She just forgot who ordered what because she didn't write it down. I then asked for our 3rd one. Wanted to try again so we came in on a Sunday afternoon for lunch with my brother. One dish we ordered was a salad which was supposed to have chicken on it per the menu but didn't come with any. That took another 10 min. Once it arrived it had no seasoning at all (no salt even). Owner was talking to other tables a lot but only came over to ours once to ask if we wanted cheese and quickly left. I will point out that my brother has tattoos up his neck and piercings. There was a big difference in how the owner treated our table from the last time and how he was interacting with other tables that day. My brother paid cash for his portion and we provided a card for ours. I got a notification on my phone that the card was ran. The server came over and told us the card didn't go through and they needed another card. I stated that it had and showed him the transaction. The owner then came over, stated the same thing. Stated that I understand sometimes it doesnt go through, but if that's the case it prints out a receipt showing error or canceled transaction. He got angry and walked away. I really didn't want to go through the pain of having to dispute a second charge. So I called my bank, offered to to have the owner listen to the rep say it went through. He refused and said he had already called the cops. At that point it wasn't about the $60 anymore it was the principle. I calmly went back to my table to sit and wait. The table behind us as I walked back looked at me funny, so I told them they might want to pay cash. While waiting for the police they went around and told all the tables to pay cash only and replaced the printer paper in both machines at the bar. Police arrived and I explained my side after he spoke with the owner. And the officer listened to the bank rep on the phone saying the transaction went through. The cop seemed satisfied with this and as we were leaving the owner stopped me to ask for my contact details. I refused because I honestly just wanted to get out of there and be left alone. (If he had asked me at the beginning I would have been more than happy to provide them). He then grabbed the police man's arm and said "you know what I'll be the bigger person" then turned to me and said "have a nice day"  Of course he wanted to save face after being proved wrong and massively overreacting. No big surprise the transaction posted two business days later. It had gone through. I don't know if he had just ran out of receipt paper, or if he just didn't fully understand his system or what happened but the whole thing was absolutely ridiculous. He had treated us differently from the get go. I dont know if he was having a bad day or took one look at my brother and made judgements based on appearance. We will never again step into that...

Worth Reading Not used to sharing negative reviews but hopefully this will help the restaurant make some necessary changes. Unfortunately, this was one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had. We are experienced foodies and are not afraid of dropping $ for some good food. We were in town for anniversary and wife loves Italian food and after learning that Botticelli's had closed (we are still heartbroken, come back please, Rapid City needs you!) a local friend referred us to Sabatino's, so we made a 6:30pm reservation. After we arrived, we were seated right away and waitress asked if we were celebrating a special occasion. We told her it was our 29th anniversary. She brought bread and a dish with ground up green olives? It was pasty, did not stick together when you tried to put it on the bread, causing bits and pieces of olive to fall all over the table. It was simply a not very good offering and olive oil and the traditional balsamic vinegar would have been a far better choice in my opinion. Waitress tried to answer our questions about the menu, which BTW is very confusing. We ordered Zucchini Blossoms which came in good time. They were very good but they were the highlight of the evening. We had our 6 yr old and 8 yr old with, but no options for kids, so we split a plate of spaghetti. Placed our order within 15 minutes and waited...., and waited..., and waited with very little interaction from our waitress. No one came around apologizing for the wait or even checked to see how we were doing. Finally after 45 minutes I stopped a lady manager and asked what was taking so long for our food. After going back and talking to the cooks, she came back and said "Sorry, but everyone came at once." Our food finally arrived at the 75 minute mark from ordering. Wife's Fettuccine Alfredo Alessio was more of a chalky paste than a sauce and she said the side of chicken was way over salted. My Scampi Vino Bianco had no sauce that was evident but looked and tasted like they poured raw wine over the pasta. My side of Gulf Prawns was fine and delicious. After finishing the meal we waited another 15 minutes before I finally had to ask for the ticket. Ticket was $115 and we left a generous $15 tip and got out of there. No one thought to ask how our meal was mid-meal or even after the meal. No one commented on our anniversary or offered anything complimentary. The restaurant was busy initially but not when we were eating. The restaurant was clean and had a good atmosphere feel to it, but fell way short in almost every other area and especially considering the $ spent. I believe this restaurant could improve by holding end of day team meetings with servers, chefs and managers to unpack the day and go over what they could have done better and give employees an opportunity to give real time feedback. From the managements response to the other comments, and the stressed look on all the employees faces, it is clear they are not doing this and are probably are unwilling to hear feedback from the staff. The restaurant would benefit from re=doing the menu to make it less confusing and offering a few kids items. I believe the restaurant could further improve by reviewing their meal prep processes, ensuring they have systems in place that save time during rushes. I believe the restaurant needs to review each recipe/process and management needs to do spot checks on plates going out to make sure they meet a high standard. This could be a great restaurant and worthy of the $ spent if management would make some simple changes. Everything rises and falls on leadership and you cannot change what you...

First the good: our waiter was phenomenal. Was really sweet, was attentive and was quick to right any mistakes. In fact, he apparently had never used the espresso machine and made a small error when making our cappuccinos. When we brought it to his attention, he immediately apologized, admitted he didn't know how to use it but recognized his error, came back with two perfect cappuccinos. I bring this up because he handled it like a champ- kudos to you, dude. You made the experience great. Ordered calamari as an appetizer and it was really delicious. Nothing about it stood apart from any other calamari I've had, including Olive Garden - but there was nothing wrong with it. My friend ordered the Lobster Ravioli and it tasted pretty good - I only had a bite, so I couldn't delve into it anymore than that. Not so good: when we ordered on Saturday, we opted for items from the dinner menu (this was around 12:45 p.m.) but the waiter informed us that they were only serving lunch items at that time. I found that odd because most restaurants open their lunch/dinner menu around the same time and you're not limited to such a small menu for lunch. The chefs were kind enough to oblige but now im wondering if that is why my meal was so underseasoned and so congealed - maybe I had what was served the night before but rewarmed? I ordered the Risotto Zaferano - risotto with saffron and gulf shrimp. Now I'm no professional chef, but I've seen risotto made and have made it myself - generally it's super creamy and has a more liquid consistency, like a thinner porridge or oatmeal. My rice was almost congealed together: It was plated using a bowl that they put the rice in and then laid it on the plate - the rice completely held its shape, meaning there was very little moisture or liquid. It was also incredibly bland (needed salt, but no salt on the table due to Covid. Even the parm on it didn't help much) and came with 4 shrimp. They advertised gulf shrimp, but these appeared to just be large shrimp you buy at any grocery store, not actual jumbo gulf shrimp. For a plate costing $17 to $19 that was mainly rice? It was a bit of a rip off. The owner made his way around tables but did not linger long enough for me to bring up my concerns. Just as well - I wasn't there to rock the boat or embarrass my friend. I ended up not eating but 3 bites of the risotto. Thank goodness the calamari was pretty filling. All in all, I'm not excited to go back again. Maybe I just held higher expectations than I should but I do not feel the quality of the food...