Tavolàta Redmond — Restaurant in Redmond

UPDATE 2: I did eventually hear from whomever replied to this review. They were apologetic and wanted to offer us a “comp card,” which I appreciated but declined. My review wasn’t made to get freebies but to make them aware of areas of improvement. I do hope they get there!

UPDATE: I have never received a response from the person who asked me to email them in response to my review. A reply to my review asking for me to email them has been left ignored - just like my business in their establishment. AVOID

I originally gave Tavolata Redmond 5 stars, but after returning a handful of times in the past year, I had to change my review.

The last time we were there for happy hour at the bar, the poor bartender was totally in the weeds, and my husband waited a good 15 minutes for his drink after mine was served. My Prosecco was served in a wine glass versus a flute which is different, but whatever. They had a large party that we think was taking all his time, and he had zero help - maybe part of the problem.

We were not given silverware or napkins, and when I asked for them after the manager plopped our appetizer in front of us without a word, she replied with a snarky comment while handing them to us instead of just apologizing or a simple “sure.” This is the second time this manager has been sarcastic with us when we’ve asked for things that should have been easily provided. Maybe it’s just her personality, but it’s off-putting as a customer.

The food here is still solid, although we did notice far less fish spread on our bruschetta than we’ve had in the past.

Generally speaking, it felt as though our presence in this establishment has become nuisance and not a pleasure. They automatically add 22% to EVERY check, so maybe that’s the issue. Who knows?

We were planning on ordering pasta after our appetizers, but chose to leave and go have our entrees (and far superior service) over at Matts’ in Redmond Town Center and will not be returning...

Terrible service here. They automatically add a 22% tip so the service staff act like you don’t exist and are incredibly rude! They know they will get a good tip no matter how they act and take advantage of this. We walked in and stood around for a couple of minutes before the hostess asked if we needed a table. We said yes and the hostess said “okay” then turned around and talked with the other hostess for the next five minutes. When they were done with their talk, they finally lead us over to our table. We sat at the table for 15 minutes without any service until finally we got some water. After another 20 minutes our server finally came and asked for our order and asked us to hurry up because they closed in two hours. After about an hour of being there they finally got us our food and then left us alone for the rest of the night. I had to get up twice to find someone so we could get water and again to pay the bill.

I would understand if they were busy but we were one of four other tables and there were more employees than customers! The cherry on top was our server asking us for a tip. When I mentioned he is already getting a 22% tip he had the audacity to tell me tipping was a standard practice. I would have considered a tip if we had service and if our server wasn’t pacing around mumbling “I can’t wait to get out of here and away from these people” along with other unneeded phrases as he passed by.

If I owned this place I would be ashamed to have my workers treat people like this. If it wasn’t for the terrible and rude servers and the bland food, I would have liked to come back here due to its good atmosphere. Unfortunately it seems they are know for people...

Focaccia was very soft in the middle with a nice crunch. There was no chewiness. The olive oil that it came with tasted like high quality olive oil. You can really taste the olives. The other spread was potent and herby.

The pappardelle was really good. Gave me a bolognese vibe. The sauce was amazing and paired very well with the noodles. The noodles were slightly softer than al dente and it had a good texture (not too chewy, not too hard).

The rigatoni was good but the sauce was a little more acidic than I’d like and it didn’t have very much body. After taking your bite the sauce is almost non existent since it was a very thin sauce (idk if this is intended) so if you like really saucy pasta I would not recommend. The sausage in the rigatoni was really flavorful and had a bit of spice but the pieces were very large. The sausage was the main star in this dish.

Rated 3 for atmosphere because it was LOUD (a lady was maybe emulsifying the sauce? Not really sure she had some large contraption that was whirring very loudly) do not come here unless you want to be borderline yelling across the table to have a conversation.

The service was decent. We were standing at the front for about 2-3 until greeted by the hostess/waitress. We were sat promptly and given the menu. They didn’t fill our water until we ordered. The food came at a reasonable pace. They give you your food as it’s ready so the pasta doesn’t get too mushy or cold. The waitress checked on us 2 times to make sure everything was good and another lady checked on us to make sure we were good. We paid with the inKind app and the waitress explained the process to us which was nice. They also packaged your...