Gersi RVA — Restaurant in Richmond

We came on a Saturday night and though we quickly realized we should have made a reservation, we decided that the 1-1.5 hour wait was worth it and we would wait. We waited and waited and checked back an hour and 45 min later (they said they’d call and they never did to update us) only to be told we still had another 20-30 minutes and they couldn’t guarantee us a spot because they “only seat reservations”. After explaining to the hostess and who appeared to be a manager that I understand they can’t predict timing of parties leaving, it would have been nice to know they seat reservations and they book out 2 days ahead so the likelihood of getting a table before 9 pm was almost zero. At this point it was 8:50 pm and we left to go to Mama Zu’s which has never left us disappointed and we got in immediately. I’m all for reservations but it should be made clear that they book their restaurant out with reservations instead of leaving tables for walk-ins. This situation would have been much better and I honestly wouldn’t write the review if it wasn’t for the way the manager talked to me and was incredibly rude talking to me like I was dumb and should be grateful they’d eventually seat us. Like you’re less than the people who made reservations. If that’s how you want to do business I’m fine with spending my money elsewhere. Also my friend wrote a review for this place and we had a terrible experience back in early November and they said they’d reimburse us for the food because of how awful the time was there and they never did which is incredibly annoying to be promised something by a business and then never follow through. Don’t come here without a reservation. It’s a waste of time and they’re rude. Maybe Gersi should explain that reservations are the only option on the weekend. That’s fine, but don’t tell us we’ll get a table you can’t guarantee, and...

Dined as a party of two. The food was delicious, and came out very appropriately timed. Service wasn’t bad, but it felt like they need another person on the floor. Nobody seemed very familiar with the menu, either. The ambience is somewhat drowned by how many people can fit into that small restaurant — I felt like I was at a sports bar but with amazing food.

We had some wine with dinner and two cocktails to start, all were fantastic and well balanced.

Bruschetta — The tomatoes were so good I could eat them without the bread. The bread was good too, but very soggy. Would try to order the bread on the side next time.

Beet and goat cheese salad — Absolutely amazing, high quality cheese and nice firm beets. Wouldn’t have minded a busier salad, but it’s hard to imagine this one getting any better.

Marinara Mussels — I usually go for a white sauce with mussels but this one changed the game for me. We finished every last drop of the sauce, as well as the mussels. I would order bread with these.

Lamb loin chops — Delicious and tender, but small enough that I resorted to eating with my hands. There was a knife available, but too large and dull for the job. Side of mashed potatoes was delicious, the arugula could have used some tomato (give me more tomato please yours are so good)

Short rib rigatoni — Absolute flavor explosion. Heavy dish and would probably put me into a coma if I ate an entire one, but would be worth it. Very rich and umami.

Tiramisu — It was a delicious tiramisu, I would have more to say about it but I think tiramisu can only get so good.

Gelato panini — This dessert changed me. It seems like a risky order but do not be discouraged. Perfect taste and texture, no notes. On form, I would really like to get this as an open...

Had a really disappointing meal. First, I had made an indoor reservation but when we got there at our time, there was no indoor seating available and a 20 min wait (busy Friday) so we got a “patio” table which turned out to be a tiny table right by the front door so we had people who were waiting for tables constantly standing around us and lots of in/out traffic. Oh well, not a big deal but a little frustrating since I had made an indoor reservation. Anyway, on to the important part, the food. We didn’t get the complimentary bread and beans that I saw others in reviews saying they were served (which is fine but I was curious) and so we ordered the mushroom bruschetta, which was just one huge piece of bread with garlicky mushrooms on top. It was super soggy and there was no crunch. Mushrooms tasted good at least but how hard is it to sauté a mushroom? Just not a great way to serve bruschetta, if it was on smaller more toasted pieces I think it would have held up better. Cocktails were good at least. But the pasta entrees were so underwhelming. I had the black linguini with calamari and half of the noodles were stuck together and the calamari was way overdone, so rubbery. The sauce was one note tomato. My husbands pasta (mushroom tagliatelle) was in a bland brown gravy and nearly flavorless. We got a bottle of wine and unfortunately when the waiter opened it the top cracked off and pieces went on our table—it was hard to tell if any got on our food. We got a new bottle of wine but there was no offer to replace the pastas (however we really weren’t that impressed anyway so not worth pushing it.) It was just an underwhelming and disappointing experience for what I thought was a well-rated...