Bigalora Wood Fired Cucina — Restaurant in Royal Oak

Luciano Del Signore is a 3 times James Beard nominee and was also the Chef/Owner of Bacco in Southfield on Franklin and Northwestern Hwy. Bacco was Hour Magazine’s Restaurant of the Year in 2013 and. Had I known all of this going into it, my expectations would have been off the charts. Going in blind was the best way to get our unbiased opinion. As previously stated, we went for lunch and got there early. There wasn’t a wait for a table, but it filled up quickly, and was completely full with a long line of people waiting, when we were done with lunch. It is larger inside than it appears from the outside since there is a 2nd upper level dining area as well along with an outside patio for warmer weather.

They have a nice menu with something for everyone’s taste and diet, featuring Gluten Free and Vegan dishes which are clearly marked on their menu. It is broken into Small Plates, Salads, Soup, Red Pizza, White Pizza, Pasta, Entrees and Dessert. They also offer beer and wine. We started with the Risotto Balls, which are made with saffron rice, mozzarella and peas, they are served with Bolognaise and Marinara sauce. They were good but not the standout dish of lunch. There were 6 of us so we ordered 3 pizzas, a Pepperoni, Margherita Buffala, and the Salumeria (peperoni, pancetta, bacon sausage and toasted fennel) as well a Wood Roasted Beet Salad. While everything was delicious, I enjoyed the Salumeria the most. The flavor combination was well balanced and the toasted fennel pulled it all together. We also really loved the simple yet complex flavors of the roasted beet salad which had roasted beets with arugula, sliced olives, walnuts, red onion, goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. It hit all the taste profiles, sweet, salty, savory, a little bitterness from the arugula and creaminess from the...

It was not a great first experience. I added my name to the waiting list at 6:30 PM. I arrived at 7:00 PM and checked in with the hostess, then had to wait until 8:15 PM to be seated. The server was very nice, but I had to grab his attention twice once to add to my original order, and the second time to get the check. We were served our appetizers and did not get silverware until the main order was served. I ordered Rigatoni Marinara. The menu says that you can add cheese to it and that was what I did. When I was served my food, it was missing the cheese. I told the server who brought the food out, a different person than that who originally served us, that I asked for cheese to be added, he kindly apologized then took the plate to the kitchen. It was obvious that the person who he was speaking to was not happy as I could see him, and they brought me the dish back with a little Parmesan cheese on top. Then he said, I’m just going to bring you some cheese. You can add as much as you want. In my mind I was thinking that was not what I ordered. So instead of going back and adding the cheese, melting it, and bringing it back to me, I get the plate back to add the Parmesan to it myself and my order stays as is. When the server stopped by asking about the food, I asked him if the cheese should have been mixed with the pasta. He responded "yes that’s true, but it was hard to add the cheese later!!!!" I'm glad that my friend order was not messed up because that would have been embarrassing especially that I was the one who insisted on going...

My wife and I went in for dinner on Friday night and asked for a table for two. As it seemed busy we didn't mind when we were told it would be 15-20 minutes. After about 20 minutes, easy to keep track as the yelp check-in app lets you know, we asked what our status was and were told we are at the top of the list, but as we are a group of two we need to wait for a 2 top table to free up. Another 15 minutes or so pass and multiple groups of 3 have been registered with the front and seated already. After a total of about 60 minutes of wait, the second person at the front asked if we needed to be helped and to which we responded that we already have and we have been waiting for just about 60 minutes now. He apparently goes and cleans off a table and seats us within the next 10 minutes. We are seated at a 4 top table, not a 2 top table, and right next to all the parties that registered after us and were seated before us. All the 2 top tables were apparently pulled to make a table for some group of 6 or 7. Not once did anyone apologize for the wait or anything.

After a couple minutes we just decided that we could not actually order anything as we were unhappy with the service and told our waitress sorry but we were just going to leave instead. We made it clear it was not because of her as she was great for the couple minutes we were seated.

I do not know if it was miscommunication between management putting tables together or setting rules and the front desk staff or what, but we do not plan on coming back to...