Il Ritorno — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

Summer Series Review I want to rate this higher. I’ve been here a dozen times and each time would have been a 5/5 rating. But holy moly this experience was actually so terrible. We did a 10 year anniversary dinner. Absolutely nowhere did it state it was a communal table. That we would crammed into a table of ten strangers, forced to share space, conversation, and dinner for THREE. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. We asked the table and they didn’t know as well. If you’re paying $300 a person to have a communal table and you do not disclose that, it is an absolute miss. Clearly a lot of the patrons thought they were on a romantic date night only to have that come crashing down when directed to the table.

To start we show up and they try to seat us at a name/spot that isn’t ours. Then we have to wait twenty mins to be seated because they didn’t have a spot for us. We finally get seated snd they take drink orders. Everything takes longer because it’s an entire table ordering and receiving. The food finally gets started. When the course is being introduced the my did it on the opposite side of the table so we couldn’t hear it. The next course wasn’t even introduced. The third course they started doing it on both sides but one after the other so it was odd and disjointed. The food was good, but I’ve actually had some of their tasting menus that I thought were better. On the way out the manager asked our feedback which we shared as outlined above. To be honest, the most disappointing part was him saying that they had gotten similar feedback on the communal table. So not only did you get the feedback and choose to keep that format but you didn’t think to update your website with a disclosure around that? Especially in such an economically and politically charged climate we’re in. Just take a second to imagine what some of the conversation you may have had to endure was. A full refund wouldn’t even be enough to undo how terrible this...

The food while creative was certainly not the best Italian food in St. Pete. Food is contemporary Italian so if you are looking for any of the traditional veal or pasta dished you'll not find them here. I had the Mediterranean Sea Bass special mussels and risotto. The fish was cooked perfectly but the small mussels, I call them cherry stone, were rubbery and tough, meaning they were overcooked. The black mussels, however, were fine and tasty. The risotto was very salty causing me to drink 4 glasses of water during dinner. My wife had the Capellini Nero which was visually appealing but was also way too salty. She ate less the 1/4 of the dish.

The staff is exceptionally attentive and friendly. Our table in the rear side room, however, was not good. We nicknamed it the "interrogation table." Named so because of the obnoxious ceiling spotlight aimed directly into our eyes. It was literally like having someone shine a flashlight in your eyes during the entire meal. We politely brought this to the attention of our server and the manager who came over to speak with us. He stated that it must somehow have been moved, agreed it was terrible, but did nothing to rectify the situation such as an offer to move us or adjust the light which, we recognize would be an inconvenience to them and the other guests as it required a ladder. However, since we dined early at 6:15pm, I assume he thought this would be acceptable for the rest of their guests that evening. I expected more consideration when paying $120 for dinner and drinks for two.

So my feelings are the food was OK and while creative and contemporary, just average in quality and taste. It certainly doesn't live up to the food reviews I have read. It is likely worth going to once to experience the cool St. Pete vibe. Unfortunately, we didn't see the food quality or value for the money and will likely not return. And for those wondering, I hardly ever write a...

Our waitress told us twice that the complimentary read would be brought and after almost 40 min after ordering our appetizer, we still had neither the bread or the appetizer. While we saw other parties that came after us had their bread and appetizers. We asked other servers as our waitress hadn’t shown up anymore. Before we had what was the last conversation with the waitress, I asked about what was in a certain entry due to a food sensitivity for too much tomatoes. After 40 min and nothing seems to be changing we asked for the manager and explained what occurred. We got a new waitress who was very nice and she made the experience totally different. But since I already had received information about the entry I planned on ordering, I took it as valid information. How wrong was I. What I got was like spaghetti bolognese minus the meat, so covered in tomato sauce. The appetizer of Octopus was extremely dry. The pumpernickel “salad” looks like maybe like a special dish but at the same time it looks like soil with like 3 small other little things. It tasted ok, but is more like a desert than a salad. Our second waitress really saved the dinner as she was so nice. The manager couldn’t even say “sorry” as that would have been appreciated. The managers excuse was that the computer the waitress put in our appetizer had a delay. Like, complimentary bread was going into the computer. It sounded so bad as sorry I will see how to make it right would have been ok. The parents of the owner sat at the table next to us and got the first server we got. She managed to give them two orders of bread, almost at the same time. That server shouldn’t be in a place like this. I doubt we will go back. The ambiance is nice and busy, so we might have had a very unlucky experience. But for this price and after clearly asking about a dish and what is in, I felt the server gave us the wrong...