Tuscan Kitchen Salem — Restaurant in Salem

I dined at this location a little over 2 months ago. We arrive at the end of the day, as the restaurant was full and we could see some people were waiting, we asked the host how long was the wait, she told us 50 minutes. That is quite a long time, but we decided to wait. I gave them my name and my phone number, after about 30 minutes my husband decided to go to the host to check how was going. When he comes back, he says the host told him that we were already called but we didn’t answer the text so she would have to add us again, meaning the 50 minute wait would start all over. I went to the host stand and told what my husband had told me, she got nervous and started stumbling on her words and told me he had understood wrong, we were not going to start the wait all over again, that “it was a good thing” we came to them because now they could rectify the mistake. Ok! I went back and waited another 24 minutes, which at this point was 1 hour since we had been “added to the list” the first time. I got to the host stand and I speak to a different person (2 had to people at host this night) and tell them: it’s been 1 hour that we added our names, when it’s our time? Which she proceed to tell us: well, on my system it says u have been added to the list 24 minutes ago! That got me so mad but I tried my best to keep it in and explain to this person the situation. Now she was great and said don’t worry I will sit you right now. It took another 10 minutes, but she went and cleared and cleaned a table for us. After we sit we waited for over 10 minutes for the waitress to come and greet us, the same host even came before and told us: I’m sorry, the waitress is coming, I promise she didn’t forget you, she’s just busy. Ok. Once she arrives we are handed menus… after that everything took over 10 minutes in between to get anything… order drinks and app, ask for a glass of water, order food… Our drinks? I was sitting across the service bar and don’t know when the ticket was sent, but I know that from the time we ordered to the time the drink was poured it was long. It was so long before we had anything at our table, and I’m taking tap water and bread. We received appetizer and maybe 3 minutes after that the main food, bread only came sometime between those 3 minutes. And we had to hunt down someone from staff to get us app plates after we received the food. It was honestly a completely shit show of experience. Now do I think it was the waitress’ fault? No, she was a sweet heart but you could see they all had a lot on their plates. The restaurant was clearly understaff and from my perspective I couldn’t locate a floor manager. The waiters had tables scattered all around the floor, if there were any sections to optimize time and make logistics better for them, it was something else that couldn’t make sense to my eyes, because I started to pay attention on who was serving each table. My sensations were of completely utter normalization. My only explanation and there was no manager that night and everyone was trying to do what they could. Because nothing else to me explains a restaurant, a group like Tuscan Kitchen, provide an experience like this. This restaurant seems to be a far far experience from Tuscan Kitchen Seaport which (and I haven’t been in about 2 years) was always a top experience from beginning to end.

As for the host situation, what we realize is that we were supposed to receive a message that confirms we are on the list and we never did, until my husband went to the host that after already waiting for 30 minutes. But then they tried to spin the story to: you never answered your text?! I understand a mistake like this can happen but which threw me off is not the mistake itself but how it was not handled properly after it had happened.

I waited to post this review because my intention is not to get anyone in trouble, but to pass along this experience to other people and to the restaurant itself. I gave 1 extra start for the second host attitude to understand and try her best to solve our issue and for...

Friday night we had an extremely unprofessional and unacceptable experience at Tuscan Kitchen. My husband and I met a few friends for dinner. Prior to arriving we had an appetizer and one other cocktail elsewhere.

We sat at the bar where we were greeted by the bartender who immediately had an opinion about the way my husband looked. He has rosacea and also works third shift during the week so he is usually tired. When he proceeded to order a drink she insisted he have a water. She brought over his margarita and it tasted like juice, significantly different from the other drinks the rest of us ordered.

After a few minutes we ordered food and the beverage director came over and spoke with us. He was asking how our night was and talked with my friend who is also a bartender at another restaurant in town.

We received our food and had finished our drinks and wanted to order one more. The bartender prepared drinks for everyone except my husband. When we asked for a drink for him, the bartender informed us that he had been cut off. It is important to note that he had only had one drink over an hour ago and had consumed the margarita that tasted like pure juice. Additionally, he had food at the time.

My friend who works in the field requested to speak with the manager. When he returned he stated that the bartender had cut my husband off due to excessive intoxication. We proceeded to point out that the bartender had made this decision solely based on appearance. My friend told them this discriminatory behavior was extremely unacceptable and requested the check.

After we left my friend stayed behind and approached the host stand requesting to speak with the general manager. He informed him of the situation, and was assured that he would address it.

Instead of addressing the issue, they proceeded to contact my friend’s employer and detail our experience. My friend explained the situation to his employer and emphasized we did not leave a tip due to the unprofessionally poor service and the discriminatory allegations...

The food is alright not bad not good. The service on the other hand is atrocious unless you get one specific bartender, mowhawk guy, who seems to be the only professional in the hotel, rooftop bar included. It seems the whole Tuscan brand is based on image and very little substance. On the plus side a Capital Grille is opening next door soon so you could go there for a good meal and service if you’re ever in the Tuscan Village.

As you can see by the response from the restaurant they are very unprofessional. Despite a negative review I did compliment the one positive part of my experience “mowhawk guy” the only person I saw in the place with a mowhawk and was met with “by the way mowhawk guy is Brandon your servers and bartenders have names ” which implies I treat restaurant staff as less than people. I in fact worked in restaurants for over 20 years in every position imaginable. My standard tip is 33% and I in fact tipped Brandon aka “mowhawk guy” 50% my first visit there because he did such a good job on a very busy night, I did not base my tip on the food, pasta was way over cooked. Yes it is true I do not learn and memorize the names of every bartender or server I encounter in my life. My review was based on my second time there where the service was non existent and rude despite the fact the bar was half empty and I had a $108 lunch, Filet, 2 drinks and a desert with literally no service and a incorrect food order. Not once did anyone ask if I wanted anything from food to my bill. I had to track down and interrupt one of the two bartenders from their private staff conversations each time I wanted anything including my bill. The two women having lunch next to me also agreed the service was absolutely horrible that day too. If you’re planning to eat in Tuscan village I’d wait until Capital Grille opens and then you can go to a professionally run chain with correct food, proper service, and...